The Times: The troubled FTSE 100 retailer, JD Sports Fashion (JD), has warned that full-year profits will be lower than expected after it admitted that it had been forced to cut prices to drive sales.
Alongside a scheduled second-quarter trading update JD Sports said it expected to report full-year headline profits of between £700 million to £800 million, having previously forecast profits of between £750 million to £850 million. Like-for-like sales fell by a worse-than-expected 3.1 per cent in the second quarter, the 13 weeks to August 1. Analysts at Deutsche Bank had forecast a 1 .2 per cent fall.
Comment: If nothing else one can glean from the profits warning at JD., why retail supremo Mike Ashley via Frasers seems keen to go up market to the likes of Hugo Boss. This suggests that the days of pile ‘em high / sell ‘em cheap may be over, at least in its present form. Nevertheless, £700m in profits is not exactly a tumbleweed number.
Sunrise (SRES) reported strong results from the Phase III sample evaluation at the Pioche Sepiolite Project in Nevada. SRES said, “We are delighted to report these highly encouraging Phase III results. Building on earlier processing breakthroughs, we have now demonstrated for the first time that Pioche sepiolite meets the stringent American Petroleum Institute specifications for drilling fluids. This is a major development for the project. Drilling fluids represent a significant market opportunity – one that was never evaluated during Tolsa’s previous work at Pioche. The Phase III work has also delivered an important geological outcome, with the identification of additional and thicker sepiolite horizons in previously unsampled 2024 drill core. Together with the identification of surface localities suitable for future test mining, these results provide a strong platform for further evaluation of the Project’s scale, quality and commercial development options.”
Comment: There is currently something of a gold rush in terms of the select bank of London listed explorer / developers looking to match the glory of Guardian Metal (GMET), with the Nevada postcode, and massive share price rise. SRES is still at a sub £2m market cap, so those looking for the next train to leave the station may feel that this is the company to pick on.
Tap Global Group plc (TAP), the innovative digital finance hub that brings money, payments and crypto settlement services together in a single user-friendly app, updated on trading in the financial year ended 30 June 2026 and subsequently, reflecting the recently launched Tap Earn product. Revenue in the Period of approximately £3.0 million, c.7% ahead of market expectations, in a year in which industry-wide crypto exchange volumes more than halved. Adjusted EBITDA loss in the Period of approximately £0.26 million, c.80% lower than market expectations.
Comment: Yesterday’s massive spike in crypto provides for a decent backdrop to today’s update from TAP, something which would have been a triumph by its own standards, if it had managed to avoid the small loss. That said, in recent years it has been the underperformance of the shares rather than necessarily the fundamentals that have irked the most.
Talisman Metals PLC (TLM) announced it has raised £501,800 in gross proceeds through a Company lead subscription of both new and existing shareholders at a placing price of 7 pence per share (being a 9.37% premium to the closing share price on the 19th August 2026). The net proceeds of the Placement will be used to fund exploration and development work on the Tirzzit Copper Project, the Fougnar Copper Project in Morocco, and for general corporate and working capital purposes.
Comment: Coming to market in January, TLM looked as though it could have been one of the stock market stars of 2026. Instead, one always had the feeling that it needed a little more cash to carry out its Moroccan campaign, and perhaps the half a bar it has just raised may inspire new investors to come to the party.
Mila Resources Plc (MILA), the post-discovery gold and copper resource development company focused on Australia, announced highly positive results of Induced Polarisation (IP) surveys at key targets at the Company’s 100% owned Monal Copper-Gold Project in south-eastern Queensland. MILA said “The results from our work at Monal are showing scale, having followed up on historic work and finding extensive surface expressions of copper, gold and molybdenum; the team is extremely encouraged. The IP results, together with rock chip sampling showing clear porphyry-style signatures at surface, have significantly strengthened our view of the Project’s potential for multiple yet undefined near-surface porphyries across the wider licence area. The combination of compelling drill targets within a proven mineralised district highlights the opportunity at Monal and adds meaningful value to Mila’s wider Queensland portfolio.”
Comment: MILA has never been shy about singing its praises in terms of what it is sitting on, and like today, this has generally had a decent response in share price terms from the market. Nevertheless, the shares are still down 30% this year, after a 5x gain, so one wonders how much more good news is required to get the shares back on the right side of 2p and a £20m market cap?
CleanTech Lithium PLC (CTL), an exploration and development company advancing sustainable lithium projects in Chile, announced that, together with its wholly owned subsidiaries, CleanTech Laguna Verde SpA (“CLV”) and Atacama Salt Lakes SpA (“ASL”), it has entered into a Settlement and Amendment Agreement (“SAA”) with the vendors of 23 mining concessions at Laguna Verde (the “Licences”). The SAA amends the sale and purchase agreement announced by the Company on 22 April 2024 (the “SPA”) pursuant to which CLV agreed to acquire the Licences. The SAA, which was executed on 19 August 2026, resolves all historic financial and legal issues between the CleanTech group and the LV Vendors, including matters referred to in the Company’s announcements on 1 December 2025 and 22 April 2026. Furthermore, it reduces the aggregate cash consideration payable by 60% from US$35 million to US$14 million.
Comment: Although there will be some who are familiar with CTL who have had a rocky ride, one can say that recent months really have seen a recovery on a fundamental basis, of which today’s news is arguably the highlight. The massive drop in the cash consideration should mean that CTL and its share price are finally on their way.
Shield Therapeutics plc (STX), a commercial-stage pharmaceutical company specialising in iron deficiency, announced the release of its unaudited interim results for the six months ended 30 June 2026 and confirms that the Company remains on track for operating profitability in 2026. H1 revenues of $30.4M with strong growth in the commercially insured patients’ segment. On track for operating profitability in 2026. c.102,000 ACCRUFeR® prescriptions sold, up from c.84,000 in H1 2025.
Comment: The journey for biotechs from money burners to cash machines tends to be an extended and arduous one. As STX describes itself, we are at the commercial stage, and one would expect the transition phase during the rest of 2026 to be something that will turnaround at least some of the 50% decline we have seen in the shares YTD.
Disclaimer & Declaration of Interest:
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.
