ARM Holdings, subject to adverse analyst ratings, gave up 9.4% during the week and emerged as the top faller in the Cambridge Index. Following an investor day, which highlighted concerns about increased competition from Intel in the tablet and smart phone markets, Exane BNP Paribas cut its guidance on ARM from “Outperform” to “Neutral”, while Societe Generale reaffirmed its “Sell” rating on the stock.
Johnson Matthey, down 1.5%, announced the appointment of Odile Desforges as a Non Executive Director. Greene King retreated 2.7% even as Jefferies and Liberum Capital both reiterated their “Buy” rating on the stock. Credit Suisse also reaffirmed its “Outperform” rating on the stock. Meanwhile, Aveva Group, up 4.4%, posted a 12% rise in its annual revenues to £220.2m from £195.9m, and a 10% rise in its pre-tax profit to £63.6m from £57.7m. The company also announced plans to return about £100m to shareholders in the form of a special dividend.
Sareum Holdings, up 25.9%, emerged as the top percentage gainer in the Cambridge Index. Blinkx, up 20.7%, unveiled a dedicated application and an open source video player for the Tizen Community. 1Spatial surged 20.4% after it announced the acquisition of a 75.1% stake in Star-Apic. LPA Group, up 5.1%, announced that group company, LPA Excil Electronics, has won preferred bidder status from Hitachi for an Inter City Express lighting supply contract worth in excess of £3m.
PDX (Pursuit Dynamics) advanced 3.3% during the week as the company posted a reduced six-month operating loss of £0.29m. Sepura, up 1.8%, had its “Buy” rating cut to “Neutral” by Goldman Sachs.
Shares in Phytopharm were suspended from trading effective from 21 May 2013. The company stated that it is in the process of acquiring a revenue generating company operating in the UK healthcare sector. A further announcement is expected in due course and it is likely that the shares will move from the main market to an AIM listing.
In the UK, the FTSE 100 index fell 1.0% to 6,654.3, during the week ended 24 May 2013, as investors reacted negatively to an unexpected contraction in the nation’s retail sales during April. However, the losses were pared after data confirmed that UK GDP rose 0.3% QoQ in the first quarter, in-line with market estimates. The FTSE techMARK 100 Index declined 1.0% to 2,874.1, while the FTSE AIM 100 Index eased 0.4% to 3,328.4.
US markets fell during the week, as minutes from the Fed’s latest meeting highlighted policymaker’s willingness to taper the central bank’s bond–buying programme as soon as the June meeting. Additionally, mixed comments from Ben Bernanke over the pace of the Fed’s stimulus programme further spooked investors’ confidence. The Dow Jones Index lost 0.3% to 15,303.1, while the Nasdaq Index shed 1.1% to 3,459.1.
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