Despite better than expected profits being posted in today’s Q1 update, shares in the high street lender NatWest slipped back in Friday morning. There’s obviously a degree of concern in terms of the broader macroeconomic outlook but impairment charges have only seen a modest adjustment and there’s an upside to be had from the fact interest rates staying higher for longer are helping bolster margins. However RoTE is gradually declining and the bank is bracing itself for what happens next. The NatWest share price was down 4% in early trade.
Housebuilder MJ Gleeson issued an update this morning covering the first 11 weeks of the second half of the trading year. Management provided reassurance over the full year outlook now that they have better visibility from the spring selling season and also advised that reservation rates for the reporting period had ticked marginally higher. However, with more recent trends including softening footfall as consumer confidence eased back and some signs of build cost inflation coming through, the fact the MJ Gleeson share price was trading up 4% shortly after the open feels notable.
The dual US/UK listed biotherapeutics company PureTech Health issued an update this morning, noting that Seaport Therapeutics, an entity which PureTech founded, has announced the pricing of an upsized IPO. That’s now set to go at $18, which is the top of the target range PureTech will own almost 17 million of the newly issued shares. The number of shares offered has been increased by more than 20%, with this feeding directly into valuations and the PureTech Health share price had added 9% by 8.45am.
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