21st Jun 2019 10:30
(Alliance News) - The following stocks are the leading risers and fallers within the main London indices on Friday.----------FTSE 100 - WINNERS----------Halma, up 0.7%. The safety and testing firm agreed to buy fire & evacuation systems supplier Ampac Group for AUD135 million, equivalent to GBP74 million. The deal - expected to close before the end of August - will see Halma expand its business in Australia and New Zealand. "This is an exciting acquisition that extends our geographic footprint and strengthens the intellectual property of our fire detection businesses," Halma Chief Executive Officer Andrew Williams said. ----------FTSE 100 - LOSERS----------Centrica, down 1.3%. The price target for the utility firm was cut to 105 pence from 145p previously by Swiss bank Credit Suisse, with a Neutral recommendation.----------FTSE 250 - WINNERS----------NewRiver REIT, up 1.4%. The real estate investment trust announced it formed a joint venture with Bravo Strategies III after NewRiver completed the acquisition of four retail parks for GBP60.5 million, first announced in May. The joint venture will focus on acquiring and managing a portfolio of retail parks in the UK and be jointly-owned by the two firms. ----------FTSE 250 - LOSERS----------Dixons Carphone, down 3.0%. The phone and technology retailer experienced price target cuts by two UK banks. HSBC trimmed its price target to 130 pence from 160p prior, whilst also cutting the recommendation to Hold from Buy. Meanwhile, Barclays slashed its price target to 130p from 175p but held with its Overweight recommendation.----------Sports Direct International, down 1.5%. The sports good retailer pushed for troubled five-a-side football pitch operator Goals Soccer Centres to appoint an independent investigation into the VAT treatment issues which have hit the smaller firm and pushed it to issue a series of profit warnings. Sports Direct - a substantial shareholders in Goals - explained it understood that Goals had not appointed independent advisers in this investigation. Mike Ashley-controlled Sports Direct, however, urged Goals to appoint Kroll to produce an independent report for which the Sports Direct would cover the costs. In addition, Sports Direct cautioned it had experienced a "loss of confidence" in the board at Goals. Consequently, the firm would vote against the reappointment of the board next Friday due to its "perceived lack of transparency". Trading is shares of Goals Soccer Centres is suspended.----------BBGI SICAV, down 1.2%. The infrastructure investor raised GBP75 million through the issue of 49.1 million shares at 153.0 pence following a modestly discounted share placing. Following admission, BBGI will have 629.8 million shares in issue. Earlier in June, BBGI explained the proceeds will be used to repay GBP77 million of drawn down revolving credit facilities. This was in line with the its policy of not using the revolving credit facility for long-term structured debt. ----------OTHER MAIN MARKET AND AIM - WINNERS----------SolGold, up 19%. The gold miner shares rose after the Ecuadorian court "definitively" rejected a petition heard in early June proposing a referendum on mining in the province where the Cascabel project is located. Cascabel is 85% owned by SolGold. SolGold also emphasised it "continues to receive full and objective support from the Ecuadorean government" for the project. ----------Westminster Group, up 17%. The security services entered a joint venture agreement with Saudi Arabian technology services and products provider Hazar International. Under the agreement, the two firms will form an equally-owned joint venture under the name Westminster Arabia which will pursue large-scale and long-term managed services security projects for ports and airports in Saudi Arabia. ----------OTHER MAIN MARKET AND AIM - LOSERS----------IQE, down 27%. The smartphone chip maker warned annual revenue will be lower than market estimates due to order delays resulting from US ban on Chinese smartphones and consumer electronics manufacturer Huawei Technologies. In 2019, IQE now expects to deliver revenue between GBP140 million and GBP160 million. This is as much as a fifth lower than the consensus estimate of GBP175 million. IQE emphasised it expects to remain profitable in 2019 but with adjusted operating profit margin significantly below the previous guidance of over 10%. The firm is taking steps to reduce costs and avoid non-critical capital expenditure. IQE remains cautiously optimistic about growth opportunities for 2020 and expects to regain momentum due to 5G rollout and connected devices to regain momentum.----------PetroNeft Resources, down 28%. The Russia-focused oil & gas explorer. In 2018, pretax loss deepened to USD7.3 million from USD2.3 million the year prior. This was after revenue edged marginally higher to USD1.8 million from USD1.7 million the year before. Results were hurt by a sharp rise in losses associated with its joint ventures, USD6.8 million from USD4.7 million the year before. ----------