Halfords, Pennant and Fusionex

“Equities fell after the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development warned that leaving the EU would hit economic growth,” says AJ Bell Investment Director Russ Mould.

“The wheels may not have come off Halfords’ cycling business but the vagaries of the British weather and discounting by rivals proved a daunting uphill challenge which saw like-for-like sales slip by 0.9%. The dip in cycling sales was offset by rising demand for the group’s car and bike repair service and overall like-for-like revenues were up 1.5%. Halfords was the biggest FTSE250 faller at with its shares down by nearly 5%.

“Pennant International’s shares soared after it clinched two training contracts worth more than £13m. The contracts, one of which has been anticipated for some time, are for the supply of a range of equipment, hardware and software, and maintenance support to aeronautical engineering training at colleges in the Middle East. The orders give a huge boost to Pennant’s order book and underscore confidence that revenues and earnings will exceed current market forecasts. Its shares were up by more than 41% in lunchtime trading.

“Investors shunned software firm Fusionex despite a 38% rise in revenues. The group’s first half earnings tumbled reflecting the significant investment it has made as it prepares to launch a new ‘big data’ analytics product later this year. Profit margins were also hit. Its shares were down by more than 4.7%.”

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