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shares jumped 9.97% to 257.05p following JPMorgan upgrad
Shares in the British postal service jumped this morning after JPMorgan Cazenove upgraded the stock to ‘overweight’ from ‘neutral’ and lifted its price target to 374p from 253p.
J.P. Morgan Cazenove, a wholly-owned part of J.P. Morgan since 2010, has anticipated potential better trading over the next 18 months, due in part to an improved revenue outlook.
“In our view, this revenue outlook may also ease trade union pressure, with somewhat less need to find efficiency savings,” JPM said. The upgrade also follows Royal Mail’s previous forecast that it would make a material loss in FY21 despite an increase in parcel sales.
The bank lifted FY21 and FY22 operating profit forecasts by 300% and 11%, respectively and forecasts 28% UK parcel revenue growth in FY21, rising from its previous estimate of 22%.
“Parcel price/mix may also be helped by the current environment, due to shortages in sorting capacity,” JPM said, adding, “We also expect the recent launch of parcel returns service, and
potential volume from Covid-19 testing may benefit parcels, though we do not forecast this.”
The bank noted that ongoing negotiations with the Communication Workers Union (CWU) still remain the largest area of uncertainty with progress appearing to be far behind schedule with RMG thought to be trying to create a greater link between wage increases and cost savings.
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shares skyrocketed 73.08% to 11.25p with new targets
The precious metals trading and exploration group received ‘highly encouraging’ results from an analysis of the prospectivity of the major tenement in the Patersons Range Project.
Geological consultants, Terra Search, have identified four magnetic targets of ‘considerable size’ covering 2.4km by 400m at the project which is located in Western Australia.
The four main magnetic targets cover an area of 2,400m x 400m, which when compared to the ~500m x ~300m Havieron footprint and indicate ‘a significant potential target zone.’
‘Significantly,’ the company noted,’ these targets are much shallower than the Havieron discovery, with the top of the magnetic targets ranging from 150m to 250m below surface.’
Shares in Wishbone have skyrocketed in value by almost 400% in the past three months.
Wishbone said it now intends to fast-track exploration efforts here, and has instructed its Australian lawyers to move to close the transaction earlier than originally anticipated.
Wishbone has now completed its legal and technical due diligence on the Patersons Range Project tenements and will now move to close its previously announced exclusive 45 day option which will see the group acquire 100% ownership of the Patersons Range Project.
Poulden has said the Paterson Range hosts some of the most exciting gold and copper mines
and discoveries in the Western Australian Pilbara region made in recent years.
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shares soared 32.95% to 58.5 despite lower annual profits
The engineering and technology recruiter reported a 61% loss in profit before tax for the year ended 31 July 2020 at £4.6m (FY19 restated: £11.7m) but highlighted a robust balance sheet.
The company informed investors that despite the hit, an improvement plan and recent restructuring is expected to deliver £4m in annualised cost reductions from November 2020.
The group chose to accelerate an ‘improvement plan’ over the past year and focus on reducing net debt, leading to a restructuring of its technology business unit and a net cash position of £27.3m at the end of July, an improvement of £52.1m over the previous year.
The company said it had seen ‘some encouraging indications of increased activity’ within its core markets, however, as the economy remains fragile with the potential impact of an extended second lockdown in England, it remains cautious as to the timeframe for a recovery.
‘We remain confident that the work done to refocus the business, including the acceleration of the Group-wide Improvement Plan, combined with our robust balance sheet and expertise in STEM skills, leaves us well-placed to benefit from the inevitable recovery in our core markets.’
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shares rose 16.00% to 2.175 with £0.174m grant approval
The specialist drug development company announced last week that the UK government department, Research & Innovation (UKRI), approved its application for a £174,000 grant to investigate the therapeutic potential of its asset SDC-1801 in treating severe coronavirus.
It is now awaiting a formal grant offer letter from UKRI and, subject to the grant being provided, it has agreed to contribute an additional £0.064m in cash and commit additional management time to the project which is expected to take around six months to complete.
“We are delighted that UKRI has indicated its conditional support for our programme to investigate the therapeutic potential of SDC-1801, our proprietary TYK2/JAK1 inhibitor, in severe phase COVID-19,” said Sareum’s Chief Scientific Officer, Dr John Reader.
He added, “There is a pressing need for new therapies to treat this potentially life-threatening disease, and there is evidence to show that TYK2/JAK1 signalling may play an important role in the inflammatory cascade that leads to the cytokine storm observed in some patients.”
Sareum has also completed formulation work for oral dosing of cancer immunotherapy candidate SDC-1802. Further manufacturing work is planned over the coming months.
Sareum presented new findings back in October 2019 showing that SDC-1802, dosed orally as a monotherapy and in combination with chemotherapy, significantly reduces tumour growth in models of solid tumours and blood cancers.
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shares fell 3.10% to 268.9p after receiving revenue hit
The operator of workspace brands said the impact of the pandemic has been “greater” than it imagined with revenues down 10.2% to £583.3m for the quarter ended 30 September 2020.
Occupancy rates declined year-on-year by 4.1% on a like-for-like basis to 70.5% while the group saw a reduction of 33 locations in Q3, taking its worldwide network to 3,359 locations.
The group said its third quarter has been “a challenging environment” for the group as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic which created difficulties for many customers whom it has supported with measures worth approximately £80m so far this year, including rent deferrals.
The company told investors however that it remains in ‘a strong financial position’ with a continued monthly net cash generation and the group now in a net cash position of £10.9m as at 30 September 2020 compared to a net debt position of £15.9m as at 30 June 2020.
It added that its cost reductions to improve cash flow and liquidity have resulted in continued monthly cash generation in the quarter and moved the Group into a positive net cash position of £10.9m with substantial liquidity headroom of £863.2m as at 30 September 2020.
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