Active Energy Share News (AEG)

LONDON (Alliance News) - The following stocks are the leading risers and fallers within the main London indices on Monday.
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FTSE 100 - WINNERS
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Polymetal International, up 2.2%, Randgold Resources, up 1.8%, Fresnillo, up 1.6%. The gold miners were tracking spot gold prices higher, quoted at USD1,191.79 an ounce, compared to USD1,180.28 an ounce at the London equities close on Friday.
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FTSE 100 - LOSERS
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Royal Bank of Scotland Group, down 2.7%, Barclays, down 1.9%, Lloyds Banking Group, 1.8%, HSBC Holdings, down 1.3%. UK banks were trading lower over fears a 'No' vote in Sunday’s Italian constitutional referendum could mean the departure of Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi, who had proposed resolutions to restructure Italy's banking system. Renzi is staking his political future on a referendum that would change the Italian constitution by weakening the upper house of parliament and strengthening the central government. "Fears are that an Italian dissent and resulting market turmoil would dissuade already gutsy investors from daring to participate in desperately needed recapitalisations within a very troubled EUR4 trillion banking system. If they don't, Brussels may be forced to step in and wind them up whatever the cost to all investors, not just shareholders," commented Mike van Dulken, head of research at Accendo Markets.
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FTSE 250 - WINNERS
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CYBG, up 3.2%. The lender was upgraded to Buy from Hold by Goldman Sachs.

JD Sports Fashion, up 3.4%. The sportswear retailer said it has bought outdoor clothing and equipment retailer Go Outdoors Topco for GBP112.3 million. Go Outdoors owns 58 stores across the UK, the majority of which are situated in out-of-town retail parks. In the year ended January 31, it made revenue of GBP202.2 million and a pretax profit of GBP4.9 million. JD will also acquire net debt of around GBP16 million as part of the acquisition. JD said the acquisition will complement its interest in the outdoor market through its Blacks, Millets, Ultimate Outdoors and Tiso businesses, which in the year to the end of January had combined revenue in excess of GBP155 million, with 182 stores trading at the year end.

Aberdeen Asset Management, up 3.2%. Brokers were largely satisfied by the Asia-focused asset manager's results, as Aberdeen reported numbers above consensus estimates, despite a fall in profit and funds facing outflows. Aberdeen booked a pretax profit of GBP221.9 million for its financial year ended September 30, down from GBP353.7 million the prior financial year. The firm declared a final dividend of 12.0 pence per share, making its total dividend 19.5p, both unchanged. Aberdeen reported that during the period its funds saw net outflows of GBP32.80 billion, although this included GBP8.00 billion from lower-margin insurance books, some of which the company said are in long-term run-off. Aberdeen's total assets under management at September 30 stood at GBP312.10 billion, up from GBP283.70 billion at the same date in 2015.

Capital & Counties Properties, up 2.5%. The London-focused property developer said its estate is on course to meet its estimated rental value target for the end of 2017, as it has seen strong levels of leasing activity in Covent Garden in 2016 to date. The group said that, in the period from the beginning of July to Monday, leasing activity at Covent Garden had been positive. The company said that 2016 to date has set a "new record" for leasing activity at Covent Garden, with 84 leases transacted, representing GBP11.2 million of income.

Grainger, up 2.2%. The residential property company said it has agreed a GBP45.7 million deal to buy a private rented sector build-to-rent development in Bristol. Grainger said it is acquiring the project from a vehicle backed by clients of Palmer Capital and Cubex Land. Grainger will forward-fund the project, while Cubex Land will be the developer and construction services company Willmott Dixon will be the contractor. The site will have 194 private rental homes across two sites at Finzels Reach in Bristol and already has planning consent, noted Grainger.
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FTSE 250 - LOSERS
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Man Group, down 4.9%. The hedge fund manager was cut to Neutral from Outperform by Exane BNP.

Pets at Home Group, down 2.8%. Goldman Sachs downgraded the pet products and pet-related services company to Neutral from Buy.

Halma, down 2.3%. Liberum cut the safety and environmental technology company to Sell from Hold. Halma's interim results were solid, said Liberum, but the broker downgraded the stock because of disappointing performance by acquisitions and an accelerating global inflation outlook.
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MAIN MARKET AND AIM - WINNERS
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BMR Group, up 5.5% at 4.87p. Metal Tiger said that it has rejected an indicative offer from BMR as undervaluing the company. On Friday last week, Metal Tiger said it had received an indicative all-share offer of 0.231 BMR shares for every one Metal Tiger share. On Monday, Metal Tiger said its independent directors will not recommend the offer from BMR shareholders "on the basis that it fundamentally undervalues the company". "The independent directors recognise that there are synergies between the companies that could benefit Metal Tiger and its shareholders and, in the event that a significantly improved indicative offer is received from BMR, they confirm that they are willing to enter into negotiations," added Metal Tiger. Metal Tiger was up 1.9% at 1.99p.

Active Energy Group, up 5.5%. The timber processing company said it had achieved milestones for its CoalSwitch technology, and secured a USD6 million loan facility to construct a reference plant in North America. Active Energy has been developing towards commercialisation the technology, which uses mill by-products to produce a 'drop-in' biomass fuel that can be mixed with, or replace, coal. The company said it had received a commitment for a five-year unsecured loan facility of USD6 million with interest at 8% per year for the construction of a 35,000 tonne per year plant in North America. That plant is capable of producing revenue of over USD6.3 million per year, based on Active Energy's current projections.
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MAIN MARKET AND AIM - LOSERS
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Trakm8 Holdings, down 25%. The telematics firm reported a fall in pretax profit for its first half, as it said it expects a heavier second half weighting for its full financial year than in previous years, although the outcome for the year depends on contract wins. The group separately said it had won a contract with UK vehicle services firm Smart Driver Club to provide devices and data services. Financial details of this contract were not disclosed. Trakm8 reported a pretax profit of GBP282,000 for the half year to the end of September, down from GBP1.2 million the previous year, even as revenue rose to GBP13.2 million from GBP11.7 million. Trakm8 noted the outcome of its full year depends on the timing and size of contract opportunities, as well as exchange rate movements. Trakm8 said it had seen a drag on profitability since the EU referendum in June as many of its components are priced in dollars.
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By Arvind Bhunjun; arvindbhunjun@alliancenews.com; @ArvindBhunjun

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