WH Ireland maintained a “market perform” recommendation at Wsp Group (LON:WSH) after the engineering consultancy confirmed that it was trading in line with expectations despite ongoing market uncertainty. The broker said that WSP remained “a quality play” within the consulting sub-sector and the valuation multiples being ascribed to the proposed acquisition of Scott Wilson Group (LON:SWG) demonstrated the underlying value in the sector.

Elsewhere, bed and mattress maker Airsprung Furniture Group (LON:APG) earned a glowing initiation note from FinnCap, which said the shares appeared deeply undervalued, in part a reflection of the group’s recent losses and the impact on investor sentiment of some furnishing retailers going into receivership. Airsprung posted results slightly above market expectations, with a turnaround in profitability despite continuing difficult market conditions. Turning to carpet and floor covering retailer Carpetright (LON:CPR), FinnCap maintained a “sell” on the back of what it described as a slightly disappointing set of full year results, although the broker had been leaning on the upper end of expectations for PTP, earnings and dividends. Carpetright posted a pre-tax profit of £28.2m and declared an 8p final dividend making the annual total 16p.

Meanwhile, Westhouse Securities reiterated its “buy” recommendation for oil and gas explorer Tower Resources (LON:TRP), claiming the group’s interests in Uganda and offshore Namibia remained significantly undervalued. Elsewhere, it advised a “hold” at Salamander Energy Plc (LON:SMDR) on news that the group had plugged and abandoned the Tom Su Lua-1X exploration well in Block DBSCL-01, offshore southern Vietnam. Salamander will now drill the 31-Tom Hum Xanh-1X exploration well in Block 31, approximately 25km to the south, targeting mean gross recoverable resources of approximately 80m barrels of oil.

Astaire Securities cheered a strong set of full year results from support services group Latham(james) (LON:LTHM), which saw earnings come in materially ahead of forecasts (+22%) at 21.5p. Revenues were in line with forecast of £115.0m but operating profits increased by 69% YoY to £6.4m. Astaire said the immediate outlook remained sound although there were concerns about the impact from cuts in public spending. Turning to cleantech group Acta Spa (LON:ACTA), Astaire noted the company’s pursuit of a number of commercial leads following the success of its Hydrogen Village at the recent European Sailing Championships in Viareggio…

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