LAFDI market report - Friday 20th March

Whilst stronger in absolute terms the LAFDI could not keep pace with the wider market this week.   

  * Returns are calculated for the week to local market close on Thursday

OnDeck Capital continued to build on last week’s strength, adding another 12.53% over the week.  Wednesday punctuated the week with a raft of broker commentary the highest profile perhaps being Deutsche bank’s reiteration of its buy rating on the shares and $28 price target.   

Optimal Payments added 7.55% over the week with the most notable news being that the firm has appointed Shane Hibbeler, a seasoned merchant services and financial services industry sales executive and manager, as vice president of sales. Mr. Hibbeler will lead Optimal Payments' independent contractor and direct sales channels for NETBANX®, the company's Straight Through Processing division.

The stand out underperformer, however, was TrustBuddy, the Swedish based short term and peer to peer lender. The company saw almost a quarter of its value wiped off its shares on heavier than normal volume. It's been a poor 2015 thus far for TrustBuddy's shareholders with the share price now almost half what is was at the start of the year. There was talk of a couple of big sellers in the market with the FY14 results released last month being OK but not indicative of growth potential.

Please note : The LAFDI is now available on Bloomberg.  Tickers:

LAFDITR Index <GO> for the Total Return Index

LAFDIPR Index <GO> for the Price Return Index