FTSE-250 listed animal genetics company Genus posted a half year trading update this morning which saw management advise that interim pre-tax profits will be at least £35m, ahead of expectations and despite ongoing currency headwinds. The outlook for full year numbers has also been modified and is now being set at the top end of prior forecasts. The Genus share price is up more than 18% an hour into the session.
Electrical retailer Currys updated the market on its performance over the 10 week Christmas peak trading season in a note published this morning. Like for like revenues were barely higher but investors seemed impressed by the fact the company hadn’t pursued deep discounts and the margin discipline has been sufficient to bolster expectations for full year profitability. That’s now forecast to come in ahead of consensus, whilst the cash position and outlook is also giving cause for cheer. At 9am, the Currys share price was up 11%.
A shot in the arm for the small cap FinTech Fiinu this morning who advised that they had signed a heads of terms agreement with a UK bank which would be the first to deploy its AI advanced white-label Banking-as-a-Service (BaaS) platform, incorporating its flagship Plugin Overdraft product. The deal isn’t without risk and assuming all goes to plan, it seems that revenues won’t materialise until the end of the year, but investors were quick to cheer the news, Fiinu is up 650% in early trade, although that simply returns the share price to where it stood 18 months ago.
Headlines we expect tomorrow
Whitbread Q3 Trading Update
This time last year UK accommodation sales up 11%, RevPAR up 9%
Taylor Wimpey Full Year Trading Update
This time last year Completions 10,848, Average selling price £370k
