LONDON (Alliance News) - The following stocks are amongst the biggest risers and fallers within the main London indices midday Wednesday.
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FTSE 100 GAINERS
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Tui Travel, up 1.8%; Carnival, up 2.3%; International Consolidated Airlines, up 0.5%; easyJet, up 0.6%. The airline and travel stocks are seeing some buying interest following a recent period of extreme weakness amid concerns over the spread of the Ebola virus. A continued fall in the price of oil is trumping those concerns Wednesday and providing a boost to the heavy fuel users, with Brent crude hitting a near four year low of USD83.35 per barrel. Nomura estimates that fuel accounts for about 31% of easyJet's full year costs.
Burberry, up 1.8%. The luxury British brand is recovering a little after falling almost 4% on Tuesday when it warned over slowing demand from some of its key market, including china.
BG Group, up 1.1%. The oil company is the only one of its sector showing any gains as the whole sector comes under pressure from the falling oil price. BG Group announced that it has poached Helge Lund from rival Statoil to be its new chief executive from next March. Deutsche Bank sees the appointment as a positive step for BG, calling Lund an "industry heavyweight". Separately, BG Group said it had started production on the Iracema area in block BM-S-11 in the Santos Basin offshore Brazil early.
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FTSE 100 LOSERS
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Shire, down 26%. The UK drug maker has seen about a quarter its share value wiped out after US based AbbVie Inc said late Tuesday that it intends to reconsider the recommendation made to its shareholders to adopt the takeover agreement to acquire Shire amid proposed tax rule changes in the US. It had sent Shire a notice about its intention to withdraw or modify its recommendation. Shire said it thinks AbbVie should proceed with its recommended GBP32 billion takeover offer for the company, and noted that Shire would be due a break fee of about USD1.64 billion if the deal is called off. Amid concern that the deal will now not go ahead, Shire has fallen back to about GBP38 per share, the same value they were back in mid-June when an offer from AbbVie was originally rejected.
AstraZeneca, down 3.7%; Smith & Nephew, down 2.5%. The other pharmaceutical and medial stocks that have been the subject of takeover interest and speculation this year are also feeling the effect of the Shire news, as the potential for further near-term takeover activity appears to dwindle amid the impact of the US tax rule changes.
Weir Group, down 2.9%. Shares in the engineering group slipped after it struck a deal to buy Chinese-American crushing and separation equipment manufacturer Trio Engineering Products. Weir will pay USD220 million to buy the company, which it said will expand its portfolio for mining customers and will provide it with scale in growing aggregates markets. Investec has cut its price target on the stock and reiterated a Sell recommendation, saying the deal is small and Weir is facing big challenges elsewhere, including the falling oil price.
Fresnillo, down 1.7%. Shares in the precious metal miner have fallen despite management raising its 2014 gold production target to 590,000 ounces, reflecting the full consolidation of the Penmont assets and temporary disruptions it suffered at the Herradura mine up until March. Fresnillo earlier this month completed a USD450 million deal to buy Newmont Mining out of the companies' Penmont Joint Venture. Analysts at VSA Capital say they remain cautious on Fresnillo as production rates at Herradura, coupled with falling ore grades, could impact the miner's full year production target.
Tullow Oil, down 2.3%; Royal Dutch Shell, down 1.4%; Centrica, down 1.3%. The oil and gas producers are underperforming in light of the continued oil price weakness. Brent crude reached a near four year low of USD83.35 as the market continues to be awash with oversupply.
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FTSE 250 WINNERS
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CSR, up 30%. The semiconductor producer saw its shares jump after it agreed to be acquired by US based semiconductor company Qualcomm Inc for GBP1.6 billion in cash, a deal that comes after it has been in talks about a potential takeover with Microchip Technology Inc since August. The 900 pence a share bid from the US semiconductor group comes after CSR rebuffed an approach from Microchip Technology for being too low in August. The British company remained in talks with Microchip, but the US company only had until Wednesday to make a firm offer under UK takeover rules.
