JPMorgan Chase & Co. reissued their “Overweight” rating on DS Smith, down 0.4%, with a target price of 470p. Davy Research restated its “Neutral” rating on the stock.
Shore Capital reiterated its “Buy” rating on Greene King, which remained unchanged at 695p. Panmure Gordon reiterated its “Sell” rating on Abcam, down 2.7%, with a target price of 640p.
Kier Group, down 0.1%, announced that it has secured a 15-year contract worth £140m, commencing on 1 April 2017, for the repair and maintenance services on Area 13 of the Highways England network. Additionally, the company disclosed that it is in the final negotiation process to acquire a two-year contract for providing maintenance services on Areas 6 and 8, which is expected to commence on 1 April 2017. Beaufort Securities and Peel Hunt reiterated their “Buy” ratings on the stock.
Scientific Digital Imaging, up 8.8%, announced that it has acquired Astles Control Systems Limited for initial consideration of £3.45m, on a debt free cash free basis. It will pay £3.3m in cash and £100,000 in new ordinary shares in the capital of the company at a price of 13p per ordinary share, with an additional earn-out of up to £1.4m and additional payment for other net assets at completion. Quixant, up 6.1%, announced that it has raised £15m through secondary placing of 4.7m ordinary shares at a price of 320p.
Vernalis, down 0.4%, announced that its CCP-08 new drug application has been accepted by the US Food and Drug Administration for full review, generating a milestone payment from the company to Tris Pharma Inc. The stock was subjected to mostly positive reviews from various brokers.
Horizon Discovery Group, down 1.1%, announced that the launch of its new Cell Bank subscription programme in Q3 2016 has generated revenues of more than £0.7m while a strong pipeline for the same is in place for first half of 2017. Numis Securities reissued its “Buy” rating on the stock with a target price of 260p.
1Spatial, down 27.3%, announced that it expects to report a marginal adjusted EBITDA loss for the full year ending 31 January 2017. It stated that despite the sales pipeline and order book being strong, the timing of few important contracts might come in the year 2017, due to a shift in its business model and extension of the industry sales cycles. Meanwhile, the company announced that its Avisen business has been sold for a total consideration of £100,000, which will be receivable in 12 months.
UK markets ended firmer in the last week, led by the gains in commodity sector stocks. The economy rose more than formerly projected for the third quarter. Moreover, the GfK consumer confidence slightly improved in December. The FTSE 100 rose 0.8% to 7,068.2, while the FTSE AIM 100 index added 0.8% to close at 3,998.0. The FTSE techMARK 100 index jumped 0.4% to 4,309.0.
US markets closed higher in the previous week, as the nation’s annualised GDP growth advanced more than the previously estimated in the third quarter. Also, the durable goods orders decreased less than expected in November. The DJIA index added 0.5% to 19,933.8, while the NASDAQ index rose 0.5% to 5,462.7.
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