Sanford C. Bernstein reiterated its “Market Perform” rating on ARM Holdings, up 2.2%, with a price objective of 750p. Goldman Sachs and Kempen upgraded their ratings to a “Conviction-Buy” and “Buy”, respectively, on shares of Johnson Matthey, up 5.9%. The latter had a price objective of 3,520p.
Canaccord Genuity slightly increased its price objective from 52p to 54p with a “Buy” rating on Vernalis, up 35.9%. Abcam, up 3.1%, has established a direct service to Australia and New Zealand.
Cyan Holdings rose 2.8%, after it signed a non-exclusive Partnership Agreement with Dinsmore & Associates, who will identify opportunities for Cyan's smart metering, smart lighting and Machine-2-Machine solutions across the sub-Saharan African market. Cyan, along with GridSense® Inc., also announced that it has agreed to jointly market smart grid solutions in India and other emerging regions.
Frontier Developments, up 1.7%, stated that a new Xbox One and Xbox 360 game called ‘ScreamRide’ is in the making and is set for release in spring 2015. Kier Group, up 1.2%, signed a framework agreement with Driver Group, enabling it to minimise the development and build-up of disputes, create efficient means to manage projects as well as provide quantity surveying & programming services in the UK & globally. Jefferies Group downgraded the shares of CSR, up 0.9%, to a “Hold” rating with a current target price of 569p.
Sphere Medical Holding, unchanged at 25.5p, has appointed Professor Jean-Louis Vincent to its Medical Advisory Board. Cambridge Cognition Holdings, also unchanged at 60p, announced the expansion of scientific partnership with Altreos Research Partners, after the release of two draft FDA guidelines on human abuse liability assessments on drugs and abuse-deterrent products.
1Spatial, down 4.6%, has been awarded a significant long-term contract by the Ministry Of Defence on behalf of No.1 Aeronautical Information Documents Unit. Scientific Digital Imaging declined 5.8%, after the company posted a pre-tax loss of £38,000 for the year ended 30 April, compared with a pre-tax profit of £213,000 a year ago, due to reorganisation & acquisition costs. The annual revenue dropped 9% to £7m, from £7.7m a year before, majorly hit by weaker sales of its Syngene instrumentation. FinnCap reiterated its “Corporate” rating with a price objective of 27p.
During the week, UK markets ended higher, following an upward revision to GDP growth for the second quarter and after the Bank of England Governor, Mark Carney, suggested there would be no interest rate increase in the near future. The FTSE 100 index fell 1.9% to 6,689.1 and the FTSE techMARK 100 Index dropped 3 .1% to 3,273.5. The FTSE AIM 100 Index dipped 0.8% to 3,230.
US markets finished higher in the past week, as an overall weak economic data raised speculations that the Federal Reserve will not hike interest rates soon. The DJIA index added 0.7% to 16,662.9, while the NASDAQ index rose 2.2% to 4,464.9.
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