RM's shares spike by a fifth on buoyant trading update

Tech supplier reveals it is enjoying a strong Q3

RM's share price spiked by as much as a fifth yesterday after the education tech supplier revealed that it is performing better than it anticipated following its PC market exit.

Trading for RM's current third quarter – a busy period for its schools customers – has "progressed ahead of expectations", the London-listed firm said in a trading update yesterday.

The update pushed RM's shares up by 20 per cent, with shares rising further in trading this morning.

The repositioning of its largest division, Education Technology, continues to proceed "satisfactorily", RM said, with costs running below plan. It added that the profitability of its PC business, which is being wound down, has continued ahead of plan.

At the time of its interim results in July, RM said trading performance in the second half of 2014 would be similar to the first half, when it posted adjusted pre-tax profits of £7m on revenues of £92.1m.

But RM said it now expects a "significantly" more profitable second half than it previously anticipated.