Jefferies Group reaffirmed its “Hold” rating on DS Smith, down 3.3%, with a target price of 420.0p. Abcam, down 4.2%, in its AGM statement, announced that the trading in the current year has commenced with a positive note while it is progressing well with respect to its strategic priorities and growth objectives. Panmure Gordon reissued its “Sell” rating on the stock with a target price of 640.0p.
Sepura, up 27.6%, announced that it is in the initial discussion stage with Hytera Communications Corporation Limited with respect to a potential offer for the entire issued and to be issued share capital of the company. Hytera stated that if it makes any offer, it will be an entire cash transaction.
Horizon Discovery Group, up 1.9%, announced that it has signed various service agreements worth more than £0.8m for its high-throughput molecular screening platform. The company specified that the revenues generated from these drug combination and immuno-oncology service agreements would be realised in Q4 2016 as well as the earlier part of 2017. The order book of year 2016 has exceeded the current operational capacity and hence agreements worth £1.6m will be recognised in FY2017. The stock was subject to mostly positive rating from various brokers.
Gaming Realms, down 0.7%, in its Q3 trading update, announced that its revenues climbed to £9.1m from £6.2m in the same period last year. Meanwhile, the company reported a positive adjusted EBITDA for the first time, which is seen at £0.96m against a loss of £3.0m in Q3 2015. The real money net gaming revenue surged 113% YoY to £5.9m. Moreover, social gaming and licensing revenues climbed 189% YoY to £2.5m. Peel Hunt reconfirmed its “Buy” rating on the stock with a target price of 40.0p.
Canaccord Genuity reiterated its “Buy” rating on Amino Technologies, down 2.6%, with a target price of 200.0p. Xaar, down 2.9%, announced that it has launched the Xaar 502 product range of high-performance greyscale piezoelectric drop-on-demand printheads.
Numis Securities downgraded its rating on AVEVA Group, down 3.7%, to “Add” from “Buy”, with a target price of 2050.0p.
Dialight, down 4.2%, in its trading statement, announced that the Group's trading performance for the full year will persist to be in line with the current market expectations. Also, it aims at a modest revenue growth on a constant currency basis.
Sareum Holdings, down 11.2%, in its final results for the year ended 30 June 2016, announced that its operating loss narrowed to £1.2m from £1.31m reported in the last year. The company’s loss before tax declined to £1.2m from £1.4m reported in the previous year. Basic and diluted loss per share fell to 0.04p from 0.06p in the prior year.
UK markets finished sharply lower in the previous week, led by a decline in energy and pharmaceutical sector shares. On the data front, the UK Markit manufacturing PMI fell more than expected in October. Besides, the Bank of England kept its benchmark interest rate steady; however revised up its economic growth and inflation forecasts for the nation. The FTSE 100 index declined 4.3% to 6,693.3, while the FTSE AIM 100 index fell 3.3% to close at 3,817.0. Moreover, the FTSE techMARK 100 index dropped 2.8% to 4,146.1.
US markets closed weaker in the last week, as worries surrounding the upcoming US presidential election dented investor sentiment. On the data front, the US economy added less than expected jobs in October while the average hourly earnings increased on an annual basis. The DJIA index lost 1.5% to 17,888.3, while the NASDAQ index slid 2.8% to 5,046.4.