The following stocks are the leading risers and fallers among London Main Market small-caps on Wednesday.
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SMALL-CAP - WINNERS
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TT Electronics PLC, up 3.9% at 206.00 pence, 12-month range 123.40p - 220.00p. The electronic components manufacturer says its 2022 performance was ahead of expectations and notes strong momentum going into 2023. ITT posts pretax profit of £40.4 million for 2022, up 28% from £31.5 million. Revenue jumps 30% to £617.0 million from £476.2 million. TT boasts of record order intake in 2022, with a book-to-bill ratio of 118%. The Surrey, England-based firm pays out 6.3 pence per share in 2022, up from 5.6p in 2021. Looking forward, TT notes continued order momentum through the final quarter, resulting in around 90% of planned 2023 revenue covered at the end of December. Chief Executive Richard Tyson says: ‘We delivered excellent top line growth for the Group as we executed on our record order book, which reflected a significant number of new customer wins, incremental business opportunities with existing customers, and market share gains.’
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Galliford Try Holdings PLC, up 3.1% at 179.38 pence, 12-month range 142.80p - 195.00p. The construction firm posts a strong interim performance, with double-digit percentage increases in both profit and revenue. In the six months ended December 31, pretax profit of £11.7 million, up from £7.1 million the previous year. Revenue climbs to £679 million from £594 million, primarily reflecting growth in Infrastructure. Declares an interim dividend of 3.0p, up from 2.2p in prior year. As a result, the Middlesex, England-based firm expects full-year pretax profit to be at the upper end of current analyst estimates, which it places in a range between £20.3 million and £23.3 million.
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SMALL-CAP - LOSERS
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Restaurant Group PLC, down 7.1% at 42.09 pence, 12-month range 25.06p - 79.02p. The restaurant chain’s annual loss widens amid a ‘challenging’ year for the casual dining sector. The Wagamama-owner reports a pretax loss of £86.8 million in the year ended January 1, widening significantly from £35.2 million the year prior. Sales rise to £883.0 million from £636.6 million. ‘We entered the year with the Omicron variant still impacting our business, shortly followed by the war in Ukraine which significantly impacted utility and supply chain costs and resulted in increasing cost-of-living pressures for our customers,’ says Chair Ken Hanna. Whilst it is still early days, the company’s trading performance in the first eight weeks of financial 2023 have been ‘very encouraging’, Hanna adds. Even so, Restaurant plans close about 35 ‘potentially loss-making locations’ in its Leisure business over the next two years. The Leisure business includes Frankie & Benny’s and Chiquito, but not Wagamama.
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SIG PLC, down 5.7% at 39.62 pence, 12-month range 27.00p - 44.88p. The insulation, roofing materials and building products supplier swings to a pretax profit in 2022 and reports a rise in annual revenue, but says it expects weaker demand conditions in 2023. In the year, pretax profit totals £27.5 million, swinging from a loss of £28.3 million in 2021. Revenue rises to £2.74 billion from £2.29 billion. The Sheffield-based firm declares no dividend for 2022. Reiterates its commitment to return to paying a dividend ‘when it is prudent to do so’. Says trading in the first two months of 2023 sees mid-single-digit like-for-like revenue growth, with the continued effects of input price inflation ‘more than offsetting’ volume declines.
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