A cluster of upgraded guidance statements dominates the morning's news, with Victrex, Corero Network Security and Gym Group all telling investors that trading has run ahead of prior expectations, while Mortgage Advice Bureau moved the other way with a profit downgrade tied to delayed lead flows at its Fluent business. Energean reported a sharp profit recovery as Israeli production normalised, and Harworth Group published its formal rejection of an unrecommended takeover approach.
Victrex lifts full-year profit guidance on strong Q4 momentum
Victrex (LSE:VCT) now expects underlying pre-tax profit for the year ending 30 September to reach between £45m and £47m, up from prior guidance of £42m to £44m. The global high-performance polymer solutions group cited sustained momentum since its July third-quarter update, with year-on-year growth across aerospace, value-added resellers and electronics, and particularly strong demand from Asia Pacific.
The upgrade coincides with the completion of a previously announced 10% headcount reduction, with initial benefits already emerging in the fourth quarter and contributing to at least £10m of annualised savings expected from the group's wider Profit Improvement Plan in FY2027. Victrex also completed the divestment of its US-based Kleiss Gears business to The Heico Companies' Industrial Technologies Group on 7 August, recording an exceptional loss on disposal of approximately £3m, with the company saying Kleiss had served its purpose in seeding the PEEK gears market but no longer fit its focus on core operations. Chris Gilbert joined as interim chief financial officer on 1 September, bringing prior experience from Elementis and Deloitte.
"We now expect full year underlying PBT for FY 2026 to be ahead of our prior guidance," said Dr James Routh, chief executive.
The upgrade marks a shift in tone after a Q3 update that had held guidance steady, suggesting the cost-cutting programme is now translating into visible earnings benefit rather than remaining a promise on paper. With the Kleiss disposal clearing a non-core asset from the portfolio and a Capital Markets Event scheduled for later this month, management has an opportunity to set out how the Profit Improvement Plan's savings compound into FY2027 and beyond, a question likely to shape how durable investors judge this quarter's momentum to be.
Corero lifts guidance as first half revenue jumps 42%
Corero Network Security (AIM:CNS), the AIM-listed distributed denial of service protection specialist, now expects full-year 2026 revenue to exceed market expectations and EBITDA to significantly exceed expectations. Revenue for the six months to 30 June rose 42% to $15.5m against $10.9m in H1 2025, while EBITDA swung to a $2.6m profit from a $1.4m loss a year earlier.
Order intake grew 14% to $14.3m and annualised recurring revenue rose 12% to $24.1m, with customer retention holding at 96%. The half included a $1.1m, three-year contract with data centre provider TierPoint, and since the period end Corero has added a $1.4m, three-year deal with a Tier-1 US telecoms provider and a $3.4m, five-year contract with a Tier-1 UK telecoms operator, alongside an initial $0.5m, three-year contract with another major client.
"This positive momentum has continued into the second half with notable customer wins secured, confident in delivering continued growth and exceeding market expectations for the full year," said Carl Herberger, chief executive. The run-rate of large, multi-year telecoms contracts signed since the half-year mark suggests the group's recurring revenue base is scaling faster than its historical growth pattern, reinforcing the credibility of the raised full-year outlook.
Mortgage Advice Bureau cuts 2026 profit guidance to £38m
Mortgage Advice Bureau (Holdings) (LSE:MAB1) now expects adjusted pre-tax profit of approximately £38m for the year ending 31 December, down from market consensus of £43.4m, ahead of interim results due on 22 September. The technology-driven UK property finance group said the downgrade stems largely from Fluent, its mainstream first-charge mortgage business, where new contractual lead flows expected to drive a step-up in 2026 performance have been delayed, cutting Fluent's expected profit contribution by approximately £5m.
Purchase activity has also failed to recover as anticipated at the start of the year, with UK purchase transactions down 3% in the first seven months of 2026 and Bank of England data showing mortgage approvals for house purchase falling 15% year-on-year in July. For the first half, MAB now expects adjusted pre-tax profit of approximately £14.8m, slightly ahead of the £14.6m flagged in its July trading update.
"While these delays have pushed the anticipated profit growth from Fluent into 2027, the updated guidance nevertheless represents adjusted profit before tax growth of approximately 5% compared with 2025," said Peter Brodnicki, founder. The framing pushes the growth narrative out by a year rather than abandoning it, leaving the September interim results as the next test of whether Fluent's lead-flow delays are a timing issue or a sign of weaker underlying demand across the purchase market.
Gym Group lifts earnings guidance for full year
The Gym Group (LSE:GYM), the low-cost gym operator, expects full-year group earnings, measured as Adjusted EBITDA Less Normalised Rent, to land at the top end of the current analysts' forecast range. Revenue for the six months to 30 June rose 10%, with average members up 5% to one million and like-for-like revenue growing 3%, while Group Adjusted EBITDA Less Normalised Rent reached £30.8m, up 12% year-on-year.
Free cash flow rose 10% to £27.7m, funding new sites, refurbishments and a share buyback, of which £3.8m of a planned £10m was completed in the period. Non-Property Net Debt fell to £58m from £59.3m at December, with adjusted leverage held at 1.0x and bank facilities expanded to £117m from £102m. The company opened four new sites in the first half, is on site at a further 11, and is targeting at least 20 openings in 2026 as part of a plan to add roughly 75 sites over three years, funded from free cash flow.
"We have delivered another strong set of results, reflecting the continued appeal of our high-value, low-cost proposition, confident in delivering full-year results at the top end of the current analysts' forecast range," said Will Orr, chief executive. With leverage steady and expanded bank facilities in place, the funding model for the three-year expansion plan looks intact, shifting scrutiny toward execution pace on the pipeline of new sites rather than balance sheet capacity.
Energean profit jumps as Israel production volumes recover
Energean (ENOG) reported a 45% rise in first-half profit after tax and a 35% increase in free cash flow, as production rebounded following a government-mandated suspension in Israel.
The recovery in output underscores how sensitive the Mediterranean-focused energy company's earnings remain to regulatory and operational disruption in its core Israeli asset base, with the rebound in volumes doing much of the work behind the improved cash generation.
Harworth urges shareholders to reject 172.5p bid as undervalued
Harworth Group (HWG) published its formal defence against Peel Bidco's unrecommended cash offer, arguing the 172.5p bid discounts the real estate group's net disposal value and ignores substantial embedded upside in its data centre pipeline.
The rejection sets up a contested process in which Harworth's board is betting that shareholders will back the standalone growth case over a certain cash exit, placing pressure on Peel Bidco to either raise its offer or walk away.
