Ascent Resources Share News (AST)

LONDON (Alliance News) - The following stocks are the leading risers and fallers within the main London indices on Tuesday.
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FTSE 100 - WINNERS
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easyJet, up 2.3%. The low-cost carrier was upgraded to Buy by Merrill Lynch, according to traders. At the same time, RBC Capital cut easyJet's price target to 1,450 pence from 1,600p, while keeping an Underperform rating. The stock was quoted at 1,534.00p Tuesday.
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FTSE 100 - LOSERS
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HSBC Holdings, down 0.6%. The stock was downgraded to Underperform from Neutral by Exane BNP.
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FTSE 250 - WINNERS
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Lancashire Holdings, up 1.9%. The non-life insurer said its Lancashire Insurance Co subsidiary has secured a new USD300.0 million, five-year credit and revolving credit facility. The funding has been provided through Lloyds Bank and Barclays, it said. The money will be used to support obligations under reinsurance liabilities held by the subsidiary, Lancashire said.

AG Barr, up 0.6%. The soft drinks company reported growth in profit in its recently-ended financial year, although revenue fell slightly in a challenging market which faced a tough comparative the year before. The company said its pretax profit in the year ended January 30 rose to GBP41.3 million from GBP38.6 million the year before, as revenue fell slightly to GBP258.6 million from GBP260.9 million.
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FTSE 250 - LOSERS
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Polymetal International, down 4.2%. The gold and silver miner operating in Russia and Kazakhstan said it made net earnings of USD221.0 million in 2015, swinging from a USD210.0 million net loss in 2014. Underlying earnings, which exclude certain exceptional items, rose to USD296.0 million from USD282.0 million in 2014. Polymetal had already reported its revenue for the year, revealing a 15% year-on-year fall to USD1.44 billion from USD1.69 billion, as lower production costs were not enough to offset declines of 8% in gold prices and a 17% in silver prices.

Synthomer, down 2.1%. Berenberg cut its rating on the speciality chemicals company to Hold from Buy.
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MAIN MARKET AND AIM - WINNERS
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Ascent Resources, up 74%. Cadogan Petroleum confirmed it has made a "highly preliminary approach" to potentially combine the company with fellow London-listed firm Ascent Resources, but stressed there is no guarantee a deal will be signed. Ascent said it had received a preliminary takeover approach from Cadogan late last week, and also said the approach may or may not lead to a firm offer being made. Cadogan has until April 21 to make a firm offer or walk away from the deal under UK takeover rules. Cadogen shares were up 2.7%.
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MAIN MARKET AND AIM - LOSERS
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CDialogues, down 32%. The mobile marketing services company said its earnings for 2015 will be significantly lower due to weaker revenue and squeezed margins. The company said earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation will be less than EUR1.6 million for the year to the end of December, compared to EUR2.9 million the year earlier. The group said revenue was weaker and project margins were thinner. Revenue in the first quarter of 2016 has been weaker than anticipated. Revenue from its new mobile network operator client in Latin America has been delayed due to integration issues, CDialogues said, and the project may now be cancelled as a result.

Turbo Power Systems, down 33%. The power electronics systems manufacturer said its financial performance significantly improved in 2015. The company said its pretax loss narrowed to only GBP700,000 in 2015 from the GBP2.3 million loss reported a year earlier after the company reduced its costs and significantly improved its gross margin. It is currently conducting a strategic review of the business, one of the reasons that its order intake was lower, and is still considering selling the company if the right offer is made. Turbo Power said it is continuing to hold talks with its majority shareholder, Tao Sustainable Power Solutions, which is owned by Brazilian mining giant Vale, about how best to progress the company.
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By Arvind Bhunjun; arvindbhunjun@alliancenews.com; @ArvindBhunjun

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