Johnson Matthey, up 0.5%, announced that it has entered into an agreement with KBR, Inc. to license the FORMOX Integrated UFC Technology (iUFC). The financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
Frontier Developments, up 3.2%, announced that it would launch its dinosaur park management simulation, Jurassic World Evolution 2 game on 9 November across PC, PlayStation5, Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation4 and Xbox One.
SDI Group, up 10.1%, announced that its annual report & accounts for the year ended 30 April 2021, together with the notice of the Annual General Meeting (AGM) have been posted to shareholders.
Feedback, unchanged at 0.6p, announced the appointment of Panmure Gordon (UK) Limited as its Nominated Adviser and Sole Broker, with immediate effect.
Science Group, down 5.4%, announced that on 23 August 2021, its increased offer was rejected by TP Group. Meanwhile, Science Group informed TP Group Board that it does not intend to increase its indicative offer above 6.5p per share hence its offer of 6.5p per share is therefore final but reserves the right to do so if a third party announces an offer or possible offer for TP Group.
Bango, down 1.2%, announced that its customers and developers can now access hundreds of different payment sources via Bango payment platform, as Apple officially allowed developers selling through the App Store to use alternative ways to bill their customers.
UK markets ended higher last week, amid optimism surrounding the easing of travel restrictions. On the data front, UK manufacturing activity weakened in August, while the nation’s services PMI dropped in the same month, weighed by disruption in supply of materials and labour shortages.
The FTSE 100 index advanced 0.8% to settle at 7148, while the FTSE AIM 100 index rose 1.5% to close at 6374.4. Also, the FTSE techMARK 100 index gained 1.1% to end at 7610.7.
US markets ended firmer in the previous week, after US Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell indicated that the central bank would remain patient on bond tapering and is not in a hurry to raise interest rates. On the macro front, the US gross domestic product grew slightly faster than initially estimated in the second quarter of 2021, reflecting continued economic recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic. Additionally, the US existing home sales rose for a second consecutive month in July, due to rising supply, while the nation’s new home sales rebounded in July, following three consecutive monthly declines.
Both the US personal income and personal spending climbed in July. Meanwhile, the US durable goods orders declined in July, due to ongoing supply chain issues and staff shortages, while the country’s jobless claims climbed more-than-expected in the week ended 20 August 2021. The DJIA index rose 1% to end at 35455.8, while the NASDAQ index gained 2.8% to close at 15129.5.