LONDON (Alliance News) - The following stocks are the leading risers and fallers within the main London indices on Monday.----------
FTSE 100 - WINNERS----------
Micro Focus International, up 3.0%. The software company said its annual revenue outlook is expected to come in at the better end of its previously guided range. On a constant currency basis, the company expects revenue to come in at the upper end of the guidance of a 6% to 9% decline for the financial year to October-end. Micro Focus highlighted that it traded in line with the board's expectations, as it saw revenue improvements in the second half. The company also announced its intention to recommence its share buyback programme, with any shares bought back to be held in treasury. From August 29 to October 24, Micro Focus bought back 9.9 million shares for USD171 million. The extended share buyback programme, when initiated, will cover an additional tranche of shares for up to USD400 million, inclusive of those already repurchased. ----------
FTSE 100 - LOSERS----------
Ashtead Group, down 3.0% at 1,905.00 pence. Barclays cut its price target on the equipment rental firm to 2,200p from 2,580p. ----------
FTSE 250 - WINNERS----------
Sirius Minerals, up 2.5%. The polyhalite mining company said it has awarded a contract to construct port handling facility for the Woodsmith polyhalite fertilizer mine located in north Yorkshire, England. The company's unit York Potash Processing and Ports has awarded a engineering, procurement and construction contract to civil engineering contractor McLaughlin & Harvey for developing port handling facility at Teesside, north east England. Under the contract, McLaughlin & Harvey will design and build the port storage facilities for 250,000 tonnes of product, ship loading equipment, ship outload infrastructure, and the final product screening facility. The port handling facility will store the company's polyhalite fertilizer after it has been transported from the Woodsmith mine and processed into the finished product at the Wilton Materials handling facility. ----------
RPC Group, up 1.9%. The plastic product producer said it extended the deadline for talks over a potential takeover by private equity firms Apollo Global Management and Bain Capital to early December. In September, RPC confirmed that Apollo and Bain had approached it with a potential deal to buy the firm. The original deadline for Apollo and Bain to either announce a firm intention to make an offer or step away from a deal under UK takeover rules was October 8. Early in October, this was extended until 1700 GMT on Monday. RPC emphasised on Monday that "discussions remain ongoing" and consequently have agreed to extend the deadline further. With the fresh extension, the new deadline will be December 3 at 1700 GMT. The firm will provide a further announcement "when appropriate" and added there was "no certainty" an offer would be made. ----------
FTSE 250 - LOSERS----------
Hiscox, down 7.5%. The insurer said it enjoyed strong growth in the third quarter which saw total gross written premiums increase, but noted premium growth would slow towards the end of the year. For the nine months ended September, Hiscox reported a 14% year-on-year increase in total gross written premiums to USD3.04 billion from USD2.66 billion. Hiscox said a "benign" first half was followed by an "active" third quarter for both natural catastrophe and large claims, which has extended into October. In addition, the company said it expects growth to "moderate" over the remainder of 2018. Peel Hunt said Hiscox was unable to escape an "active" period of losses for the insurance industry, in part due to the growth of its portfolio over the past few years. In addition, Shore Capital said: "The challenging claims environment in the third quarter and muted guidance on growth for the rest of the year, however, are not positive, in our view."----------
Babcock International, down 5.1%. RBC Capital downgraded the defence outsourcer to Sector Perform from Outperform. ----------
OTHER MAIN MARKET AND AIM - WINNERS----------
N4 Pharma, up 30%. The pharmaceutical company said MedImmune, a subsidiary of blue chip drugmaker AstraZeneca, confirmed its commitment to investigating non-lipid nanoparticle technologies for mRNA and pDNA delivery. MedImmune said it intends to continue to work with N4 Pharma to co-develop an optimised version of Nuvec under an appropriate collaboration agreement. The company's Nuvec system is intended to effectively deliver nucleic acids into cells leading to the production of antigens with potential activity as therapeutic entities or antigens for cancer vaccine. N4 Pharma partnered with MedImmune in February, following the conclusion of the Innovate UK feasibility grant. The grant was awarded to a collaborative project to explore the manufacture of a prototype nanomedicine using N4 Pharma's Nuvec system. ----------
Symphony Environmental Technologies, up 10%. The 'smart' plastic maker said a report commissioned by the company by former deputy judge of the High Court in England Peter Susman said the case for oxo-biodegradable technology is "clear and compelling". Susman considered evidence from the EU Commission report from January 2018, the Loughborough Report for the UK government and the 2016 Eunomia Report. In his written opinion, Susman said oxo-biodegradable technology "does facilitate" the biodegradation of plastics in air or seawater by bacteria, fungi or algae. He believes this will "cause the plastic to cease to exist far sooner than ordinary plastics, without causing any toxicity". Susman also said the technology is compatible with composting and recycling. Chief Executive Michael Laurier said: "We are delighted that Peter Susman has found the scientific case for Symphony's d2w oxo-biodegradable technology to be proven."----------
OTHER MAIN MARKET AND AIM - LOSERS----------
Angus Energy, down 14% at 11.3p. The oil & gas production company said it intends to raise GBP2.0 million through a share placing for general working capital purposes and business development opportunities. Angus Energy plans to issue 22.2 million shares at a price of 9.0 pence each. The placing price represents a 23% discount to the 30-day volume weighted average share price. Angus Energy intends to use the proceeds to provide funds for general working capital purposes, principally in relation to the strategy at Brockham oil field located in Surrey, England. It also expects to use the funds to expand its portfolio of onshore development and appraisal projects.----------
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