Good morning!
The FTSE is set to open litte changed, at 10,600.
Focus remains on Iran: Trump spoke very positively last night about the prospects of a permanent deal that would reopen the Strait of Hormuz. But markets don't seem to believe him, with oil prices and other commodities remaining at elevated levels.
If company news is quiet today, I intend to catch up on some stories that were missed during the week - let me know if you have any requests!
I've run out of time for today, have a great weekend! Spreadsheet accompanying this report: link.
Companies Reporting
| Name (Mkt Cap) | RNS | Summary | Our view (Author) |
|---|---|---|---|
Workspace (LON:WKP) (£718m | SR58) | Trading Profit after interest for FY March 2026 to be in line with market expectations. The decrease in rent roll and reduction in pricing in H2 will have a negative impact on portfolio valuation. | ||
ITM Power (LON:ITM) (£641m | SR26) | SP +42% The collaboration envisages the deployment of several hundred decentralised production plants for NATO armed forces, each with an electrolysis capacity of up to 50 MW. It will initially focus on the UK. | AMBER = (Graham) I acknowledge how exciting this announcement is, but the revenue and profit implications are impossible for me to guess at. For this reason, I’m leaving our neutral stance unchanged. I just don’t see how to value the company at this stage. But well done to holders. History shows that these shares can really take off - and maybe there is some real substance behind the hype this time? | |
Discoverie (LON:DSCV) (£607m | SR46) | Trading accelerated in Q4. Full year: orders up 9% CER and by 5% organically, growing faster than sales. “On-track to deliver another year of growth in adjusted earnings per share in-line with consensus market expectations” Pro forma leverage c.1.7x, “comfortably within our target range”. | ||
VP (LON:VP.). (£193m | SR49) | “In a challenging macroeconomic environment, Vp expects to report FY26 profits between £26-29m, in line with previous revised guidance.” Outlook: Board confidence in positioning and future performance. | AMBER = (Graham) The profit warning was still very recent, and it remains unclear where FY March 2026 profits are going to be within the range given. Therefore, despite the green shoots, I’m leaving our neutral stance unchanged. This is consistent with the StockRank: | |
Aew UK Reit (LON:AEWU) (£168m | SR61) | NAV of £171.97 million or 108.38 pence per share (December 2025: £173.47 million or 109.32 pence per share). NAV total return 0.96% for the quarter. “We are pleased to report a steady quarter of performance, with another period of positive NAV total return, and valuation gains seen across the Company's retail, industrial and office sectors…” | ||
Optima Health (LON:OPT) (£161m | SR76) | FY26 Adjusted EBITDA to be ahead of market expectations by c.10%. Consensus is £18.1m. | AMBER/GREEN ↑ (Graham) I will tentatively upgrade our stance on this by one notch, after today’s beat. However, I should say that debt-fuelled acquisitions, in order to hit revenue and adj. EBITDA targets always make me nervous. I much prefer companies that focus primarily on organic growth, margins and returns. | |
Eurocell (LON:ECEL) (£109m | SR70) | Appointment of Matt Worster as the company's new CFO, starting in the Autumn. Matt is currently Finance Director of Travis Perkins General Merchant and has been Director of Investor Relations at Travis Perkins Plc. | ||
Cora Gold (LON:CORA) (£78m | SR26) | Binding US$120 million gold stream, removes future funding requirement for the Sanonkoro Gold Project, enabling CORA to move forward with pre-production workstreams with confidence. Eagle Eye Asset Holdings will be entitled to purchase 30.44% of gold produced at a price equal to 20% of the prevailing spot price. Cora can still replace 50% of the stream with traditional senior debt. | ||
Fevara (LON:FVA) (£71m | SR58) | Exclusive five-year agreement with Oceana Minerals to distribute LithoNutri in Great Britain and Ireland. | ||
Metals One (LON:MET1) (£21m | SR5) | The creditors of Barbrook have approved a plan under which LBR will acquire assets of Barbrook including 2.1Moz of gold resource for ZAR 279 million (US$17.0 million). MET1 owns 30% of LBR. | ||
essensys (LON:ESYS) (£11m | SR27) | Revenue down 25% “primarily due to the continued downsizing of a single large strategic customer”. Adj. EBITDA £0.1m (H1 last year: £0.8m). | PINK (offer from Mark Furness’ concert party at 17p). | |
Zinc Media (LON:ZIN) (£11m | SR33) | The Edge has continued to perform strongly, resulting in the achievement of the final earn-out targets. £1.43m payable to the vendors, £0.34m payable in cash with the remainder payable in new Zinc shares. |
Backlog sections: MGNS, SSIT, TBTG.
