Review website Trustpilot won the confidence of investors after it hiked its profit forecasts yesterday.
Shares in the firm, which allows customers to leave public reviews of businesses and their services, rose 12.1 per cent, or 8.25p, to 76.35p.
However, the stock is still down 70 per cent from its listing price in March 2021 of 265p.
The Copenhagen company said it expects to have swung back into the black in the first half of the year, steering investors towards profits of £2.3million. Last year it racked up losses of £4.1million.
It also said it was pleased with the progress being made in the search for a chief executive after Peter Holten Muhlmann stepped down in March after 16 years running the show.
Bouncing back: Shares in Trustpilot, which allows customers to leave public reviews of businesses and their services, rose 12.1% after it hiked its profit forecasts
Another firm to enjoy a share rally was Seraphim Space Investment Trust.
Shares rocketed 14.9 per cent, or 3.9p, to 30p after the space technology venture fund revealed JP Morgan has been hired to buy back shares.
It marks a recovery after Seraphim floated two years ago at 100p but recently plunged to a low of 26p.
The trust, chaired by former Virgin Galactic boss Will Whitehorn, raised £150million when it listed and is pinning its hopes on the arrival of mainstream space tourism.
But it has struggled over the past year due to central banks increasing interest rates and investors being deterred from stocks that are not profitable.
The FTSE 100 climbed 0.3 per cent, or 24.10 points, to 7440.21 while the FTSE 250 was up 0.3 per cent, or 52.17 points, to 18,631.71.
It was boosted by energy and mining stocks as commodity prices rose. Antofagasta was up 2.1 per cent, or 31.5p, to 1547p while Glencore climbed 2.5 per cent, or 11.3p, to 469.65p.
Stock Watch – Predator Oil & Gas
Shares in Predator Oil & Gas, which has operations in Morocco, Trinidad and Ireland, jumped 41 per cent, or 4p, to 13.75p yesterday in another day of turbulent trading.
Having seen the share price dive earlier in the week, the company gave a positive update on drilling of some of its wells in Morocco, which appeared to reassure the company’s investors.
The stock fell by a penny on Wednesday but made up ground and the firm is now worth just under £60million.
Aptitude Software Group fell 18.8 per cent, or 64p, to 276p after the financial management software provider announced its boss Jeremy Suddards was leaving.
Another stock in choppy waters was Carnival, one of the biggest FTSE 250 fallers. The cruise operator was down 4.7 per cent, or 61p, to 1231.5p as Shore Capital reiterated a sell rating and raised a question mark over a share price boost in recent days.
The broker pointed to mountains of debt following Covid and the group’s history of making modest returns on investments.
Unbound Group, which owns the trainer seller Hotter Shoes, tumbled 12.5 per cent, or 0.13p, to 0.88p after it said filing for administration was ‘one of a number of options’ that it was exploring.
Shares in ITV were also dented slightly – falling 0.6 per cent, or 0.44p, to 68.78p – despite a broker’s note nudging up the television giant’s target price to 102p from 100p.
Deutsche Bank said ITV’s Connected TV advertising segment has ‘a lot to offer’ and ‘provides an attractive option for big-screen, sound-on advertising’.
‘While the focus has been on the structurally challenged linear TV advertising business, we believe the growth in advertising within ITVX is still at a nascent stage and a step up here should compensate for the decline in linear TV,’ the note said.
Mike Ashley’s Frasers Group raised its stake in N Brown from 17.6 per cent to over 18 per cent.
Frasers fell 0.4 per cent, or 2.5p, to 716p while N Brown rose 1.1 per cent, or 0.25p, to 24p. And Babcock shares rose 3.5 per cent, or 10p, to 296p after the British aerospace and defence company said it had agreed to refit its HMS Victorious nuclear submarine with the Government’s submarine delivery agency.
Dominic Kieran, chief executive officer of nuclear at Babcock, said: ‘The work we do to support the vanguard class fleet, a vital part of the UK’s defence, has never been more important.’
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