London shares started the day with a minor sell off, but are already showing signs of bouncing back. See what The Trader Nicole Elliott thinks of the current state of play in the markets.
IC TIP UPDATES:
Jupiter Fund Management (JUP) continued to attract positive fund inflows despite the market turmoil over the three months to September. It posted fund inflows of £196m in the quarter, although negative market movements totalled £884m. Still, funds under management of £33.5bn represent a £1.6bn gain over the opening nine months of the year. We maintain our buy rating.
Construction specialist Carillion (CLLN) has updated investors on its recent contract successes which add up to £1.7bn worth of new business booked since the end of June with highlights including the Midland Main Line electrification programme, the A14 upgrade and the Midland Metropolitan Hostpital Public Private Partnership. Buy.
Primary care landlord Assura Group (AGR) has completed its placing and open offer which raised £309m before expenses. The funds will be used to advance projects in its pipeline as well as refinancing its debts. We keep our buy.
Legal services specialist NAHL (NAH) has announced the proposed acquisition of Bush & Company Rehabilitation, a provider of specialist services to the catastrophic injuries market, for £25m. The deal will be part funded by the placing of 4.1m shares at 355p each, raising £14.2m. Buy.
Energy engineering company Hayward Tyler (HAYT) is to buy steam turbines and gas processing technology business Peter Brotherhood for $15m in a deal which management says will be immediately earnings enhancing. We retain our buy rating.
Recent buy recommendation Quadrise Fuels (QFI) has issued results which detail a period of intense activity as it ramps up its low cost alternative heavy fuel oil product MSAR for commercialisation. Its oil is being tested in a power station in Saudi Arabia and the company has also signed a deal for production of MSAR at the San Roque refinery near Gibraltar to support its sea borne trial programme. Quadrise ended the year to June with £8.4m of cash reserves after booking a loss of £4.9m for the year.
Simon Thompson recommendation Tristel (TSTL), a manufacturer of infection prevention and contamination control products, grew turnover by 14 per cent and cash earnings by 25 per cent with pre-tax profits up 44 per cent to £2.6m for the year to June.
Telit Communications (TCM), which is a specialist in machine to machine communications, posted revenues of $236.1m for the nine months to September and now expects full year revenues of $330m-$340m and adjusted earnings of $40m-$45m. Buy.
KEY STORIES:
Glencore (GLEN) has announced the start of its expected divestment plan with the for sale sign hoisted over its Cobar copper mine in Australia and the Lomas Bayas open put copper mine in Chile.
YouGov (YOU) grew revenues by 13 per cent in the year to 31 July with adjusted profits up 19 per cent to £9.1m. The company enjoyed particular success with its data products, where revenues grew by 22 per cent to account for more than one third of the total.
CFD trading platform specialist Plus500 (PLUS) enjoyed a 44 per cent rise in revenues in the third quarter as it continues to recover from the regulatory issues it encountered earlier this year. Nine months revenues were $207.9m, up from $162.4m a year previously with customer numbers and average revenue per customer all growing well.
John Laing Infrastructure (JLG) has agreed a deal to acquire an 89MW wind farm in Brandenburg Schipkau, Germany, for €45m-€50m. The wind farm will benefit from a feed in tariff for 20 years.
OTHER COMPANY NEWS:
Finnish drug discovery company Faron Pharmaceuticals has confirmed its intention to seek a listing in London.
Another healthcare company, Georgia Healthcare, the largest healthcare and medical insurance provider in Georgia, has announced its intention to float in London too. The company is currently a subsidiary of Bank of Georgia (BGEO).
