In the third of our four-part series on small caps (you can read part two on UK small cap funds and trusts elsewhere in this issue), we get our data-crunching caps on and take a look at key metrics around value, income and growth in the smaller companies universe.To narrow things down we limited our search to London-listed companies with market valuations between £50 million and £500...

Berkeley Group director buys stockHalma CFO designate buys sharesJudges Scientific director tops upMichael Dobson, non-executive director of housebuilder Berkeley Group (BKG), bought 15,000 shares at £35 for a total value of £525,000 on 15 January.Dobson's move comes after the company reported a 7.7% fall in pre-tax profit for the six months ending 31 October to £275.1 million. ...

SDI (SDI:AIM) 58pMarket cap: £60.6 millionThe past couple of years have seen many a growth grenade tossed at SDI (SDI:AIM) yet the company has stuck to its largely successful knitting and we expect its fortunes to significantly improve through 2025. A casual glance at the share price chart might put a quick end to investors' research into this small cap business, but that's a mistake, in our...

EPS forecasts cut againShares fall as much as 18%Long-term outlook positiveLondon-based scientific instrument specialist Judges (JDG:AIM) lowered its earnings guidance for a second time this year after what it called a 'disappointing trading performance' heading into the end of 2024.The shares initially fell as much as £19 or 18.5% to £83.52, making them the worst performers in the AIM 100...

MJ Gleeson director sellsJudges Scientific director sells 25,791 sharesBalfour Beatty CFO sells after strong annual share gainsChristopher Mills, non-executive director of affordable house builder MJ Gleeson (GLE) has sold 300,000 shares at 610p for a total value of £1.83 million on 4 October.The sale was made by the North Atlantic Smaller Companies Investment Trust (NAS) where Mills is the...

Judges Scientific (JDG:AIM) £99.50Gain to date: 0.7%While it is frustrating to see one of our picks give up gains of more than 20% to trade flat on our entry price, we believe world-class scientific instrument maker Judges Scientific (JDG:AIM) has a lot more to offer investors who are prepared to stay the course. WHAT HAS HAPPENED SINCE WE SAID BUY?The shares topped £122 in May before the...

Judges Scientific (JDG:AIM) £102Gain to date: 3.2%We recommended shares in ?buy and build? scientific instrument maker Judges Scientific (JDG:AIM) in February based on the firm?s ability to generate solid earnings growth and the long-term trends underlying its business.WHAT HAS HAPPENED SINCE WE SAID BUY?In March, the company posted record revenue of £136 million for 2023, a 20% increase on...

Judges Scientific (JDG:AIM) £98.82Market cap: £655 millionScience kit manufacturer Judges Scientific (JDG:AIM) has built up a loyal fan base over the years, both ordinary and professional investors. We continue to see the stock as a core smaller company growth holding that will gradually build value for portfolios, while letting you sleep comfortably at night.Over the past 10 years, the...

Melrose CEO dumps 2 million sharesIncoming M&C Saatchi chair buys £249,000 sharesJudges Scientific director cashes in £94,500 sharesSimon Peckham, chief executive of UK manufacturing company Melrose (MRO), sold 2,000,000 shares at 525p for a total value of £10.5 million on 14 June causing the company's share price to slide on the news.The sale, which leaves Peckham with only half his...

David Gammon, chairman of video games developer and publisher Frontier Developments (FDEV:AIM), sold 35,000 shares at £14 on 11 November, equating to £490,000.Following the transaction Gammon holds 245,000 shares in the company which represents 0.6% of the share capital.Frontier reported record revenues (21 Sep) for the year to 31 May up 26% year-on-year to £114 million driven by the...

UK stocks drifted in early trading as investors awaited the next piece of US economic data, the December non-farm payrolls report due at lunchtime. A stronger than expected number could be negative for markets as it adds to worries the US Federal Reserve will raise rates earlier than expected.There was positive news in the technology sector with Samsung Electronics, a major Asian chipmaker,...

A combination of weak UK consumer confidence, renewed fears about the Evergrande crisis and fretting about the outlook for interest rates put the FTSE 100 on the back foot on Friday.By midday the index was down 0.15% to 7,067.88.Drug maker AstraZeneca (AZN) said its prostate cancer drug in combination with abiraterone developed with MSD, had met the primary goal of a phase 3 trial trial. It...

Science equipment manufacturer Judges Scientific (JDG:AIM) surged 7.2% to £75.05 as it hiked its first-half dividend after lifting its annual outlook amid an ongoing recovery from the pandemic.'Our financial position is robust and the board has confidence that the performance for the year as a whole will be ahead of consensus expectations,' the company said.The upgraded guidance came...

AIM-traded SDI (SDI:AIM) represents a multi-year growth story with the potential to add substantial value to retail investor portfolios.It is a collection of multiple subsidiaries that design and manufacture digital imaging, sensing and control equipment used in life sciences, healthcare, astronomy, manufacturing, precision optics and art conservation applications.SDI operates a model closely...

Many Brits have seen their incomes remain much the same through the year of lockdowns but their spending plummet. It's time to put that spare money to work in an ISA.Investing spare cash is a sensible option for many people. Take George, for example. He put £10,000 in a Cash ISA account five years ago on a fixed 2% a year interest rate. At the same time, his sister Mildred also decided to put...

Science and technology kit designer SDI (SDI:AIM) will crush pre-existing financial performance forecasts this year and next after securing 'material' follow-on orders for its Atik cameras business.The order comes from a major original equipment manufacturer (OEM) of real-time PCR DNA amplifiers, after an initial contract won by SDI in 2020.Delivery timing of orders remains up in the air but...

Retail logistics specialist Clipper Logistics (CLG) has had a storming run over the past year with its share price more than doubling as the firm has grown revenues and earnings significantly during lockdown.Its executive chairman Steve Parkin appears to have taken advantage of that after Carlton Court Investments, a company ultimately controlled by Parkin, sold 11 million shares at 575p each...

Science equipment maker Judges Scientific (JDG:AIM) saw business demand bounce back strongly in the second half of 2020, and the company now expects annual adjusted earnings per share (EPS) to top market expectations.Consensus forecasts had been pitched at 151.8p of EPS for the year to 31 December 2020 but analysts are now recalculating spreadsheets.'The performance confirmed pulls through a...

As the UK continues to step lightly through the coronavirus pandemic's social distancing minefield, many investors have turned their back on the small cap space. This is a mistake.We can understand why small caps might not appeal to everyone at the moment, given this space can include unproven business models and fragile balance sheets. It can also be harder to sell small cap shares when you...

Sentiment towards UK stocks has dramatically improved since the December general election vote result, as evidenced by widespread gains among UK-focused funds and investment trusts.FE Fundinfo data mined by Shares shows the most obvious open-ended fund beneficiaries of the 'Boris Bounce' from across the IA UK Equity Income, IA UK All Companies and IA UK Smaller Companies sectors have been the...