Credit Suisse restated its “Outperform” rating on Johnson Matthey, up 0.5%, with a target price of 3400.0p. Deutsche Bank reconfirmed its “Buy” rating on the stock.
Jefferies lowered its target price on DS Smith, down 3.6%, to 420.0p from 440.0p and maintained its “Hold” rating. Panmure Gordon restated its “Sell” rating on Abcam, down 0.1%, with a target price of 640.0p.
Sareum Holdings, up 81.8%, announced that its co-investment partner, The CRT Pioneer Fund, has entered into a licensing agreement with ProNAi Therapeutics Inc. for the worldwide rights of Sareum’s Chk1 inhibitor cancer drug candidate CCT245737.
LPA Group, up 12.0%, in its annual trading update, announced that it anticipates the trading for the period to surpass current market expectations, driven by strong order entry and sales output. Cambridge Cognition Holdings, up 9.9%, announced that it has signed two contracts with US biopharmaceutical companies for its CANTAB Connect technology amounting to $3.67m.
Peel Hunt reaffirmed its “Add” rating on Bango, up 7.1%, with a target price of 100.0p. RhythmOne, up 3.6%, announced that it has appointed Numis Securities Limited as its Nominated Adviser, with immediate effect.
Xaar, up 1.2%, announced that Robin Williams, currently Senior Independent Director, has been appointed as the Chairman of the Board as well as the Nomination Committee. Moreover, Rice-Jones has been appointed as a Senior Independent Director while Andrew Herbert will be the Chairman of the Audit Committee.
Liberum Capital reaffirmed its “Buy” rating on Kier Group, up 0.6%, with a target price of 1420.0p.
Gaming Realms, down 1.3%, announced that it has signed a three-year partnership deal with Express Newspapers to launch two gaming websites, Star Wins and Express Wins, built by Gaming Realms’ real money gaming division, Bear Group.
Elektron Technology, down 1.9%, announced that it has completed the sale of the business and assets of Carnation Designs to Ring Automotive Limited for a total cash consideration for approximately £0.23m.
Sphere Medical Holding, down 2.1%, announced that it has received CE mark registration for all four components of its Proxima 4 medical device, allowing it to commercially launch the device in Europe later this year. Panmure Gordon reiterated its “Buy” Rating on the stock with a target price of 17.0p.
Netcall, down 2.7%, announced that its annual revenues marginally fell to £16.6m from £17.2m in the preceding year. Profit before tax dipped to £1.7m from £2.7m in the last year. The Board proposed a final dividend of 1.1p per share along with an enhanced dividend of 0.95p per share. Separately, the company announced that it has won a five-year contract from its existing client worth minimum £1.5m. FinnCap reconfirmed its “Corporate” rating on the stock with a target price of 70.0p.
Vernalis, down 4.5%, announced that its annual revenues declined by 39.5% to £12.0m from £19.9m reported in the last year. Loss before tax widened to £15.3m from £9.3m in the previous year. Basic and diluted loss widened to 3.2p from 1.4p. The stock received mostly positive ratings from various brokers.
Shares of Cyan Holdings were trading flat on 03 October. The company announced that it has raised nearly £1.05m from J. S. Technical Services Company Limited by issuing 583.33m shares at a price of 0.18p.
UK markets closed mostly lower in the previous week, amid decline in banking sector stocks. On the macro front, UK’s GDP advanced more than initially expected in Q2 2016. The FTSE 100 index fell 0.1% to 6,899.3, while the FTSE AIM 100 index gained 0.9% to close at 3,929.5. Moreover, the FTSE techMARK 100 index edged 1.0% lower to 4,382.3.
US markets ended higher in the last week, after data showed that the US annual GDP growth rose in the second quarter while the preliminary Markit services PMI rose more than expected in September. The DJIA index rose 0.3% to 18,308.2, while the NASDAQ index added 0.1% to 5,312.0.
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