Fashion and home furnishings giant Next had a good start to the session as they kicked off the post-Christmas updates from retailers with a trading statement. The company has good form for this, but yet again numbers topped previous expectations and full year profit forecasts have been revised higher by £5 million. The momentum is expected to carry into the next trading year, too despite a forecast slow down in the rate of overseas expansion which has been recorded of late. In early trade, the Next share price was up by more than 3%.
The FTSE-250 listed biotech found favour on Tuesday morning with gains coinciding with an announcement that it would be participating in the annual JP Morgan Healthcare Conference. Beyond that details are limited but the market does appear to be anticipating a halo effect off the back of the presentation and moderated Q&A discussion. The Oxford nanopore share price was trading as much as 3.5% higher shortly after the open although did give back some of those gains before 9am.
The AIM listed oil and gas exploration company Global Petroleum has this morning announced a capital raise for £1.5m. The share price has fallen to reflect the discount offered on the new equity, with proceeds being used to advance its “Juno” Project, for on-going PEL 94 Farm Out discussions, licence upkeep and general working capital. The Global Petroleum share price was down 24% at 9am.
Most read news on Investegate this morning
Trading Statement - - Next (NXT)
Update on production - - Serica Energy (SQZ)
Acquisition of Deallus - - Globaldata (DATA)
