LONDON (Alliance News) - The following stocks are the leading risers and fallers within the main London indices on Thursday.
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FTSE 100 - WINNERS
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Mondi, up 2.7%. The paper and packaging company said underlying operating profit grew in the first quarter as strong contributions from some divisions offset lower selling prices in others. The Anglo-South African group said underlying operating profit for the quarter to the end of March was EUR269.0 million, 14% higher than the EUR236.0 million it made a year earlier. Consumer Packaging, Uncoated Fine Paper and the group's South African arm all made strong contributions in the quarter, Mondi said, offsetting lower selling prices in some Packaging Paper segments and margin pressures on its Fibre Packaging business.
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Randgold Resources, up 1.3% and Fresnillo up 1.0%. The gold miners were up after Goldman Sachs raised both company's price targets, keeping a Neutral stance on Randgold and a Sell recommendation on Fresnillo. The gold price was recovering some lost ground since Monday, when it fell to a low of USD1,261.20 an ounce. The precious metal rose Tuesday and Wednesday, and is quoted at USD1,271.80.
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FTSE 100 - LOSERS
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Centrica, down 3.8%, J Sainsbury, down 2.7%, Inmarsat, down 2.7%, Admiral Group, down 2.1%. Energy company Centrica, grocer Sainsbury's, satellite communications firm Inmarsat and insurer Admiral all went ex-dividend, meaning new buyers no longer qualify for the latest dividend payouts.
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ITV, down 1.6%. The broadcaster said it has made a good start to 2016, with revenue up 14% in its first quarter, but struck a more cautious tone in its guidance for advertising revenue for its first half against what it called a "backdrop of uncertainty". The company said it expects to deliver "good group profit growth" in the first half, against a backdrop of uncertainty in the UK advertising market which it has experienced "since the debate over Brexit began", it said. ITV also forecast flat net advertising revenue for its core family of channels in the first half, which it said is ahead of the market. However, this forecast was dimmed from the guidance ITV previously gave at its full year results in March for a "positive" second quarter, helped by the Euro 2016 football championship in France.
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FTSE 250 - WINNERS
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SuperGroup, up 14%. The fashion retailer and Superdry brand owner posted growth in total and like-for-like revenue for the financial year to April 23, with a particularly strong performance in the fourth quarter. The company said total group revenue for the year to April 23 was GBP589.5 million, up 21% year-on-year from GBP486.6 million. Total retail revenue grew 25% over the year to GBP416.1 million from GBP334.1 million. SuperGroup said sales had been boosted by continued growth in e-commerce sales and initial benefits from its new sportswear and premium product ranges. The group said it expects margin growth for the year to be at the top end of its expectation for 40-60 basis point accretion.
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CLS Holdings, up 7.6%. The property investor launched a share buyback programme with a view to reducing the issued share capital of the company and boost its net asset value per share. CLS said it believes its current share price, at a significant discount to its last reported net asset value per share, "does not adequately reflect the value of its property portfolio and development pipeline." CLS said the maximum price payable for the shares it will buy back will be 105% of the average market value of the shares in the five business days proceeding the purchase. The maximum total number of shares the company will buy back will be 4.1 million, 10% of the total.
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Aldermore Group, up 6.3%. The lender said loan origination surged year-on-year in the first quarter and said it remains confident on meeting its guidance for 2016. Aldermore said loan origination grew 43% year-on-year in the quarter to the end of March to GBP814.0 million from GBP568.0 million. Business finance origination grew 18% but mortgage origination surged 60%, helped by buy-to-let origination more than doubling at buyers rushed to beat the introduction of a new stamp duty levy on buy-to-let buyers imposed on April 1.
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FTSE 250 - LOSERS
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3i Infrastructure, down 5.0% at 170.10p. The infrastructure businesses and assets investor launched a substantial capital raising in order to fund new investments and committed to a progressive dividend policy moving forward after increasing the payout in the recently ended financial year. The placing will see 3i Infrastructure raise around GBP350.0 million by issuing shares equal to more than a quarter of its existing share capital, and at a discount to its closing share price on Wednesday. 3i said its dividend for the financial year to the end of March rose 4.0% to 7.25p from 7.0p a year earlier, meeting the company's target, and pledged to pay a dividend of 7.55p per share this year.
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Fidessa Group, down 3.2% and Carillion, down 4.7%. Fidessa, the trading, investment and information software and services provider, and Carillion, a construction and support services company, went ex-dividend.
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MAIN MARKET AND AIM - WINNERS
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RapidCloud International, up 5.9%. The cloud computing products company said it has won a contract worth around GBP100,000, as it appointed distributors in Thailand and Malaysia and launched a new product. tHE company said it won a contract with Wellmart Online Sdn Bhd, expected to generate revenue of MYR550,000 in its first year of operation - around GBP95,000 at current exchange rates. RapidCloud signed two strategic partnerships with Symphonet Sdn Bhd in Malaysia and Interlink Communication in Thailand to market is new disaster recovery as a service products.
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Alecto Minerals, up 4.8%. The miner said it has renewed its exploration licences covering the Kerboule project in Burkino Faso, boosting the company's chances of finding a joint venture partner to help develop the asset. The Gassel-Manere and Arae mineral exploration permits, which together form the Kerboule project, have been extended until January 16, 2019, and Alecto said the deal was integral to helping find a joint venture partner for the development. The permit areas currently have an initial independent gold resource of 6.2 million tonnes of ore graded at 1.16 grammes of gold per tonne, which is thought to contain a total of 230,758 ounces of gold.
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MAIN MARKET AND AIM - LOSERS
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Westminster Group, down 17% at 8.0p. The security company said it was undertaking a strategic review of its businesses and will need additional near term financing, as delays continued its Americas consultancy project and the group is still waiting to commerce repairs on its Sierra Queen ferry. The group said it was exploring a number of potential financing options, which include directors' support and investment by strategic investors, as well as finalising plans for a capital reconstruction which will reduce its nominal share capital to 1.0 pence. Westminster said this was due to its share price recently trading around or below its nominal share price of 10p
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Titon Holdings, down 9.1%. The ventilation products, door and window fittings maker said pretax profit fell in the first half, despite seeing revenue growth, as the company said it was difficult to make predictions about its prospects in the UK due to the current uncertainty ahead of the EU referendum. Titon said pretax profit fell to GBP735,000 in the six months to March 31 from GBP792,000 for the same period a year earlier, as cost of sales rose to GBP8.0 million from GBP7.9 million, and administrative expenses came in at GBP1.93 million from GBP1.87 million. These cost increases offset the rise in revenue to GBP10.9 million from GBP10.7 million.
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Mobile Tornado, down 7.0%. The mobile applications provider reported a narrowed pretax loss for 2015, but guided for "at least" flat revenue for the year ahead. The group said that as it has moved into 2016, recurring revenues from its tier 1 mobile virtual network operator customers have continued to grow more slowly, and as such this part of its business remains below market expectations. Additionally, whilst it sees opportunities in the homeland security markets, contracts in these markets are difficult to predict with any certainty. The company reported a pretax loss of GBP2.0 million for 2015, narrowed from GBP3.2 million in 2014, on revenue of GBP2.3 million, up from GBP1.7 million.
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By Arvind Bhunjun; arvindbhunjun@alliancenews.com; @ArvindBhunjun
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27 Apr 2015 07:01