A first class new app from Royal Mail lifts its shares
ROYAL Mail delivered the biggest rise on the FTSE yesterday as investors were heartened by broker buy ratings on the stock.
The firm’s shares had taken a tumble last week over concerns around its parcel business. But investors thought the launch of a new personalised postcard service was first class.
It sent shares up 4.3pc, or 21.1p, to 513p, but wasn’t enough to keep the FTSE 100 in the black as the market fell 0.3pc, or 19.89 points, to 6136.43 – energy and materials firms were the biggest drag on the day. Inmarsat was the biggest faller. The satellite communications services provider announced Pip McCrostie would take up the mantle of non-executive director from September. But a cut to neutral from Morgan Stanley put shares 4pc or 30.5p lower at 724.5p.
Sports Direct also stumbled after Goldman Sachs cut its rating on the retailer to neutral. Shares slipped 4pc, or 14.9p, to 354.1p.
Mitie Group soared after it announced a final dividend of 6.7p a share, bringing the full-year pay out to 12.1p. The facilities management business said operating profit had doubled to £112.5m, although net debt climbed slightly to £178.3m. The group is to start a share buyback programme to return surplus cash to investors – up to £20m of shares will be bought and cancelled by the firm by March 2017. Shares rose 6pc, or 16.4p, to 290p on the news.
4D Pharma gave investors an update on its Irritable Bowel Syndrome treatment. After being trialled on 56 volunteers the group said its product, named Blautix, was safe and well-tolerated. The firm hopes to use the data it collects to further develop diagnosis of the condition. It said the trial was a step towards market approval for the drug. Shares rose 4.8pc, or 39.5p, to 870p. Distil investors were getting in the spirit after the firm had its RedLeg Spiced Rum approved for sale in the USA.
The group, which also makes Blackwoods Gin and Diva vodka, said its rum had been approved by the US Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau. The £5m firm also sells spirits in the UK, Germany, Spain, Australia and Russia. Investors raised a glass to the news and the shares tipped up 4.9pc, or 0.05p, to 1.08p. Online bingo and gaming firm
Stride Gaming was on a winning streak after it revealed earnings were up 42pc to £5m.
The firm, whose brands include Kitty Bingo, Lucky Pants Bingo, and King Jackpot, is set to pay its maiden interim dividend of 1.1p a share next month.
The group has nearly doubled its number of funded players (those using their own money) to 60,561 with an average yield per player of £114. Shares made great strides, gaining 6.1pc, or 15.5p, to 270.5p.
DDD Group saw its share price nosedive after it proposed cancelling its share listing. The firm repurposes content – for example, its SmartCams convert 2D content to 3D – and delivers it to TVs, computers and mobile devices.
It is shifting its focus to video conferencing and launching a new app which makes selfies (pictures you take of yourself, usually on a mobile phone) interactive.
In its final results the LA-based business said 184,000 of its SmartCams were shipped in the second half of 2015 and it had extended a 3D TV license agreement with Samsung Electronics until the end of this year.
But revenue had slipped from £1.8m to just £487,500 in the year, and despite a capital raising the firm made a loss of around £2.2m.
Chief executive Chris Yewdall said he was encouraged by the positive response from users to its products. But he added that the AIM listing had become ‘excessive for the size of the business’ and that it was in the company’s best interests to cancel trading on the stock market, which will cut expense and increase the possibility of potential dividends in the future.
Shares in DDD plunged 70pc, or 1.08p, to 0.45p.