Author: Fiona Craig

European stock markets were largely steady on Wednesday after a run of record closes, as investors paused to digest recent geopolitical events and positioned themselves ahead of a heavy schedule of U.S. economic releases.

By 09:05 GMT, the pan-European Stoxx 600 was little changed. Germany’s DAX added around 0.4%, while France’s CAC 40 slipped 0.3% and the UK’s FTSE 100 fell 0.6%.

At the company level, shares in Nestlé extended losses from the previous session after the group said it was recalling certain infant nutrition products due to a potential contamination issue.

Market participants appeared to be looking past the shockwaves from a U.S. military strike over the weekend that resulted in the capture of Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro. Analysts suggested that, while the event was significant, financial markets were increasingly shifting their attention away from geopolitics toward upcoming macroeconomic signals from the United States.

Focus is now turning to a series of key U.S. labour market indicators. Economists expect data from payrolls processor ADP to show that private-sector employers added around 49,000 jobs in December, rebounding from a decline of 32,000 in November. Separate figures are also expected to indicate a modest dip in job openings — a measure of labour demand — to about 7.61 million in November.

The strength of the labour market has been central to recent interest rate decisions by the Federal Reserve, which cut borrowing costs several times in 2025 as policymakers prioritised supporting a softening employment backdrop over persistent inflation pressures.

Investors are also awaiting fresh data on activity in the U.S. services sector. Services account for more than two-thirds of U.S. economic output, meaning the forthcoming survey from the Institute for Supply Management could offer important clues about the state of the world’s largest economy toward the end of the fourth quarter.

Oil prices fall

Oil prices moved lower, with Brent crude futures down 0.9% at $60.18 a barrel and U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude falling 1.2% to $56.46.

The decline followed comments from Donald Trump, who said on Tuesday that Washington and Caracas had reached an agreement allowing Venezuela to export up to $2 billion of domestically produced crude to the United States.

Trump has previously pressed Venezuela and interim president Delcy Rodríguez to grant the U.S. and American energy companies full “access” to the country’s oil sector, warning that failure to comply could prompt further U.S. military action. In a social media post, Trump said Venezuela would be “turning over” between 30 million and 50 million barrels of “sanctioned oil” to the U.S., after exports had been largely halted since a blockade was imposed in December.

Bernstein has outlined a new forecast for copper prices in 2026, projecting an average of around $11,500 per tonne in the first quarter of the year before prices ease back to roughly $10,000 per tonne in the third and fourth quarters as current market momentum begins to cool.

In its analysis, Bernstein notes that copper has recently surged to record levels above $13,000 per tonne. The rally has been fuelled by a combination of supply-side disruptions, including geotechnical issues, alongside man-made factors such as arbitrage-driven trading activity and labour strikes. On Wednesday morning, copper was trading at about $13,238 per tonne.

The firm said today’s elevated pricing reflects the strong structural support provided by global electrification trends, which continue to underpin copper’s long-term value. At the same time, speculative positioning has helped keep prices stretched at unusually high levels.

Looking ahead, Bernstein expects prices to come under pressure as demand growth moderates and substitution effects increase. The analysts also flagged the possibility that weaker electric vehicle sales could weigh on sentiment in the second half of 2026, contributing to a gradual pullback in prices.

The research group cautioned that adverse macroeconomic news flow could accelerate any correction. In particular, negative developments linked to artificial intelligence or electric vehicles could prompt a swift reversal of speculative inflows into copper, leading to sharp price adjustments.

UK equities moved lower in early dealings on Wednesday, with the pound also edging down against the US dollar, while stock markets across continental Europe showed a mixed picture.

By 08:21 GMT, London’s FTSE 100 was down around 0.3%. Sterling weakened by roughly 0.09% against the dollar, slipping below the 1.35 level. Elsewhere in Europe, Germany’s DAX rose about 0.5%, while France’s CAC 40 was marginally lower, down 0.09%.

UK market highlights

GSK (LSE:GSK) was in focus after reporting positive Phase III trial data for bepirovirsen, a potential first-in-class treatment for chronic hepatitis B. The investigational antisense oligonucleotide met its primary endpoints in both the B-Well 1 and B-Well 2 studies, delivering statistically significant and clinically meaningful functional cure rates compared with standard treatment alone. The company also noted stronger efficacy in patients with baseline hepatitis B surface antigen levels below 1,000 IU/ml.

