Credit Suisse reiterated its “Outperform” rating on ARM Holdings, down 3.3%, with a target price of 1175p. AlphaValue reissued its “Add” rating on Johnson Matthey, down 2.8%, with a target price of 2772p. Deutsche Bank also reaffirmed its “Buy” rating on the stock.
DS Smith, up 3.8%, in its trading statement, announced that trading was in line with expectations. It expects a positive outcome for the year, driven by growth in volume and financial returns and despite current tough market conditions. Beaufort Securities reissued its “Buy” rating on the stock, whilst Jefferies Group reiterated its “Hold” rating with a target price of 360p. JP Morgan Cazenove retained its “Overweight” rating on the stock with a target price of 460p.
Sareum Holdings, up 73.5%, stated that it is not aware of any undisclosed reason for such a significant rise in its share price. Dialight, up 16.1%, announced that its annual revenues rose marginally to £161.4m from £159.8m in the previous year. However, it incurred a loss before tax of £3.9m against a profit of £15.5m last year. Loss per share stood at 6.4p per share compared to a profit of 29.4p per share in the prior year. The Board did not propose any dividend for the period. The company separately announced that Martin L. Rapp and David Thomas have been appointed as Non-Executive Directors with effect from 26 April 2016. Martin will Chair the Group's Remuneration Committee while David will Chair the Group's Audit Committee. Also, Tracey Graham and Robert Lambourne resigned as Non-Executive Directors but will remain on the Board until the AGM. The stock received positive reviews from many brokers. Elsewhere, Numis Securities reconfirmed its “Buy” rating on Quixant, up 1.4%, with a target price of 270.0p.
Abcam, down 13.3%, in its results for the six months ended 31 December 2015, announced that revenues had climbed by 18% YoY to £78.8m. However, profit before tax narrowed to £20.9m from £22.0m. The Board approved an interim dividend of 2.354p per share to be paid on 15 April 2016. The company stated that it is on track to achieve its targets for FY2016, driven by substantial momentum across its business. The company separately announced that Jim Warwick will retire as the Chief Operating Officer and will step down from the Board by the end of 2016. JPMorgan Chase reiterated its “Neutral” rating on the stock with a target price of 608p. Stifel Nicolaus reissued its “Hold” rating on the stock whilst Peel Hunt restated its “Buy” rating. Numis Securities reissued its “Add” rating with a target price of 700p.
UK markets finished lower in the previous week, led by a decline in the mining sector. However, on the macro front, the UK’s industrial and manufacturing production data for January came in better than expected. The FTSE 100 index fell 1.0% to 6,139.8, while the FTSE AIM 100 Index edged 0.6% lower to finish at 3,277.5. The FTSE techMARK 100 Index declined 2.5% to 3,765.0.
US markets ended higher last week, mainly driven by an advance in energy companies. The DJIA index advanced 1.2% to 17,213.3, while the NASDAQ Index gained 0.7% to 4,748.5.
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