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A high dividend yield and potential earnings recovery make currency manager (REC: 57p) one for the watchlist.

The company’s transition from a business with high expertise in liquid markets into one that also has a firm footing in private markets is gathering momentum, even if it has yet to be reflected in its assets under management.

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Hopes of an imminent end to the US government shutdown sent stock markets higher after a bruising week for tech, amid an AI-related crisis of confidence that hobbled the broader market. The more risk-on mood means it’s pretty much a sea of green on the boards this morning. The FTSE 100 added nearly 1 per cent to move within a few points of its all-time high. The Dax and Cac both added more than 1 per cent.

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Supplement maker Applied Nutrition (APN) delivered annual results in line with increased guidance and struck a bullish tone on current trading. 

For the year to 31 July, revenue rose 24 per cent to £107mn and adjusted Ebitda improved 19 per cent to £30.9mn. However, gross margin fell 190 basis points to 46 per cent as the average price paid for whey protein surged 30 per cent.

Management said that “the strong acceleration in sales growth in the final quarter” continued in the first quarter of its 2026 financial year. 

The shares of Applied Nutrition, which listed in October 2024, are up by a third since IPO.

MP Evans (MPE) lifted full-year revenue and profit expectations on the back of “robust” palm oil prices.

The producer of Indonesian palm oil said the high prices per tonne achieved in the first half had been maintained at $869 per tonne, and although it has increased its crop harvest by 8 per cent for the first 10 months of the year, it has been restricting purchases from third parties to “deliberately change the mix of input” into its own mills, allowing it to sustain margins.

The Aim-listed company also said “strong” cash generation had allowed it to pay off outstanding loans of $20.9mn (£15.9mn). Its shares rose by 7 per cent.

Defence group Chemring (CHG) reported a series of new contract wins alongside a full-year trading update, which said that adjusted operating profit will be in line with market expectations.

Adjustments will include the discontinuation of its Alloy Surfaces Company (ASC), which makes airborne decoys mainly for the US Department of Defense. A lack of orders has meant it has been unable to “viably sustain continuous manufacturing operations”, so Chemring is weighing up its options for the business, which could include a sale or a closure.

Aside from this, the company says its markets remain “robust”, and order intake was a fifth higher than last year, bringing its year-end order book to £1.3bn, a 30 per cent uplift.

Consensus estimates were for Chemring to generate an adjusted operating profit of £75.8mn, including a contribution of about £3.5mn from ASC. However, ASC (which has now been classed as a discontinued operation) is now expected to lose £3mn, and Chemring will incur one-off cash costs of about £5mn.

Chemring’s shares fell by 2 per cent but are up 65 per cent year-to-date.

JTC’s (JTC) board has agreed to a £2.7bn cash acquisition offer from Permira, ending a private equity battle for the FTSE 250 fund administration group.

The deal values JTC at 1,340p per share, a 49 per cent premium to the group’s share price in August before Permira made its first offer. The takeover proposal was the sixth from Permira, while Warburg Pincus made four.

The agreed enterprise value of £2.7bn is a multiple of more than 26 times JTC’s adjusted Ebitda for the year to June.

JTC shares fell 5 per cent in early trading, but have gained more than 30 per cent this year.

RHI Magnesita (RHIM) reported an improvement in margins in the four months to the end of October, on the back of cost savings in what remains a soft market.

The provider of linings for furnaces and other refractory products said that steel markets remain weak, and demand for high-quality steel used in cars was particularly soft. Pricing also remains “highly competitive”.

Yet cost cuts, which have included two plant closures in Germany, allowed it to increase adjusted Ebitda to €136mn (£119mn), with its margin improving to 12.7 per cent in the four-month period. This is an increase from 8.4 per cent in the first half, when it made €141mn.

As Investec analyst Joel Spungin pointed out, there is “still some way to go” for RHI Magnesita to meet its reiterated guidance of an adjusted Ebitda of €370mn-€390mn for the full year. Still, signs of healthier trading pushed the shares up by 15 per cent.