SMALL-CAP WINNERS & LOSERS: Pharos Energy rises as oil prices spike

Mon, 16th Oct 2023 09:54

(Alliance News) - The following stocks are the leading risers and fallers among London Main Market small-caps on Monday.

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SMALL-CAP - WINNERS

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Pharos Energy PLC, up 6.7% at 24 pence, 12-month range 20.73p-28.7p. The oil and gas producer with assets in Egypt and Vietnam rises as prices of oil consolidate recent gains. A barrel of Brent oil is trading at USD90.40, up sharply from around USD86 early on Friday. "The sudden price increase felt on Friday came as traders pondered on the developments in Israel and started to price in the potential disruption to the global oil supply that may emanate from the conflict," ActivTrades technical analyst, Pierre Veyret, explains.

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Schroder European Real Estate Investment Trust PLC, up 2.2% at 69.88p, 12-month range 67.2p-89.75p. The property investor says it remains well positioned with significant cash reserves and is reviewing select sustainability-led capital expenditure initiatives in the portfolio, which should optimise earnings growth and asset liquidity. However, says direct property portfolio was independently valued at EUR214.1 million as at September 30, down 2.1% from EUR218.7 million as at September 30, 2022. Says the like-for-like property valuation decreased by 1.9% from EUR218.4 million as at June 30, 2023.

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SMALL-CAP - LOSERS

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SIG PLC, down 3.7% at 31.27p, 12-month range 25.35p-45.38p. The insulation, roofing, commercial interiors and specialist construction product supplier falls further after a gloomy update last Thursday. The stock is down 7.6% over the past five days. SIG said it expects weaker demand conditions to persist for the rest of the year. It said that second-half volume performance so far had improved from the first half, but not by as much as anticipated due to "challenging" market conditions across all its geographies. It cut its annual underlying operating profit forecast range to between GBP50 million and GBP55 million, which would be a sharp drop from GBP80.2 million in 2022.

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By Elizabeth Winter, Alliance News senior markets reporter

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