Mirabaud Securities reissued its “Buy” rating on ARM Holdings, up 5%, with a target price of 1500p. Liberum Capital maintained its “Sell” rating on the stock with a target price of 650p.
Johnson Matthey, up 12.5% in its half yearly results, announced that its revenues climbed 18.8% to £5.7b, compared with the same period last year. Profit before tax jumped 58.9% to £330.2m and basic earnings per share stood at 137.9p compared to earnings of 85.6p last year. The company’s board has proposed an interim dividend of 19.5p per share which will be paid to shareholders on 2 February 2016 and further recommended a special dividend of 150p per share which is amounting to £305m. The board expects the full year results to be in line with the current expectations.
DS Smith, up 3.9%, announced that, after three months of consultation, it confirmed the shutting down of its Wansbrough Paper Mill before Christmas. The stock received mixed reviews from various brokers.
Marshall Motor Holdings, up 5.9%, announced that it has acquired SG Smith Holdings Limited for £24.4m. The acquisition was funded from its existing cash resources. Investec reiterated its “Buy” rating on the stock with a target price of 215p. Numis Securities restated its “Buy” rating on Sagentia Group, unchanged at 177p.
Kier Group, down 1.8%, announced that it has been awarded a contract to design and construct a 22-storey student accommodation scheme which will be Plymouth’s tallest building for its new client Threesixty Developments Limited.
Blinkx, down 8.7% to 23.8p, announced in its results for the half year ending 30 September 2015 that its revenues fell 13.8% to $91.4m, compared with the same period last year. Loss before tax widened to $79.3m from $9.7m. The company expects the second half of the year to witness constant growth in its Core, Mobile and Programmatic products.Numis Securities reissued its “Under Review” rating on the stock.
Ubisense Group, down 9.4%, announced that it has won a strategic contract with Hyundai Motors to install its Smart Factory software application at Hyundai’s future factory facility at Namyang, Korea.
UK markets ended higher last week, after the annual core consumer prices rose more than expected in October. The FTSE 100 index climbed 3.5% to 6,334.6, while the FTSE AIM 100 Index rose 0.2% to finish at 3,400.7. The FTSE techMARK 100 Index advanced 4.4% to settle at 3,903.6.
US markets closed higher, following minutes from the FOMC October meeting showing most of the policy members favouring December interest rate hike. Also, annual inflation figures increased more than expected in October, further raising the likelihood for a December rate hike. The DJIA index edged 3.4% higher to 17,823.8, while the NASDAQ Index gained 3.6% to finish at 5,104.9.
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