Barclays Capital reiterated its “Overweight” rating on ARM Holdings, down 5.1%, with a target price of 1250p. The stock was subjected to mostly positive rating by other brokers.
Goodbody reiterated its “Buy” rating on Greene King, up 0.8%, with a target price of 1110p. HSBC downgraded its rating on the stock to “Hold” from “Reduce” with a target price of 870p.
Kier Group, up 4.2%, announced that it secured two extensions to its existing Area 1 and 13 highways contracts with Highways England, worth up to £90m. The company along with Mouchel Consulting has been awarded a £40m four-year contract to deliver consultancy services for North Yorkshire County Council starting from April 2016.
Brady, up 3.7%, announced that it has won three new contracts. Financial details of the contracts were not divulged. Frontier Developments, unchanged at 245.5p, announced that it has launched Elite Dangerous: Horizons, an expansion pack for its existing Elite Dangerous game. The company will continue to introduce major new features and gameplay as the season continues into 2016.
Sareum Holdings, which ended unchanged, announced that it has received confirmation from its co-development partner, the CRT Pioneer Fund, that Clinical Trial Applications for Phase I trials of CCT245737 are intended to be submitted to the UK Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) in January 2016. Hence as per the CHK1 co-investment agreement, the company will fulfil its next financial contribution, with respect to its 27.5% investment share, of £0.8m by 29 December 2015.
Investec reaffirmed its “Buy” rating on Marshall Motor Holdings, down 0.3%, with a target price of 230p. Tristel, down 2.5%, in its AGM statement, announced that it expects first-half unaudited pre-tax profit to be at least £1.4m, compared to a figure of £1.1m for the same period last year. The board added that this will be the sixth consecutive year-on-year trading period in which it will achieve growth in profit.
AVEVA Group, down 27.3%, announced that after a long due diligence process, the boards of AVEVA and Schneider Electric have not reached an agreement with regard to the takeover, and have terminated discussions by mutual consent. The previously announced terms of the transaction were non-binding and hence no break fees will be paid by either party. The stock was subjected to mixed reviews from brokers.
UK markets ended positively last week, led by gains in retail and banking sector stocks. The FTSE 100 index advanced 1.7% to 6,052.4, while the FTSE AIM 100 Index gained 0.4% to finish at 3,452.5. The FTSE techMARK 100 Index edged 0.4% higher to 3,928.8.
US markets closed lower in the previous week. Markets initially rose, after the US Federal Reserve increased its key interest rate by a quarter percentage point, indicating confidence in the economy. The DJIA index lost 0.8% to 17,128.6, while the NASDAQ Index eased 0.2% to 4,923.1.
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