Johnson Matthey, down 0.9%, announced in its preliminary results for the year ended 31 March 2017, that revenues jumped to £12 bn from £10.7bn reported in the last year. Its profit before tax climbed by 19% to £461.6m from £386.3m reported in the previous year. The basic earnings per share stood at 201.2p, compared to earnings of 166.2p in the preceding year. The Board has recommended a final dividend of 54.5p per share. The company anticipates sales growth for the year ended 31 March 2018 to be in line with the expectations.
Separately, the company announced that it has extended Tim Stevenson's appointment as a Non-Executive Director and Chairman of the company until 31 December 2018. However, Tim notified the company regarding his plans to step down as the Chairman by the end of this term. Liberum Capital restated its “Hold” rating on the stock with a target price of 3300p.
Sareum Holdings, up 2.9%, announced that its licensee, Sierra Oncology Inc, has been granted patents in the US and EU, which protects Sareum’s Chk1 inhibitor SRA737 cancer treatment programme. Meanwhile, the protection period in the US has been extended to the year 2033.
FinnCap reissued its ‘Corporate” rating on Tristel, down 0.2%, with a target price of 165p. FinnCap reaffirmed its “Corporate” rating on Scientific Digital Imaging, down 1.0%, with a target price of 20p.
FinnCap reiterated its “Corporate” rating on Cambridge Cognition Holdings, down 11.3%, with a target price of 130p.
Horizon Discovery Group, down 12.5%, announced in its preliminary results for the year ended 31 December 2016, that revenues jumped to £24.1m from £20.2m reported in the last year. However, its loss before tax widened to £12.5m from £10.5m reported in the previous year. The basic and diluted loss per share rose to 12.1p from 11.2p in the prior year. The company stated that it is on track to achieve revenue growth for the year 2017, which will be in the range of £30m to £35m.
UK markets finished mostly higher in the last week, as Britain’s manufacturing sector grew at its fastest pace in May in nearly three years, easing concerns over the forthcoming election in the nation. On the macro front, the consumer confidence in the UK surprisingly improved to a four-month high in May. The FTSE AIM 100 index & FTSE techMARK 100 added 0.8% each to close at 4,969.3 and 4,711.4, respectively. Meanwhile, the FTSE 100 index remained unchanged at 7,547.6.
US closed higher for the week, amidst gains in healthcare sector stocks. On the data front, the unemployment rate in the US fell near to its 16-year low in May, while the manufacturing sector expanded in the same month. Additionally, the weekly initial jobless claims rose more than market expectations while the job growth slowed in May, indicating weakness in the nation’s labour market. The DJIA index advanced 0.6% to end at 21,206.3, while the NASDAQ index gained 1.5% to close at 6,305.8.
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