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The following is a round-up of earnings and trading updates by London-listed companies, issued on Wednesday and not separately reported by Alliance News: ---------- Marston’s PLC - Wolverhampton, England-based pub operator - Reports strong trading performance over the festive period with like-for-like sales up 4.0% from December 21 to January 3, along with 5.6% growth across the five key festive dates of Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, Boxing Day, New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day. Describes sales performance in 17 weeks to January 24 as ‘resilient’, with performance tracking in line with the prior year and continuing to outpace the total market. As a result, Marston’s remains confident in delivering full-year consensus expectations for financial 2026 underlying pretax profit of £78.7 million, up from £72.1 million in 2024. Chief Executive Justin Platt says: ‘Our pubs have delivered another strong start to the year, with standout performances across our key festive trading dates including setting a new record for Christmas Day.’ Pub format roll-out continues to accelerate, with 23 launches completed in the first quarter with more than 50 planned for the financial year which runs to around the end of September. Marston’s says its pub operating model is driving further margin improvement this year, underpinned by disciplined cost control and ongoing efficiency initiatives. ---------- Mobico Group PLC - Birmingham, England-based public transport operator - Responding to press reports in Germany, confirms that its subsidiary National Express Rail GmbH is in the advanced stages of agreeing a comprehensive agreement in principle with five German public transport authorities to realign contract terms for rail transport services in North Rhine-Westphalia and adjacent regions. The agreement in principle requires the approval of each of the relevant governing bodies of the PTAs and would be subject to entering into formal legally binding agreements between the relevant parties. Such an agreement is expected to deliver a sustainable business going forward. ---------- Cordel Group PLC - London-based transport corridor analytics platform - Pretax loss widens to £1.0 million in the six months to December from £253,000 the year prior, as revenue falls 24% to £1.7 million from £2.3 million. Basic loss per share increases to 0.46 pence from 0.12p a year earlier. ‘First half results clearly did not meet our expectations, largely as a result of protracted customer procurement processes in the UK and USA. Negotiations are continuing to progress without issues and the board remains confident that these contracts will flow into second half revenue, underpinning the full year plan,’ says Chair Ian Buddery. Looking ahead, Cordel expects to be ahead of the financial 2025 revenue position by end of the third quarter and is in a ‘strong position’ to deliver on the board’s expectations for full year revenue. ---------- Sancus Lending Group Ltd - London-based alternative financial services provider - Says turnover rises 32% to £22.1 million in 2025 from £16.8 million the year prior. This reflects continued strong growth in the core UK and Irish businesses, both of which delivered robust results despite a challenging market environment. The Channel Islands business also recorded an improved performance. As a result, Sancus currently estimates that it will report a significantly improved pretax profit in excess of £1.0 million compared to £100,000 the year prior. During the year, Sancus writes new lending facilities totalling £212 million, up 96% year-on-year, and at the year end has loans under management of £317 million, up 33%. ‘The board is encouraged by the group’s trading performance and the progress being made to enhance its strategic and operational positioning,’ it says and ‘remains confident’ in future prospects. ---------- Skillcast Group PLC - London-based digital compliance content and technology provider - Expects revenue for 2025 to be around £15.4 million, up 16% from £13.2 million in the year prior. The growth is entirely organic and driven by strong growth in recurring subscription revenues, which increase 21% to £13.3 million from £11.0 million. Recurring subscription revenues grow to 87% of total revenue in 2025 from 83% in 2024. Non-strategic professional services revenues were 9% below the previous year at £2.0 million. Annual recurring revenue grows 19% to £13.8 million. Skillcast expects 2025 earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation to be in line with expectations at £1.5 million, up from £0.5 million in 2024. ---------- Colefax Group PLC - London-based designer and distributor of furnishing fabrics and wallpapers - Pretax profit climbs 21% to £5.29 million in the six months to December from £4.36 million the year prior, as sales grow 12% to £58.96 million from £52.79 million, or 14% at constant currency. Fabric division sales rise 12%, or 14% at constant currency, while Decorating division sales increase 17%. Earnings per share rise 25.0% to 66.5 pence from 53.2p, while the interim dividend is hiked 7.1% to 3.0p per share from 2.8p. ‘The group has delivered another good performance in the first six months primarily due to a strong Fabric Division performance in the US and despite the additional cost and ongoing uncertainty caused by very significant increases in US import tariffs. We believe that US trading is benefitting from the very strong US stock market. Sales in November, December and January have continued to perform well and unless there is a significant stock market correction, we expect this trend to continue through to the end of the financial year,’ comments Chair David Green. As a result, Colefax expects profit for the financial year ended April to be ahead of current market forecasts. ---------- Copyright 2026 Alliance News Ltd. All Rights Reserved.
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