DS Smith, up 4.3%, announced the launch of TailorTemp®, an innovative temperature-controlled packaging solution for the pharmaceutical industry, at PharmaPack Europe 2025 in Paris.
Johnson Matthey, up 0.1%, announced that its e-methanol technology has been chosen by Reolum for the next phase of its La Robla Nueva Energia (NE) project. Kier Group, up 6.1%, in its trading update for the six months ended 31 December 2024, announced that it continued to trade well and in line with the board's expectations in the first half of the current financial year.
Netcall, up 3.4%, in its trading for the six months ended 31 December 2024, announced that it expects H1 FY25 results to be in line with management expectations. Additionally, its revenue is anticipated to increase by 22% to £23.0m (H1 FY24: £18.9m), driven by organic growth of 12%.
Cambridge Cognition Holdings, up 2.4%, announced that it has launched its in-house Rater Training service GetBusy, up 1.9%, in its trading update for the year ended 31 December 2024, announced that the business made strong progress in 2024, a year which is expected to yield over a 40% increase in adjusted EBITDA.
Checkit, up 1.4%, announced the following contract wins in the US and the UK and various strategic extensions with UK customers. It has renewed its existing contract with one of the largest private healthcare providers for a further three and a half years and extended usage of the Checkit platform to a further four additional sites. A leading NHS teaching hospital has extended its agreement with Checkit to cover all pathology departments for a period of three years. A network of four pathology laboratories has signed a seven-year agreement to implement the Checkit solution across five NHS Trusts. Frimley NHS Foundation Trust has renewed its agreement with Checkit for a further five years.
LPA Group, down 10.3%, in its final results, announced that revenues rose to £23.55m from £21.71m recorded in the same period previous year. Loss before tax stood at £0.59m compared to a profit of £0.76m. Bango, down 7.9%, in its trading update for the 12 months ended 31 December 2024, announced that its total revenue rose by 16% to $53.4m (FY23 $46.1m).
UK markets ended mostly lower last week, weighed down by a weaker consumer confidence and a drop in private sector employment. On the data front, the UK public sector net borrowing deficit widened more than expected in December, indicating high borrowing costs and weaker economic growth. Moreover, the UK manufacturing PMI climbed more than expected in January, while the nation’s services PMI unexpectedly rose in January. Also, the UK Rightmove house price index rose in January. Meanwhile, the UK ILO unemployment rate rose more than expected in the three months to November, while the nation’s GfK consumer confidence fell sharply in January. The FTSE 100 index declined 0% to settle at 8,502.4, while the FTSE AIM 100 index fell 0.5% to close at 3,430.2. Meanwhile, the FTSE techMARK 100 index gained 0.6% to end at 6,622.8.
US markets ended higher in the previous week, supported by stronger-than-expected manufacturing data, and optimism around corporate earnings. On the macro front, the US manufacturing PMI climbed more than expected in January, while the nation’s services PMI fell more than anticipated in January. Moreover, the US existing home sales advanced for the third straight month in December. Meanwhile, the US weekly jobless claims rose more than forecasted in the week ended 17 January 2025. Also, the US Michigan consumer sentiment index fell for first time in six months in January. The DJIA index rose 2.2% to end at 44,424.3, while the NASDAQ index gained 1.7% to close at 19,954.3.
