Wednesday's early news flow centred on a run of pre-close and half-year updates confirming trading in line with expectations, led by Ultimate Products' confirmation that FY26 revenue landed as guided despite a top-line decline. Nanoco and Oxford Nanopore both reported progress against their own milestones, while Trainline disclosed a new regulatory probe into its fee disclosures and discoverIE expanded its manufacturing footprint in India.
Ultimate Products confirms FY26 revenue in line despite 3.5% decline
Ultimate Products (AIM:ULTP), owner of the Salter and Beldray homeware brands, confirmed that trading for the year ended 31 July came in line with expectations despite a 3.5% fall in unaudited group revenue to £144.9m, down from £150.1m the prior year. The decline was driven by softer general merchandise demand and a planned reduction in lower-margin third-party clearance sales, a strategic trade-off the company is making to prioritise its own brands. Sales of proprietary brands rose 5.3% to £128.4m, underscoring the shift in mix toward higher-value, brand-owned product.
Unaudited adjusted EBITDA came in at £10m, with gross margin slipping to 22.6% from 23.2% as the sales mix shifted, while operating costs rose to £22.8m from £22.3m, including £760,000 of restructuring costs tied to overhauling the commercial function. Net bank debt fell to £8.6m from £14.1m, taking leverage to 0.9 times adjusted EBITDA, just below the group's 1.0 times target policy. Second-half revenue was broadly flat, down just 0.3% year-on-year, a marked improvement on the 5.8% decline recorded in the first half.
"Although the broader trading environment remains challenging, we believe the changes we are making will support our ambition to grow both market share and brand equity," said Chris Dent, Chief Financial Officer at Ultimate Products.
The improving trajectory through the second half, alongside the debt reduction and leverage now sitting inside target policy, points to a business stabilising its balance sheet even as top-line growth remains elusive. Management's own guidance that FY27 will track similarly to FY26 signals no imminent inflection, but the growth in proprietary brands and the ongoing regional TV trial for Beldray suggest the company is betting on brand equity, rather than volume, to eventually turn the trend around.
Nanoco holds cost discipline as Asian JDA progresses
Nanoco Group (LSE:NANO), the developer of cadmium-free quantum dots and other nanomaterials, confirmed trading for the year to 31 July was in line with market expectations. Unaudited revenue came in at £11.3m, matching forecasts, though stripping out licence agreement income leaves underlying revenue of just £1.5m, underlining how reliant the current top line still is on licensing rather than product sales.
Underlying unaudited adjusted EBITDA reached £6.1m and cash stood at £9.3m at year end, both slightly ahead of expectations, following a cost-base reorganisation that has cut monthly gross cash costs to between £0.3m and £0.4m from £0.5m a year earlier. The company said it remains on track to hit all first-year milestones under its three-year joint development agreement with its first Asian chemical customer, with volumes expected to more than double in the 2027 financial year from a small base.
Discussions continue with a second Asian chemical customer following a small programme extension in June, alongside engagement with other potential partners. The combination of tightened cash burn and a scaling commercial relationship gives Nanoco more runway to prove out its quantum dot technology commercially, though the underlying £1.5m revenue figure shows the core materials business is still in its early, unproven stage.
Oxford Nanopore narrows loss on margin gains
Oxford Nanopore Technologies (LSE:ONT) reported revenue of £116.7m for the six months to 30 June, up 10.5% on a reported basis and 12.3% at constant currency. The molecular sensing group, which makes nanopore-based DNA and RNA sequencing devices, said gross margin rose 400 basis points to 62.2%, while its adjusted EBITDA loss narrowed sharply to £22.1m from £48.3m a year earlier.
Growth was led by EMEA and India, up 23.8% at constant currency, and the Americas, up 12.5%, offsetting an 8.4% decline in Asia-Pacific driven by a 15.7% drop in China. Clinical revenue climbed 35.4% and BioPharma revenue grew 25%, while the PromethION product range expanded 15.7% on strong demand for its P2 instrument. The overall loss for the period reduced to £48m from £71.8m, and cash and liquid investments stood at £234.5m at period end, down from £302.8m at the end of December, reflecting a seasonal working capital outflow that included £25.7m of bonus payments.
"These results demonstrate the impact of improving gross profit and disciplined cost control and show that we are tracking well towards adjusted EBITDA breakeven in FY27," said Francis Van Parys, Chief Executive of Oxford Nanopore. The scale of the loss reduction, nearly halved year-on-year, alongside broad-based growth across clinical and BioPharma segments, gives the breakeven target credibility, though the China decline and shrinking cash pile bear watching as the group works toward profitability.
Trainline faces CMA probe over fee disclosure
Trainline (LSE:TRN) disclosed that the Competition and Markets Authority has opened a formal investigation into how it presents certain UK fees throughout its booking flow. The train ticketing platform said it has been in contact with the CMA for several months and is already taking steps to improve how fees are shown to customers, framing the probe as an extension of dialogue already under way rather than a fresh dispute.
The investigation falls under the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024, UK legislation designed to strengthen consumer protection in digital markets. "We will continue to work constructively with the CMA to ensure our customer experience remains both transparent and compliant," Trainline said, adding that it remains committed to full compliance with the Act and will keep cooperating with the regulator as the investigation proceeds. The company also pointed to its 4.9-star app rating as evidence of a transparent booking experience.
A formal DMCCA investigation carries real regulatory teeth, including the potential for enforcement action and mandated changes to how fees are displayed, so the outcome could reshape Trainline's checkout flow and fee presentation across its core UK business regardless of how cooperative the company is during the process.
discoverIE opens expanded India manufacturing site
discoverIE Group (LSE:DSCV) has opened a larger manufacturing facility in Bangalore that triples production capacity for its Noratel power transformer business. The expanded site positions the group to serve growing demand for its custom-engineered electronics components from customers in the region.
The move adds meaningful capacity to one of discoverIE's specialist manufacturing units without requiring an acquisition, supporting the group's stated strategy of organic capacity growth in higher-value, custom electronics niches.
