Ascent Resources Share News (AST)

LONDON (Alliance News) - The following stocks are amongst the biggest risers and fallers within the main London indices midday Tuesday.
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FTSE 100 WINNERS
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BHP Billiton, up 1.6%, Rio Tinto, up 1.4%, Anglo American, up 1.4%, Glencore, up 1.1%, and Antofagasta, up 0.6%. The miners are rebounding from the fall on Monday that was caused by weaker-than-expected Chinese trade balance data and downgrades from Citigroup.

British Land Co, up 0.6%. The property developer extended its portfolio at the Paddington Central development in West London by acquiring the One Sheldon Square office development for GBP210 million.
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FTSE 100 LOSERS
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Aberdeen Asset Management, down 2.2%. Fears that hundreds of international fund managers could face unexpected tax bills in India have been heightened after Aberdeen Asset Management, one of the largest investors in the country, became the first foreign institution to confirm it had received a demand for payment, the Financial Times reported.

BP, down 0.7%. Citigroup has cut the oil and gas giant to Neutral from Buy.
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FTSE 250 WINNERS
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Tullow Oil, up 6.2%. Citigroup has raised the oil and gas company to Buy from Neutral.

Ashmore Group, up 1.9%. The investment manager is trading higher despite saying its assets under management fell in the first quarter of 2015 through a combination of net outflows and weaker investment performance. Ashmore said its assets under management at the end of March, the end of its financial third quarter, were USD61.1 billion, down 4.1% against the USD63.7 billion under management at the end of December. The decline was caused by a combination of net outflows, which totalled USD2 billion in the quarter, and USD0.6 billion of negative investment performance.

Poundland Group, up 1.6%. The company reported an increase in revenue for the fourth quarter of its financial year and said results for the full year are in line with market expectations. The retailer said revenue, excluding operations in Spain, increased by 6.5% in the 13 weeks to March 29 to GBP255 million, from GBP239.5 million in the same period a year earlier.
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FTSE 250 LOSERS
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Spire Healthcare Group, down 9.1%. Private equity firm Cinven completed the sale of a 10% stake in healthcare provider Spire Healthcare Group, raising a total of GBP136.4 million. Cinven sold 40.1 million shares in Spire at 340 pence per share, with JPMorgan Cazenove handling the disposal. Spire shares currently trade at 333.40p.

Al Noor Hospitals Group, down 6.8%. Dubai-based private equity firm Ithmar Capital is understood to be planning to sell a 20% stake in Abu Dhabi-based Al Noor Hospitals Group, according to a report. Global Capital magazine said Deutsche Bank has been hired to place around 23.4 million shares in Al Noor for 925 pence per share, raising GBP216 million for Ithmar, which is selling the stake via its Astro II special purpose vehicle. Al Noor currently trades at 925.00p.

Evraz, down 1.6%. The steelmaking and mining company said its Evraz Highveld Steel and Vanadium subsidiary has filed for voluntary business rescue procedures. The decision means Evraz's USD27 million deal to sell its remaining 34% stake in the South Africa-based business to Macrovest 147 Pty Ltd, announced in August last year, will not be completed at present.
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AIM ALL-SHARE WINNERS
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Connemara Mining Company, up 220%. The company said it has been awarded five new prospecting licences in the Innisowen peninsula in County Donegal in Ireland. The area, which includes the former Glentougher lead silver mine, is considered by the company's geologists to be prospective for high-grade gold mineralisation and has potential for some base metal deposits.

Ascent Resources, up 49%. The company said it knows of no reason for the share price surge it saw in early trade.

Anglo Asian Mining, up 14%. The Azerbaijan-focused gold, copper and silver producer said gold production from the Gedabek mine rose in the first quarter. Anglo Asian said gold production from the mine was 17,193 ounces in the first quarter of 2015, up from 17,053 ounces in the fourth quarter of 2014. Year-on-year, gold production was up 52%. Gold sales in the quarter hit 17,206 ounces at an average of USD1,214 per ounce.

Tandem Group, up 12%. The sports and leisure company said its pretax profit rose in 2014 on the back of better revenue and the non-recurrence of costs booked in 2013. It said its pretax profit for the year was GBP1.7 million, up from GBP16,000 a year earlier. Its 2013 results were hit by a GBP807,000 one-off cost related to foreign exchange contracts. Stripping out its one-off costs, pretax profit rose to GBP1.3 million from GBP823,000.

CEB Resources, up 12%. The company said it has issued shares to YA Global Master SPV Ltd under an equity swap agreement. CEB has issued 29.2 million shares to YA Global Master at 0.1607 pence, valuing the issue at GBP46,897. The company shares trade at 0.19p.
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AIM ALL-SHARE LOSERS
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Northbridge Industrial Services, off 14%. The industrial equipment rental and services company warned that its results in the first half of 2015 would be down on the year due to the sharp fall in the oil price. The company reported growth in revenue and underlying profit in 2014, but cautioned that current volumes and margins in its oil tool rental business are down overall when compared with this time last year.

Red Rock Resources, down 12%. The company said it has signed a deal to sell its El Limón gold assets in Colombia for a total of USD5 million. Red Rock will sell the assets to Colombia Milling Ltd for a total of USD5 million, including USD3 million in future royalty payments. It will receive the initial consideration in three tranches over the next fifteen months and has a secured promissory note in place of USD1 million.

Red Emperor Resources, down 10%. The company said drilling activity has still not started at the Block VIb site in Georgia as fellow AIM-listed Range Resources Ltd focuses on disposing of the asset. Red Emperor said it was advised last month by Strait Oil & Gas, the operator of the licence, that a drilling programme and valid drilling licence was in place with the Georgian Oil and Gas Ministry.
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By Neil Thakrar; neilthakrar@alliancenews.com; @NeilThakrar1

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