(Alliance News) – UK retail sales accelerated ahead of expectations in July following continued good weather, but fell short of consensus on an annual basis, the Office for National Statistics reported on Friday.
Total retail sales volumes are estimated to have risen by 0.6% in July, accelerating from an increase of 0.3% in June and comfortably beating an FXStreet-cited consensus for 0.2% growth in July. Sales volumes improved 1.1% over the year to July, accelerated from 0.9% growth in the year to June, but falling short of an FXStreet-cited consensus for 1.3% growth.
Comment: There are apparently some things even an interventionist / Nanny State government cannot influence, record hot summer weather, people watching football, and eating too much.
Oberon Investments Group plc (AQSE: OBE), the boutique investment management, wealth planning and corporate broking group, announced that it has raised approximately £1.58 million at a price of 4.0 pence per share. OBE said “The Fundraising is intended to provide funding to pursue a number of these opportunities. In August, Oberon announced the appointments of Peter Martin and Jake Bambridge, both formerly of Odey Asset Management. Oberon intends to launch a dedicated fund towards the end of the year to implement Peter’s established and proven investment strategy, which the Fundraising will help to support. We have a target of attracting over £200m of AUM within 6-12 months through these appointments.”
Metals One (MET1), a critical and precious metals exploration and development company, announce it has acquired a strategic shareholding in Evolution Energy Minerals Ltd (ASX: EV1) and agreed to underwrite part of Evolution’s current Rights Issue. Evolution’s primary project is the large, development-ready, high grade mineral resource potential Chilalo Graphite Project in Tanzania, supported by binding offtake agreements covering more than 90% of production.
Comment: In terms of deals / RNSs it would appear that MET1 is certainly hungry, and seems to be the go to player in terms of junior mining activity. The only thing missing is getting that share price back to the dizzy heights of May through 50p.
Guardian Metal Resources (GMET), a strategic development and mineral exploration company focused on tungsten in Nevada, USA, announce an exploration update at the Company’s Tempiute tungsten project located 250 miles southeast of the Company’s Pilot Mountain project in Nevada, USA. Tempiute is a significant past-producing tungsten mine and during the 1980s was the largest in the USA. GMET said “Guardian Metal’s mission is to establish our co-flagship projects as the cornerstone of U.S. tungsten supply, directly supporting national efforts to reshore production of this critical defence mineral.”
Comment: Fresh from a legendary investor joining the shareholder register, it would appear that GMET is almost as keen on “drill baby drill” as Kemi Badenoch. At least with a geologist CEO, GMET knows rather more about the subject than the Leader of His Majesty’s Opposition.
capAI (CPAI) announced the hire of Jayne Lytel to oversee AI architecture at its California-based subsidiary, capMedia Inc. As the first senior hire to capMedia’s tiny team beyond its founding nucleus, Jayne will lead the design and development of the AI architecture powering the Group’s creative platforms; Author42, Creator42, and Game42. Her appointment marks the start of a carefully sequenced build-out of up to four hires in engineering, growth, and partnerships to accelerate commercialisation.
Comment: One of the challenges that the listed companies have in pivoting into hot tech areas is that the incumbents tend to be 60 years old, bald, fat, and don’t know one end of an AI platform from another. Hence, the serious headhunting going on in the space to bring in the wunderkinds.
Peel Hunt (PEEL) said it has had a strong start to the current financial year (“FY26”) demonstrating the strategic progress made by the business during the challenging market conditions of the last three years. PEEL said “In Investment Banking, we have acted on a number of substantial M&A transactions. Revenues in our Execution Services business are also encouraging and materially ahead of the equivalent prior year period. As a result of this activity, we expect to deliver full year results ahead of market expectations. The Company will update the market on revenues for the first six months of FY26 on 1 October 2025.”
Comment: Shares of PEEL are up by around one third since May, as the market took the view that amongst other things, the Bitcoin Treasury Strategy boom starting that month would deliver a decent boost to execution services, especially as spreads on stocks at the junior end still remain wider than the Atlantic.
ACUITY RM GROUP (ACRM) announced that Angus Forrest Chairman and David Rajakovich CEO will provide a live presentation relating to the interim results via Investor Meet Company on 11 Sept 2025, 10:00 BST. The presentation is open to all existing and potential shareholders. Questions can be submitted pre-event via your Investor Meet Company dashboard up until 10 Sept 2025, 09:00 BST, or at any time during the live presentation. Investors can sign up to Investor Meet Company for free and add to meet ACUITY RM GROUP PLC via: https://www.investormeetcompany.com/acuity-rm-group-plc/register-investor
Comment: It is a shame that perhaps so far ACRM has not become the sticky retainer winner to corporates that it seemed set to be. That said, Investor Meet Company has.
Gear4music (G4M), the UK’s largest retailer of musical instruments and music equipment, will hold its Annual General Meeting at 10.30am today. G4M will say “”We are pleased to report that the strong sales momentum highlighted in our previous update has continued. Group revenues for Q1 FY26, covering the three months to 30 June 2025, were 27% ahead of Q1 FY25, with traction continuing in Q2 FY26 to date. While it remains early in the financial year and the critical peak trading period is yet to come, strong trading in the year to date provides the Board with sufficient confidence to once again increase its expectations for the Group’s financial performance for the year ending 31 March 2026.”
Comment: It would appear that everyone wants to be Taylor Swift or perhaps Youngblud. A standout here at G4M is the way that the company has bounced back from the pandemic boom it had, when everyone had time to practice being the next Taylor Swift / Youngblud, or even Ozzy Osbourne, bat in mouth.
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The information, investment views, and recommendations in this Zaks Traders Cafe interview are provided for general information purposes only. Nothing in this interview should be construed as a promotion or solicitation to buy or sell any financial product relating to any companies under discussion or referred to or to engage in or refrain from doing so or engage in any other transaction. Any opinions or comments are made to the best of the knowledge and belief of the commentator but no responsibility is accepted for actions based on such opinions or comments. The commentators may or may not hold investments in the companies under discussion.
