The FTSE 100 is up by 12.46 points to 7,057.20 despite a poor performance overnight on Wall Street as the fallout from the Facebook scandal continues to weigh heavily on some of the largest tech stocks.
Trading platform CMC Markets (CMCX) bids up 4.1% to 161.6p after saying it expects net operating income for the second half to be significantly above the prior year. The company’s revenue per client has improved on last year as its proportion of high value clients has increased. Its partnership with ANZ bank is on track for September although costs have increased due to integrating with the bank.
Fertiliser development company Sirius Minerals (SXX) gains 2.1% to 30.24p as it announces it is on track to deliver the commercial production of rare material Polyhalite. The company says it has the opportunity to speed up the production of polyhalite production in partnership with Canadian company DMC.
Waste-to-product company Renewi (RWI) gains 1.7% to 78.7p after confirming the sale of its Westcott Park anaerobic digestion facility to ABP Food’s renewable division. The sale completed yesterday and is part of the company’s plans to dispose of loss making parts of the business to improve margins and returns.
Hospitality and food services company Compass (CPG) sheds 2% to £14.55 after its French rival Sodexo cut full year sales and profits margin outlook after a poor second quarter. This news doesn’t bode well for the UK company.
Cloud computing company Iomart (IOM) sparks up 1.9% to 371.5p after it says its revenue will be up 9% at year end. The company reports that for its year ending 31 March its pre-tax profits will also be up by £1.5m to £23.9m.
On the AIM market, biotech company C4X Discovery (C4XD:AIM) rockets up 161.1% to 147.5p after revealing a licensing agreement with pharma company Indivior (INDV) for addiction programme worth $294m has been signed. Indivior’s shares inch up 1% to 407.1p on the news as well.
Gold mining minnow Lionsgold (LION:AIM) drops 3% to 2.4p after revealing that its losses after tax increased in its first half to £542,630 compared to £452,979 the previous year.
