29th Sep 2014 11:02
LONDON (Alliance News) - The following stocks are among the biggest risers and fallers within the main London indices midday Monday.
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FTSE 100 WINNERS
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Petrofac, up 2.5%. The oil equipment and services group received a boost when its stock was upgraded to Outperform, from Neutral, by Credit Suisse Monday.
Aberdeen Asset Management, up 2.4%. The asset management company reported a 2.7% increase in assets under management over July and August, as positive market movements and performance more than offset GBP1.7 billion of net outflows. In a statement, Aberdeen said it had GBP331.2 billion in assets under management at the end of August, an increase from GBP322.5 billion at the end of June. Market movements and performance added GBP7.9 billion to assets under management over the two-month period.
Compass Group, up 1.8%. Shares have responded positively to a small acceleration in activity at the food and support-services group. It said said it expects full-year organic revenue growth at constant currency to be 4%. This suggests a slight pick up in activity in the fourth quarter given a run rate of 3.9% for the first 9 months, says Numis analyst Wyn Ellis. The group also posted a 10 basis point increase in its operating profit margin. However, Compass said the persistent strength of sterling throughout the year hit its overseas operations. It said at current rates, it expects a GBP1.18 billion negative currency hit versus its 2013 full-year revenue, and a GBP89 million hit versus its 2013 underlying operating profit.
SSE, up 0.7%. In a trading statement, the Scottish power supplier said it expects full-year profit to be up year-on-year, in line with expectations, despite a larger proportion of its full-year profit being earned in the first half of the year.
Astrazeneca, up 0.5%. The pharmaceutical company said it has presented new data from its oncology pipeline at the European Society of Medical Oncology congress in Madrid, which it said demonstrates the strength and rapid progression of the pipeline.
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FTSE 100 LOSERS
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Standard Chartered, down 1.7%; HSBC down 1.7%. The banks with significant operations in Hong Kong have come under pressure amid the ongoing pro-democracy protests in central Hong Kong. Standard Chartered said over the weekend that it has been forced to suspend services from Monday until further notice at five of its branches in central Hong Kong.
Tesco, down 1.6%. The supermarket giant's woes continue following weekend press reports that the insider who blew the whistle on the accounting problems last week attempted to raise the alarm in the past but was ignored. Tesco last week announced that it overestimated its first half trading profit by GBP250 million. Amid an ongoing investigation by auditors Deloitte, and ahead of Sainsbury's second quarter trading update on Wednesday, investors remain wary of the UK supermarkets. J Sainsbury is also down 1.1%, while Wm Morrison Supermarkets is down 1.3%.
Fresnillo, down 1.1%; Anglo American, down 1.1%; Rio Tinto, down 1.3%; BHP Billiton, down 0.5%. The mining stocks are underperforming Monday following weakness in Asian and Australian markets, amid the ongoing protests in Hong Kong, and ahead of key Chinese economic data to come overnight. Recent concern over weakness in the Chinese economy, combined with recent comments from Chinese officials that have tempered hopes of further stimulus, have increased nervousness in the market ahead of the HSBC China manufacturing PMI.
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FTSE 250 WINNERS
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Micro Focus, up 3.0%. The software company has been upgraded to Buy from Neutral by UBS, which also increased its price target to 1,140p from 900p. UBS says the recent acquisition of US-based The Attachmate Group "should lift Micro Focus into the middleweight league of systems software vendors".
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FTSE 250 LOSERS
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Balfour Beatty, down 21%. A profit warning sent the construction group's shares tumbling. Balfour Beatty said it expects its Construction Services UK division to take another GBP75 million hit to its profit this year and said it has appointed auditors KPMG LLP to undertake a detailed independent review of the contract portfolio within the business. The group said internal reviews undertaken in recent days have forecast a further profit fall for the business owing to additional losses and writedowns on a number of contracts. The KPMG review will focus on commercial controls, 'cost to compete', and contract value forecasting and reporting on a project level. KPMG is expected to report back to Balfour by the end of the year.
Just Retirement, down 6.6%. The retirement income specialist saw its shares fall following the news that Chancellor George Osborne is set to announce the the scrapping of the "death tax" at this week's Conservative party conference. A scrapping of the 55% tax on unused draw-down pensions is likely to make annuities even less popular following the retirement market shake up announced in the budget earlier this year. Small-cap-listed Partnership Assurance is also down 4.1%.
