Kier Group, up 9.1%, announced that it has appointed Anne Baldock as a Non-Executive Director to its board of Directors effective from 01 July 2025. Anne will be a member of the Environment, Social and Governance Committee, the Nomination Committee, the Remuneration Committee and the Risk Management and Audit Committee.
1Spatial, up 1.0%, announced that it has officially introduced its Next-Gen Core Services (NGCS), marking a significant step in helping state and local agencies modernise emergency response systems in alignment with NG9-1-1 standards. With the NGCS launch, 1Spatial delivers a flexible, standards-driven foundation for emergency call routing and location data validation, enabling faster response, improved data governance, and seamless interoperability between jurisdictions and providers.
Aferian, unchanged at 3.8p, today, in its trading update for the six months ended 31 May 2025, announced that it expects to report a significantly improved financial performance in H1 FY2025, reflecting strong trading momentum in the period. Additionally, its revenue for the period is expected to be around $16.6m (H1 FY2024: $12.2m), reflecting growth of 36% over the six months ended 31 May 2024 (H1 FY2024). Its adjusted EBITDA for the period is anticipated to be in the range of $1.6m to $1.8m, representing a material improvement on adjusted EBITDA loss of $2.3m reported in H1 FY2024. Further, the company expects to release its interim results for the six months ended 31 May 2025 in early August 2025.
LPA Group, down 2.0%, in its results for the six months ended 31 March 2025, announced that its revenue dropped to £9.52m as compared to £11.56m recorded in the same period of the previous year. Loss before tax widened to £0.48m from £0.40m. Additionally, the company has not proposed any dividends for this period.
Oracle Power, unchanged at 0.02p, today, in its results for the year ended 31 December 2024, announced that its loss before tax narrowed to £0.71m from £0.79m. The company’s cash and cash equivalents stood at £0.62m for the period. Separately, the company announced that its annual general meeting (AGM) would be held on 18 July 2025 at 11.00 a.m at the offices of Charles Russell Speechlys LLP, 5 Fleet Place, London EC4M 7RD.
UK markets ended lower last week, as escalating geopolitical tensions between Israel and Iran weighed on investor sentiment. On the data front, the UK retail sales dropped more than expected in May, following a sharp drop in food store sales, while the nation’s consumer price inflation slowed as expected in May. Meanwhile, the UK GfK consumer confidence index unexpectedly advanced in June. Separately, the Bank of England (BoE) kept its key interest rate unchanged at 4.25%, as expected. The FTSE 100 index declined 0.9% to settle at 8,774.7, while the FTSE AIM 100 index fell 0.6% to close at 3,657.3. Additionally, the FTSE techMARK 100 index lost 0.6% to end at 7,178.2.
US markets ended higher in the previous week, amid optimism over potential interest rate cuts by the US Federal Reserve. On the macro front, the US weekly jobless claims dropped as expected in the week ended 13 June 2025. Meanwhile, the US retail sales fell sharply in May, while the nation’s industrial production unexpectedly declined in May. Moreover, the US building permits unexpectedly dropped in May, while the nation’s housing starts fell more than anticipated in May. Separately, the US Federal Reserve kept its key interest rate steady at 4.50%, amid expectations of rising inflation and slowing economic growth. However, the central bank maintained its projection for two rate cuts later this year. The DJIA index marginally rose to end at 42,206.8, while the NASDAQ index gained 0.2% to close at 19,447.4.
