9th Jan 2017 10:05
LONDON (Alliance News) - The following stocks are the leading risers and fallers within the main London indices on Monday.
----------
FTSE 100 - WINNERS
----------
Antofagasta, up 1.2%. S&P Global raised the Chilean copper miner to Hold from Sell, while Barclays raised its price target on the group to 650 pence from 510p previously. The miner was trading at 702.00p on Monday morning.
----------
FTSE 100 - LOSERS
----------
Babcock International Group, down 1.9%. The defence outsourcer was downgraded to Hold from Buy by Deutsche Bank. The bank said while it likes Babcock's "unique market position and high barriers to entry", it does not see enough upside risk for the shares right now to justify a Buy rating. While organic growth should improve for Babcock in the coming year, Deutsche is cautious on the UK outsourcing sector as a whole, further tempering its bullishness on the stock.
RSA Insurance Group, down 1.6%. UBS downgraded the insurer to Sell from Neutral, arguing it will be hard for RSA to surprise to the upside given its shares are near a five-year high. The Swiss bank also sees challenges for RSA in 2017 on the pace of its UK turnaround plans and said the need for RSA to trim its debt pile will mean any special payouts are unlikely to materialise any earlier than 2018.
----------
FTSE 250 - WINNERS
----------
Ferrexpo, up 4.4%. The iron ore pellets producer said its iron-ore pellet production fell in 2016 year-on-year but sales rose, as did its average selling price. Ferrexpo said it produced 11.2 million tonnes of iron-ore pellets in the year to the end of December, down from 11.7 million in 2015. The decline in production was caused by refurbishment work on its pelletiser and a decrease in production from low-margin third-party concentrate. Sales rose to 11.7 million tonnes from 11.3 million tonnes year-on-year, driven by good demand. The average sales price rose to USD58.50 a tonne from USD55.50 a tonne a year before, underpinned by a steady improvement in pellet prices throughout the year.
Petrofac, up 2.8%. The oil services firm said it has won a contract worth around USD600.0 million to handle the engineering, procurement and construction of the Salalah LPG extraction project in the southern part of Oman. The three-year contract has been awarded by Salalah LPG SFZCO, a wholly owned subsidiary of Oman Oil Facilities Development Co. Petrofac said the scope of work will include constructing the liquefied petroleum gas unit at the project and associated facilities.
----------
FTSE 250 - LOSERS
----------
William Hill, down 3.6%. The bookmaker said operating profit for 2016 was at the low end of its guidance after its gross win margin was weaker than anticipated in the final weeks of the year. The mid-cap group said operating profit for 2016 was around GBP260.0 million, at the bottom of its GBP260.0 million to GBP280.0 million guidance. In the nine weeks to the end of December, wagering trends were in line with the rest of the year, but William Hill said its gross win margin was hit by unfavourable football and horseracing results in December.
----------
MAIN MARKET AND AIM - WINNERS
----------
RedstoneConnect, up 9.2%. The smart buildings technology firm said adjusted earnings for its current financial year to the end of January will be at the top end of market expectations. RedstoneConnect said it has seen continued strong trading in the second half of its financial year, with good demand for its smart software, infrastructure and managed services offerings. Its order book and sales pipeline both remain robust, the firm said, underpinning its medium-term growth outlook. As a result of the good trading, RedstoneConnect anticipates that adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation in the year to January 31, stripping out any one-off costs, will be at the upper end of market expectations.
Oracle Coalfields, up 8.9%. The firm said one of its projects has been placed on the priority list of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor organisation, potentially accelerating its debt funding arrangement. Oracle is developing a combined coal resource and mine mouth power plant in the Thar desert, in the south-east of Sindh Province in Pakistan. The project has been placed on the priority list of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, which arranges financing from Chinese banks for energy and infrastructure products. Oracle said its elevation to the priority list should position it on the "fast-track for approval of debt funding" by the Chinese government.
----------
MAIN MARKET AND AIM - LOSERS
----------
SpaceandPeople, down 27%. The promotional and retail space manager said weaker-than-expected December trading will drag its full-year results to a loss. SpaceandPeople said it expects a loss of around GBP650,000 for calendar year 2016, after booking restructuring and discontinued operation costs. The company said trading in December was poorer than expected, meaning its revenue for the year was GBP700,000 lower than anticipated at GBP10.2 million. In particular, sales from its retail merchandising units were "significantly lower" than anticipated over the Christmas period.
Orogen Gold, down 24%. The gold miner said drilling at its Silverton project in Nevada, owned by Galileo Resources, found no new lithology or conditions to identify high-grade feeder zones. Orogen has the right to earn a majority interest in the Silverton project under its earn-in agreement with Galileo. However, Orogen said Monday its deeper drilling has only shown "low-grade" mineralisation, similar to that found at historic shallower depths. "The programme was designed to test for high grade feeder zones and as such we did not identify any new lithology or conditions to support this prognosis," said Colin Bird, chief executive officer of Galileo Resources and Orogen Gold. Shares in Galileo were down 6.0%.
----------
By Sam Unsted; [email protected]; @SamUAtAlliance
Copyright 2017 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.