ABC.L Share News (ABC)

LONDON (Alliance News) - The following stocks are the leading risers and fallers within the main London indices midday Tuesday.
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FTSE 100 WINNERS
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Wm Morrison Supermarkets, up 2.8%. Citigroup has raised the stock's rating to Buy from Neutral.

Lloyds Banking Group, up 1.5%. HSBC has raised Lloyds to Overweight from Neutral with a price target of 90 pence. The stock currently trades at 73.28p.

Barclays, up 1%. HSBC also raised Barclays to Overweight from Neutral with a price target of 270p. Shares in the company currently trade at 227.05p.
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FTSE 100 LOSERS
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Royal Dutch Shell 'B', down 1.7% and Royal Dutch Shell 'A', down 1.4%. The oil sector is down as a whole after the Brent oil price hit its lowest level in over a year on Monday. Brent currently is quoted at USD99.93 per barrel.

BP, down 1%. The company has had its price target cut by Societe Generale to 530p from 550p on the back of risks due to Gulf of Mexico oil-spill liabilities and geopolitical risks in Russia. In addition, Moody's has cut BP's rating outlook to negative after the recent adverse US court ruling on the spill. The stock currently trades at 463.957p.
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FTSE 250 WINNERS
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Petra Diamonds, up 6.5%. The company said it had recovered an "exceptional" 232.08 carat white diamond at its Cullinan mine in South Africa, the third exceptional find at the mine this year. In a statement, the company said the latest big stone it has found is a D colour Type II diamond of "exceptional size and clarity". It expects to sell the stone in the second quarter of its financial year, which began July 1.

Oxford Instruments, up 2.9%. The technology tools and systems company said it expects a "more pronounced" second half weighting than usual, as good order intake in its first half underpins its revenue projections for the rest of the year, in a statement ahead of its annual general meeting Tuesday. In addition to growth generated from its acquisition of Andor Technology PLC for GBP158.1 million in January, it saw order growth in North America and Europe in both its nanotechnology tools and industrial products. However, the company said Asian markets have been more difficult, as growth in industrial products is being offset by a decline in nanotechnology tools.

Fenner, up 2.3%. The company said it expects its full-year results to be in line with expectations, saying trading patterns have remained broadly unchanged since its interim management statement in July. It said it has been working to restructure its business activities in line with the markets in which it operates and said it expects this restructuring work to result in an exceptional charge to its results in the second half of the year.

Galliford Try, up 1.6%. The housebuilding and construction group said its Miller Construction unit, which it only bought in July, has been appointed by Network Rail to deliver building enhancements and property improvements across three framework contracts, which are valued at up to GBP250 million over the next five years. In a statement, Galliford Try said Miller Construction unit will deliver new stations, station enhancements, platform extensions, depots, office buildings and property refurbishments projects on the Central Region East Midlands route and the London Northwest-North route.
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FTSE 250 LOSERS
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Pennon Group, down 1.8%. The company said South West Water executive Susan Davy will become its new finance director, after David Dupont said he will retire in a few months after more than 12 years in the role. Dupont will retire at the end of January, 2015, with Davy taking up the role at that time.
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AIM ALL-SHARE WINNERS
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African Potash, up 9.2%. The company said it has intersected potash mineralisation at its Lac Dinga Potash Project in the Republic of Congo, with drilling at a second hole within the project area already underway. In a statement, the company said the LDDH001 drill hole intersected a 120 metre thick salt sequence from about 415 metres below surface.

STM Group, up 9%. The financial services group said its first-half pretax profit almost doubled, as it reaped the benefits of honing in on the international independent financial adviser market. While the group will not pay an interim dividend, it said it will review the dividend policy at the end of the year. Chief Executive Colin Porter said he expects cash generation in the second half of the year to increase, given the rise in group profitability and the reduction of borrowings. In a statement, STM said it made a GBP1.0 million pretax profit in the six months ended June 30, compared with GBP546,000 in the corresponding period last year, and revenue rose to GBP7.4 million from GBP6.6 million.

Blur Group, up 9%. The company has reiterated its focus on reaching profitability, despite posting a wider pretax loss for the half year to the end of June. It posted a pretax loss of USD4.8 million, widened from USD2.3 million, despite seeing revenue rise to USD5.7 million from USD1.4 million, due to higher administrative expenses. Revenue growth was boosted by the release of its 4.0 version of the platform, the roll out of public pages, and a drive into the enterprise space. Total bookings for the first half rose to USD16 million from USD5.2 million, as more enterprise customers, meaning organisations with revenue of over USD500 million, adopted the platform, including Amazon.com Inc and Danone Ltd.

JQW, up 7%. The Chinese e-commerce operator signalled its confidence by proposing a special dividend, as it saw profit rise in the half year to end-June. The company proposed a special dividend of 5.0 pence, on top of a maiden interim dividend of 0.2 pence. It posted a pretax profit of CNY105.2 million, up from CNY70.8 million, as revenue rose to CNY346.1 million from CNY180.8 million, although this was partly offset by a jump in the cost of sales and other operating expenses. Revenue growth was boosted by a larger number of new three-month contracts signed by fee-paying members; it saw a 33% increase in active fee paying members during the first half.

Amur Minerals Corp, up 7%. The base metals explorer moved another step closer to converting 36 square kilometres of of its 950 square kilometre exploration licence at Kun-Manie to a production licence, getting the necessary updated approval it needed from Russia's Federal Security Service as part of a multi-step approval process. In a statement, it said it had been told by Russian authorities that the country's Federal Security Service has updated its positive conclusion on the proposals and delivered its report to the country's licensing agency Rosnedra. Amur Minerals is in the final stages of finalising the terms for the mining license with Rosnedra, and, once completed, the state licensing agency will then submit the necessary documents to the Ministry of Economic Development for review and approval.

Abcam, up 6.5%. The company posted a rise in pretax profit for the year to end-June and said it has promoted Alan Hirzel to the position of chief executive officer, succeeding Jonathan Milner who will take up the role of deputy chairman. Abcam posted a pretax profit of GBP34.0 million, up from GBP32.7 million in the previous year, as revenue rose 4.5% to GBP128.0 million from GBP122.2 million, although this was partly offset by higher operating expenses. Revenue growth was hit by the strength of sterling, and at constant exchange rates revenue growth would have been 8.6%.

7Digital Group, up 6.4%. The digital music and radio services company said the German commercial radio industry will adopt the Radioplayer platform for web and mobile access for all commercial stations in the country. Radioplayer Deutschland, a partnership between the leading 18 commercial broadcasters in Germany, will launch the technology in the country in January. The group recently signed a deal with Radioplayer Worldwide, a 7digital-led consortium created to licence the platform internationally.
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AIM ALL-SHARE LOSERS
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Corac Group, off 13%. The company is one of the biggest fallers in AIM despite reporting that improved revenue across all three of its divisions had reduced its losses as it moves its focus to developing its profit margins. Revenue across the group increased by 20% to GBP9.9 million in the six months ended June 30, compared to GBP8.3 million in the same period in 2013. It also posted a pretax loss of GBP2.1 million in the half-year compared to a GBP2.4 million loss in the comparable period in 2013.
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By Neil Thakrar; neilthakrar@alliancenews.com

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