A spring in his step: Sir Martin Sorrell
Sir Martin Sorrell will have a spring in his step this weekend after a move into artificial intelligence by his digital advertising agency S4 Capital sent shares soaring.
The company, which was set up by the City tycoon in May 2018, said it has capitalised on its ‘prominent AI positioning’ this year.
S4 won various contracts with clients looking to embed the technology into their businesses for tasks such as copywriting.
But others – particularly tech clients – remained cautious on spending. Group revenues fell 19.7 per cent to £210.2m in the three months to the end of March.
However, optimism over S4’s AI footing sent shares up 17.9 per cent, or 8.26p, to 54.5p. That added £46m to the value of the business, leaving it worth £313m.
And Sorrell’s stake rose by more than £4m to £29.4m. The FTSE 100 continued its record-breaking run as the economy roared back from recession and investors looked forward to interest rate cuts this summer. The blue-chip index topped 8400 for the first time to hit an all-time high of 8455. It ended the day up 0.6 per cent, or 52.41 points, at 8433.76, a record close.
The FTSE 250 gained 0.6 per cent, or 114.08 points, to 20645.38.
Building materials giant CRH – which shifted its primary listing from London to New York in September last year – reported a 2 per cent rise in revenues to £5.2billion in the first quarter of 2024. The firm benefited from a strong performance in North America. Shares rose 5.2 per cent, or 336p, to 6780p.
The new finance chief at Dr Martens, Giles Wilson, will start two weeks earlier than planned when he joins the bootmaker on Monday. Shares added 1.1 per cent, or 0.85p, to 79.25p.
Bytes Technology has appointed a chief executive almost three months after the software and cloud technology group’s previous boss quit due to failing to disclose share transactions.
Sam Mudd, who has sat on the board since July last year and also led the company temporarily since February, will take over on a permanent basis.
Bytes added that it is close to publishing the findings from its investigation into former chief executive Neil Murphy. Shares rose 1.5 per cent, or 7.5p, to 508p. Ultimate Products – which is behind homewares brands such as Salter – headed in the other direction as it warned its annual results will be worse than hoped as demand remained subdued.
Having seen its revenues fall 7 per cent in the third quarter to the end of April, it said trading is likely to remain tough. It expects to report at least £156m of revenues and a profit of between £17.5m and £18.5m for the year to July 31.
That would fall short of market forecasts of £166.7m of revenues and a £21.5m profit. Shares tumbled 15.9 per cent, or 27p, to 143p.
Polarean Imaging jumped 17.4 per cent, or 0.6p, to 4.05p after it sold a medical device to the University of Alabama at Birmingham Hospital in the US. The sale takes total revenues so far this year to £2m ($2.5m) and above the £1.6m analysts at Stifel had forecast for the whole of 2024.
