As suggested pre market - Tharisa  formed a breakout gap above the 50MA  (black line in chart) on the open this am following news of a share buyback of up to 10% of shares issued. Considering that institutions and other tight hands hold 69% of shares issued, this is should underpin the current price  level and support further price levels- especially if  platinum price also improve. The RNS today highlighted that it was the PGM commodity environment that was impacting THS's share  and not reflecting the value of the chromium co-product

Consensus price target for THS is 182p  (4 brokers) , has $221m in cash  with $126.6m in debt so net $94.9m on the balance sheet , pays a dividend just shy of 6% with over x3 cover.  As well as poor PGM prices, the commitment to the Karo platinum mine has weighed on sentiment given the high capital requirements

Having taken a trade at 50.5p, here  this is a potential opportunity to add to a position - THS is up 6.3% at pixel

Chart shows price breaking above the long term trendline : it's highly likely to close above this which should then form support with resistance at 62p and the 200 MA at 66p

THS Tharisa

Trade posted here on Thurs 14 March  - announces a share buyback of up to 10% of float  see RNS 

This should add to recent positive momentum and may gap above the 50MA around 56.6p which would form a bullish breakout gap

At the annual general meeting ('AGM') of Tharisa held on 21 February 2024, shareholders approved a special resolution authorising the Company to undertake a general repurchase of ordinary shares up to 10% of the 302 596 743 ordinary shares in issue at the date of the AGM.

Tharisa is dual listed on the Johannesburg and London stock exchanges. The Board believes that the Company's shares are trading at a significant discount, having been negatively impacted by the PGM commodity price environment while not reflecting the strong co-product contribution from its chrome sales.

The Company has appointed Peel Hunt LLP ('Peel Hunt') to manage and carry out on-market purchases of ordinary shares as principal on both the Johannesburg and London stock exchanges, up to a maximum amount of US$5 million (the "Repurchase Programme") (excluding associated expenses).

ASOS ASC  - See RNS 

Chart sets up with a double bottom reversal to Jul '23 from yesterday (whispers into today's TU?)  - results look to have beaten expectations with better FCFC and a higher cahs balance : ASC has over  6% short interest which  should add to the  price reversal

·   Sales¹ declined by c.18%, broadly in-line with guidance that P4 FY23 trends were expected to continue through H1 FY24 as we annualise actions taken during FY23 to improve core profitability under the Driving Change agenda and with H1 intake c.-30% yoy as we right-size stock levels.

·   Good progress on implementing the Back to Fashion strategy, including action to clear aged stock and transition to the new operating model by FY25. Ahead on plan to improve stock efficiency and reduce inventory to c.£600m by year end. Test & React is now tracking at c.5% of own-brand sales, bringing high-fashion product from design to site in 2 to 3 weeks increasing our agility in responding to rapidly evolving customer demand.

·    Free cash flow improved by c.£240m compared to H1 FY23 due to improvements in underlying profitability and the clearance of aged stock. Despite the sales decline, H1 free cash outflow² of c.£20m represents a strong outcome in a period typically characterised by significantly negative working capital (see chart below) and represents our strongest H1 cash performance since FY17.

·    As a result of this performance, we closed the half with a robust cash balance³ of more than £330m, an improvement of more than £20m from H1 FY23.

·     Full-year guidance is unchanged, including: 5-15% sales decline, positive adjusted EBITDA, inventory back to pre-COVID levels, and positive cash generation, reducing net debt.

Ocado Ocado 4.1% Short - See RNS 

 Volumes (total items) grew 8.1% year-on-year, driving Q1 Retail revenue growth of 10.6%, to £645.3m.

●    Ocado Retail online market share (Nielsen) rose to 13.5% at the end of February, up 0.7% over the year.

●    Average orders per week of 414,000 grew 8.4% compared with Q1 2023, reflecting strong growth in active customers, up 6.4% to 1.02 million at the end of the quarter.

●    Average basket value was up 2.1% while basket size (number of items) was stable year-on-year.

●    Continued focus on pricing strategy resulted in ASP growth of just 2.2%, significantly below the market - this has translated to improvements in customer value perception

 

 

Wood Group WG 1.3%  - See RNS 

Upgrades 2024 outlook

Strategic progress and strong growth in the first year of our strategy

·      Delivered results in line with expectations

o  Revenue growth across all business units

o  Strong adjusted EBITDA growth, in line with guidance

·      Continued momentum

o  Fastest growth in Consulting and across sustainable solutions

o  Order book up 4% to $6.3 billion, up 7% like-for-like¹⁴

o  Double-digit growth in our factored sales pipeline

o  Improving pricing trends across pipeline, order book and in margin performance in 2023

o  Adjusted operating cash flow improved to $194 million, up $260 million on last year

·      Growing our sustainable solutions business to $1.3 billion¹⁵

o  Sustainable solutions revenue up 15% and represented 22% of Group revenue

o  43% of factored sales pipeline now in sustainable solutions

UK equities gave back some of last week's gains yesterday with the FTSE250 dropping most to check back to the 8EMA level and find support . DLG dropping over 11% as hopes of the Ageas offer ended

as highlighted in the weekly wrap, Oil rallied off the 8EMA  (see chart ) lifting oilers while miners also advanced

Dollar has pulled back from the $104 level, Gold has responded and is tracing the 8EMA maintaining  its bullish bias while copper has pulled back tot he 21EMA but found some  support at this level