Cambridge Index rises 2.4%

The Cambridge Index advanced 2.4% or 341 points to 14,445.4, following gains in index bellwethers such as ARM Holdings and Johnson Matthey.

ARM traded 4.8% higher during the week, as BoA Merrill Lynch added the stock to its ‘Europe 1 List’, reiterating confidence in its assumption that ARM’s blended smart phone royalty rate would expand from 1.5% last year to 2.4% in 2016. Exane BNP Paribas also rated the stock as “Outperform”.

Johnson Matthey, up 3.5%, announced the completion of the acquisition of Formox AB from Perstorp Specialty Chemicals for a cash consideration of SEK1.05 billion (£107 million). Morgan Stanley, however, held its “Underweight” rating for the stock. Greene King fell 2.6%, even as N+1 Singer put a “Buy” rating on the stock.

PDX reversed some of its previous losses and surged 63%, emerging as the top gainer in the Cambridge Index, although from a very low base. Cyan Holdings, up 14.3%, announced the appointment of Shiv Kaushik as the Country Manager in India. Cyan has also recruited two local senior field application engineers to provide additional customer and technical support in India. Amino Technologies, up 3.8%, announced receiving a rebate of £0.95 million on duties paid on its previously recognised international product sales.

Bango fell 10.3% as the company granted its Chief Financial Officer, Gerry Tucker, 132,500 stock options at an exercise price of 232p. Phytopharm, down 6.1%, stated that it would not commit any additional research and development expenditure on Cogane in its Parkinson's disease project. It also stated that it is reviewing various merger and acquisition opportunities, in addition to a staff reduction and cost saving programme.

Brady, down 1.7%, plans to issue 150,572 shares to satisfy the deferred contingent consideration of $200,000 payable to Systems Alternatives International LLC. Ubisense, down 0.5%, noted that a large US steel manufacturer has selected its ‘Smart Factory System’ for tracking stock around their steel manufacturing plants. Sareum Holdings traded unchanged at 1.2p. The company announced that it has drawn £0.35 million against its £4 million Standby Equity Distribution Agreement with YA Global Master SPV Ltd in exchange of 29,362,416 ordinary shares at 1.192p per share.


In the UK, the FTSE 100 index closed 0.3% higher, at 6,411.7, during the four day trading period of the week ended 28 March 2013, following the deal reached in Cyprus. Additionally, upbeat economic data from the US and Germany overshadowed reports of a decline in UK’s fourth quarter gross domestic product. The FTSE techMARK 100 Index rose 0.9% to 2,802.4, while the FTSE AIM 100 Index rose marginally to 3,300.1.

US markets closed higher during the week, as the nation’s GDP expanded 0.4% in the fourth quarter, more than the Government’s previous estimate. Upbeat US durable goods orders and house prices data also boosted confidence that the nations’ economy is improving. The Dow Jones Index added 0.5% to 14,578.5, while the Nasdaq Index rose 0.7% to 3,267.5.

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