In a separate announcement, Reckitt Benckiser Group (LSE:RKT) said it intends to return around £1.6 billion to shareholders via a special dividend, following the completion of the sale of its Essential Home business to Advent International. The group plans to pay a special dividend of 235 pence per existing ordinary share to shareholders on the register at 6:00 p.m. on Friday, 30 January 2026. Payments are expected on 20 February 2026 for ordinary shareholders and on 27 February 2026 for ADR holders.

Meanwhile, Topps Tiles Plc (LSE:TPT) reported a solid start to its 2026 financial year. Revenue excluding CTD rose 3.7% year on year in the first quarter, while the core Topps Tiles brand delivered like-for-like growth of 2.0%, its fifth consecutive quarter of comparable sales growth. The performance was supported by strong demand from trade customers, with trade sales up 3.7% compared with the same period last year.

Topps Tiles Plc (LSE:TPT) reported a positive opening to its 2026 financial year, with group revenue excluding CTD rising 3.7% year on year. The core Topps Tiles brand recorded its fifth consecutive quarter of like-for-like growth, up 2.0%, continuing to outperform a UK home improvement market that remains under pressure.

Performance was supported by continued growth in trade sales and digital channels under the group’s Mission 365 strategy, alongside strong like-for-like gains at the streamlined CTD business. These factors helped offset ongoing cost inflation. During the quarter, Topps Tiles completed the required disposals within CTD and progressed the integration of the Fired Earth brand and website, further strengthening its multi-brand offering.

Digital performance continued to improve, with online sales increasing to 19.7% of total group revenue. The company is also rolling out new customer engagement tools to support conversion and retention across channels. Recently appointed chief executive Alex Jensen has now fully assumed leadership of the business, providing continuity as the group looks to build on recent strategic and financial progress through 2026.

Overall, Topps Tiles’ outlook is underpinned by solid trading momentum and supportive technical indicators. Strategic initiatives focused on digital expansion and portfolio optimisation are contributing positively, although elevated leverage and operational cost pressures remain areas to manage. The company’s valuation and dividend yield continue to add to its appeal for investors.

More about Topps Tiles

Topps Tiles Plc is the UK’s largest specialist retailer of tiles and related products, supplying domestic, commercial and housebuilder customers. The group serves homeowners, trade professionals, contractors, architects and designers through 296 Topps Tiles stores, a London-based commercial showroom, a 22-store CTD estate and a portfolio of ten customer-facing websites, combining a nationwide physical footprint with a growing digital platform.

Aptamer Group plc (LSE:APTA) reported a 27% year-on-year increase in unaudited first-half revenue to £0.83 million, supported by a fee-for-service order book exceeding £2.0 million for FY26 and a broader sales pipeline valued at £3.1 million. The board said this visibility underpins its expectation that full-year revenue will come in materially ahead of the prior year.

The group continues to accelerate its shift from development-stage activities toward commercialisation. During the period, Aptamer signed non-exclusive licensing agreements with Twist Bioscience and Alphazyme, generating upfront payments alongside the potential for future royalty income. Additional licensing discussions are ongoing for its Optimer® binders across diagnostics and enzyme applications, while the company has also secured a top-three pharmaceutical partner for a radioligand development programme. This was complemented by significant repeat business from other leading pharmaceutical clients.

Operational progress extended beyond licensing. Aptamer reported continued advancement of programmes with Unilever, the development of new Optimer® immunohistochemistry reagents for a global diagnostics group, and further de-risking of its fibrotic liver disease therapeutic candidate. Management said these developments enhance the group’s intellectual property portfolio and validate its dual revenue model, combining fee-for-service work with higher-margin, recurring licensing income, while reinforcing its position as a specialist technology partner to blue-chip customers in pharma, diagnostics and consumer goods.

Despite the strategic momentum, the company’s outlook remains constrained by weak underlying financial metrics, including ongoing losses and negative cash flows, alongside historically volatile revenue. These pressures are partly offset by supportive technical indicators, which show a clear upward trend in the share price. Valuation remains challenged by the lack of profitability and the absence of dividend guidance.

More about Aptamer Group Plc

Aptamer Group plc is an AIM-listed life sciences company developing next-generation synthetic binders through its proprietary Optimer® platform. The technology is applied across pharmaceuticals, diagnostics, consumer goods and emerging areas such as radioligand therapies. The group is increasingly focused on building higher-margin, recurring revenues through fee-for-service discovery projects and non-exclusive licensing agreements that monetise its intellectual property on a global scale.

