Deutsche Bank reiterated its “Buy” rating on Johnson Matthey, down 2.5%, with a target price of 3700p. DS Smith, down 2.1% announced that it has completed the acquisition of Gopaca.
Greene King, down 5.7%, announced that its half year revenue rose to £1bn from £917.7m reported in the same period last year. The basic earnings per share narrowed to 23.9p from 24.9p. The Board declared an interim dividend of 8.8p per share. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased its target price on the stock to 830p from 950p and reissued their “Overweight” rating.
Panmure Gordon reissued its “Sell” rating on Abcam, down 1.7%, with a target price of 640p. Peel Hunt reissued their “Buy” rating on Kier Group, down 0.3%, with a target price of 1600p.
Tristel, up 6.7%, was given a target price of 150p by FinnCap. Elektron Technology, up 5.5%, announced that it has completed the sale of the Wallace for a total gross consideration of £0.3m, payable in cash on completion of the sale.
Sepura, up 3.8%, announced that it has been given a seven day extension for Hytera Communications Corporation acquisition talks. Amino Technologies, up 2.7%, announced that it has secured a contract win with Com Net Inc. to roll out its FUSION "Internet of Things" solution across the CNI's network of over 20 locally-focused operators. Canaccord Genuity increased its target price to 200p from 180p and reissued its “Buy” rating on the stock.
Vernalis, up 2.6%, announced that its progress was in line with the management's expectations, along with the positive developments across all 2016-17 priorities.
Barclays gave a target price of 1,450p to AVEVA Group, down 0.1%. Gaming Realms, down 2.3%, announced that it has won the award of the ‘prestigious Mobile Casino Product of the year 2016’ at the E-Gaming Review Awards, for its proprietary mobile casino platform. Peel Hunt restated its “Buy” rating with a target price of 40p.
Panmure Gordon reissued its “Buy” rating on Horizon Discovery Group, down 3.7%, with a target price of 205p. Shares of RhythmOne, down 6.3%, are trading higher on Monday, as it announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement with Perk Inc. to acquire all of its issued and outstanding Common and Class A Restricted voting shares and certain employee options for approximately $42.5m.
UK markets ended worse off last week, amid a slowdown in the nation’s manufacturing activity growth for November. The FTSE 100 index lost 1.6% to end at 6,730.7, while the FTSE AIM 100 index declined 1.2% to finish at 3,896.6. The FTSE techMARK 100 index edged 2.1% lower to settle at 4,161.
US markets closed mixed in the previous week, as gains in energy sector stocks were offset by losses in technology firms. Data showed that the nation’s manufacturing sector expanded in November and consumer confidence surged in the same month. The pace of hiring also remained healthy for the economy during November with the unemployment rate falling to a nine-year low. The DJIA index added 0.2% to close at 19,191.9, while the NASDAQ index retreated 2.7% to finish at 5,255.7.
View the report in full
_________________________________________________