Johnson Matthey, up 23.2%, announced that it plans to expand the battery materials technology with an initial investment of £200m. Morgan Stanley reissued its “Overweight” rating on the stock with a target price of 3500p.
Goldman Sachs Group increased its target price on AVEVA Group, up 2.9%, to 2400p from 1850p and maintained its “Neutral” rating.
Bango, up 21.6%, announced that its half-yearly revenue doubled to £1.7m, while its loss before tax narrowed to £2m.
Elektron Technology, up 18.9%, stated that its half-yearly revenues marginally rose to £15.3m and posted profit before tax of £200k. Separately, the company announced that it has won a contract for its subsidiary, Checkit Limited, for an initial worth of over £225k.
Marshall Motor Holdings, up 8.1%, announced that it has sold its wholly-owned leasing segment, Marshall Leasing Limited to N.I.I.B Group Limited for £42.5m in cash.
Kier Group, up 5%, announced that annual Group revenues jumped to £4.1b and recorded a profit before tax of £25.8m. Numis Securities reiterated its “Buy” rating on the stock with a target price of 1510p.
Cambridge Cognition Holdings, up 2.1%, announced that its half-yearly revenues marginally eased to £3.2m while its loss before tax widened to £386k.
Quixant, up 1.9%, announced that half-yearly revenues surged to $56.9m, while profit before tax soared to $8.7m. Berenberg Bank restated its “Buy” rating on the stock with a target price of 600p.
Brady, up 1.5%, announced that it has signed a contract with Gaelectric Trading and Market Services Limited. N+1 Singer reiterated its “Buy” rating on the stock with a target price of 91p.
Frontier Developments, up 0.2%, announced that it has appointed James Mitchell as a Non-Executive Director with immediate effect. Liberum Capital reaffirmed its “Buy” rating on the stock with a target price of 1250p.
CyanConnode Holdings, down 6.5%, announced that it has received a purchase order of $29m from its strategic partner, NIK LLC for a smart metering contract in Ukraine. FinnCap maintained its target price on the stock to 100p.
Tristel, down 17.2%, announced that its annual results for the year ended 30 June 2017 will be published on 19 October 2017.
UK markets finished in the up last week, boosted by an unexpected rise in the nation’s retail sales data for August. Meanwhile, the Bank of England Governor, Mark Carney, vowed that any interest rate hike will be gradual and hinted that Brexit could affect the economic growth and push inflation higher. The UK public-sector net borrowing dropped to a ten-month low level in August. The FTSE 100 index jumped 1.3% to settle at 7,310.6, while the FTSE techMARK 100 index climbed 0.4% to end at 4,503.9. Meanwhile, the FTSE AIM 100 index added 0.1% to close at 5,038.4.
US markets closed mixed in the prior week. The US Federal Reserve announced that it would start unwinding its bond-buying programme in October, while hinted another interest rate hike is in pipeline this year. The nation’s manufacturing PMI met market expectations in September, whereas its services PMI fell to a two-month low in the same month. The DJIA index advanced 0.4% to end at 22,349.6, while the NASDAQ index lost 0.3% to close at 6,426.9.