A busy morning of corporate updates lands with a cautious tone across UK equities, with a distressed mining group flagging a liquidity cliff, a consumer goods giant navigating a patchy recovery, and a footwear retailer reversing into loss territory. The macro backdrop remains tense, with the Federal Reserve and US-Iran developments keeping risk appetite in check.
Ferrexpo
Ferrexpo (LSE:FXPO) is the most urgent story of the morning. The iron ore pellet producer has disclosed that net accessible cash has fallen to approximately US$17m and warned that liquidity will only last to "approximately the end of August 2026", a hard deadline that has prompted the board to explore a potential equity capital raise to address working-capital shortfalls. The disclosure marks a significant escalation in the group's financial difficulties, with the clock now visibly ticking on its ability to fund operations without external support.
Reckitt Benckiser
Reckitt Benckiser Group (LSE:RKT) delivered Core like-for-like net revenue growth of 1.3% in the first quarter, a headline that reads as modest progress but masks a regionally uneven picture. The group held its full-year 2026 Core guidance at +4% to +5%, signalling confidence in a back-half recovery even as the Q1 number trails that ambition. The market is not entirely convinced, shares are trading at 4,918p, down 3.5%, suggesting investors are pricing in execution risk on the ramp required to hit the annual target.
Bunzl
Bunzl (LSE:BNZL) offered a steadier picture, reporting underlying revenue growth of 2.0% in the three months to 31 March with adjusted operating profit in line with expectations. The distribution group reiterated its full-year 2026 guidance in full, a signal that the business is performing as planned despite a challenging macro environment. Chief executive Frank van Zanten's steady hand on guidance will be read as a relative positive on a morning when several peers are revising their outlooks.
Senior
Senior (LSE:SNR) is among the morning's brighter spots. The engineering group now expects 2026 full-year trading to be comfortably ahead of prior Board expectations after first-quarter revenue rose 2.5% on a constant currency basis, driven by a 9.7% jump in Aerospace. Shares are broadly flat at 287.15p, down just 0.1%, reflecting a market that had already begun pricing in strength from the aerospace cycle. The upgrade in language from the board is nonetheless a meaningful step up from prior guidance.
Shoe Zone
Shoe Zone (LSE:SHOE) has issued a profit warning, now guiding for an adjusted loss before tax of £1m–£2m for the year ending 3 October, a sharp reversal from prior guidance for a £1m adjusted profit. The swing represents a deterioration of up to £3m at the midpoint and underscores the pressure bearing down on value footwear retail as cost headwinds and subdued consumer demand combine. No stock price data is available in early trading.
hVIVO
hVIVO (AIM:HVO) has signed a multi-year contract to deliver what it describes as the world's first pivotal Phase III human challenge trial for ILiAD Biotechnologies' intranasal BPZE1 whooping cough vaccine. The study will enrol more than 500 volunteers and is expected to drive the majority of hVIVO's revenue in 2026-27, making it a transformative contract for the clinical services group. Shares are down 2.9% at 8.45p, a move that likely reflects broader market pressure rather than any negative read on the deal itself.
Cerillion
Cerillion (AIM:CER) reported a first-half dip in both revenue and EBITDA, attributing the softness to the timing of licence recognition rather than underlying demand weakness. Management points to a £42.5m Omantel contract and a doubled new-orders book as the foundation for meeting full-year market expectations. The message is one of a lumpy but intact growth trajectory, with the second half expected to carry the weight of annual delivery.
Fresnillo
Fresnillo (LSE:FRES) reported attributable silver output of 11.1 million ounces in the first quarter, down 8.5% quarter-on-quarter, while gold production rose modestly to 136.1 thousand ounces. The Mexican precious metals miner reiterated its full-year 2026 production guidance, framing the silver decline as a quarterly fluctuation rather than a structural issue. With silver prices elevated, the production shortfall will nonetheless attract scrutiny from investors watching volume delivery against a favourable price backdrop.
Pulsar Helium
Pulsar Helium (AIM:PLSR) has secured an exclusive three-year option with Keweenaw Land Association covering roughly 488,090 gross acres in Michigan's Upper Peninsula. The agreement creates the district-scale Falcon Project and gives Pulsar the flexibility to select a final leasehold of up to 20,000 acres, allowing the company to high-grade its exploration targets before committing capital. The deal significantly expands Pulsar's North American helium footprint at a time when supply security for the critical gas is drawing growing investor attention.
Valereum
Valereum (AIM:VLRM) is replacing a $200m medium-term note with VGOLD-CORE tokens valued at approximately $279.5m, with both the tokens and matching VGOLD-EQ equity tokens held in escrow pending verification. The structure represents one of the larger tokenisation transactions to cross the UK small-cap market and signals the company's continued pivot toward blockchain-based financial infrastructure. The escrow mechanism is designed to provide counterparty assurance while the verification process runs its course.
Market Pulse
The dominant theme across this morning's updates is the divergence between companies with structural tailwinds, Senior in aerospace, hVIVO in clinical services, Cerillion in telecoms software, and those absorbing cost or demand pressure at the consumer end, most visibly Shoe Zone and Reckitt. Guidance maintenance is the floor that separates the two camps: Bunzl, Fresnillo, and Senior all hold or upgrade their outlooks, while Shoe Zone's reversal into loss territory and Ferrexpo's liquidity warning sit at the other extreme.
Ferrexpo's situation deserves particular attention as a standalone risk event. An equity raise of meaningful size against a late-August liquidity deadline compresses the execution window considerably, and the terms of any such raise will be closely watched as a read on how the market prices distressed mining equity in the current environment.
