JP Morgan Cazenove reiterated its “Overweight” rating on AVEVA Group, up 1.4%, with a target price of 5,200p. Goldman Sachs raised its target price on the stock to 5,200p from 4,700p and gave a “Neutral” rating.
Berenberg Bank reiterated its “Buy” rating on Frontier Developments, up 6.1%, with a target price of 1,600p.
Horizon Discovery Group, up 3.2%, announced that it has signed a licensing agreement with NGM Biopharmaceuticals Inc. to grant its one of its cell lines to the latter, in a bid to support its broad research and development efforts.
Bango, up 1.4%, announced the appointment of Ray Anderson as the Executive Chair, following the resignation of David Sear from the Board as Chair. Also, the firm stated that Paul Larbey has been appointed as the Chief Executive Officer, while Eric Peacock took the position of Senior Independent Director.
LPA Group, unchanged at 96p, in its trading update for the year ended 30 September 2019, announced that its record order entry of £27m was achieved, despite challenging conditions, and further expects to meet expectations for the year. Additionally, the company announced that it has received a secured a five-year LED lighting system contract from Austrian Federal Railways and another contract for electro-mechanical assemblies for the UK rail sector.
Netcall, down 10.3%, in its trading update for six months ended 31 December 2019, announced that the performance was in line with its expectations and further expects interim revenue and adjusted EBITDA to be around £12.3m and £2.1m, respectively. The company’s interim results for six months ended 31 December 2019 will be released on 27 February 2020.
UK markets ended mostly weaker last week. The UK unemployment rate remained at its lowest level since the 1970s in the three months to November period. Also, positive manufacturing and services sector data for January is likely to stave off prospects of interest rate cut by the UK central bank at its policy meeting this week. The FTSE 100 index declined 1.2% to settle at 7585.98, while the FTSE AIM 100 index fell 1.2% to close at 4940.65. Meanwhile, the FTSE techMARK 100 index gained 1.1% to end at 6140.09.
US markets closed lower in the previous week, weighed down by losses in technology and financial sector stocks as well as escalating fears over the outbreak of the deadly Wuhan coronavirus in China. The US Chicago Fed national activity index dropped in December, while the weekly mortgage applications fell to a 3-month low in the last week. Also, the US manufacturing PMI declined to a 3-month low in January. Meanwhile, the US Markit services PMI jumped to a 10-month high in January. The DJIA index fell 1.2% to end at 28989.73, while the NASDAQ index lost 0.8% to close at 9314.91.