ZIGUP (ZIG) – Business Services Price: 382p +12.2%P/E: 7.9xMarket Cap: £854mYield: 7.8% Integrated mobility solutions firm ZIGUP (formerly Redde Northgate) posted an upbeat first half trading update and forecast full-year profit would be ‘at least at the top of market expectations’. For the six months to 31 October, group revenue was up 2.9% to £930 million while pre-tax profit was up 16% to £65 million. Chief executive Martin Ward called out the Spanish business for delivering a ‘standout’ performance over the summer, while the UK and Ireland showed ‘good momentum’ with recent fleet wins and an expansion of the specialist…

MONY GROUP (MONY) – Media Price: 189.2 +0.3%P/E: 11.8xMarket Cap: £990mYield: 7% Price comparison platform MONY (formerly Moneysupermarket.com) posted an unexceptional trading update for the five months to 30 November, the only highlight being full-year earnings expectations are unchanged. Second-half performance improved from the first half on the back of better results from Money and Energy and ‘modest’ growth in Insurance. For 2026, all the firm said was it expects ‘easing headwinds’ to create potential for a greater level of stability in its end markets. Our View In Moneysupermarket and MoneySavingExpert the group has strong brands, but the shares have…

SMITHS GROUP (SMIN) – Industrials Price: £24.74 +1.8%P/E: 21.8xMarket Cap: £8bnYield: 2% Industrial conglomerate Smiths Group has agreed the sale of its Detection unit to private equity funds advised by CVC Capital Partners for an EV (enterprise value) of £2 billion. The price represents a multiple of 16.3 times headline operating profit and 12.5 times headline EBITDA for the year to 31 July, which Smiths says ‘fully reflects’ the unit’s long-term growth and margin expansion prospects and compares strongly against relevant publicly available benchmarks. Our View Together with the sale of the Interconnect division, this means Smiths has sold businesses…

Gear4Music (G4M) – Retail Price: 308.5p +7.8%P/E: 15.9xMarket Cap: £65.9mYield: n/a Having raised guidance in June, September, October and November, instrument retailer Gear4Music has done it again with its latest trading update. Thanks to ‘very strong’ sales momentum over the Black Friday weekend, including Cyber Monday when over 14,000 orders dispatched were in a single day, the firm sees earnings for the year to 31 March 2026 above its latest forecast and the consensus. EBITDA is now seen at ‘not less than £16.7 million’, 10% above the £15.2 consensus million and its own forecast of ‘not less than £15 million’…

BAILLIE GIFFORD US GROWTH (USA) – Investment Trusts Price: 281.25p +0.5%NAV: Market Cap: £774mYield: n/a It looks as though another merger in the investment trust sector is about to fall through due to lack of shareholder support. The boards of Baillie Gifford US Growth and EDINBURGH WORLDWIDE (EWI), also managed in-house, proposed what they called a ‘transformational merger opportunity’ which would allow for the continuation of the current investment strategy as well as a ‘material cash exit’ for shareholders. However, Saba Capital, which owns 29% of BG US Growth shares and 30% of Edinburgh Worldwide, is witholding its support for…

ON THE BEACH (OTB) – Travel & Leisure Price: 221p +14.8%P/E: 18xMarket Cap: £320mYield: 1.6% In the 12 months to 30 September, holiday and city break operator On The Beach posted record TTV (total transaction value) for the fourth consecutive year along with record passenger numbers and adjusted pre-tax profit. By leveraging its updated platform, the firm increased repeat bookings by 18% while the number of customers booking twice or more per year jumped 15%. The group sent a record 1.7 million travellers on holiday and now believes its total market could be as large as 50 million passengers. Our…

AIM-listed photonics firm Gooch & Housego (LON:GHH) posted an impressive set of results for the year to 30 September. The group’s performance was helped by a big increase in demand from the aerospace and defence sector. Strong underlying growth Group revenue was up 10.7% to £150 million, with 5.6% like-for-like growth and the rest from acquisitions. Drilling into the numbers, defence revenue led the increase with a 52% jump to £52.4 million More than half the growth came from underlying operations, showing the group’s strong market position. Looking ahead, the order book was up 36% to £142 million with over…

MICHELMERSH BRICK HOLDINGS (MBH) – Building Materials Price: 83.2p -3.2%P/E: 12.5xMarket Cap: £76mYield: 5.4% AIM-listed brickmaker Michelmersh warned in September 2025’s performance would be ‘broadly reflective’ of 2024, meaning no increase in profits, but it predicted a return to growth next year. Today the firm cut its sales and earnings forecasts again due to ‘a notable slowdown in the construction market and activity levels in the final quarter’. Thanks to substantial capital investment, however, the company is still predicting improved profits in 2026. Our View We see Michelmersh as an early indicator of what’s going on in the new-build market,…

HICL INFRASTRUCTURE (HICL)– Investment Trusts Price: 117.6p +3.9%NAV: Market Cap: £2.17bnYield: 6.5% The board of HICL has announced today the proposed £5.3 billion combination with THE RENEWABLES INFRASTRUCTURE GROUP (TRIG) will no longer go ahead due to opposition from major shareholders. Both boards remained convinced of the strategic rationale, but both now have to find an alternative way to deliver better value to investors. Our View Opposition to a deal began almost as soon as the deal was announced, led by CG Asset Management (manager of CAPITAL GEARING TRUST (CGT)), with M&G (MNG) the latest firm to throw its weight…

EASYJET (EZJ) – Travel & Leisure Price: 498.8p -0.1%P/E: 7.2xMarket Cap: £3.75bnYield: 2.7% Low-cost airlines EasyJet and WIZZ AIR (WIZZ) confirmed this morning they had both completed the required software updates on all their operational A320 aircraft over the weekend with no interruption to flights. EasyJet also confirmed its financial outlook remains in line with last month’s guidance. Read the press release here: https://corporate.easyjet.com/home/default.aspx