Cambridge Index adds 1.5%

The Cambridge Index advanced 399.7 points or 1.5% to close at 26587.8, as the top five Index heavyweights posted weekly gains to their share prices.

DS Smith, up 1.1%, announced that its overall financial performance for the six months ended 31 October 2019 remains in line with expectations. It anticipates delivering decent progress in margins for the period, with an upgraded forecast of 10% to 12% return on sales. JP Morgan Cazenove lowered its target price on the stock to 420p from 440p and gave an “Overweight” rating.

Greene King, unchanged at 849.2p, announced that following the successful completion of the acquisition scheme offer by CK Bidco, it has made an application to the FCA and the London Stock Exchange (LSE) for its delisting from the premium listing segment of the Official List and the trading of its shares on the LSE's main market.

Peel Hunt reconfirmed its “Add” rating on Abcam, up 4.4%.

Scientific Digital Imaging, up 10%, announced that it has changed its name to SDI Group Plc.

Bango, up 1.5%, announced an agreement with the South Korean big company, NHN ACE, to boost the digital marketing of the application targeting Korean mobile game users to gain new paying users and increase in-app purchase revenues.

Sareum Holdings, up 1.5%, announced that its Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Dr Tim Mitchell made a presentation at the AACR-NCI-EORTC cancer conference in Boston, demonstrating the ability of SDC-1802, a novel selective TYK2/JAK1 inhibitor, to considerably reduce the tumor growth in cancers of the pancreas, colon, skin and kidney, plus B-cell lymphoma.

Frontier Developments, up 1.1%, announced that it has appointed Ernst & Young as its new auditor, with immediate effect.
Checkit, up 0.9%, announced that it has proposed a tender offer to qualifying shareholders to return around £81m through two ordinary shares for every three ordinary shares for an offer price of 65p per share.

Tristel, up 0.3%, announced that its Annual General Meeting will be held on 17 December 2019.

IQGeo, unchanged at 45.5p, announced that Max Royde has been appointed as its Non-Executive Director, replacing Oliver Scott, who concurrently steps down as a Non-Executive Director, with immediate effect.

Marshall Motor Holdings, down 5.3%, announced that it has appointed Nicky Dulieu as a Non-Executive Director and Chair of the Remuneration Committee with effect from 1 January 2020.

CyanConnode Holdings, down 40.5%, in its trading update, announced that it is unlikely to achieve its previously set expectations for 2019, following a longer than expected delay in securing new substantial Indian contracts.

UK markets closed mostly lower last week, after the European Union leaders agreed to extend the Brexit deadline until 31 January 2020. The UK’s manufacturing PMI unexpectedly advanced in October, while the nation’s house prices rose in the same month. On the other hand, UK’s net consumer credit growth slowed to a 5-year low in September, while the consumer confidence eased to its lowest level since July 2013 in October. The FTSE 100 index declined 0.3% to settle at 7302.4, while the FTSE AIM 100 index fell 0.3% to close at 4543.6. Meanwhile, the FTSE techMARK 100 index gained 1.9% to end at 5407.9.

US markets ended higher in the previous week, lifted by gains in industrial and technology sector stocks. The US economy grew higher than expected in Q3 2019, while the non-farm payrolls advanced more than anticipated in October. Further, the US manufacturing sector activity rose in October, whereas the pending home sales increased by its fastest pace since December 2017 in September. The US Fed cut its benchmark interest rate by 25 basis points to a target range of 1.5% to 1.75%, due to a slowdown in the US economic growth and ongoing trade tensions. The DJIA index rose 1.4% to end at 27347.4, while the NASDAQ index gained 1.7% to close at 8386.4.



Looking for something specific?