A late-period contract win drove a Shearwater Group trading upgrade on Wednesday, sending the cyber security software and services provider’s shares up 24.2% to 56.5p on AIM.
Shearwater Group (LON: SWG) said trading in the year to June 2026 finished ahead of expectations after the win came through at the close of the period. Revenues have been upgraded 18% to £42m, and earnings per share guidance has risen from 4.5p to 4.9p.
Shearwater Group trading upgrade backed by strong cash position
Net cash stood at £5.6m at the end of June 2026, equivalent to around 50% of the company’s market capitalisation. The board said it is considering share buybacks and/or dividends.
Cavendish, the company’s house broker, said it is not changing its 2026-27 forecast at this stage.
AOTI upgrades full-year profit forecast after H1 beat
US wound-healing technology developer AOTI Inc (LON: AOTI) reported first-half 2026 revenues of $35m, up 10% year-on-year, despite disruption from its withdrawal from Arizona. Underlying growth was 18%. The shares rose 11.4% to 97.5p.
Net debt came in at $6.3m, lower than anticipated, partly because the Veterans Administration, described as a prompt payer, increased its purchases. AOTI said debt should continue to fall.
Full-year pre-tax profit expectations have been raised from $1.2m to $2.7m, reflecting operational gearing. That figure excludes any benefit from the proposed Local Coverage Determination (LCD) for Medicare and Medicaid announced last week.
AOTI cautioned the LCD may not make a material difference until 2028, depending on the timing of final coding and reimbursement decisions. The broader Medicare LCD environment has been in flux: the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services withdrew separate final LCDs relating to skin substitute products on 24 December 2025, which had been due to take effect on 1 January 2026.
The company’s 2025 full-year results, published on the London Stock Exchange, show Medicaid accounted for 45% of total revenues in the year ended 31 December 2025 and grew 38% year-on-year. Adjusted EBITDA for that period was $7.5m, down from $8.1m in 2024, according to the AOTI 2025 final results published via FT Markets.
Victoria chairman adds to stake; share count disputed
Victoria PLC (LON: VCP) executive chairman Geoffrey Wilding purchased ordinary shares in the company on 31 July 2026 at 67.42p each. The shares rose 6.69% to 70.95p.
The snippet reported the purchase as 150,000 shares. However, two separate RNS republications, including via Investor Meet Company, record the transaction as 100,000 shares. The snippet figure may reflect a separate or subsequent transaction; investors should verify against the official RNS filing.
Following the purchase, Wilding’s total interest stands at 19.6%. The Victoria PLC significant shareholders page breaks this into 2,500,000 shares held in his own name and a further 19,938,650 shares held through Camden Holdings Limited, of which Wilding and his family are discretionary beneficiaries.
Other movers on AIM
RTC Group (LON: RTC) reported a decline in continuing revenues from £48.3m to £45.2m, citing poor business confidence, delays in smart metering roll-out, and US policy-related headwinds on international demand. Pre-tax profit fell from £1.21m to £747,000. The interim dividend holds at 1.21p per share. New business and extensions were won in the second half. The shares rose 5.56% to 95p.
AI-enabled PR company Pathos Communications (LON: NEWS) reported interim revenues up 14% to $7.3m and said it remains on track for full-year revenue estimates of $14m. Underlying pre-tax profit is expected to improve from $2m to $2.7m. The shares gained 4.36% to 28.7p.
On the downside, Tristel (LON: TSTL) fell 9.44% to 407.5p after launching 3T Pro, a new premium tier of its 3T digital compliance tracking platform. Mendell Helium (LON: MDH) declined 7.78% to 4.15p after settling with a former broker via the exercise of 500,000 warrants at 3p each. Explorer 80 Mile (LON: 80M) slipped 6.97% to 0.694p after raising £1.9m at 0.67p per share to fund projects in Greenland, Italy, and Finland.
The next scheduled catalyst for AOTI is further clarity on the LCD coding and reimbursement timeline, which the company has indicated will determine whether the Medicare and Medicaid coverage change moves the profit needle before 2028.
