ARM Holdings, down 5.6%, announced some management changes to its board. BNP Paribas reaffirmed its “Outperform” rating on the stock with a target price of 1350p. Liberum Capital reissued its “Hold” rating on Johnson Matthey, up 0.5%, with a target price of 2900p and AlphaValue reiterated its “Add” rating with a target price of 3184p.
DS Smith, up 4.4%, announced that it has completed the acquisition of the corrugated activities of Grupo Lantero for approximately €190m after the receipt of Competition Authority clearance. Jefferies Group reiterated its “Buy” rating on the stock with a target price of 435p.
Netcall, up 10.4%, announced that the board expects a satisfactory outcome for the full year while it anticipates higher turnover and adjusted EBIDTA. It also stated that there was a rise in order inflow during the second half of the year, indicating a better outlook.
N+1 Singer reduced its target price on Horizon Discovery Group, up 5.1%, to 194p from 246p but reiterated its “Buy” rating. Dialight, up 1.1%, announced that it is considering a reduction in its global workforce by 130 employees or 12% of its headcount, as a part of its cost-cutting programme. N+1 Singer reiterated its “Buy” rating on the stock with a target price of 660p.
Societe Generale downgraded its rating on AVEVA Group, up 0.4%, to “Hold” with a target price of 2500p. Sepura, up 0.3%, announced that Russell King, the Non-Executive Director, has been appointed as the new Chairman with effect from the conclusion of the AGM on 7 September 2015. He will succeed John Hughes who will remain with the company as its strategic advisor. Liberum Capital reaffirmed its “Buy” rating on the stock with a target price of 202p.
Frontier Developments, unchanged at 201.5p, announced that it has launched a new season of its major game-play expansion for Elite: Dangerous called “Elite Dangerous: Horizons”. Pre-launch orders for the game have started at Gamescom trade show in Koln, Germany. The first content update will be called “Planetary Landings” which will be launched in Q4 2015.
Elektron Technology’s share price remained flat this week at 6.6p. FinnCap reaffirmed its “Hold” rating on Xaar, down 1.1%, with a target price of 500p. Beaufort Securities raised its target price on Amino Technologies, down 2.4%, to 210p from 150p and maintained its “Buy” rating.
UK markets ended mostly higher last week, as dovish minutes from the Bank of England’s latest meeting indicated that the Monetary Policy Committee is happy to keeping interest rates low for now. The FTSE 100 index rose 0.3% to 6,718.5, while the FTSE AIM 100 Index advanced 0.1% to finish at 3,417.4. The FTSE techMARK 100 Index finished 1.4% lower to settle at 3,860.6.
US markets closed lower in the previous week, following mostly downbeat macroeconomic data and a sharp selloff in media shares. The DJIA index fell 1.8% to 17,373.4, while the NASDAQ Index slid 1.7% to finish at 5,043.
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