Cambridge Index gains 4.0%

ARM Holdings was assigned a “Buy” rating by Bank of America Merrill Lynch, rising by 5.4% partly on the back of this. Johnson Matthey, up 4.9%, was subjected to mixed broker reviews, with Credit Suisse and Morgan Stanley rating the stock as “Outperform” and “Underweight”, respectively, while Deutsche Bank assigned a “Buy” rating on the stock.

Bank of America Merrill Lynch rated DS Smith, up 0.4%, as a “Buy”. Greene King, up 3.2%, announced that its retail like-for-like sales increased 2.2%, and like-for-like room and food sales rose 3.1% and 2.7%, respectively. The company stated that it would meet its full year financial expectations, with improvements in ROCE and a reduction in borrowing.

Elektron Technology, up 1.2%, advised that its Chairman, Keith Daley and CFO, Noah Franklin, have acquired 1,242,165 and 675,000 shares, respectively, at 10.5p each, increasing their shareholdings to 14.1% and 2.4%, respectively.

Abcam, up 5.6%, announced that Director Jonathan Milner has transferred 154,000 shares in the company for nil consideration to a charitable trust. Following this transfer, his shareholding stood at 27,037,124 shares, representing 13.6% of the company’s issued share capital. Amino Technologies, up 2.5%, received a second duty rebate of £0.70m, in addition to the earlier rebate of £0.95m received in March.

Brady, up 2.1%, announced that it has made good progress during the year and has signed new business contracts across all four of its business units. The company further noted that its Chairman, Paul Fullagar, has acquired 150,000 ordinary shares at a price of 75p per share, increasing his shareholding to 1,353,390 shares or 1.67% of the company’s issued share capital. Sepura, up 0.2%, announced the appointment of Nigel Smith and Gordon Stuart as independent Non Executive Directors.

PDX fell 13.5% during the week and emerged as the top faller in the Cambridge Index. The company sold its Food, Beverage and Brewing Business to Olympus Automation Ltd, for a cash consideration of £0.1m, and a further payment of £0.06m in stock and working capital. Xaar down 0.6% indicated that its Finance Director, Alex Bevis, has acquired 3,525 ordinary shares in the company, increasing his beneficial interest in the company to 41,661 shares.

In the UK, the FTSE 100 index gained 1.5%, to 6,521.5, following a rise in UK construction and services PMI’s. Further, better-than-expected production reports from UK based miners also boosted market sentiment. The FTSE techMARK 100 Index edged up 0.1% to 2,750.5, while the FTSE AIM 100 Index rose 1.8% to 3,243.7.

US markets advanced during the week, as a better-than-expected domestic employment report for the month of April, and upbeat home sales and consumer confidence data lifted investors’ confidence. The Dow Jones Index rose 1.8% to 14,974.0, while the Nasdaq Index put on 3.0% to 3,378.6.


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