ii view monthly round-up: September 2025
Equity analyst Keith Bowman looks at company events over the past month.
2nd October 2025 15:20
by Keith Bowman from interactive investor
ii view monthly round-up: September 2025
Against expectations for poor historical performance during September, markets made good progress with the FTSE All Share index climbing 1.8%. In the US, the tech heavy Nasdaq Composite soared 5.6%, while the broad S&P 500 improved 3.5%.
Shares in FTSE 250 technology company Kainos Group (LSE:KNOS) rocketed by a third during the month. The digitaliser of written records for organisations such as the NHS and partner of corporate efficiency improver Workday upped its full year sales forecast.
Growth in demand for Workday products remained strong while digital services business secured included significant programmes for NHS England, the Home Office, and the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency.
Shares in fellow UK tech company Computacenter (LSE:CCC) rose 17% over the month. Demand for hardware equipment required to run AI software , particularly in North America, helped the FTSE 250 company report sales that surpassed City forecasts.
North America sales soared 74% to £2 billion, with operating profit for the region almost doubling. A product order backlog up by almost a quarter year-over-year underpinned management hopes for improved full year profits.
In the US, shares in AI play Oracle Corp (NYSE:ORCL) soared by a quarter. A contract to supply OpenAI with sizeable datacentre capacity helped push business bookings up 359% from a year ago to $355 billion.
The pioneer of the first Structured Query Language (SQL) database is now providing database software and datacentres from which customers can provide their own AI services. Oracle expects cloud data related revenues to grow substantially every quarter for several years as it delivers another 37 datacentres to three Hyperscale partners.
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Away from IT, over 50’s cruise and insurance provider Saga (LSE:SAGA) sailed back into profit. A first half profit of £3.7 million compared to an interim loss of £116.9 million a year ago.
Adjusted revenues for the travel business sailed 9% higher to £247 million, driving divisional adjusted profit up 33% to £41.6 million. Insurance profits eased to £9.1 million from £11.6 million. Group net debt fell 17% to £515 million, with Saga shares rising 27% during September.
Elsewhere, tonic maker Fevertree Drinks (LSE:FEVR) extended its share buyback given increased cash generation under the start of a relatively new partnership with US drinks giant Molson Corrs.
Fevertree cash held of £130 million, up from £66 million a year ago, aids a £30 million extension of an existing £100 million share buyback programme into 2026. Fever-Tree shares climbed almost 8% for the month.
Halma (LSE:HLMA) shares rose 5%. The FTSE 100 industrial conglomerate upped its full year growth expectations pushed by demand for photonics or light related products used by datacentre operators.
Photonics falls within Halma’s Environmental & Analysis division, generating 35% of 2024 sales and behind 40% of overall sales for the Safety business.
On the downside, food processor and packager Hilton Food Group (LSE:HFG) flagged challenges for its seafood business.
Supply related inflation for white fish hindered consumer demand, with costs to switch production and enable salmon exports to the USA pushing a 4.7% fall in first half pre-tax profits. Hilton Food shares fell by close to a fifth over the month.
National Express owner Mobico Group (LSE:MCG) reported results that missed City hopes. A competitive UK environment and operational issues in North American drove adjusted operating profit down 12.7% to £59.9 million. Mobico shares fell 12% during September.
Back in the USA, economic bellwether FedEx Corp (NYSE:FDX) showed signs of adjusting to the new Trump trade tariff environment. Sales and profits beat Wall Street hopes, with the global courier reinstating full-year forecasts after their previous omission following tariffs.
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FedEx ships a daily average of around 17 million parcels across a network of more than 200 countries. Shares in the S&P 500 company rose 2% for September.
Lastly, Costco Wholesale Corp (NASDAQ:COST) posted sales and profits that beat Wall Street forecasts, although with the membership required retailer outlining a further slowing in same store sales growth.
Adjusted Q4 comparable store sales up 6.4% slowed from 8% in Q3 and 9.1% in Q2. Costco shares fell 2% for the month.
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