Cambridge Index gains 1.5%

The Cambridge Index advanced 1.5% or 332.9 points to finish at 22,811.9, as seven of the top ten Index heavyweights posted weekly gains to their share prices.

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Deutsche Bank restated its “Buy” rating on Johnson Matthey, up 5.4%. Goldman Sachs restated its “Neutral” rating on DS Smith, down 0.2%, with a target price of 430p. Numis Securities reaffirmed its “Add” rating on the stock with a target price of 495p.

Berenberg Bank initiated its “hold” rating on Greene King, up 1.7%, with a target price of 700p. JPMorgan raised its target price on Abcam, up 0.8%, to 864p from 678p but maintained its “Neutral” rating.

Cambridge Cognition Holdings, up 3.2%, announced that its annual revenues increased 36% to £6.9m from £5m posted in the prior year. The company reported a profit before of £116,000, against a loss of £867,000 in the previous year. Dowgate Capital initiated its coverage with a “Buy” rating on the stock.

Xaar, up 2.2%, announced that Alex Bevis, the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) and Company Secretary, has resigned from the Board with effect from 29 March 2017. Lily Liu will join as the CFO and Company Secretary to the Board, with effect from 2 May 2017. Until then, Jim Brault, the Chief Human Resources Officer, has been appointed as an interim Company Secretary.

RhythmOne, which remained unchanged at 42.8p, announced that it has agreed to sell its Prime Visibility agency services business to Wpromote for a total consideration of $3.5m.

Amino Technologies and Netcall both remained unchanged at 198p and 61.8p respectively. CyanConnode Holdings, unchanged at 0.2p, announced that it has appointed Pete Hutton as the Non-Executive Director to the Board, with immediate effect.

Elektron Technology, down 1.7%, announced that it has sold the business and assets of Digitron to the British Rototherm Company Limited for a cash total consideration of £0.3m. The company will use the net proceeds from the sale for working capital purposes.

Sepura, down 1.8%, announced that its filing in Spain to the National Markets and Competition Commission under the Spanish merger control regime is still under the Phase I review. The company also announced that it has signed an agreement with its lenders to defer the 31 March 2017 covenant tests to 15 May 2017.

UK markets finished mostly lower last week, led by a decline in mining sector stocks. On March 29, the UK Prime Minister, Theresa May triggered Article 50, formally starting the two-year negotiation process for leaving the European Union. Meanwhile, the nation’s annualised gross domestic product (GDP) for the fourth quarter of 2016 missed market expectations. The FTSE 100 index eased 0.2% to finish at 7,322.9, while the FTSE techMARK 100 index dipped 0.2% to end at 4,440.7. However, the FTSE AIM 100 index added 1.9% to settle at 4,557.1.

US markets ended firmer in the previous week, amid gains in financial sector stocks. The annualised GDP in the US rose more than market forecast in 2016 while the consumer confidence jumped to its highest level in more than 16 years. The DJIA index edged 0.3% higher to close at 20,663.2 and the NASDAQ index rose 1.4% to finish at 5,911.7.

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