EnSilica plc (LSE:ENSI) said trading in the first half of its 2026 financial year has been ahead of expectations, with revenue set to increase by more than 35% to approximately £12.7 million. The group also reported a marked improvement in profitability, with EBITDA moving from a small loss in the prior period to an estimated profit of around £1.7 million, supported by solid non-recurring engineering activity and growing recurring revenues from chip supply contracts.

The company highlighted rising demand across several technology-driven end markets, including satellite communications and secure, long-lifecycle systems. Growth in these areas has been underpinned by customer interest in EnSilica’s security intellectual property that is designed to be ready for post-quantum cryptography, reflecting increasing focus on long-term data security and resilience. Management said this mix of contracted engineering work and repeat silicon revenues is improving both visibility and resilience in the business model.

EnSilica reaffirmed its full-year outlook, guiding for revenue of £28–30 million and EBITDA of £3.5–4.5 million. The company noted that a large proportion of expected turnover is already under contract and outlined a pathway toward achieving positive monthly cash generation by the end of 2026, reinforcing confidence in its medium-term growth trajectory.

Despite the upbeat operational update, the broader outlook remains tempered by historical financial challenges, including periods of declining revenue, losses and weaker free cash flow. Technical indicators provide some support, with the share price trading above key moving averages and a positive MACD signal, although elevated RSI and stochastic readings point to potential near-term volatility. Valuation metrics remain constrained by negative earnings and the absence of a dividend.

More about EnSilica plc

EnSilica plc is a UK-headquartered, fabless application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) designer specialising in mixed-signal, RF, mmWave and complex digital ICs. The company serves communications, industrial, automotive and healthcare markets where safety, security and reliability are critical. It leverages a growing portfolio of reusable IP and silicon platforms to deliver long-term chip supply solutions, supported by design centres in the UK, India, Brazil and Hungary.

GoldStone Resources Limited (LSE:GRL) said it produced 2,912 ounces of gold in 2025 from its Homase mine in Ghana, generating revenue of roughly US$10 million. Output was affected by an unusually prolonged rainy season and a higher frequency of regulatory inspections, which limited mining activity and slowed ore stacking during the year.

Since year end, the company has completed new screening and conveying installations and is in the process of building its largest heap leach pad to date. In parallel, the mine plan has been revised to place greater emphasis on maximising production during the dry season. These changes underpin GoldStone’s guidance for the 2026 financial year of around 4,000 ounces of gold, with all-in sustaining costs expected to fall in the range of US$2,500 to US$2,900 per ounce.

GoldStone said operations continue to be self-funded, with historical creditor balances reduced and capital expenditure kept modest, focused mainly on leach pad expansion and processing improvements. The group is also investing in local community facilities around Homase. Recent board changes, together with extended loan terms agreed with a major shareholder, are intended to support operational continuity, strengthen cash generation and help build longer-term value.

From a market perspective, the outlook remains constrained by loss-making operations, pressure on gross margins, negative free cash flow and increased leverage, despite the step-up in revenue. Technical indicators offer some support, with the shares trading above key moving averages and a positive MACD, although a very elevated RSI points to potentially stretched momentum. Valuation metrics provide limited comfort given the negative price-to-earnings ratio and the absence of dividend guidance.

More about GoldStone Resources

GoldStone Resources Limited is an AIM-listed gold producer and developer focused on the Akrokeri–Homase project in south-west Ghana, within the Ashanti Gold Belt. Its portfolio spans exploration through to production, with current output centred on the Homase Mine. The wider project hosts a JORC-compliant gold resource of 602,000 ounces across a 4km stretch of the Homase Trend, encompassing Homase North, Homase Pit and Homase South, and builds on a history of mining at the former Akrokerri and Homase operations.

ECR Minerals plc (LSE:ECR) said it has assembled an experienced operating team and is preparing to commence initial mining at its recently acquired Raglan alluvial gold project in central Queensland. The company expects first gold production to be achieved before the end of January 2026, marking an important step in its evolution from pure exploration toward cash-generating operations.

