LONDON (Alliance News) - The following stocks are the biggest risers and fallers within the main London indices midday Wednesday.
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FTSE 100 WINNERS
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Fresnillo, up 2.8%. The precious metal miner was given a vote of confidence by UBS, which added the stock to its "Most Preferred" list.
United Utilities Group, up 1.0%. The water company has seen its shares respond well after it said it is currently trading in line with internal expectations for the six months ending September 30, while it remains confident of delivering its 2010-15 regulatory outperformance targets. In a trading statement, United Utilities said underlying operating profit for the first half 2014/15 is expected to be similar to the first half of 2013/14. "This principally reflects an allowed regulated price rise offset by the impact of the previously announced special customer discount and the expected increase in depreciation and other cost pressures, including bad debt," the company said.
Wolseley, up 0.7%. The support services group received an upgrade from analysts at Davy Stockbrokers to Outperform from Neutral.
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FTSE 100 LOSERS
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Associated British Foods, down 1.4%. The food processing company is seeing a little softness in its share price after The Real Good Food Co said that its dispute with British Sugar, a subsidiary of AB Foods, could drag on for years to come. The Real Good Food Co said that the UK Competition and Markets Authority has said the complaint made by its Napier Brown subsidiary against British Sugar has not passed the regulator's prioritisation procedure. The company said the pricing complaint made by Napier Brown against British Sugar has "strategic value", but said conducting a full investigation could take at least two years to conclude. AIM-listed The Real Good Food Co is down 3.2% at 30.00p.
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FTSE 250 WINNERS
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Kazakhmys, up 1.8%. Shares have responded positively after the metals miner said it has awarded the contract to build a sulphide concentrator at Aktogay, the company's second major copper growth project, to Non Ferrous China, allowing it to firm up the expected total capital cost of the project. The sulphide concentrator contract is the largest item in the capital expenditure budget for Aktogay, and Kazakhmys said that it is now able to confirm that the total capital cost for the project is expected to be in the region of USD2.3 billion.
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FTSE 250 LOSERS
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Rightmove, down 2.9%, and Zoopla, down 1.8%. Citigroup has downgraded Rightmove to Sell From Buy, with a 40% reduced price target, to 2,175p from 3,650p, while initiating Zoopla with a Neutral rating and 245p price target. Rightmove is currently quoted at 2,255.00p, while Zoopla is trading at 240.80p.
Tate & Lyle, down 1.9%. Shares have continued lower after the 17% fall suffered on Tuesday after the company warned over its profits for the second time this year. The food processing company has been hit by a wall of analyst rating and price target downgrades Wednesday.
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AIM ALL-SHARE WINNERS
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Ovoca Gold, up 35%. The gold explorer saw its shares rise strongly after it announced that it wants to buy back up to 20% of its shares to cut the discount of its shares compared with its net asset value per share and give shareholders an exit mechanism if they want it. In a statement, the company said it will ask shareholders for permission to buy back up to 17.7 million shares, or 20% of its issued share capital, at a meeting on October 17. It will ask its shareholders for permission to pay a final USD3 million for the acquisition of the Stakhanovsky Licence at the same meeting.
Nanoco Group, up 25%. The manufacturer of cadmium-free quantum dots and other nanomaterials saw its shares rise after it said The Dow Chemical Co will start construction on the first large-scale, cadmium-free quantum-dot manufacturing plant in the world in South Korea, with Nanoco quantum dots set to start commercial production at the plant next year. The company said the start of construction at the plant, to be based at an existing Dow site in Cheonan in South Korea, reflects customer demand for its products and said the start of the work will trigger a milestone payment from Dow to Nanoco.
Minds + Machines Group, up 7.1%. The company swung to a profit in the half year to end-June, boosted by proceeds from auctions for generic top level domains, which offset higher administrative costs. The internet domain name operator has been competing in auctions for a number of new generic-top level domains, meaning a suffix of an internet address such as .com or .net, following changes to rules governing domain names which has allowed a slew of new domains. Minds + Machines posted a pretax profit of GBP2.9 million, from a loss of GBP1.9 million in the previous year, boosted by a GBP7.1 million profit from participating in generic top level domain auctions, as revenue rose to GBP68,000 from GBP7,000.
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AIM ALL-SHARE LOSERS
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Tangiers Petroleum, down 68%. The exploration group's shares were restored to trading on Wednesday and promptly dropped heavily as the company said it has finalised its financial obligations for the TAO-1 well at USD18.6 million and said it would exit the Tarfaya block in Morocco. The shares had been suspended since August 6, after the company said the TAO-1 exploration well, which is located in the Tarfaya offshore block in Morocco, had been unsuccessful and would be plugged and abandoned, news which sent is shares down more than 60% at the time. The company said it has now finalised its financial obligations in relation to the drilling of TAO-1 at USD18.6 million, which it will fund from its existing cash resources. Covering the cost will leave Tangiers will a cash balance of approximately AUD1.3 million.
Instem, down 15%. The healthcare market software and services provider warned that if it is unable to secure contracts by the year end it may have a "material impact" on its full-year results, as its first half operating profit was hampered by a step up in operating costs. Instem posted a net loss of GBP567,000 in the half year, widened from GBP78,000 a year before.
Judges Scientific, down 15%. The scientific instruments company saw its shares slide despite posting pretax profit of GBP1.9 million for the six months ended June 30, up from GBP777,000 a year earlier, as revenue rose 43% to GBP21.9 million from GBP15.4 million. In July the company said that trading in the first half "proved challenging" and that most of the likely improvements would be due to the inclusion of Scientifica Ltd, which it acquired in June 2013. Chairman Alex Hambro Wednesday reiterated that progress has been driven by the acquisition and that there has only been "modest" organic growth.
Ashley House, down 11%. The health and community care provider posted a pretax loss of GBP4.7 million for the year ended April 30, compared with a GBP400,000 profit a year earlier, as revenue fell to GBP8.3 million from GBP15.8 million. High Wycombe-based Ashley House has been struggling for some time with restructuring and impairment costs affecting profit over the past 18 months, but it was a delay in a number schemes reaching financial close which really took its toll in the last financial year.
Atlantic Coal, down 11%. The coal miner said it swung to a loss in the first half of the year, as revenue declined due to the impact of adverse weather in the US at the start of the year and as it booked a big foreign exchange loss compared with a gain last year. The company reported a net loss of USD271,921 for the six months to June 30, compared with a USD2.5 million profit a year earlier, as revenue dropped to USD9.4 million, from USD10.5 million, and it booked a foreign exchange loss of USD402,417, compared with a gain of USD1.6 million a year earlier.
Nostra Terra Oil & Gas, down 10%. The exploration company said it had raised GBP1.75 million before expenses through an oversubscribed share placing, money that will allow it to invest in further acquisitions and to develop existing assets including the recently-acquired White Buffalo prospect. The placing with new and existing investors was conducted by Hume Capital Securities. It placed a total of 583.4 million shares at 0.3 pence each. The shares are currently trading at 0.314p.
Azonto Petroleum, down 10%. The exploration company saw its share drop in early trade after the company said it has had to request a further extension to the initial exploration period for the Accra block offshore Ghana. Azonto said its Azonto Petroleum (Ghana) Ltd joint venture, in which it holds a 57% stake and Swiss commodities trader Vitol SA holds a 43% stake, has applied to Ghana's energy ministry for a further extension to the initial exploration licence.
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By Jon Darby; jondarby@alliancenews.com; @jondarby100
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