Berenberg Bank reconfirmed its “Hold” rating on DS Smith, up 0.2%, with a target price of 400p, with Numis Securities restating its “Add” rating on the stock with a target price of 465p.
Greene King, down 1.7%, announced in its trading update for the 40 weeks to 05 February 2017 that its like-for-like (LFL) sales rose 1.1% while the like-for-like sales (excluding Fayre & Square) grew 1.6%. LFL sales over the three weeks in Christmas jumped 4.5%, despite tough comparisons with the previous Christmas period with strong sales particularly coming from London. The Christmas Day sales jumped 6% YoY to £7.4m. Investec restated its “Buy” rating on the stock with a target price of 870p.
Beaufort Securities reissued its “Speculative Buy” rating on Horizon Discovery Group, up 8%, with a target price of 200p. CyanConnode Holdings, up 5.1%, announced that it has received a $5.4m purchase order from a utility specialist company in Bangladesh for a smart metering contract. Beaufort Securities reaffirmed its “Speculative Buy” rating on the stock with a target price of 0.6p.
Amino Technologies, up 4.7%, in its annual results, announced that its revenues surged 80% to £75.2m from £41.7m reported in the previous year. Profit before tax widened to £2.8m from £322k in the last year. The Board has recommended a final dividend of 6.05p.
Frontier Developments, up 2.3%, announced in its half yearly results that its revenues jumped to £18.1m from £10.9m posted in the same period last year, with profit before tax surging to £3.6m from £395k. The stock received positive reviews from brokers.
Sepura, which remained unchanged at 19p, announced that after the results of general meeting and based on the company and Hytera's discussions with the German competition authority, both the parties expect that the authority will initiate a Phase II investigation in respect of the acquisition.
RhythmOne, down 1.3%, announced that it has appointed Mr. Edward Hastings as the Executive Director of the company with immediate effect. N+1 Singer reissued its “Buy” rating on the stock. Elektron Technology, down 9.2%, in its annual trading statement, announced that it expects the unaudited Group revenues from continuing operations for the year ended 31 January 2017 to be approximately £34.5m; slightly down from the like-for-like revenues of £35.5m in the previous year.
UK markets closed higher last week, led by gains in mining sector stocks. The manufacturing and industrial production recorded a more than expected rise in December. The nation’s trade deficit narrowed in the same month as exports to the countries outside the European Union witnessed growth. The FTSE 100 index climbed 1% to settle at 7,258.8, while the FTSE AIM 100 index added 0.7% to close at 4,317.5. The FTSE techMARK 100 index jumped 1.5% to end at 4,345.
US markets ended firmer in the previous week, amidst a rise in the financial sector stocks which were lifted by positive investor sentiment regarding a likely announcement of business-friendly tax policies by the US President. However, the Reuters/Michigan consumer confidence index in the US declined more than market anticipations in February. The DJIA index advanced 1% to end at 20,269.4, while the NASDAQ index gained 1.2% to close at 5,734.1.
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