10th Oct 2018 10:44
LONDON (Alliance News) - The following stocks are the leading risers and fallers within the main London indices on Wednesday.----------FTSE 100 - WINNERS----------Sage Group, up 3.1%. Deutsche Bank raised the accounting software provider to Hold from Sell. The German bank thinks Sage's share price slump has the potential to attract activist investors or a private equity bid. The stock remains almost a third lower in the year-to-date. ----------FTSE 250 - WINNERS----------Sequoia Economic Infrastructure Income Fund, up 2.8% at 109.00 pence. The fund said it has increased the size of a previously announced share offer to raise GBP253 million. The company will issue 238.7 million news shares at 106.0 pence each. Of these, 125.6 million will be sold in a placing and subscription, while 113.1 million go toward an open offer. The company expects admission of the new shares to trading to take place on October 12 after which it will have 1.10 billion shares in issue. Last week, Sequoia Economic Infrastructure said it would raise GBP200 million via a share issue to fund attractive investment opportunities in the economic infrastructure debt market. Sequoia planned to issue up to 188.7 million new ordinary shares at a price of 106.0 pence per share; however, due to the initial offer being "very significantly oversubscribed", it decided to increase it by 50 million shares.----------PageGroup, up 2.0%. The recruiter reported a double-digit rise in third quarter profit, and said it expects operating profit for all of 2018 to be ahead of consensus expectations. Total gross profit for the quarter, which ended September 30, rose to GBP207.7 million from GBP177.2 million for the same period a year before, a rise of 17% at reported currency rates and 20% at constant rates. PageGroup said its operating profit for the year of 2018 will be ahead of current consensus expectations, which currently stands at GBP138.7 million.----------OTHER MAIN MARKET AND AIM - WINNERS----------Advanced Oncotherapy, up 30%. The proton therapy treatment developer said it has achieved significantly improved performance from its LIGHT system. Advanced Oncotherapy has integrated at its testing facility at CERN, in Switzerland, all four sections of the LIGHT accelerator: the proton source, the radio-frequency quadrupole, the four side coupled drift tube linacs, and two high-energy accelerating structures. The company has now accelerated the proton beam through the units at 52 mega-electric volts, double that achieved in its last update. The plan now for Advanced Oncotherapy is to add the remaining 13 accelerated coupled cavity linacs to accelerate the beam to 230 MeV, required for the treatment of tumours. ----------Eden Research, up 16%. The crop protection, animal health and consumer products provider said its associate secured approval to sell its head-lice product in the European Economic Area. Eden said its 29.9% owned consumer products associate TerpeneTech secured the regulatory clearance and will begin sales of head-lice product into the distribution channel before the end of the current year in the UK. Commercial launch of the product is scheduled at the start of 2019. Sales of the product will commence in other countries in the European Economic Area once arrangements with distribution partners have been finalised, expected during 2019, Eden Research said. The company will supply a concentrate of encapsulated active ingredients to TerpeneTech, who will then formulate the finished product for initial sale by its distribution partner into the UK retail market.----------Hollywood Bowl Group, up 4.5%. The ten-pin bowling operator said it expects profit and revenue for its recently ended financial year to increase in line with market expectations after a "robust" performance. For the year ended September 30, the group expects pretax profit growth of 10%. A year ago, pretax profit came in at GBP21.1 million, which would suggest a profit for the period of GBP23.2 million. Meanwhile, revenue is expected to be 5.8% higher, 1.8% on a like-for-like basis, from GBP114.0 million a year ago. This would imply a total revenue of GBP120.6 million for financial 2018. The company said it remains committed to invest in the business via its "ongoing cash generation", while also considering a return to shareholders. ----------OTHER MAIN MARKET AND AIM - LOSERS----------Urals Energy, down 36%. The Russia-focused oil and gas exploration and production company said an unauthorised USD1.5 million loan has been made from its funds, leaving it short of working capital. Urals said it has "recently become aware" of the loan, which it believes was authorised by Sergey Kononov, a shareholder with a 44% stake in Urals Energy and a director of the company's Petrosakh subsidiary, "without the board's knowledge or approval". The company said that the sum of USD1.5 million was destined to be used for working capital needs. As a result, Urals said its "working capital position will be significantly constrained until the loan is repaid". Urals also added that, until the repayment, it will not be able to pay the dividend declared at the end of September. ----------Related Shares:
Sage GroupHollywood BwlSequoia Economic Infrastructure FundPageGroupAVO.LEden