Backlog
Morgan Sindall (LON:MGNS)
Up 7% yesterday, now trading at 4798p (£2.3bn) - Trading and Outlook for 2026 - Graham - GREEN ↑
There was excellent news yesterday from this Super Stock:
I note that Roland downgraded our stance on this from GREEN to AMBER/GREEN in February, at a market cap of £2.6bn. He noted that earnings were forecast to edge lower over the next 12-24 months.
However, that expectation has been turned on its head by yesterday’s update:
…the Group now anticipates that its full year results for 2026 will be significantly ahead of its previous expectations following strong trading activity and increased visibility for the remainder of the year from its Construction and Fit Out divisions.
Partnership House: modest growth expected here - it sounds like a downgrade. “Near-term consumer sentiment continues to remain subdued due to wider macro-economic events.”
Mixed Use Partnerships: profits in line.
Fit Out: this division has excelled. Profits to be significantly ahead of expectations and exceed the top end of the medium-target of £80-100m
Construction: margins here will be at the top of the medium-term target range (3.0-3.5%). Revenues will be towards £1.4bn “due to increased visibility for the remainder of the year supported by its high-quality orderbook and work at preferred bidder stage”.
Infrastructure: revenues are trending in line, with operating margin at the top end of the medium-term target range (3.75-4.25%).
So it’s not 100% positive, but it is overwhelmingly good news.
Average daily net cash: £445m, vs. £372m for the same period last year. Trending in line with expectations for average daily net cash this year of >£400m.
Graham’s view
I’m happy to defer to the StockRanks on this occasion, and go back to GREEN. This is also consistent with our method of upgrading our stance on stocks that beat expectations.
Roland isn’t here today, but I suspect that he’d agree with my decision. His downgrade in February was very careful, and based on a £2.6bn market cap. The market cap is lower today and yet prospects have improved.
This also passes some screens I like: one for Quality, one for Growth, and one for Value!
And what a nice trend this is for EPS forecasts:
It’s a low-margin construction business, not the sort of thing I’m typically drawn to, but GREEN must be the logical stance for us now.
Seraphim Space Investment Trust (LON:SSIT)
Up 1% today at 180.35p (£428m) - Contemplating fundraising via an issue of C shares - Graham - AMBER
SSIT is “the world's first listed SpaceTech investment company”. We’ve not covered it in this report before, but there is a question from readers about recent announcement.
On Monday, it announced it is “contemplating a fundraising via an issue of C shares, available to both institutional and retail investors”.
It says that: a) SpaceTech is “the backbone of the next wave of global megatrends”; b) its investment manager is “the world's #1 SpaceTech investor”; and c) there is “strong momentum in the existing SSIT portfolio”.
All of which is considered to justify a fundraise, to “continue the strategy successfully executed since IPO”.
This led to a Circular posted yesterday, with a proposal.
Key points:
350 million C shares to be issued (current share count: 237 million).
The C shares will fund a distinct pool of assets until they are converted to ordinary shares.
The conversion ratio will be calculated according to a formula which is designed to avoid reducing the NAV of ordinary shares.
I’ve opened the official document and looked up this formula: it’s complicated, but I think the underlying logic is simple. When C shares are being converted into ordinary shares, there will be a calculation of the value per C share vs. the value per ordinary share at that time. That will determine the conversion ratio.
For example, if the value of a C share was somehow only half the value of an ordinary share, then a C share would be converted into half an ordinary share. This is my very rough interpretation of what is happening.
Each C share will have “a voting right equal to an ordinary share”. I would therefore expect C shares to be issued close to NAV per share, which was last reported at 142.3p (December 2025).
Graham’s view
This is a complicated fundraise, but I can see the logic for it.
Issuing C shares will reduce cash drag for shareholders who don’t participate in the fundraise. The ordinary shares will continue to have their own existing portfolio, periodically letting in new investments that have been funded by C shares, and C shares converting when that happens.
The negative effect of cash drag will be felt entirely by holders of C shares.
As for SSIT itself, I have no strong view. I will note very high concentration in certain positions as of December 2025:
I’m in no real position to object to this, given the positioning of my own single-stock portfolio right now! But it’s worth mentioning.
