ARM Holdings, up 2.5%, offered an upbeat outlook on royalty growth rates through 2018 at its analysts’ day. Various brokers gave diverse ratings on the stock.
Johnson Matthey, up 2.9%, expects the platinum market to post a deficit of 1.218m ounces this year, the largest shortfall since 1975. Goldman Sachs lifted its price target on the stock from 3,600.0p to 3,980.0p with a “Neutral” rating. BNP Paribas reiterated its “Outperform” rating with a price target of 3,400.0p. Westhouse Securities assumed coverage on the shares of Aveva Group, up 4.2%, with a “Buy” rating and a price objective of 2,260.0p. Goldman Sachs hoisted its price target on the stock from 2,950.0p to 3,000.0p with a “Buy” rating.
CSR, up 3.7%, announced that it has selected the ‘Cadence® Palladium® XP verification computing’ platform for system & early firmware validation of ARM®-based automotive infotainment systems-on-chip (SoCs).
UBS upgraded its rating to a “Buy” from a “Neutral” on the shares of Domino Printing Sciences, which ticked 0.3% higher, with a target price of 840.0p.
Sepura, up 0.2%, announced the acquisition of Fylde Micro Limited for an initial cash consideration of £2.75m. Investec reiterated its “Buy” rating on the stock with a price objective of 160.0p. Frontier Developments, up 2.8%, has signed a contract extension worth $1.75m to undertake additional work under an existing development agreement with a games publisher.
Cyan Holdings, up 12.5%, blamed lower revenues and a possible stock obsolescence provision worth £0.5m for widening of its losses in 2013 to £3.0m, compared with £2.9m in 2012. Revenue fell to £0.1m from £0.3m a year earlier, as the commercial orders remained well below the level required to sustain the business. However, it was of the belief that 2014 held strong prospects for it. It also announced the appointment to the Board of the company with immediate effect of Henry (known as Harry) Berry as a Non-Executive Director.
Kier Group, down 3.5%, announced that it had won a deal worth over £100m to provide refurbishments, extensions and new build projects at the City General hospital in Stoke and Stafford hospital. Elektron Technology, down 9.7%, announced that Microgen Plc remained interested in making an offer for the company in whole or in part, even though previous proposals to invest in the business have been rejected.
Scientific Digital Imaging fell 31.0%. The company announced that it expected to report a profit both before and after tax for the year ended 30 April 2014 despite a small loss previously reported at the half year.
UK markets were mostly higher at the end of the week, after the April retail sales growth in the UK hit a 10-year high and amid an unanimous vote among the BoE to keep its loose monetary policy unchanged. In the UK, the FTSE 100 index edged down 0.6% to 6,815.8. However, the FTSE AIM 100 Index gained 1.8% to 3,557.5 and the FTSE techMARK 100 Index rose2.6% to 3,131.1.
During the preceding week, the US markets closed on a positive note, after Fed’s minutes of the policy meeting held on Apr 29-30, indicated to leave its interest rates at low levels for a longer period. The DJIA index rose 0.7% to 16,606.3, while the NASDAQ index added 2.3% to close at 4,185.8.
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