We start the review on a positive note with the news of two small-cap IPOs (initial public offers), one in the healthcare space and one in the red-hot AI (artificial intelligence) space.Having sold its governance, risk and compliance software business to private equity earlier this year and returned £225 million to shareholders via a buyback and special dividend, business services group Marlowe (

Public sector digital technology company Made Tech (MTEC:AIM) has the potential to be a big part of Government plans to get public services online in future.Set-up by founder and chief executive Rory MacDonald in 2008, it quickly developed a reputation for getting the job done, cutting its teeth on projects with the Home Office, DVLA, HMRC, Department for Education, Department for International Tr

- Benefiting from Government digital push- Shares rally 7% - still a third of 122p IPO- More than £50 million of future work already bookedPublic sector digital technology provider Made Tech (MTEC:AIM) has seen growth accelerate, with full-year revenue soaring 120% thanks to significant contract wins across healthcare, central, and local government organisations.The company said in a statement th

The UK's technology sector has been hammered in recent months as investors ditched high growth companies for safer havens amid stock market and geopolitical uncertainty. Hot running inflation risks eating into future profits, which means investors now prefer lower growth companies which are enjoying good profit today, not waiting for bigger earnings years down the line.This shift has had a savage

There are many interesting businesses on the AIM market which fly under the radar as they do not get the same attention as their counterparts on the Main Market. Research coverage by analysts is thin, AIM stocks aren't discussed much in the media, and only fund managers with a mandate to look at small companies might even be aware of their existence.This means there is a big opportunity for invest

In recent months market commentators have highlighted the diminishing appeal of the London equity market as a destination for fast growing life science and technology companies to make their stock market debut. However, there are still reasons to be optimistic.A fifth of all companies that undertook an IPO (initial public offering) in 2005 selected the London Stock Exchange. A decade and a half la

UK stocks ended the month and the quarter in negative territory, despite positive economic data and a revival across the mining sector, a major contributor to the leading FTSE 100 index, with Anglo American's (AAL) 3% gain topping the leader board.At the close the benchmark FTSE 100 was down 22 points or 0.3% at 7,086 points, with gains in miners and drug maker AstraZeneca (AZN) - up 1.4% after it

UK stocks continued their recovery on Thursday helped by positive economic data and a revival across the mining sector, a major contributor to the leading FTSE 100 index, with Anglo American's (AAL) 3% gain topping the early leader board.At midday, the benchmark FTSE 100 was up 19 points or 0.3% at 7,127, with drug maker AstraZeneca (AZN) contributing to the rally after its Covid vaccine performed

UK stock markets continued their recovery on Thursday helped by positive economic data and a revival across the mining sector, a major contributor to the leading FTSE 100 index, with Anglo American's (AAL) 3% gain topping the early leader board.At 9am, the benchmark FTSE 100 was up 0.57% at 7,148.35, while mid-caps were even stronger, the FTSE 250 rallying 0.7% to 23,316.7.UK GDP increased by 5.5%

The co-founder and chief executive of FTSE 250 construction firm Morgan Sindall (MGNS) is putting his money where his mouth is. John Morgan signaled his faith in the company's turnaround with a £3.2 million share purchase (11 Aug) that took his holding in the company above the 10% threshold.He moved after interims (3 Aug) revealed a 21% increasein adjusted pre-tax profit. Improved cash managemen

A tie-up between recruiters Matchtech (MTEC:AIM) and Networkers International was greeted emphatically by George Materna when it went through in April 2015.'Matchtech and Networkers combine today to form a major global specialist technical recruiter! Transformational! Fantastic opportunity for all!' beamed Materna, founder of Matchtech, on Twitter when the deal closed.Now Materna is backing his tw

Recruitment companies are volatile stocks with zero future earnings visibility and trade at heady valuations - a punchy cocktail for even the most risk-tolerant investors. Operating earnings across the sector's major UK-listed stocks collapsed by 80% the year after the financial crisis before tripling again the year after. Stock prices fared similarly.Over time, it has been demonstrated that volat

While the surprise Conservative majority win is good for equities short-term, investors should not lose sight of a possible EU referendum which could be highly disruptive for the UK stock market.All the major UK indices rallied on news of a Tory victory (8 May) as it removed market uncertainty and led to the removal of valuation discounts previously placed on a wide range of stocks on the assumpti

Reduced spending at its largest customer and a shift away from a tried-and-tested business model now makes specialist recruiter Matchtech (MTEC:AIM) look a risky proposition.Net fee income, a key measure of growth, gained just 3% at Matchtech in the six months to end-January after 19% growth in its previous financial year.'Our largest customer reduced their demand by about half but they have told

Latham (James) (LTHM:AIM) 577.5pSheet and hardwood supplier Latham has been consistently profitable for the past 10 years, more than doubling operating profit in the same period. The Hemel Hempstead-based company is expected to grow earnings per share 19% to 39.5p this year.Leaf Clean Energy (LEAF:AIM) 34pRenewable energy investor Leaf Clean is a closed-end fund in run-off. At a meeting in July 20

London markets shrug off mixed overnight US corporate news that saw the world's biggest ever quarterly net profit posted by tech giant Apple (AAPL:NDQ). The iPhone-maker's shares jumped after the close following a massive 30% year-on-year increase in quarterly sales to $74.6 billion, and an $18 billion net profit, the largest quarterly profit posted by a company, ever, anywhere.US search group Yah

Bwin.Party's pleasing numbersA return of growth in its poker division is reason to take another look at Bwin.Party (BPTY) at 91.05p. The online gambling group also says sports betting revenue growth accelerated to 11% in its third quarter versus 8% growth in the first eight weeks of the period. (DC)Nigerian rival invests in AfrenStake building by a privately-owned Nigerian resources business has t

RESULTS > Tuesday 14 October > FINALS - Matchtech (MTEC:AIM) 585pThe health of the UK's employment market will be in focus next week when recruitment consultants Matchtech (MTEC:AIM) and Michael Page (MPI) update the market on their performance so far this year.Recruitment company executives at Hays (HAS) and Harvey Nash (HVN) have recently reported signs of wage inflation in sectors includi

The rally in the Industrial Engineering sector is beginning to run out of steam as the market moves into risk-off mode. Demanding multiples mean a selective approach will be necessary in 2014. This space has a significant small cap contingent but for the purposes of this article we will focus on the seven companies which sit in the FTSE 350.Both Spirax-Sarco Engineering (SPX) and Rotork (ROR) have

Analysts upgrade forecasts for Matchtech (MTEC:AIM) after the recruitment consultant says full-year results will be better than expected, triggering a 2.2% hike in the share price to 617.5p. It is reaping the benefits of a recovery in the permanent jobs market and the ability to charge higher fees thanks to a skills shortage in engineers. A big increase in headcount is now planned to capitalise on