Cambridge Index falls 2.2%

Credit Suisse restated its “Outperform” rating on the shares of ARM Holdings, down 0.8%. Deutsche Bank reiterated its “Buy” rating on Johnson Matthey, down 1.2%, with a price target of 3,650p.

DS Smith fell by 10.1% despite announcing a number of positive figures in its annual report. Its profit for the year almost doubled to £140m from the prior year's £74m, with EPS improving to 14.9p from 7.9p last year. The annual revenue grew 10% to £4bn from last year's £3.7bn. Brokers gave diverse ratings to the company.

Numis Securities upgraded its rating to an “Add” on the shares of Greene King, up 1.5%, with a target price 975p, while N+1 Singer reaffirmed its “Buy” rating with a price objective of 954p. Deutsche Bank, which also has a “Buy” rating, however dropped its target price from 1,045p to 1,005p.

Cyan Holdings soared 35%, after it signed a teaming agreement with Vodafone's M2M (Machine-to-Machine) team to address the smart metering market in India. Sareum Holdings, up 5.7%, announced that Melissa Works Ph.D, of SRI International, would present the latest data from the Sareum/SRI collaboration that is developing TYK2 kinase inhibitors as treatments for inflammatory diseases.

Elektron Technology advanced 5.6%. It recorded a pre-tax loss of £5.3m, widening from £1.1m, as revenue declined to £46.3m from £47.4m and as it also posted £5m in exceptional costs. Elektron announced that it has raised £2.3m through a placing with existing investors. It now intends to raise up to a further £1.16m by way of an open offer of up to 23.2m new ordinary shares.

Investec lifted its price target from 160p to 200p with a “Buy” rating on the shares of Sepura, up 3.3%. Jefferies lowered its price target from 1,170p to 800p with a “Buy” rating on the shares of Xaar, up 2.8%. Liberum Capital reissued its “Buy” rating on Kier Group, up 0.6%, with a price objective of 1,915p. CSR ticked 0.3% upwards. It now expects its revenue for Q2 to be in the range of $190m-$200m. It also revealed plans to return an additional $20m to shareholders through a share buy-back in addition to the $50m buy-back it announced in February. Brokers’ stance on the stock was unchanged.
 
Cambridge Cognition Holdings, down 2.6%, is confident of meeting full-year expectations, after it won contracts with various pharmaceutical companies for eight human abuse liability studies, worth a total of around £0.7m. Canaccord Genuity restated its “Buy” rating on Dialight, down 4.1%, with a price target of 1,000p. LPA Group dropped 4.4%. Its profit for the six months ended 31 March 2014, grew to £167,000 from £157,000 in the prior year, but, sales revenue for the period fell 7.9% to £8m.

 Domino Printing Sciences fell 20.3%, after it cautioned that pricing pressure in Asia and other developing markets, coupled with increased R&D expenses, would weigh on its earnings for FY15. However, its profit attributable to shareholders for the six months ended 30 April 2014 stood at £19.34m, compared to a loss of £9.87m in the prior year. Sales were £173.8m, 7% ahead of the corresponding period last year. Numis Securities and Berenberg Bank restated their “Hold” ratings with respective price objectives of 775p and 680p.

UK markets finished lower in the previous week, amid concerns in the Middle East. In the UK, the FTSE 100 index lost 1% to 6,757.8 and the FTSE techMARK 100 Index dropped 1.9% to 3,270.9. The FTSE AIM 100 Index fell 0.8% to 3,378.2.

Markets in the US ended mixed in the preceding week, as disappointing durable goods orders, GDP and initial jobless claims data from the US outweighed the nation’s encouraging housing and consumer confidence data. The DJIA index fell 0.6% to 16,851.8, while the NASDAQ index added 0.7% at 4,397.9.


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