Soaring agricultural prices clearly aren’t a problem for everybody, to judge from first-half results from Wynnstay, which sells feeds and fertilisers to farms.

The company, which also has a country store retail business, reported pretax profits in its first half up 51 per cent to nearly £3 million, driven by higher farm gate prices for arable and dairy products, which boosted the confidence of its customers.

Contrary to the gloom on the high street, the company’s more rural retail business experienced strong trading, with an extra boost from its recently launched pet stores.

With the agriculture boom showing little sign of slowing, management was understandably upbeat about the group’s prospects.

The shares rose 15p to 281½p, with WH Ireland, the house broker, upgrading forecasts and Investec saying that it would review its numbers.

Braemar Group, up 0.125p at 1¼p, also benefited from the agricultural boom, with its UK Agricultural Land Cell exceeding subscription hopes.

There were gains among health stocks, with Ark Therapeuticsup 3½p to 54p, after positive results in a preclinical trial for its angina medicine. Celsis International rose 10p to 155p after record results driven by its rapid detection and in-vitro technology divisions. Hyper-inflation in Zimbabwe was bad news for Mwana Africa, the miner, which fell 4½p to 44½p, as the company said that 2008 profits would be “significantly” lower than last year.

Tarquin Resources fell 10½p to 15½p after the company’s shareholders decided to cancel its shares on AIM, with effect from September 15. Toluna, the online market research company, rose 10½p to 215½p after its acquisition of the American group Common Knowledge.

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