FTSE 100 opened up 47 points at 7,263 in spite of more heavy losses on Wall Street overnight. Melrose Industries is top, boosted by a note by JP Morgan which believes the corporate buy, improve and sell specialist has near 50% upside.
Centrica expects full-year adjusted earnings per share to be around the top of the range of forecasts. The British Gas owner said it had delivered a strong operational performance in the first four months of 2022.
Sales of used pure electric cars reached record numbers in the first three months of the year in the UK. The market share for EVs remains modest at just 3.6%.
Wizz Air has signed a contract with Saudi Arabia to "explore airline market development opportunities" in the kingdom. Saudi Arabia has an ambitious vision to triple airline passenger traffic by 2030 as part of its Vision 2030 programme.
Seeing Machines has won its first contract with a Japanese carmaker for driver monitoring technology. Worth A$$21mln, production will start in 2025 and takes the total number of contracts with vehicle makers globally to nine.
Maxcyte raised guidance after a strong start to the year that saw the cell engineering specialist’s revenues increase by 78% in the first quarter. It expects top-line growth of at least 25% from the core business, while milestone income from licensing agreements is set to be in the order of US$4mln.
Technology Minerals' associate Recyclus has been granted an environmental permit at its lead-acid battery recycling plant in Tipton, West Midlands. "The granting of the EA permit is a crucial step forward,” said chairman Robin Brundle.