Balfour Beatty, up 8.5%. The construction group has poached the chief executive of defence products company QinetiQ Group to be its own CEO from January 1, 2015, a job that will involve turning the struggling company around after a string of profit warnings, a failed merger attempt from rival Carillion, and the disputed sale of its US project management business. Analysts have been positive over the appointment of new CEO Leo Quinn. Jefferies says he has a good track record as a turnaround specialist.
Aveva Group, up 3.2%. The technology company received an upgraded to Outperform from Neutral from Credit Suisse Wednesday, along with a price target increase to 1,800 pence from 1,700 pence. The boosted target represents a 32% upside from Tuesday's closing level.
Bellway, up 1.9%. The housebuilder received a round of price target upgrades following its strong set of full year results on Tuesday. Jefferies raised its target to 2,447p from 2,369p, Citigroup raised its target to 1,800p from 1,750p, and Deutsche Bank raided its target to 1,760p from 1,682p. Bellway closed Tuesday at 1,565p.
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FTSE 250 LOSERS
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QinetiQ Group, down 10%. The defence company has seen its shares fall after confirming that it has lost it's Chief Executive Leo Quinn, who has stepped down to take up the challenge of turning around troubled construction group Balfour Beatty.
Spirent Communications, down 2.5%. Goldman Sachs has cut its price target for the stock to 74 pence, from 95 pence, and reiterated a Sell recommendation. The significantly reduced target represented just a small downside from Tuesday's closing price of 76p.
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AIM ALL-SHARE WINNERS
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EMED Mining Public, up 18%. The exploration company said a subsidiary of Trafigura Beheer BV has asked the company to hold an extraordinary general meeting to vote on proposals to remove seven directors of the company. EMED said Urion Holdings (Malta) Ltd, a unit of the Dutch commodities trader which holds an 18% stake in the business, has requested a meeting to proposed the removal of seven directors of the EMED and the addition of four.
Wandisco, up 15%. The software company saw its shares rise after it said subscription bookings in the third quarter hit a record level and it expects to win a number of new subscription contracts in coming months. The company said subscription bookings were up in the third quarter to September 30 by 21% to USD5.3 million. It said USD4.9 million of these bookings were for its Application Lifecycle Management products, up 15% year-on-year.
Altona Energy, up 14%. The coal mining company said Chris Lambert has resigned as its chief executive and will step down from its board. Lambert will leave his role on December 8, but will step down as a director on the board with immediate effect. Michael Zheng, Altona's executive chairman, will take on the chief executive role.
Arian Silver, up 13%. The precious metal miner was boosted after the company said it has secured a USD32 million financing package for its San Jose silver project in Mexico. The USD32 million joint financing deal has been agreed with Quintana AGQ Holding Co LLC and Quintana San Jose Streaming Co LLC. Under the deal, Quintana will acquire a USD15.6 million convertible loan note issued by Arian.
Arbuthnot Banking Group, up 8.8%; Secure Trust Bank, up 4.8%. Arbuthnot said it expects its full year results to be marginally ahead of market expectations. Secure Trust Bank, in which Arbuthnot owns 53.26% also said it expects its full year to to be at or above market expectations.
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AIM ALL-SHARE LOSERS
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Roxi Petroleum, down 19%. The oil and gas producer said it has discovered oil at the BNG contract area in the west of Kazakhstan as it continues to test the area to identify the quantity and quality of the oil. Roxi's Deep Well A5 is to undergo flow testing, with stimulation work producing oil, showing the resevior is oil bearing.
Mosman Oil & Gas, down 13%. Shares in the exploration company have fallen despite it saying two wells at its Petroleum Creek project in New Zealand are ready to be pumped to determine the volume of oil they could produce. The company has completed three wells at its Petroleum Creek asset. Two of the wells, Cross Roads-1 and Crestal-1, are now being prepared for an extended period of pumping which is required to determine the sustainable flow rates of the shallow wells.
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By Jon Darby; jondarby@alliancenews.com; @jondarby100
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