Cambridge Index surges 2.6%

The Cambridge Index advanced 2.6% or 692.4 points to settle at 27,578.3, as heavyweights such as Johnson Matthey, DS Smith and AVEVA Group posted weekly gains to their share prices.

Abcam, down 1.2%, announced that it has ended its quest to acquire Horizon Discovery Group, a week after its public announcement of a proposed takeover. Abcam revealed that after Horizon rejected its offer and considering Horizon’s 2017 preliminary results announcement, it confirmed that it does not intend to make an offer for Horizon. Peel Hunt reissued its “Hold” rating on the stock.

1Spatial, up 12.1%, announced that its preliminary results for the year ended 31 January 2018 will be published on 22 May 2018. Peel Hunt reissued its “Hold” rating on Science Group, up 0.4%.

Marshall Motor Holdings, down 0.3%, announced that it has appointed Kathy Jenkins, Group HR Director of Marshall of Cambridge (Holdings) Limited, as a Non-Executive Director of the company’s Board, as Christopher Sawyer is retiring from his post of Non-Executive Director on 23 May 2018.

Sareum Holdings, down 3%, announced that Sierra Oncology has initiated the cohort expansion phase of the SRA737-02 Phase 1/2 low dose Gemcitabine Combination trial. The trial is meant to discover the early effectiveness of SRA737 along with low dose gemcitabine (LDG) in patients with tumours that harbour genomic alterations hypothesised to confer sensitivity to Chk1 inhibition via synthetic lethality.

Horizon Discovery Group, down 13.7%, in its preliminary results for the year ended 31 December 2017, announced that revenues advanced to £36.5m from £24.1m reported in the previous year. Its loss before tax rose to £14.3m from £12.5m in 2016. Separately, Horizon revealed that the unsolicited proposal by Abcam fundamentally undervalues the company, based on the FactSet’s consensus of £60m revenues for 2018. As a result, Abcam confirmed that it does not intend to make an offer for Horizon. Also, the company announced the appointment of Terry Pizzie as the Chief Executive Officer with immediate effect. Numis reissued its “Buy” rating on the stock with a target price of 245p.

UK markets ended in the green last week, led by a weaker British Pound, after the Bank of England reduced its outlook for the second-quarter inflation and GDP growth. On the data front, the UK construction output fell to its lowest level since 2012 in March, while the nation’s retail sales dropped to a 23-year low level in April. Moreover, the UK house prices tumbled to its weakest level in eight years in April. The FTSE 100 index climbed 2.1% to settle at 7,724.6, while the FTSE AIM 100 index added 1.9% to close at 5,638.4. Meanwhile, the FTSE techMARK 100 index jumped 2.9% to end at 4,658.8.

US markets ended the previous week on a positive note, driven by gains in energy, technology and financial sector stocks. In economic news, the weekly US initial jobless claims remained unchanged near the 48-year low level in the last week, while the NFIB business optimism index unexpectedly jumped in April. Meanwhile, the nation’s consumer credit dropped to its lowest level in six months in March. The DJIA index advanced 2.3% to end at 24,831.2, while the NASDAQ index gained 2.7% to close at 7,402.9.

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