Investors are impressed with accelerated growth in new customers, distributors and service numbers from multi-utility star Telecom Plus (TEP), sending the shares up 5.4% to £13.07. The company expects to report record revenues, profits and dividends in the financial year ending March 2014, enough to convince analysts at FinnCap to return the stock to their 'buy' list after a spell on 'hold'. Shares is a long-time fan of the company, flagging back in April 2012 at 694p (see page 21 of PDF) and several times since, most recently last month.
Home and car insurer Direct Line (DLG) rises 0.9% to 208.9p after declaring a special dividend following the agreed sale of its UK life insurance business.
A host of retail stocks including Marks & Spencer (MKS) fall after disappointing sales data from September. We look at the situation in more detail here.
Cineworld (CINE) is unchanged at 369.5p despite the Competition Commission finally confirming that three of the leisure group's sites must be sold, as per August's provisional view. Analysts had fully expected this decision which is a result of Cineworld's acquisition of Picturehouse. Panmure Gordon reckons it will get £7 million for the sites.
Base Resources (BSE:AIM) rises 3.5% to 22.5p after starting operations at its Kwale minerals sand project in Kenya. The running Play of the Week and former Griller interviewee expects to start bulk shipments of finished product in January 2014.
High value projects continue to deliver for services exchange platform business Blur (BLUR:AIM), and what analysts at N+1 Singer call 'its best ever quarterly metrics'. The shares nudge ahead 0.8% to 462.5p, considerably higher than the firm's 82p stockmarket debut just a year ago. With a 677p price target, Panmure Gordon analyst George O'Connor calls the technology 'compelling' and labels Blur's chief executive and founder Philip Letts a 'rock star' delivering 'superb strategic and operational thinking'. We've flagged the stock many times, most recently last month, but to get a real feel for the nuts and bolts of the business, read our Griller interview with Letts from January.
Technology microcap Trakm8 (TRAK:AIM) leaps 43% to 30p after the vehicle tracking kit developer agreed to buy black box business Box Telematics in a £3.5 million deal. It actually counts as a reverse takeover by Aim rules, although only time will tell if it will lead to the scale that's been lacking in the past.
A running Shares Play of the Week, Starcom (STAR:AIM) gets investors excited with a distribution deal in Latin America for its WatchLock connected padlocks kit. That sparks a 7.7% shares price jump to 21p. Shares last week discussed post-IPO problems at Starcom. Today's deal is an encouraging step forward.
Oil services firm Kentz (KENZ) ticks up 0.7% to 476.2p as it announces a contract with Qatari state energy firm Qatargas. No value is given for this work but encouragingly it is in the group's higher margin technical support services division.
The business formerly known as Printing.com falls 5% to 19.25p after a negative trading update. Grafenia (GRA:AIM) says sales volumes have been disappointing.
High-grade copper exploration results help to revive interest in Chile-based miner, Herencia Resources (HER:AIM). It rises 10.2% to 0.54p after some very good sampling results from its Picachos copper project. There's also good exploration news from Serabi Gold (SRB:AIM). The Brazil-based gold miner jumps 18.6% to 6.38p after hitting very high-grade gold intersections at its Sao Chico prospect.
Oil explorer Tangiers Petroleum (TPET:AIM) slips 3% to 11.8p as it cans a joint venture offshore Australia with CWH Resources. The latter failed to secure a seismic vessel in time to meet permit commitments, Tangiers is seeking a new partner but the current permits run until 12 October and if not extended they could be cancelled.
US-focused oil producer Nighthawk Energy (HAWK:AIM) falls 3.3% to 9.67p despite reporting a 142% increase in average oil production in the three months to 30 September. Investors may be booking profits in a stock which is up 61.2% in the last three months.
Electric scooter producer Vmoto (VMT:AIM) puts on 1.8% to 1.48p on a well-received trading update. The £13 million cap flags a profitable August, during which the company witnessed 'significant interest' in China for its electric vehicles sold through its own stores and other retail dealers.
