Liberum Capital restated its “Hold” rating on Johnson Matthey, down 2.8%, with a target price of 3400p. Panmure Gordon reissued its “Sell” rating on Abcam, down 2%, with a target price of 680p.
Kier Group, up 0.8%, announced that its half yearly revenues rose slightly to £1.99bn from £1.97bn while its profit before tax grew to £46.3m from £41.5m. The Board recommended an interim dividend of 22.5p. The company also announced that it has entered into a joint venture with CKH Developments Limited wherein Kier will partly transfer its land, bank and two of its residential developments worth £97m into the joint venture. Further, the company announced that Phil White will retire as the Chairman and will step down from the Board. Philip Cox will join as the Non-Executive Director and Chairman of the company on 1 July 2017.
Quixant, up 8.5%, announced that its annual revenues more than doubled to $90.4m from $41.8m. Its profit before tax jumped to $11.7m from $7.8m in the previous year. The Board proposed a dividend of 2p per share. The company separately announced that Gaye Hudson has been appointed as the Non-Executive Director to the Board. FinnCap increased its target price on the stock to 415p from 370p.
Xaar, up 3.7%, announced that its annual revenues increased to £96.2m from £93.5m posted in the preceding year. Its profit before tax rose to £17.9m from £13.6m. The Board will announce a final dividend of 6.7p at its upcoming AGM.
Ubisense Group, up 3.3%, announced that its full year revenues rose to £26.5m from £22m reported in the prior year. The company’s loss before tax narrowed to £5.3m from £16.6m reported in the previous year. N+1 Singer reduced its target price on Vernalis, up 3.1%, to 28p from 37p and maintained its “Hold” rating on the stock.
Beaufort Securities restated its “Speculative Buy” rating on CyanConnode Holdings, which remained unchanged at 0.2p, with a target price of 0.6p. Elektron Technology, which remained unchanged at 7.4p, today announced that it has sold its Digitron business to The British Rototherm Company Limited. N+1 Singer reissued its “Buy” rating on RhythmOne, down 1.7%, with a target price of 65p. Sepura, down 1.8%, today announced that it has informed the German Bundeskartellamt that they have withdrawn their filing in respect of the acquisition with Hytera Communications.
UK markets ended lower in the last week, led by a decline in commodity sector stocks. The UK government revealed that it would trigger the Brexit process on Wednesday 29 March. As well as this, the UK’s consumer price inflation rose more than anticipated in February while retail sales advanced more than market forecast in the same month. The FTSE 100 index fell 1.2% to settle at 7,336.8, while the FTSE techMARK 100 index eased 0.5% to end at 4,448.5. The FTSE AIM 100 index lost 1.2% to close at 4,474.2.
US markets closed in negative territory in the previous week, amid investor concerns over US President Trump’s ability to implement his economic plans for tax cuts and spending. Durable goods orders jumped higher than expected in February while the Markit manufacturing PMI unexpectedly contracted in March. The DJIA index dropped 1.5% to finish at 20,596.7, while the NASDAQ index declined 1.2% to close at 5,828.7.
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