Raglan is described as a low-capital, turnkey project, with all essential infrastructure, regulatory approvals and mining equipment already in place. Management believes this positions the operation to deliver early cash flow, which can be reinvested to advance ECR’s larger-scale Blue Mountain project and support development across its broader Queensland asset base. The timing is seen as favourable, with gold prices at historically elevated levels that could enhance both project economics and strategic optionality.

The move into production at Raglan underlines ECR Minerals’ strategy to balance near-term revenue generation with longer-term exploration upside. By leveraging existing assets and permits, the company aims to reduce execution risk while building a platform to fund future growth within its Australian gold portfolio.

More about ECR Minerals

ECR Minerals plc is a UK-listed mineral exploration and development company with a focus on gold projects in Australia. It operates through wholly owned subsidiaries in Victoria and Queensland and holds a diversified portfolio that includes the Bailieston, Creswick and Tambo projects in Victoria, alongside the Raglan and Blue Mountain alluvial gold projects and extensive exploration ground in the Lolworth Range and Kondaparinga areas of Queensland. The group also retains contingent payment rights from previously divested Victorian assets and has significant unutilised tax losses from earlier operations.

Oriole Resources PLC (LSE:ORR) has released initial assay results from its first-ever diamond drilling campaign at the MB01-N target within its 90%-owned Mbe gold project in Cameroon. The 2,950-metre programme has delivered encouraging early results, with the first two drill holes intersecting multiple zones of near-surface gold mineralisation, including 21.7 metres grading 3.13 g/t gold and a standout interval of 1 metre at 42.5 g/t gold.

The company said MB01-N shares strong geological characteristics with the nearby MB01-S deposit, where it has already outlined a JORC Inferred Resource of 870,000 ounces. MB01-N itself hosts a sizeable JORC Exploration Target estimated at between 370,000 and 605,000 ounces. Oriole believes the early high-grade intersections support the potential to upgrade this target into a formal mineral resource.

Drilling at MB01-N is fully funded and now close to 50% complete, with completion expected in the first quarter of 2026. Successful conversion of the exploration target into a defined resource could materially increase the overall scale of the Mbe project, ahead of partner BCM International earning a 50% interest in the licence upon completion of the programme.

From an investment standpoint, Oriole’s outlook continues to be weighed down by the absence of revenue and ongoing cash burn, despite the support of a low-debt balance sheet. Share price technicals are moderately positive, but valuation remains constrained by negative earnings and the lack of dividend support.

More about Oriole Resources PLC

Oriole Resources PLC is an AIM-quoted gold exploration company focused on early-stage projects in West and Central Africa. Its primary area of activity is Cameroon, where it is advancing district-scale orogenic gold opportunities, including the Mbe gold project, through systematic exploration and drilling.

ENGAGE XR Holdings plc (LSE:EXR) said it expects revenue for 2025 to fall sharply to around €1.9 million, down from €3.4 million the previous year, citing delays in contract completions and a marked decline in enterprise customer renewals. The weakness was most pronounced in the second half of the year, as slower global technology hiring weighed on corporate spending decisions.

Despite the drop in turnover, management expects a material improvement in profitability metrics, with the EBITDA loss forecast to narrow to approximately €2.4 million from €4.0 million in 2024. The improvement reflects ongoing cost discipline and operational efficiencies, which also supported a year-end cash position of €1.6 million, ahead of market expectations.

Strategically, ENGAGE XR is accelerating its pivot toward the education market, where usage levels are increasing and larger K-12 customers have expanded their licence commitments. As part of this push, the company has introduced official Chromebook support, enabling it to better address the dominant device used in US classrooms. The group is set to showcase this capability at the Bett Conference in London through a joint demonstration with Lenovo.

The board said it remains focused on conserving cash while evaluating initiatives aimed at enhancing long-term shareholder value. Management believes education markets across schools, universities and home-schooling environments—particularly in the US and the Middle East—offer a more resilient growth path as enterprise demand continues to face headwinds.

Overall, the outlook for ENGAGE XR is constrained by declining revenue and ongoing losses. Technical indicators point to a bearish trend, while valuation metrics remain unattractive due to negative earnings and the absence of dividend support.

More about VR Education Holdings

ENGAGE XR Holdings plc is an AI and spatial computing technology company behind the ENGAGE platform, which delivers immersive virtual and augmented reality environments for education, training and collaboration. The platform is used by enterprise and educational customers globally for onboarding, learning, meetings and product demonstrations, with a growing emphasis on K-12, higher education and home-school markets, particularly in the United States and the Middle East.