DS Smith, up 0.4%, announced the retirement of Chris Britton from the Board, following its 2020 Annual General Meeting (AGM), which is expected to be on 8 September 2020.
Frontier Developments, up 10.4%, announced that it has commenced the registration for the Elite Dangerous Fleet Carriers Beta 2 gameplay. The multiplatform Beta will allow PC, Xbox One and PlayStation 4 players, access to test the mighty Fleet Carriers mega-ships before their official release in June. Credit Suisse reaffirmed its “Outperform” rating on the stock with a target price of 2080p.
Cambridge Cognition Holdings, up 33.3%, in its preliminary results for the year ended 31 December 2019, announced that revenues dropped to £5m from £6.1m recorded in the previous year. However, its loss before tax widened to £3.1m from £1.5m in the previous year. Its basic and diluted loss per share increased to 12.4p from 7p in the last year.
Xaar, up 27.4%, announced that its AGM will be held on 2 June 2020, following with the government measures to limit the spread of COVID-19.
Gaming Realms, up 9.7%, announced the extension of its licensing and revenue share agreement with 888 Holdings Plc (888), by launching the entire Slingo Originals portfolio on 888casino.com.
Science Group, up 5.1%, in its trading update for the year ended 31 March 2020, announced that performance for the period was in line with its expectations and has further continued through April. The firm has planned to take top-up bank loan, which is expected to provide additional gross cash of around £1.5m. Following MHRA’s update on the Ventilator Challenge, the company specified that it will not self-fund the investment required to obtain a full CE mark for the device and thus it is now improbable that the Sagentia Ventilator will be manufactured. Further, the board is confident about long term prospects but cautious with short term. Separately, the company announced that it has appointed Grant Thornton UK LLP as new auditor, following the resignation of KPMG LLP. The company also announced that its AGM will be held at the Group's London office on 16 June 2020. Instead of recommending a dividend at the AGM, it will consider an interim dividend later in the financial year.
Bango, down 2.1%, announced that its AGM will be held on 22 May 2020.
Checkit, down 8.6%, announced the resignation of its Chief Financial Officer, Andy Weatherstone, with effect from 24 September 2020. Checkit stated that it is in search of replacement and will confirm the appointment of an appropriate candidate in due course.
UK markets closed higher in the last week, following gains in energy and healthcare sector stocks. On the data front, the UK services PMI dropped to its lowest level since 1996 in April, while the construction PMI slumped to an all-time low in the same month. In major news, the Bank of England kept its key interest rate unchanged at 0.1% and maintained its bond-buying programme. However, the central bank warned that it expects the UK economy to shrink by 14% in 2020, its sharpest annual contraction since 1706. The FTSE 100 index advanced 3% to settle at 5936, while the FTSE AIM 100 index rose 2.4% to close at 4170. Meanwhile, the FTSE techMARK 100 index gained 3.5% to end at 5082.6.
US markets ended firmer in the previous week, led by gains in energy and financial sector stocks. In the economic news, the US services PMI fell to an 11-year low in April, while factory orders declined more than expected in March. Moreover, the US private sector employment plummeted to its lowest level since 2002 in April, while the nation’s unemployment rate surged to its highest level since the Great Depression in the same month. The DJIA index rose 2.6% to end at 24331.3, while the NASDAQ index also jumped 6% to close at 9121.3.