I also note that the shares are trading at a significant (c. 27%) premium to the December 2025 NAV per share. I assume this is a reflection of not sentiment in the space sector right now, with SpaceX about to IPO.
With the trust enjoying a big premium to NAV and bullish sentiment, it makes sense for them to raise massive new funds while they can, potentially more than doubling the share count. But is this a sector where I would be hunting for value? No.
Beauty Tech (LON:TBTG)
307p (£340m) - Final Results - Graham - AMBER
I can’t see much on the StockReport yet for this one. It IPO’d on the LSE Main Market in October 2025.
Results for FY December 2025 are now out.
It’s nice to see a profitable, growing company joining us:
It sounds like the revenue growth was driven by a range of new product launches - so it might be difficult to repeat this every year.
Also ,there’s a gulf between PBT and adjusted PBT, but let’s not nitpick too much for a recent IPO.
They beat expectations and achieved their “third upgrade since IPO” - presumably expectations at IPO were deliberately set low?
Looking ahead:
Very encouraging start to Q1 FY26, with strong growth across the Group's core business and across all key markets and channels
Elimination of pre-IPO interest costs (£6.3m) and IPO-related exceptional items (£8.0m) provides significant tailwind to FY26 reported earnings and cash flow
Net cash is £41m, vs. net debt of £27m a year ago, so that should indeed boost 2026 earnings.
New guidance:
Year-on-year revenue growth expected to continue into FY26, with FY26 revenue in line with current market expectations but due to stronger margins, it is anticipated that profit will be ahead of expectations.
Existing market expectations are given: FY26 revenue of £160.0m, adjusted EBITDA £38.2m.
CEO comment:
Looking ahead, the structural growth drivers across the Group's three core addressable markets of anti-ageing, hair removal and hair regrowth, provide us with confidence in both the long-term demand for At-Home Beauty Devices ("AHBD") and The Beauty Tech Group's significant market opportunity.
Estimates: Cavendish have an adjusted EPS forecast of 25.4p for this year, rising to 28.1p next year. That puts the shares on an adjusted P/E of 12x for the current year. And the adjustments should be lighter this year.
Revenues are seen growing 13% this year - far more sustainable than the growth rates seen in 2025.
Graham’s view
I’m not too familiar with this one yet, and the StockReport is empty, so I’m going to chicken out and leave it on AMBER for now. It does look like a decent IPO, and hopefully it will be useful to have this in the archive when it reports in future.
Graham's Section
ITM Power (LON:ITM)
Up 42% to 133p (£919m) - Strategic collaboration with Rheinmetall - Graham - AMBER =
Even for those of us who have never bought German shares, it’s hard to avoid hearing about a giant like Rheinmetall AG (ETR:RHM). I think of it like Germany’s answer to BAE Systems (LON:BA.) .
Congrats to ITM shareholders for this deal:
The collaboration will focus on Rheinmetall's Giga PtX project, which aims to establish a Europe-wide network of decentralised synthetic fuel production plants for the NATO armed forces, designed to strengthen defence energy resilience, sovereign fuel capability and operational readiness.
The project envisages the deployment of several hundred decentralised production plants across Europe, each with an electrolysis capacity of up to 50 MW, capable of producing approximately 5,000 to 7,000 tonnes of e-fuel per annum per facility…
The collaboration will initially focus on the UK.
The CEO of ITM says “the Giga PtX project represents a repeatable deployment opportunity for large-scale electrolysers”.
The Head of Hydrogen Program at Rheinmetall says: “we are creating a scalable network that strengthens energy autonomy for Europe's defence forces.”
Financial implications?
The RNS does not attempt to give any new guidance. It doesn’t give any new financial details for this contract.
In theory, this partnership could see ITM selling hundreds of its hydrogen systems to Rheinmetall and NATO. It recently launched a standardised 50MW plant priced at c. €50m.
Given that the company’s total annual revenues haven’t yet crossed €50m, this would mark an explosive change.
Graham’s view
I’m sorry to any ITM fans, but I don’t feel able to make a high-conviction call on this one.
The historic financials aren't too exciting:
But today’s news is potentially transformational. And the timing is interesting: eight days ago, the UK government made a £40m equity investment into ITM, along with a £46.5m grant from the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero.
I do think the implications of this announcement are highly uncertain:
“The project envisages the deployment of several hundred decentralised production plants across Europe” - but how likely is this to happen? Might the plans change?
Will ITM be the only provider of hydrogen systems? How many other providers might there be?
