DS Smith, down 1.2%, in its pre-closing trading update for the half year ended 31 October 2016, announced that its trading performance remained in line with its expectations. It expects return on sales and return on capital employed to post positive growth as compared to the last year, in spite of the initial effects of recent acquisitions. Davy Research reiterated its “Neutral” rating on the stock. JP Morgan Cazenove reissued its “Overweight” rating on the stock with a target price of 470.0p. Beaufort Securities restated its “Buy” rating on the stock. Numis Securities reaffirmed its “Add” rating on the stock with a target price of 460.0p.
Abcam, down 2.1%, announced that it has decided to lease a new facility for its global headquarters at the Biomedical Campus in Cambridge, UK, subject to the grant of full planning approval. The new state-of-the-art global headquarters will include the Group's UK innovation and manufacturing facility, laboratories, logistics, sales, marketing and corporate functions and also its European distribution hub.
Amino Technologies, which remained unchanged at 153.5p, announced that it would alter its currently adopted UK-GAAP accounting framework, after the Financial Reporting Council published FRS 100 'Application of Financial Reporting Requirements'. The Board stated that it intends to adopt FRS 102, the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland, for the Group along with its subsidiaries. However, it will continue to prepare the Group’s consolidated financial statements as per the IFRS adopted by the EU.
Sareum Holdings, down 2.7%, announced that the feasibility study on its TYK2 programme lead molecules demonstrated a successful outcome. The study concluded that a T-Cell Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia (T-ALL) disease model study showed good exposure to plasma and tumour tissue and presented a dose-dependent effect on a biomarker of TYK2 inhibition and tumour reduction of up to 80%. In order to protect its new intellectual property, the company has applied for a patent for the same.
Sepura, down 3.3%, announced that Alan Lovell has been appointed as its Chairman and David Barrass as an Interim Chief Executive Officer, both with immediate effect. Meanwhile, Richard Smith, the Acting Chief Executive Officer, will take over his role as Chief Financial Officer.
UK markets closed lower in the last week, amid decline in commodities related stocks. On the macro front, UK’s preliminary GDP rose more than expected for the third quarter. Separately, the Bank of England Governor stated that the bank’s efforts had an unparalleled positive impact on Britain’s economy. The FTSE 100 index fell 0.3% to 6,996.3, while the FTSE AIM 100 Index declined 0.7% to close at 3,947.2. Moreover, the FTSE techMARK 100 Index dropped 2.3% to 4,266.1.
US markets ended mixed in the previous week. On the data front, the preliminary third-quarter annualised GDP data disclosed better than expected growth at 2.9%. Moreover, the Markit manufacturing and services PMIs advanced in October. The DJIA index edged 0.1% higher to 18,161.2, while the NASDAQ Index dropped 1.3% to 5,190.1.
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