Women?s value retailer Bonmarche (BON:AIM) swaggers onto Aim with an 8.25% rise to 216.5p on its first day of dealings. It raised £40 million at 200p. Focused on selling affordable-yet-stylish clothing to women over the age of 50, supporters argue the business is well placed to benefit from the fast-growing mature ladies? fashion market as well as the flourishing discount segment, as we recently discussed.
Multi-utility star Telecom Plus (TEP) has brought forward publication of its impressive half-year results by six days to unveil a £130 million fund raise, a pair of acquisitions and new 20-year gas supply deal with Npower. Investors are very excited, driving the shares 15% higher to a record £17.34, and we'll explain why in a web story later.
Eighteen years after founding Cineworld (CINE), chief executive officer Steve Wiener has announced plans to leave the business in March 2014., leaving the shares down 0.7% to 368.38p. His replacement has yet to be announced. We featured Cineworld as a Play of the Week in last week's issue of Shares.
Rambler Metals & Mining (RMM:AIM) impresses with its first quarter copper and gold production figures. The Newfoundland-based group rises 3.2% to 28.13p in response to the news. We highlighted the company's cash flow potential in October.
Half-year results from Hyder Consulting (HYC) are in line with expectations and don't prompt any earnings upgrades from analysts. That explains why the shares fall 1.1% to 573.75p given they'd already rallied hard since the summer.
Shares in field service management firm ServicePower Technologies (SVR:AIM) soar close on 38% to 5p after revealing improved demand this year, with 'several tier-1 appliance manufacturers' signed up.
High-tech materials developer Applied Graphene Materials (AGM:AIM) makes a strong Aim debut, the shares rallying more than 33% to 206.5p. The Durham University spin-out raised £11 million at 155p to help fund work to commercialise its graphene applications.
Iodine producer and running Play of the Week, Iofina (IOF:AIM) slips 2.2% to 165.3p as it indicates its fourth and fifth production facilities (IO#4 and IO#5) will now come on stream in the first quarter of next year against previous expectations they would be up and running before the end of 2013. House broker Investec comments: 'Altogether we do not see this as a complete surprise. Our forecasts were already more conservative than Iofina?s plans and remain unchanged, as does our buy recommendation and NAV-derived 230p target price.'
Small cap engineer 600 (SIXH:AIM) gains 1.4% to 18p as it swings into a pre-tax profit of £943,000 for the six months to the end of September, up from a £659,000 loss in the same period in 2012. The Leeds-based group was subject to a bid approach by Chinese industrial group Qingdao D&D Investment in September and earlier this month extended the negotiation period through to 4 December.
Gas mask and dairy equipment maker Avon Rubber (AVON:AIM) is broadly flat at 580p as it reports a 27% increase in pre-tax profits for the 12 months to end of September. Shares may be taking a breather after year-to-date 58.1% advance.
Jordanian drug company Hikma Pharmaceuticals (HIK) slips 1.9% to £11.89 after signing a 15-year supply agreement with medical device firm Unilife (UNIS:NASDAQ). Hikma will pay $40 million for exclusive global rights to the Unifill prefilled syringes, which will be initially filled with 20 of its treatments.
