Business Weekly - Cambridge, UK

HOME

SHAREtrack on erring dangerously close to 5,000

Written by Sam Fountain

Wednesday, 19 March 2008

Once again, considerable turmoil in the world’s biggest economy, which is rumoured to be in its worst condition since the Great Depression in the 1930’s, has precipitated trouble for the rest of the world, with UK markets unable to remain unscathed. After writing earlier this year that the SHAREtrack – sponsored by PricewaterhouseCoopers – was approaching the magical 6,000 mark and appearing to be on the mend, it has now taken a very dramatic turn for the worst and is approaching the deadly 5,000 mark, the lowest point in its history. Riding above the trouble this week was software giant, Autonomy, which managed gains of eight per cent, adding 61p to its share price after announcing another glut of licensing deals. Autonomy was named Business Weekly’s ‘Business of the Year’ for 2007 at an awards ceremony in Cambridge a week ago. The only other company with a market cap over one billion pounds to make any positive movement  was superchip designer ARM, which saw five per cent gains after announcing the opening of a new operation in Bangalore, making the base second in size only to its Cambridge office. ARM was named Business Weekly’s all-time ‘Champion of Champions’ at the same Awards ceremony as Autonomy. The number of big hitters in the BW index continues to decline, dropping from 10 to eight with the departure of Premier Foods and brewer Greene King and threatens to drop further as electronics retailer, DSGI, continues to teeter on the edge, shedding eight per cent of its market cap. Greene King led the whole index in terms of price reduction during the period, shedding 57p, or nine per cent of its share value, announcing only plans to revamp its Hungry Horse branded sites. Other notable fallers, of which there are a great many, with only 20 per cent of the index managing gains, were stationery and card manufacturer, International Greetings, which plummeted 41 per cent, continuing its protracted decline after a series of profits warnings; and hydrogen innovator, ITM Power, which lost 31 per cent despite announcing a research tie-up looking at hybrid diesel-hydrogen engines. On the upside, the highest value gain made during the week was just 22p, posted by internet and retail payment specialist, Paypoint, which managed the gains without an announcement. Percentage-wise, troubled drug discovery firm, MMI led the way, recouping 21 per cent of its value, with electrical and electronics system and component supplier, LPA Group up 11 per cent after news of robust trading during the current year.

 

< Prev		Next >