Numis Securities Ltd upgraded its “Add” rating on Johnson Matthey, down 2.7%, with a target price of 3754p. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reissued their “Overweight” rating on DS Smith, up 2.7%, with a target price of 470p.
Quixant, up 15.9%, in its trading update, announced that the Group's progress has been accelerated in the second half of the year as the Gaming Division showed strong annual revenue growth. The Board expects EBITDA margins to be higher than previous expectations. FinnCap issued a target price of 250p.
Bango, up 7.1%, announced a couple of changes to its Board of Directors. Amino Technologies, up 5.3%, received target prices of 200p and 168p from FinnCap and N+1 Singer respectively. FinnCap also issued a target price of 70p for Netcall, up 1.7%. N+1 Singer raised their target price on RhythmOne (former Blinkx PLC), up 1p to 56p and maintained its “Buy” rating.
Dialight, down 1.6%, was issued a target price of 800p from N+1 Singer. Numis Securities Ltd reiterated its “Add” rating on AVEVA Group, down 2.9%, with a target price of 2050p.
Sepura, down 16%, in its results for the half year ended 30 September 2016, announced that revenue fell to €43.3m from €92.9m reported in the same period a year ago, while its loss before tax sharply widened to €62.1m from €6.2m. The company’s basic loss per share grew to 21.4p compared to a previous loss of 3.1p. It expects revenue for the current financial year to be in the range of €125m to €135m, amid strong order backlog at 30 September 2016, together with the pipeline of sales opportunities and the impact of cost reductions. Finally, they also announced that Andy Leeser has been appointed as the Non-Executive Director of the company.
UK markets ended mostly higher in the earlier week, amid gains in the commodity sector stocks. The second estimate of the British economy came in line with initial estimates for the third quarter. Chancellor Philip Hammond, in his first Autumn Statement, hinted at slower than previously estimated economic growth for 2017. The FTSE 100 index rose 1% to settle at 6,840.75, while the FTSE AIM 100 index advanced 1.6% to finish at 3,945. The FTSE techMARK 100 index edged 0.4% lower to end at 4,250.4.
US markets closed firmer in the previous week, amid hawkish Federal Reserve minutes which hinted at a “relatively soon” interest rate hike. Better than expected US durable goods orders for October and manufacturing activity for November added to the positive sentiment. The DJIA index gained 1.5% to 19,152.1, while the NASDAQ index rose 1.5% to 5,398.9.
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