UBS reiterated its “Buy” rating on ARM Holdings, down 2.6%, with a target price of 1200p. Jefferies reaffirmed its “Hold” rating on DS Smith, down 1.5%, with a target price of 410p.
Greene King, down 1%, announced that its sales in China increased sharply after Chinese President Xi Jinping and the UK Prime Minster David Cameron recently visited one of the company’s pubs in Buckinghamshire.
AVEVA Group, down 2.8%, announced that its half year revenues fell 4.7% YoY to £81.9m. It reported a loss before tax of £0.8m against a profit before tax of £14.2m last year. The board proposed an interim dividend of 6p per share payable on 29 January 2016. The stock received mixed rating from various brokers.
Horizon Discovery Group, up 16.7%, announced that Dr. David Smoller has stepped down as the Chief Business Officer and Executive Director of the Board with immediate effect. Elektron Technology, up 1.8%, announced that its third quarter sales of its new brands Bulgin, Queensgate and Ophthalmic witnessed growth during the period. It is intensifying measures to cut costs and expects full year trading performance for the current businesses to be ahead of the last year.
Bango, up 1.6%, announced that it is placing 12.2m new shares to raise nearly £11m at a price of 90p. The placement will be completed in two stages. Quixant, up 1.4%, announced that it has completed the acquisition of Densitron Technologies for a total consideration of approximately £7.7m, while keeping it as a separate division. Numis Securities initiated research on Frontier Developments, up 0.4%, with a “Buy” rating and a target price of 337p.
Kier Group, down 3.4%, announced in its AGM trading update that it is on track to achieve its full year expectations, though the results will be weighted towards the second half. Its property division continued its good performance driven by robust occupier and investor demand with a pipeline of more than £1bn. The residential division also performed strongly with approximately 2350 completions expected by the end of the financial year. The construction traded well during the period as it secured new work amounting to £700m. The stock received mixed rating from various brokers.
Abcam, down 6.5%, announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire the entire issued share capital of AxioMx Inc on a cash-free/debt-free basis for $20m. The stock was subjected to mixed ratings. Ubisense Group, down 42.3%, in its trading update, announced that its revenue and profit for the year seems to be at serious risk and may fall short of its previous guidance after it was heavily damaged by the emissions-cheating scandal at Volkswagen. Numis reaffirmed its “Under Review” rating on the stock.
UK markets ended lower last week, amid a heavy sell-off in mining companies due to demand concerns from China. This was despite the jobless rate falling to its lowest level since April 2008. The FTSE 100 index fell 3.7% to 6,118.3, while the FTSE AIM 100 Index declined 2% to finish at 3,395.1. The FTSE techMARK 100 Index edged 1.3% lower to settle at 3,789.2.
US markets closed lower last week, due to a fall in energy firms. Moreover, downbeat retail sales data along with the OECD slashing the global growth forecast weighed on the investor sentiment. The DJIA index dropped 3.7% to 17,245.2, while the NASDAQ Index fell 4.3% to finish at 4,927.9.
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