Become a Member
  • Track your favourite stocks
  • Create & monitor portfolios
  • Daily portfolio value
Sign Up
Quickpicks
Add shares to your
quickpicks to
display them here!

EARNINGS AND TRADING: Marston's cheers World Cup; SThree profit drops

21st Jul 2026 13:38

(Alliance News) - The following is a round-up of earnings and trading updates by London-listed companies, issued on Tuesday and not separately reported by Alliance News:

----------

SThree PLC - London-based science, technology, engineering and mathematics-focused staffing firm - Pretax profit declines 73% to GBP2.7 million in the six months ended May 31 from GBP10.1 million the year prior, reflecting lower net fees and GBP6.4 million of non-recurring costs primarily attributable to planned expenditure associated with the cost optimisation programme. Revenue drops 77% to GBP598.8 million from GBP648.8 million and net fees fall 7.2% to GBP147.7 million from GBP159.1 million. Basic earnings per share are 2.1 pence, down 63% from 5.6p, interim dividend is held at 5.1p per share. By geography, net fees rise 12% in the US, but fall 14% and 24% in Germany and the Netherlands respectively. Engineering net fees are broadly stable, declining 1% on-year, Life Sciences decline 8% and Technology by 14%. Contract net fees, 85% of group total, decline 8%. "The board remains cautiously optimistic, supported by positive forward indicators, including improving new business activity across a growing number of countries; a return to growth in the contractor order book; and continued momentum in select countries, notably the USA and Japan," SThree says. This underpins full-year 2026 pretax profit guidance of around GBP10 million.

----------

Yu Group PLC - Nottingham, England-based gas and electricity supplier and smart meter installer - Confirms trading is in line with expectations as it updates on trading for the six months ended June 30. Revenue grows 19% to GBP405 million from GBP341 million a year ago, in line with management expectations, and accelerating from 9% growth posted the year prior. "The group continues to gain market share despite a warmer than expected winter period reducing consumption," it says. The contract book increases 45% year-on-year to GBP1.7 billion from GBP1.2 billion, ahead of management expectations, with GBP700 million revenue already booked for 2027. Yu says it is on target to deliver earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation, earnings per share and operational meter metrics for FY26 in-line with current market expectations in spite of short-term impact of Iran war and reduced consumption as a result of warmer weather. Meter growth remains on plan with aspirations to secure a 7% to 9% market share by 2028. "We remain optimistic with a strong contract book running into 2027 underpinning our growth ambitions," Yu adds.

----------

Netcall PLC - Bedford, England-based digital automation and customer engagement company - Expects to report FY26 results in line with market expectations, with "another year of strong, profitable growth and increased cash generation." Believes markets consensus for the financial year ended June 30 is revenue of GBP57.6 million, adjusted Ebitda of GBP12.0 million and net cash of GBP20.4 million. Revenue for the financial year is anticipated to increase by 20% to GBP57.7 million from GBP48.0 million, including organic growth of 12%. "Growth came from continued expansion across the existing customer base and a further increase in new customer wins across the group's key markets," Netcall says. Adjusted Ebitda is anticipated to increase by 23% to GBP12.1 million from GBP9.8 million a year ago, with the adjusted Ebitda margin rising to 21% from 20%. "Sales of our AI-related products almost tripled, with these products included in more than 40% of new cloud orders as customers moved from experimentation to live use across customer interactions and workflows," says Chief Executive James Ormondroyd. Netcall says it enters FY27 with a record sales pipeline, supported by demand for cloud-based automation and AI-enabled solutions.

----------

RentGuarantor Holdings PLC - London-based provider of rent guarantee services in the UK private rental sector - Revenue balloons to GBP3.4 million in the six months ended June 30 from GBP1.0 million the year prior, with the number of contracts nearly trebling to 3,703 from 1,326. Average value of contracts grows 31% to GBP1,001 from GBP731 a year ago. As a result, swings to adjusted Ebitda of GBP110,000 from GBP124,000 loss the year before, with an adjusted net profit of GBP250,000 compared with a GBP367,000 loss. "Trading momentum has continued into July, providing the board with increasing confidence that the strong performance seen during the first half of the year can be sustained throughout the remainder of FY2026," firm adds. As a result, expects revenue and adjusted pretax profit for the financial year ending December 31 will be "materially" above market expectations. Puts current market consensus for revenue at between GBP5.9 million to GBP6.0 million and for adjusted pretax profit at GBP200,000 to GBP700,000.

----------

Marston's PLC - Wolverhampton, England-based pub operator - Like-for-like sales in the 42 weeks to July 18 are 1.6% lower than last year, with softer off-peak market conditions offsetting strong growth in peak occasions. Reports strong trading during football World Cup with LFL sales up 22% on-year on England match days. New pub formats all continue to deliver "excellent" LFL sales growth with Grandstand the "standout" performer, generating year-to-date LFL sales growth of around 30% in the 36 conversions completed to date. Confident in delivering full-year market expectations of underlying pretax profit of GBP78.5 million, with a range from GBP76.1 million to GBP83.2 million. Also expects to achieve the Ebitda margin expansion target set in October 2024 in the current financial year, "significantly" ahead of schedule. Expects pre-IFRS16 leverage to be around 4 times by the FY2026 results, at which point plans to start "a programme of shareholder returns alongside the accelerated capital investment for the formats rollout," which it expects to be in the form of share buybacks.

----------

GB Group PLC - Chester, England-based identity verification and fraud prevention company - Ahead of Tuesday's annual general meeting, GB Group says its financial performance in the first quarter of the financial year, the three months to June 30, is in line with expectations. Revenue growth in its core segments of Identity and Location was "comfortably" mid-single digit, while its smallest segment, Global Fraud Solutions, is "experiencing slower sales cycles and lapping a strong prior-year comparison." Chief Executive Dev Dhiman says: "Q1 has seen us deliver richer journey analytics, enhanced document and biometric verification, and deeper AI capabilities to enable faster, safer decisions for customers. This reinforces the board's confidence in our ability to deliver accelerated growth in the medium term, as outlined in our recent results."

----------

By Jeremy Cutler, Alliance News reporter

Comments and questions to [email protected]

Copyright 2026 Alliance News Ltd. All Rights Reserved.


Related Shares:

SThreeYu EnergyNetcallRentguarantorMarstonsGb Group
FTSE 100 Latest
Value10,585.91
Change61.15