Deutsche Bank raised its target price on Greene King, up 1.7%, to 950p and maintained its a “Buy” rating. Peel Hunt restated its “Hold” rating on Abcam, down 0.7%, with a target price of 750p. JPMorgan slashed its target price on Kier Group, down 0.8%, to 1178p from 1338p and maintained its “Overweight” rating. Beaufort Securities reiterated its “Buy” rating on the stock.
Tristel, up 10.4%, announced that its half yearly revenues rose to £9.7m from £8.0m reported in the same period a year ago. The company’s profit before tax increased to £1.7m from £0.465m reported in the previous year. The Board declared an interim dividend of 1.4p per share. Today, the company announced that its Trio Wipes System and the Duo Foam product has been identified as a high-level disinfectant in the journal of the World Federation for Ultrasound in Medicine & Biology. Separately, the company stated that its Fuse disinfectant used in Stella decontamination tray has been approved as the high-level disinfectant by Australia's Therapeutic Goods Association.
Netcall, up 4.5%, announced that its revenue for the half year marginally fell to £8.09m from £8.13m reported in the same period last year. However, its profit before tax increased to £0.921m from £0.784m reported in the previous year. The Board proposed an enhanced interim dividend of 1.05p per share.
Scientific Digital Imaging, up 3.7%, announced that Jeremy Gibbs, Non-Executive Director, will step down from the Board on 30 April 2017. Hence, the Board has appointed Isabel Napper as a Non-Executive Director of the company with immediate effect.
FinnCap reissued its “Corporate” rating on Amino Technologies, up 1.8%, with a target price of 175p. Cambridge Cognition Holdings, up 1.3%, announced that Cognition Kit, a joint venture of the company with Ctrl Group, has entered into a collaboration with Takeda Pharmaceuticals USA, for testing of a specially designed app on an Apple Watch wearable to monitor and assess cognitive function in patients with Major Depressive Disorder.
Numis Securities reaffirmed its “Hold” rating on Frontier Developments, which remained unchanged at 284p, with a target price of 300p. Dialight, down 4.2%, today announced that its annual revenues rose to £182.2m from £161.4m reported in the prior year. Meanwhile, its loss before tax marginally narrowed to £3.8m from £3.9m reported in the previous year. Vernalis, down 19.5%, announced that its half-year revenues fell to £5.6m from £6.1m while its loss before tax widened to £12.2m from £8.1m reported in the previous year.
UK markets closed mostly lower in the last week, led by a fall in banking sector stocks amid a round of mixed results from major banks. On the macro front, the nation’s economy grew more than initially expected on a quarterly basis in the fourth quarter, however, the annualised gross domestic product came in less than the preliminary expectations. The FTSE 100 index fell 0.8% to settle at 7,243.7, while the FTSE techMARK 100 index edged 0.1% lower to end at 4,335.2. However, the FTSE AIM 100 index gained 0.1% to close at 4,353.5.
US markets ended higher in the previous week, amid gains in energy sector stocks. On the data front, the US Markit manufacturing and services PMI surprisingly fell in February, hinting at a stagnant economic growth. Also, the minutes of the FOMC’s latest monetary policy meeting indicated that it may be appropriate to raise interest rates again “fairly soon”, if the economy continued to grow. The DJIA index advanced 1.0% to end at 20,821.8, while the NASDAQ index rose 0.1% to close at 5,845.3.
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