Darktrace, down 5.5%, announced a major new upgrade to Darktrace/Email, its Gartner Peer Insights top-rated email offering that stops the most sophisticated email security risks through its unique understanding of you, rather than knowledge of past attacks.
Hilton Food Group, down 2.0%, in its preliminary results for the 52 weeks ended 1 January 2023, announced that revenues rose to £3.85b from £3.30b recorded in the previous year. The board has recommended a final dividend of 22.6p per ordinary share, payable on 30 June 2023 to shareholders.
Kier Group, down 1.3%, announced that it has appointed Margaret Hassall as a Non-Executive Director, with effect from 5 April 2023.
Gaming Realms, up 7.0%, in its annual results for the year ended 31 December 2022, announced that revenues climbed to £18.65m from £14.67m recorded in the previous year. Profits before tax widened to £3.52m from £1.09m. The Board of Directors have not proposed a final dividend for the year.
Dialight, up 5.5%, announced that senior Independent Director, David Thomas would not be seeking re-election at the company's upcoming Annual General Meeting scheduled for 16 May 2023.
CyanConnode, up 5.3%, announced that it has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Alfanar to explore joint investment opportunities in Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) projects. Under the agreement, both parties would jointly review tenders across targeted geographies and establish joint ventures to implement advanced metering infrastructure (AMI).
Quixant, unchanged at 177.0p, announced that its AGM would be held at 11.00 am on 27 April 2023 at the Company offices at The Galleria, Station Road, Crawley, RH10 1WW.
Feedback, down 7.1%, announced that it has secured a 9-month extension contract with Queen Victoria Hospital in Sussex for its Bleepa-CareLocker Community Diagnostics Centre solution.
GetBusy, down 0.7%, announced that its AGM would be held at the Company's offices at The Works, Unity Campus, Pampisford, Cambridgeshire, CB22 3FT at 11am BST on 28 April 2023.
Aferian, unchanged at 23.5p, announced the appointment of Max Royde to the Board as a Non-Executive Director.
UK markets closed mostly higher for the third consecutive last week, amid rise in commodity prices. On data front, UK’s services sector PMI rose for a second consecutive month in March, while the nation’s house prices climbed for a straight third month in March. Additionally, UK’s BRC like-for-like retail sales rose in March. Meanwhile, UK’s manufacturing PMI dropped in March, reflecting low demand and declining export orders. The FTSE 100 index advanced 0.8% to settle at 7741.6, while the FTSE techMARK 100 index gained 0.5% to end at 6,573.9. Meanwhile, the FTSE AIM 100 index fell 1.5% to close at 3,880.6.
US markets ended mixed in the previous week. On the macro front, the US manufacturing PMI fell to a 3-year low in March, amid drop in new orders and tighter credit conditions, while the nation’s services PMI fell in March. Additionally, US job openings declined to its lowest level since May 2021 in February, while the nation’s ADP employment advanced less than anticipated in March. Moreover, the US nonfarm payrolls climbed less than expected in March, amid signs of persistent labour market tightness, while the nation’s weekly jobless claims dropped less than market forecast in the week ended 31 March 2023. On the other hand, the US unemployment rate dropped in March. The DJIA index rose 0.6% to end at 33,485.3, while the NASDAQ index lost 1.1% to close at 12,088.0.
