Hornby, Hollywood Bowl and Gem Diamonds

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“The FTSE100 opened in negative territory as geopolitical tension intensified following the US missile attack on a Syrian air base in a response to a suspected chemical weapons attack in that country although safe-haven stocks and energy companies were up as oil prices increased,” says AJ Bell Investment Director Russ Mould.

“Model railway and collectables group Hornby is on track to realise the full potential of its brands after successfully completing the first stage of its turnaround. Hornby has restructured its UK and European operations and rationalised its product range to reduce capital expenditure. Hornby is focused strongly on improving cash flow and at the end of March it had net cash of £1.1m compared with net debt of £7.2m a year ago, which was ahead of management's expectations. Hornby’s shares were up by over 13% in early trading.

“Ten-pin bowling operator Hollywood Bowl’s shares took a hit after private equity group Electra sold its 17.8% stake for £40.7m. Hollywood Bowl has had a good first half with like-for-like revenues up despite Easter falling in the second half this year and continues to make good progress on its new centre programme. The group’s shares were down by more than 9% in early trading.

Gem Diamonds topped the FTSE All-Share board in early trading after it recovered a 114 carat diamond of exceptional quality from the Letseng mine in Lesotho. The mine is well-known for the production of large, top colour, exceptional white diamonds and has produced four of the 20 largest gem-quality white diamonds ever recorded since Gem Diamonds took it over in 2006. Gem Diamonds’ shares were up by over 5.4%.”

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