Morgan Advanced Materials, down 2.3%. The ceramic products producer announced the departure of Chief Executive Mark Robertson, who will step down to take up position of CEO at an undisclosed private equity-backed business. Robertson has served as CEO of Morgan Advanced Materials since August 2006. During this time he has "led the transformation of Morgan Advanced Materials from diversified engineering conglomerate to focused advanced materials company. The change has enabled the company to deliver a higher quality revenue stream and to lift margins significantly," said the company in a statement.
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AIM ALL-SHARE WINNERS
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DCD Media, up 25%. The television production and distribution company said its short-to- medium-term outlook is encouraging, as restructuring helped it to lower costs in the half year to end-June. DCD posted a pretax loss of GBP823,000 in the recent half, narrowed from a loss of GBP915,000 in the same period a year before, as a decline in revenue to GBP6.0 million from GBP7.4 million was offset by a fall in administrative expenses.
Independent Oil & Gas, up 21%. The exploration and production company said it has entered a memorandum of understanding with AGR Group ASA for well construction and well project-management services on the company's upcoming drilling plans. AGR has already started holding talks with several rig owners regarding securing a rig for the drilling by summer 2015, Independent Oil & Gas said.
Camkids Group, up 19%. The Chinese children's clothing manufacturer posted a pretax profit of CNY126.4 million for the six months to June 30, up from CNY121.9 million in the first half of 2013, as revenue increased by 5.8% to CNY458.8 million, from CNY433.7 million. Signalling its confidence in the outlook, the company declared an interim dividend of 2.4 pence per share in scrip or 2.0 pence per share in cash. Last year it declared an interim dividend of 2.3 pence.
Kibo Mining, up 9.7%. The group said it has reached agreement with the Tanzanian government on terms of reference for the development of the power purchase agreement and grid connection agreement for its Rukwa coal power project in Tanzania. In addition, it said it has reached initial heads of terms on the coal-sale agreement for the plant and has now started the detailed financial modelling process for the Rukwa Coal Mine.
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AIM ALL-SHARE LOSERS
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London Mining, down 51%. The iron ore miner has seen more than half of its value wiped out after it warned that it does not have sufficient liquidity to continue trading without further financing. The company said it is in talks with a potential strategic investor to make an investment in the group, in the form of funding for a life of mine expansion and a material cash injection. It said the deal would result in a significant dilution to its existing equity and a revised capital structure for the company.
Environmental Recycling Technologies, down 19%. The plastic recycling technology developer reported a narrower first-half loss, after last years numbers were hit by an impairment charge. However, the company reported revenue of only GBP31,000 for the six months to June 30, compared with GBP99,000 a year earlier.
ACTA SpA, down 18%. The renewable energy company said it swung to a pretax loss of EUR1.7 million in the six months ended June 30, from a EUR516,000 profit in the comparable period in 2013. The company increased revenue to EUR304,000, from USD238,000 in the first-half of 2013. The loss is attributable to personnel expenses, totalling a EUR898,000 loss in the first-half from a EUR1.5 million gain in the same period in 2013.
IS Solutions, down 17%. The hardware and software company posted a pretax loss of GBP323,000, compared with a GBP345,000 profit a year before, as revenue declined to GBP3.4 million from GBP5.0 million. The company has opted not to pay an interim dividend in order to preserve cash, although it said it expects to resume paying a dividend fort the full year.
Regency Mines, down 12%. The natural resources company's shares are down after the company launched a discounted share placement, issuing a total of 103.8 million shares at an average of 0.431 pence per share. The shares had closed Friday at 0.48p. By midday Monday they are quoted at 0.422p. The issuance raised a total of GBP400,000, to be used to back exploration activity at its phosphate and potash project in Sudan and its US and UK investments.
GameAccount Network, down 11%. The developer and supplier of enterprise-level B2B gaming software and online gaming content said it swung to a pretax loss of GBP908,000 for the six months to June 30, compared with a pretax profit of GBP4.9 million in the first half of 2013, as revenue fell to GBP4.2 million, down from GBP9.1 million last year.
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By Jon Darby; [email protected]; @jondarby100
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