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Shares in Just Group hit a six-year high after the company raised its outlook following a strong first half.
The FTSE 250 pensions firm, which was formed in April 2016 by merging Just Retirement and Partnership Assurance, had said profits this year would be at least double the £211m it made in 2021. It now expects to “substantially exceed” that figure.
Profits rose 44 per cent to £249m in the six months to the end of June, while sales soared 30 per cent to £2.5bn thanks to strong growth in its Defined Benefit (DB) and retail businesses.
DB’s revenue rose 31 per cent to £1.9bn as demand for its insurance-backed pension policies grew.
Sales in the retail business rose 28 percent to £600 million. It also expects to report a strong second half of the year.
Shares rise: Just Group said profits this year would be at least double the £211m it made in 2021. But the FTSE 250 firm now expects to “substantially exceed” that figure.
The shares rose 14.5 percent, or 17 pence, to 134.4 pence, the highest since July 2018. They are up 56 percent this year.
In the broader market, the FTSE 100 rose 0.3 percent, or 24.98 points, to 8,235.23 and the FTSE 250 rose 0.32 percent, or 66.89 points, to 20,744.08.
Shares in Britain’s two biggest supermarkets rose following positive data from market researcher Kantar.
Tesco gained 0.45 percent, or 1.5 pence, to 335 pence, while Sainsbury’s added 1.7 percent, or 4.6 pence, to 274.2 pence.
Interest rate cuts by the Federal Reserve and the European Central Bank should boost trading by European private market asset managers, JP Morgan said.
The broker also upgraded its Bridgepoint rating, sending the asset manager’s shares up 5.75 percent, or 15 pence, to 290.8 pence.
Stock Watch – Eden Research
A product developed by Eden Research to prevent diseases in grapes and apples has been approved for use in Germany.
Eden hopes farmers will take up its biofungicide Mevalone amid growing demand for viable alternatives to chemical pesticides.
Germany is Europe’s fourth largest wine producer and harvests more than 1.1 million tonnes of apples each year.
Mevalone has already been approved in Italy, Spain and Poland. Eden shares rose 7.2 percent, or 0.3 pence, to 4.45 pence.
BT made slight gains a day after Bharti Enterprises, owned by Indian billionaire Sunil Bharti Mittal, bought a 24.5 percent stake.
The shares, which rose 8.4 percent on Monday, added 0.1 percent, or 0.1 pence, to 141.6 pence.
Chemical group Synthomer is aiming for a slight change of direction after the challenges of the past year.
Sales, which fell 16 per cent in 2023 due to weak demand and supply chain issues, rose 3.5 per cent to 1.05 billion pounds in the first six months of 2024. Shares rose 6.1 per cent, or 14.5 pence, to 250.5 pence.
ITM Power shares soared after signing a deal with Shell.
The green energy company will supply equipment that will use renewable energy to produce up to 44,000kg of clean hydrogen a day. The shares rose 10.9 per cent, or 5.8p, to 59p.
Another stock that rose was Light Science Technologies, which received a £123,000 order. It will supply LED lighting to greenhouse maker Richel so it can grow leafy vegetables in Germany. The shares rose 7.6 per cent, or 0.2 pence, to 2.85 pence.
But Genuit took the opposite direction after the plastic pipe systems company warned that business would likely remain difficult in the second half of 2024.
The gloomy outlook followed a tough first six months in which revenue fell 10.6 percent to £272.4 million, while profits plunged 48.5 percent to £15.3 million.
Genuit also expects the residential and commercial construction sector to remain weak for the rest of the year. The shares fell 4.6 percent, or 21.5 pence, to 443.5 pence.
Video game company Keywords now has two studios in Liverpool after buying Wushu, founded in 2017.
The company expects its £2.1 billion takeover by Swedish private equity firm EQT to be completed in December. Its shares rose 0.2 percent, or 4 pence, to 2,404 pence.
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