London's FTSE 100 firms 32.7 points to 7,650.4 on Monday, the blue chip benchmark higher as investors shrug off trade war scuffles and the UK's latest political rumpus, with Prime Minister Theresa May facing another challenge to her leadership following David Davis' resignation.In corporate news, embattled mother and baby products purveyor Mothercare (MTC) slumps 9.1% to 26p on news it will...

Mobile network giant Vodafone (VOD) posts a €6.1bn loss for the year to 31 March 2017 but management have moved to reassure investors about the future. And investors seem to like what they read, the share price up 2.5% in early trading to 216.25p to head the Foosie leader board. The group is expecting sales to grow and free cash flow to rise to around €5bn in the next 12 months. 'Our...

Several interesting points jump out from today's profits warning from retail and manufacturing software and systems supplier K3 Business Technology (KBT:AIM). The firm flags several issues - operational reorganisation, longer sales cycles on larger deals, the customer shift to cloud tools and lower demand in December, one of K3's key periods.The net effect is a £3.5m EBITDA miss on previous...

Having closed at new all-time highs for eight days in a row, London's FTSE 100 is moving higher again, up 17.4 points to 7,255.1 in early dealings. As the British Retail Consortium (BRC) says a strong Christmas week boosted spending growth in December, it is quoted retailers that are hogging the headlines.Bradford-headquartered grocer Morrisons (MRW) is marked up 4.7% to 248.6p on a fabulous...

On paper it looks like it has, even if the market doesn't appear to have noticed - shares in K3 Business Technology (KBT:AIM) have barely moved today, nudging just 1.5p up to 359p. Adalsteinn Valdimarsson is stepping up from non-executive director, a role he has had since joining the board on 11 July.With 20-odd years of software industry experience, much of it in the retail space, plus plenty...

There's no doubt that the UK retail environment is in for a sticky patch with consumer spending and rising raw material costs likely to feed through to Britain's high streets down the line. But let's not 'talk' ourselves into recession, retail software seller K3 Business Technology (KBT:AIM) is very much on track.Supplying a host of third party software and systems plus a growing armoury of...

This has become an emerging opportunity for UK software suppliers as retail increasingly goes digital and multi-channel, but it's proved a double-edged sword for many, as I have previously explained. Lots of new (ish) small specialists litter this niche space with grand ambitions and hockey stick growth hopes, I'm think firms like digital coupons business Eagle Eye (EYE:AIM) and online...

IT infrastructure and services supplier K3 Business Technology (KBT:AIM) is back on the acquisition trail. The £7.9 million purchase of Danish retail software supplier DdD will add an established fashion retail software business offering profitable earnings and positive free cash flow.K3 plans to integrate the vendor-agnostic DdD platform into its own product suite, where it believes there...

Aquarius Platinum (AQP) advanced 2.8% to 37p after extending a collaborative agreement with Anglo American Platinum on the Kroondal mine in South Africa. The two companies share revenues, costs and capital. The new agreement adds another three years to the mine life, meaning Kroondal will run for at least another nine years.But it wasn't good news at sector peer Eastern Platinum (ELR:AIM),...

FTSE 100 copper mining giant Antofagasta (ANTO) and gold and silver player Fresnillo (FRES) today kicked off a busy reporting week for the mining sector, with their respective share price performances reflecting differing financial fortunes, as we discuss in detail here. Antofagasta proved the best-performing FTSE 100 constituent, with its 4.5% gain at £11.44 reflecting better-than-expected...