Beaufort Securities reissued its “Buy” rating on DS Smith, down 0.3%.
Abcam, up 3.5%, announced an agreement with Roche for the exclusive rights of Spring Bioscience Corporation’s product portfolio for research use only applications.
AVEVA Group, up 2.7%, in its trading update, announced that it recorded robust performance across all regions as constant currency revenue growth boosted upward growth trend for the period.
Greene King, up 2.3%, in its trading statement, announced that it recorded Pub Company like-for-like sales growth of 1.6% for Christmas period, while reported sales of £7.6m on Christmas Day. Separately, the company announced the appointment of Richard Smothers as Chief Financial Officer with effect from 1 February 2018.
Kier Group, up 13.3%, in its trading update, announced that the Group’s trading performance during the period was at par with its previous expectations, with the Property and Residential divisions achieving their ROCE targets and the Construction and Services divisions maintaining their operating margins.
Elektron Technology, up 5.6%, announced that its Elektron Eye Technology business has bought the patent for the Macular Pigment Screening device worth £0.2m.
Quixant, up 4.6% announced that it anticipates the annual revenue to climb by 20% to nearly $109m, while the profit before tax is expected to be at par with market expectations.
LPA Group, up 1.2%, in its final results, announced that revenues rose marginally to £22.5m, while profit before tax advanced to £1.9m.
Ubisense Group, down 1.1%, in its trading update, announced that it witnessed robust revenue growth in its own RTLS SmartSpace and myWorld products, mainly in North America. Netcall, down 3.1%, in its trading update, announced that the trading performance during the period was at par with the management’s expectations.
Brady, down 6.0%, in its trading update, announced that the company expects revenues to be nearly £27m and the adjusted EBITDA to be in the range of £0.5m to £0.7m for the period. Gaming Realms, down 13.6%, has entered into a two-year licensing and revenue share agreement with GoldenNuggetCasino.com to launch its "Slingo Originals" content.
UK markets finished mostly lower in the past week, after the British mortgage approvals slumped n December to its lowest level since 2013. Meanwhile, the nation’s unemployment rate remained steady in the three months ended November. Also, the UK economy grew more-than-expected in the fourth quarter. The FTSE 100 index fell 0.8% to settle at 7,665.5, while the FTSE techMARK 100 index dropped 1.6% to end at 4,552.8. Meanwhile, the FTSE AIM 100 index jumped 1.0% to close at 5,544.5.
US markets closed higher for the week, as a series of strong corporate earnings in the US lifted the market sentiment. On the data front, the US annualised GDP advanced less-than-expected in the three months to December 2017. Moreover, the nation’s Markit services PMI surprisingly dropped in January, while the nation’s initial jobless claims rose less-than-expected in the prior week. The DJIA index advanced 2.1% to end at 26,616.7, while the NASDAQ index added 2.3% to close at 7,505.8.