Johnson Matthey, down 5.2%, in its final results, announced that revenues fell to £14.93b from £16.03b recorded in the previous year. Profits before tax widened to £0.34m from £0.20m. The board would propose a final ordinary dividend for the year of 55.0p per share at the Annual General Meeting (AGM) on 20 July 2023.
Darktrace, down 8.6%, announced that it has appointed Chris Kozup as Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) and would join the executive management team on 6 June 2023.
Hilton Food Group, down 0.9%, in its trading update, announced that trading was in line with the Board's expectations. Revenues were higher across the UK & Ireland and Europe. The Group expects to release its results for the 28 weeks ending 16th July 2023 on 7 September 2023.
LPA Group, up 8.1%, announced a record orderbook of £36m, following the receipt of a £2m order from Siemens to supply lighting on their prestigious Nightjet train destined for delivery to OBB (the Austrian Federal railways).
Gaming Realms, up 1.3%, in partnership with Entain has launched innovative new Bingo game, Slingo Bingo, under licence from Gaming Realms.
1Spatial, unchanged at 50.5p, announced that its AGM would to be held at 11.00am on 7 July 2023 at the offices of Liberum Capital Limited, Ropemaker Place, Level 12, 25 Ropemaker Street, London EC2Y 9LY.
Frontier Developments, down 13.2%, announced that it has appointed Peel Hunt as Nominated Adviser and Joint Corporate Broker, with immediate effect.
CyanConnode Holdings, down 0.7%, announced that it has secured an order from Paschimanchal Infrastructure Pvt Ltd, a subsidiary of IntelliSmart Infrastructure Private Ltd, for 600,000 Omnimesh Modules. Additionally, the order would include Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI), Standards-Based Hardware, Services, Omnimesh Head-End Software, a Perpetual License, and an Annual Maintenance Contract. The supply of Omnimesh Modules for this project is expected to commence during the next quarter, and the deployment will be completed within 27 months, under a DBFOOT (Design, Build, Finance, Own, Operate, Transfer) model.
UK markets ended lower last week, as slowdown in Britain’s inflation stoked fears of further rate hikes by the Bank of England. On the macro front, UK’s consumer price inflation slowed to a 13-month low in April, amid weaker energy prices while the nation’s public sector net borrowing deficit unexpectedly widened in April. Additionally, UK’s S&P Global/CIPS manufacturing PMI fell in May, while the nation’s services PMI dropped to a two-month low in May. Moreover, UK’s DCLG house price index rose less than anticipated in March. Meanwhile, UK’s retail sales rebounded in April. The FTSE 100 index declined 1.7% to settle at 7,627.2, while the FTSE AIM 100 index fell 2.3% to close at 3,775.8. Meanwhile, the FTSE techMARK 100 index lost 2.8% to end at 6,791.1.
US markets ended mixed in the previous week. On the macro front, the US economy grew faster than expected in 1Q23. Additionally, the US durable goods orders climbed in April while the S&P Global services PMI advanced to a 13-month high in May. Further, the new home sales rose to its highest level since March 2022 in April, while the nation’s jobless claims rose less than expected in the week ended 19 May 2023. Meanwhile, the US S&P Global manufacturing PMI declined more than expected in May, while the nation’s Richmond Fed manufacturing index fell in May. Moreover, the US pending home sales stalled in April, while the consumer sentiment index declined to a 6-month low in April. Further, the US FOMC minutes indicated that officials are leaning toward pausing interest-rate increases at their meeting in June. The DJIA index fell 1.0% to end at 33,093.3, while the NASDAQ index gained 2.5% to close at 12,975.7.
