Johnson Matthey, down 4.3%, announced that it expects an impact of around £50m on its trading performance for FY2020 due to the COVID-19 outbreak and thus expects operating performance below current market expectations. Separately, the company announced that it has appointed Linda Bruce-Watt as Interim Company Secretary.
Frontier Developments, up 15.5%, announced that the South America pack will be available on Steam from 7 April. Also, Frontier stated that it will introduce several new features and content as the latest free content update for its existing players.
Xaar, up 30.5%, announced the appointment of Andrew Herber and Chris Morgan as Chair & Chair of the Nomination Committee and Chair of the Audit Committee, respectively.
Science Group, up 18.9%, announced that its subsidiary, Sagentia Limited, has immediately started the work under the UK Government’s Rapidly Manufactured Ventilator System (RMVS) programme. Separately, the company announced that its performance in Q1 was in line with the Board’s expectations, despite the impact of COVID-19.
Bango, up 13.2%, announced a strategic partnership agreement with NHN Corporation to develop Audiens data platform into a global data leader through the use of a customer data platform. Separately, Bango announced an agreement with Sun Mobile to introduce carrier billing in the Google Play store.
LPA Group, unchanged at 73p, announced that it is planning to reduce its current production capacity to match demand, slash costs, conserve cash and use government initiatives to support the Group, after several UK and export customers suspended their operations.
Amino Technologies, down 2.1%, announced that it has implemented parts of its business continuity plan to enable all its global staff to work remotely and have also taken measures to ensure that service delivery and customer support continue as normal.
Oracle Power, down 3.3%, indicated that it is progressing the work at the Thar Block VI project and is confident that there will be no significant adverse impact of the Covid-19 on the timelines to the development of the project.
GRC International Group, down 4.3%, announced that it has executed UK business continuity plan and by 25 March, its staff across the Group were successfully working from home and carrying out business as usual.
Dialight, down 4.8%, announced that Karen Oliver has been appointed as Non-Executive Director and a member of the Remuneration Committee. Also, the company mentioned the joining of Gotthard Haug as a Non-Executive Director.
CyanConnode Holdings, down 7.7%, announced that its interim revenues nearly halved to £2.3m, whereas its loss before tax narrowed to £5.4m.
Kier Group, down 11.2%, announced that trading from 1 January 2020 till date has been in line with the Board's expectations. Kier has appointed Clive Watson and Dame Heather Rabbatts to the Board of Directors with immediate effect.
Quixant, down 15.6%, announced that COVID-19 is expected to have a material impact on its financial performance in 2020.
UK markets ended lower in the previous week, led by losses in banking and industrial sector stocks. On the data front, the UK GDP growth remained flat in 4Q 2019, whereas the manufacturing PMI declined at its fastest pace since July 2012 in March. The FTSE 100 index declined 1.7% to settle at 5415.5, while the FTSE AIM 100 index fell 1.8% to close at 3347.8. Meanwhile, the FTSE techMARK 100 index slid 4.1% to end at 4359.3.
US markets closed lower in the last week, following a warning from the US President Donald Trump regarding the rapidly spreading coronavirus cases in the nation. On the macro front, the US manufacturing PMI fell to an August 2009-low in March, while the weekly jobless claims jumped to a record high in the prior week. Moreover, the US non-farm payrolls eased for the first time since September 2010 in March, while the unemployment rate jumped to an August 2017-high in March. The DJIA index dropped 2.7% to end at 21052.5, while the NASDAQ index lost 1.7% to close at 7373.1.