Weekly return
LAFDI
-0.83%
MSCI World
-0.32%
Top 5 performing Stocks in last week
1
OPAY LN Equity
34.38%
2
QIWI US Equity
14.44%
3
SGM US Equity
7.80%
4
IPF LN Equity
6.07%
5
BAS1FV FH Equity
4.80%
Worst 5 performing Stocks in last week
1
MONI LN Equity
-31.82%
2
TDBY SS Equity
-17.39%
3
NSM US Equity
-12.77%
4
PFSI US Equity
-8.12%
5
ONDK US Equity
-5.93%
* Returns are calculated for the week to local market close on Thursday
Optimal Payments, was the standout performer, seeing its share price appreciate by more than a third in the past week. On Monday the company announced the $1.2bn acquisition of one of its rivals, Skrill Group. The deal will be financed through a combination of new debt facilities, cash on the balance sheet and also a £450m rights issue (very big relative to the £680m market cap of Opay before the deal was announced). It will also see Opay move from being listed on the AIM to being listed on the main stock market. The rights issue has been incredibly well received with commentators calling it a great deal for existing shareholders, not many AIM listed companies do rights issues, preferring the faster route of seeking new institutional investors instead. Barclays raised their price target for the company from 600p to 700p on Tuesday morning with the stock closing at 550p on Thursday. Opay has also begun to allow Bitcoin deposits this week, embracing the new virtual currency.
QIWI PLC shares recovered all the ground that they lost and more after their somewhat disappointing earnings announcement two weeks ago. Trading volumes were good this week and analysts remain neutral on the stock.
The biggest loser of the week was Monitise PLC (MONI LN), the share price closed down over 31% on the week after the board announced that the company was no longer for sale and its founder and co-CEO, Lukies, stepped down. The company put itself up for sale after a disastrous trading update in mid January. Its shares have almost halved in value since the beginning of the year.
TrustBuddy (TBDY SS) shares continue to have a torrid time, dropping a further 17 odd percent this week after falling almost 25% last week. Again, there is no sign of an obvious reason for the weakness. As with last week, volumes are heavy indicative of a determined seller in the market perhaps? This company did a rights issue at SEK 1.20 in mid November 2014 raising €6.8m. Its shares closed on Thursday at 0.53. Ouch.
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