Plants will have “an electrolysis capacity of up to 50 MW” - does this mean 50MW is the max, and that many plants could be much smaller than this?
What’s ITM’s expected profit margin at a 50MW plant and at smaller plants?
What's the expected timeframe for the rollout of these plants?
So from my perspective, even though I acknowledge how exciting this announcement is, the revenue and profit implications are impossible to guess at.
For this reason, I’m leaving our neutral stance unchanged. I just don’t see how to value the company at this stage.
But well done to holders. History shows that these shares can really take off - and maybe there is some real substance behind the hype this time?
I also note that its FY April 2026 cash guidance is £210-215m, so there are no balance sheet concerns at this time.
Short interest: it's worth noting that the stock is heavily shorted (at least 4.4% of shares borrowed), and today's gains could involve some distressed short-covering. ITM's share price has doubled since last week! So it wouldn't surprise me if the funds shorting it are now rushing for the exits.
VP (LON:VP.)
Up 1% at 483p (£194m) - Trading Update - Graham - AMBER =
This equipment rental provider issued a profit warning in February, cutting adjusted PBT expectations from £37m to £26-29m.
That guidance is reiterated today.
As FY March 2026 is already over, perhaps they could have narrowed down guidance a little?
Looking ahead, they’re sanguine on the outlook:
Despite tough market conditions, the Group continues to see long-term drivers of demand across its core sectors.
I was neutral on this stock in February as, despite the profit warning, they were still profitable and there appeared to be decent scope for recovery, e.g. in the water sector as delayed infrastructure spending would eventually kick in.
It now seems that there are a few green shoots of recovery: I’ve highlighted them in bold below.
Electricity transmission continues to see growth and strong demand in both the UK and Europe. Rail activity is steady but subdued, with good visibility on future project pipelines. There are positive lead indicators in Water as we enter Year 2 of AMP8, supporting our confidence in an improvement in revenues for FY27.
Within the Construction sector, the Specialist Construction market remains supportive, particularly in London and the Republic of Ireland. Housebuilding remains subdued, but with stronger prospects as Homes England's Social and Affordable Homes Programme (SAHP) 2026-2036 commences.
Mid East conflict: higher fuel costs have been “largely mitigated through customer pricing”.
Graham’s view: the profit warning was still very recent, and it remains unclear where FY March 2026 profits are going to be within the range given. Therefore, despite the green shoots, I’m leaving our neutral stance unchanged. This is consistent with the StockRank:
Optima Health (LON:OPT)
Up 5% to 188.5p (£205m) - Full Year Trading Update Graham - AMBER/GREEN ↑
Optima Health (AIM: OPT), the UK's leading provider of technology enabled corporate health and wellbeing solutions, today announces an unaudited trading update for the year ended 31 March 2026.
Optima recently announced they were raising £35m of fresh equity to help them make a £100m acquisition (“People Asset Management”, or PAM Healthcare).
In that announcement, on 31st March, they included a trading update for FY March 2026. They said adjusted EBITDA would be “at least in line with consensus”.
But it’s actually quite a bit better than that. Today’s RNS says “Optima now expects FY26 Adjusted EBITDA to be ahead of market expectations by c.10%.” Consensus was £18.1m.
Their medium-term targets: £200m revenue, £40m adjusted EBITDA.
Cavendish estimates - thanks to Cavendish for covering this one. I don’t think they’ve updated their forecasts to account for today’s beat, but their forecasts do include the effects of the PAM acquisition. These estimates include:
FY March 2027 revenue £207.7m, adj. PBT £16.7m.
FY March 2028 revenue £231m, adj. PBT £23.4m.
At the current share price I calculate forward EPS as c. 15x for FY27, falling to c. 11x for FY28.
Net debt is seen falling from £63m (March 2027) to £46m (March 2028).
Graham’s view
I will tentatively upgrade our stance on this by one notch, after today’s beat.
However, I should say that debt-fuelled acquisitions, in order to hit revenue and adj. EBITDA targets always make me nervous.
I much prefer companies that focus primarily on organic growth, margins and returns.
Their interim results emphasised 17% revenue growth, but they didn’t make their organic growth rate abundantly clear. The headline growth rate included the effect of three acquisitions.
So I’m a little nervous about this one. But if they do hit their targets over the next two years, without making any other large, debt-funded acquisitions, then net debt will reduce and shareholders will be sitting pretty.
It’s a slightly risky call, but I’m AMBER/GREEN on this now.
The StockRank is picking up, too:
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