DS Smith, up 21%, in its trading update announced that trading since its previous update remained resilient, as the impact of COVID-19 on its business was relatively limited, with the overall performance for the financial year expected to be in line with its current expectations. Additionally, DS Smith said that it has cancelled its interim dividend, while the Executive Directors will waive their rights to any annual bonus in respect of the current year, in a bid to dilute the effects of COVID-19 on the company's business. Separately, DS Smith has partnered with local government and volunteers from Nata Veljković pre-school and donated 37000 boxes for packaging aid kits in Krusevac, Serbia.
Horizon Discovery Group, up 21%, announced that it has introduced an arrayed CRISPR knockout screening service to its cell-based screening services for primary human B cell, a first of its kind in the market. The service will help researchers identify genes that affect the function of B cells and examine how this impacts other immune cell types, particularly in infectious diseases, cancer, and auto-immune disorders, such as COVID-19.
Quixant, up 6.2%, announced that its annual revenue plunged 20% to $92.3m, while its profit before tax dropped 34.5% to $9.4m.
Amino Technologies, up 4.3%, announced that its subsidiary, 24i, has been selected by Topic, the new streaming service from First Look Media, to boost its new streaming video experience across topic.com, Apple TV and iOS, Android, Amazon Fire TV and Roku.
Dialight, up 1.8%, announced that its Annual General Meeting will be held on 13 May 2020.
Checkit, unchanged at 33p, today stated that it has furloughed employees and has asked employees who continue to work to agree to a pay reduction. Moreover, Checkit has withdrawn its financial guidance for FY21, due to the uncertainty amid the COVID-19 crisis.
Bango, down 7.6%, announced the completion of £6.5m investment by South Korea-based NHN Corp. in Bango Deep Limited, a subsidiary of Bango.
Oracle Power, down 15.2%, announced that it witnessed solid progress in Q1 2020, despite temporary downturn caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Further, the Letter of Intent application was submitted to the Private Power and Infrastructure Board in March 2020, while the shareholders agreement between Oracle and its partners, China National Coal Development Company Ltd. and the private office of His Highness Sheikh Ahmed Bin Dalmook Juma Al Maktoum, is anticipated to be finalised in the current quarter.
UK markets finished significantly higher in the previous week, led by gains in industrial and mining sector stocks. On the data front, British manufacturing production rose more than expected in February, while the industrial production climbed as expected in the same month. Meanwhile, the UK economic growth unexpectedly declined in February, while the construction PMI dropped to an April 2009-low in March. The FTSE 100 index climbed 7.9% to settle at 5842.7, while the FTSE AIM 100 index surged 14.7% to close at 3840.4. Meanwhile, the FTSE techMARK 100 index jumped 11.6% to end at 4864.8.
US markets ended sharply higher last week, after the US Federal Reserve (Fed) announced additional programmes worth $2.3tn in a bid to support the economy from the coronavirus pandemic. On the macro front, the US JOLTS job openings eased in February, while the consumer prices posted its biggest monthly decline since January 2015 in March. In major news, minutes of the Fed’s March meeting revealed that policymakers remained worried about the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the US economy and as a result they intend to keep rates anchored at the bottom for the foreseeable future. The DJIA index surged 11.1% to end at 23390.8, while the NASDAQ index also jumped 11.1% to close at 8192.4.