London’s FTSE 100 was up 0.1% at 7,310.82 in afternoon trade on Monday.
Darktrace shares surged following heavy losses last week, as Berenberg reiterated its ‘buy’ stance on the cybersecurity firm and said “any share price capitulation is a result of fear not fact”.
Berenberg said a visit to Darktrace’s headquarters in Cambridge last week confirmed its confidence in the group. The bank said it was shown “extensive product demonstrations and came away with a better understanding of the product and its real-world applicability”.
“Management indicated that, while the focus is still on winning new customers, there has also been more focus on upsell campaigns also. These are being created by the company’s strategic marketing teams and are feeding account executives with more granular information on customer needs to drive upsell.
“This, coupled with churn reducing because of an enlarged customer success team, should enable the net retention rate (NRR) rates to continue to trend upward.”
Asset manager Abrdn gained as it said it is currently in talks with private equity firm J.C. Flowers & Co. about a potential acquisition of fund platform Interactive Investor.
Polymetal shone after its board approved the construction of the Veduga gold project in the Krasnoyarsk region of Russia.
British Airways owner IAG flew lower after a downgrade to ‘market perform’ at Bernstein.
FTSE 100 – Risers
Darktrace (DARK) 645.00p 11.69%
Abrdn (ABDN) 263.10p 2.89%
Fresnillo (FRES) 922.60p 2.40%
CRH (CDI) (CRH) 3,761.00p 2.37%
Ashtead Group (AHT) 6,386.00p 2.05%
Polymetal International (POLY) 1,387.50p 1.61%
Schroders (SDR) 3,725.00p 1.58%
Evraz (EVR) 610.00p 1.50%
Bunzl (BNZL) 2,769.00p 1.35%
Sainsbury (J) (SBRY) 288.10p 1.34%
FTSE 100 – Fallers
ITV (ITV) 109.25p -2.46%
International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (CDI) (IAG) 175.94p -2.34%
Informa (INF) 537.00p -2.08%
British Land Company (BLND) 507.40p -2.01%
Whitbread (WTB) 3,372.00p -1.58%
InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) 5,252.00p -1.57%
Standard Chartered (STAN) 451.30p -1.57%
Aveva Group (AVV) 3,486.00p -1.53%
Land Securities Group (LAND) 697.80p -1.41%
Ocado Group (OCDO) 1,705.00p -1.19%
