UK markets make modest gains in early trade on Monday reversing an extended losing streak with investors warming to positive news from mining group Antofagasta (ANTO), although news of delayed results by Mike Ashley’s Sports Direct (SPD) comes as another knock to the embattled UK retail space.
Antofagasta announced today that the World Bank arbitration court has ordered the Pakistani government to pay damages of $5.8bn to Tethyan Copper, a joint venture between the company and its partner Barrick Gold.
That sees Antofagasta top the FTSE 100 leader board, its shares rallying 4.7% to 903.6p, valuing the group at a fraction more than £8.9bn.
The award comes after arbitration claims were filed against the Islamic Republic of Pakistan following the unlawful denial of a mining lease for the Reko Diq project in Pakistan in 2011.
Drugs developer GlaxoSmitKline (GSK) is also in positive territory after reporting positive clinical data from trials of its ovarian cancer treatment Niraparib.
GSK's ovarian cancer drug demonstrated ‘significant improvement’ in progression free survival for women regardless of their biomarker status, the company said, nudging the shares 2p higher to £16.26.
Some 300,000 women around the world are diagnosed with ovarian cancer every year, and GSK hopes that this breakthrough will allow far higher number to received early therapy, the company said.
The FTSE 100 adds around 7 points in early deals to 7,512.69, which could put an end to a seven-session run of negative returns for the UK’s blue chip index.
RESULTS DELAY SPARKS SPORTS DIRECT PLUNGE
Sports Direct is delaying its results blaming the complexity of integrating House of Fraser, which it bought last year. It also said there was ‘uncertainty’ over the future trading performance of House of Fraser, a statement that has shareholders very worried and sends the company’s share price plunging 12% to 231.6p.
That effectively swipes nearly £170m off the firm’s £1.4bn market value based on Friday’s close.
Sport Direct’s preliminary results were due to be published on 18 July.
There is upbeat news from the global technology scene after one of the UK’s largest specialist tech funds posted impressive net asset value (NAV) growth.
FTSE 100 IT infrastructure technology business Micro Focus (MCRO) heads the blue chip index loser board after executive chairman Kevin Loosemore sold a hefty chunk of his personal shares in the business.
Loosemore sold more than £11.5m worth of stock in two separate slugs, casting a gloomy shadow over the firm’s near-term prospects in the eyes of investors. The stock falls nearly 4% in early trade to £16.958, theirs lowest level since February
Polar Capital Technology Trust (PCT), an investment trust vehicle run by highly-rated manager Ben Rogoff, said its net asset value per share rose 24.7% in the year to 30 April, beating its benchmark Dow Jones World Technology Index’s total return performance of 21.4%, after stripping out the effects of movement in the pound.
Polar continues to benefit from sizeable holings in some of the world’s biggest tech companies, including FANG movers and shakers like Microsoft, Apple and Facebook.
SMALLER COMPANY NEWS
Medical technology company Consort Medical (CSRT) saw its share price fall close on 7% to 786p after revealing a ‘major incident’ at its manufacturing base in Cramlington.
No injuries were reported but the company admits that the facility has had to be partially shut-down while contamination steps are taken.
‘The financial impact can not be accurately quantified at this stage as it will depend on a number of factors including the timing and results of the investigation, the completion of remediation work and future production activities,’ the company says. But it has been able to steer investors towards a ballpark £3m to £5m range as most likely.
Britons' hunger for fresh bread and cake has sent like-for-like sales at supplier Finsbury Food (FIF:AIM) higher in the year to 29 June.
The company makes fancy cakes for several popular brands, such as Thornton's and Disney, and it saw revenue rise 3.1% to £299.3m on a like-for-like basis.
Its bread division was particular robust with like-for-like sales up 4.7%, a very decent outcome given the ongoing ‘malaise in consumer confidence’ as the company puts it.
Shares in Finsbury Foods rose 3% to 66.5p.
Set-top box designer Amino Technologies (AMO:AIM) has agreed to buy streaming TV broadcast specialist 24i Media in a €21.4m deal.
24i Media creates apps and user experience solutions for TV streaming services, an area Amino is keen to bolster its own expertise.
The acquisition will help Amino to develop ‘end-to-end’ and on-demand personalised content solutions to its customer base, while adding to its own software expertise recurring revenues.
