Led by major falls for Thomson Reuters, Bravura and EDB, the Finextra50 Financial Technology Index closed Friday at 84.8, down 3.1% for the week.
Losers
EDB Business Partner was the index's biggest faller last week, ending down 16.11% to Nkr32.80. Trading in its shares was suspended by Oslo Bors on Wednesday after the price fell 12%. On Thursday the company confirmed that it had ended takeover plans for Finnish-Swedish IT firm TietoEnator Oyj after its partner US private equity firm Blackstone withdrew from the process.
Thomson Reuters - the index's largest constituent with a free-float market capitalisation of approximately US$10 billion - contributed heavily to the fall in the index last week. Its shares ended Friday down 10.72% on the previous week to 1,382 pence. The company raised $1.75 billion in a two part bond issuance last week and also disclosed plans to raise a further C$1.2 billion in notes to help repay a US$3.4 billion bridge credit facility it used to fund the cash portion of the purchase of Reuters Group Plc.
Also during the week the Wall Street Journal reported that six members of the Thomson Reuters research department, led by managing director Mike Thompson, are moving to Standard & Poor's to form a new department to produce market research for hedge funds and other Wall Street players.
Bravura also closed down sharply last week, ending Friday 15.87% lower at $A1.06 after the company informed the Australian Securities Exchange on Thursday that legal ownership of Bravura shares notionally belonging to CEO Iain Dunstan and director of operations Simon Woodfull had still not been clarified.
The shares are still held by Merrill Lynch International (Australia) after the collapse of domestic broker Lift Capital, which had made margin loans to the two executives. Athough Lift Capital has payed its debt to Merill Lynch, the investment bank says it will retain the share parcel until the issue of legal ownership is resolved. The voluntary administrators of Lift Capital filed an application with the NSW Supreme Court seeking to resolve the matter and in its statement Bravura said the timing of the hearing was likely to be within the next four weeks.
Once ownership of the shares is resolved, Bravura's manangement team can proceed with a planned management buy-out of the firm in partnership with private equity firm Ironbridge Capital - a move the Bravura board recommended in May.
Other firms to see significant falls include:
Gainers
S1 was the index's best performer last week, gaining 13% by Friday to close at $7.65. It rose sharply on Tuesday after the banking software vendor was upgraded by an analyst from Stephens Inc who said investors are over-estimating the effect of weakness in the banking sector and other negative factors. The analyst Brett Huff raised his rating to "overweight" from "equal weight" based on "increased confidence in the company's execution ability and resilience in the face of potential tighter bank spending".
Fundtech also had a good week, rising 10.92% to $13.81 after revealing a new management structure for Europe, with key promotions from its London and Frankfurt operations to support business in the region that it says has grown 100% in the past three years.
Insurance IT provider Software Solution Partnership also gained last week, rising 8.05% to 161 pence by week-end. On Friday the company made a statement to the London Stock Exchange saying it is in early-stage discussions with a buyer, which may lead to an offer being made for the company.
Other companies to see significant gains include:
Index comparison
Methodology
More information on the Finextra50 Financial Technology Index methodology and constituent stocks can be found here.