Numis Securities reiterated its “Buy” rating on ARM Holdings, down 1.0%, with a target price of 1350p.
Johnson Matthey, down 5.4%, announced in its third quarter trading update, that sales for the continuing businesses grew by 3% to £736m. It expects full year trading for the group to be in line with current market expectations, driven by a marginally better underlying performance from the continuing businesses in the second half compared to the first half. The company separately announced that Dorothy Thompson, a Non-Executive Director and Chairman of the Remuneration Committee, will retire from the Board in July 2016 while Colin Matthews, a Non-Executive Director, has been appointed as Chairman of the Remuneration Committee. The stock received “Buy” ratings from a number of brokers.
Jefferies reaffirmed its “Hold” rating on DS Smith, down 5.6%, with a target price of 430p. Greene King, down 2.3%, announced that its Chairman, Tim Bridge, will retire from the board on 1 May 2016. Meanwhile, Philip Yea has been appointed as the Non-Executive Director and will join the board on 2 February 2016, and then will take over as Chairman on 2 May 2016. The stock received an “Overweight” rating from several brokers.
Sareum Holdings, up 4.5%, announced that it has submitted applications for Phase I clinical trials of its development candidate drug, CCT245737, to the UK Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency.
N+1 Singer initiated its “Buy” rating on Brady, which remained unchanged at 57p. Sphere Medical Holding, which remained flat at 8.3p, announced that it has opened its new commercial production facility in Wales. The new facility includes a state of the art cleanroom and will provide the necessary capacity in order to meet the expected growing demand for its lead product, Proxima platform.
Citigroup reduced its target price on AVEVA Group, down 2.9%, to 1630p from 1910p and maintained its “Buy” rating on the stock. Morgan Stanley reiterated its “Underweight” rating on the stock. Jefferies lowered its target price to 1830p from 2580p and maintained its “Buy” rating.
UK markets ended lower last week, amid falls in financial and energy sector companies. Moreover, the Bank of England, at its recent monetary policy meeting, kept its benchmark interest rate unchanged and reduced the UK’s projected economic growth rate for the next three years. The FTSE 100 index fell 3.9% to 5,848.1, while the FTSE AIM 100 Index declined 1.4% to finish at 3,217.3. Also, the FTSE techMARK 100 Index edged 3.8% lower to 3,675.9.
US markets closed lower in the previous week, after the US non-farm payrolls declined more than expected in January. The DJIA index weakened 1.6% to 16,205.0, while the NASDAQ Index slid 5.4% to 4,363.1.
View the report in full
_______________________________________________________