AVN.L Share News (AVN)

LONDON (Alliance News) - The following stocks are the leading risers and fallers within the main London indices on Monday.----------FTSE 100 - WINNERS----------Sky, up 8.8%. Shares in the pay-TV company were up after US cable company Comcast emerged victorious in its battle to takeover the pay-TV firm, beating rival Twenty-First Century Fox with a GBP30 billion bid for the FTSE 100 constituent. Over the weekend, one of the City's most complex and convoluted takeover sagas in recent memory ended, as Comcast won out in a day-long auction overseen by the UK Takeover Panel on Saturday. Comcast's bid was 1,728p per share, beating Fox's 1,567p per share, after the auction went to the maximum three rounds. Shares in Sky had closed at 1,585 per share on Friday - the stock already 57% higher in the year-to-date as the Comcast-Fox bidding war unfolded - around 9% lower than Comcast's weekend bid.----------Randgold Resources, up 4.0%. The gold miner announced an all-share merger with Canada's Barrick Gold Corp, creating an "industry-leading gold company". Randgold shareholders will receive 6.1280 Barrick shares per Randgold share - following the deal, Barrick shareholders will own just short of 67% of the new company with Randgold's holding the rest. The merger is expected to complete by the end of the first quarter of 2019. It will see Randgold leave the London Stock Exchange, where it is currently a FTSE 100 constituent. The new company, to be called Barrick Group, will be listed on both the New York and Toronto stock markets.----------SSE, up 1.0%. Shares in the energy supplier were higher after French oil major Total reported a "major" gas find off the western coast of Shetland, on the Glendronach prospect. The announcement was noted by SSE, which has a 20% interest in Glendronach as opposed to Total's 60% stake. INEOS E&P UK has 20% interest as well. Total said the well, drilled to 4,312 metres, found a gas column with 42 metres of net pay in the lower Cretaceous.----------FTSE 250 - WINNERS----------Tullow Oil, up 2.6%. The oil and gas company said it will plug and abandon the Cormorant-1 exploration well in the PEL-37 licence, offshore Namibia, as it encountered non-commercial hydrocarbons. The well was drilled to a total depth of 3,855 metres and encountered water bearing sandstones, Tullow said. The company added that geological data gained from the well will provide insights into the prospectivity of the company's Namibian acreage in PEL-37 and PEL-30. Tullow's net expenditure on the Cormorant-1 well is expected to be around USD5 million. The company operates the PEL-37 licence with 35% equity interest and is partnered by ONGC Videsh with 30% stake, Pancontinental Oil & Gas with 30% holding and Paragon Oil & Gas with 5% interest.----------FTSE 250 - LOSERS----------Thomas Cook, down 20%. The travel agent lowered its annual profit forecast as it saw lower average selling prices due to a "highly competitive" trading environment and hot weather over the summer. Thomas Cook reported a good strategic progress through the year-to-date. Overall bookings for its Summer 2018 period were up 12% on a year-on-year basis, driven by the return in popularity of holidays to Turkey, Egypt, Tunisia and Greece. However, the company noted that its average selling prices were 5% lower, due to a highly competitive trading environment, as a consequence of a sustained period of hot weather across Europe this summer. Looking forward, Thomas Cook said it expects to deliver full-year underlying earnings before interest and taxes of GBP280 million due to the weak trading. For the year to the end of September 2017, the company reported underlying EBIT of GBP330 million. FTSE 100-listed travel operator TUI was down 2.5%, the worst blue chip performer. ----------OTHER MAIN MARKET AND AIM - WINNERS----------N4 Pharma, up 26%. The pharmaceutical company said the European Nanomedicine Charecterisation Laboratory has agreed to undertake a full characterisation programme for its Nuvec delivery system. The Nuvec system is intended to deliver nucleic acids into cells leading to the production of antigens with potential activity as therapeutic entities or antigens for cancer vaccines. N4 Pharma said the laboratory was funded by a European funding programme to accelerate the development of promising nanotech therapies and diagnostics. The aim of the programme is to provide state-of-the-art pre-clinical characterisation of innovative nanomaterials such as Nuvec in order to accelerate their development towards regulatory approval by the European Medicines Agency and the national agencies.----------Avanti Communications Group, up 16%. The satellite operator said it secured a seven-year wholesale capacity lease contract worth USD84 million over the period. Avanti did not name the partner, but said it is an "international satellite service provider". Avanti expects to receive USD12 million per annum in quarterly instalments for the duration of the agreement, which will commence in the third quarter of 2019. "This agreement is a major vote of confidence in the Avanti network and offer," said Chief Executive Kyle Whitehill.----------EQTEC, up 12%. The clean electricity and heat generation plant operator said it agreed to supply its proprietary gasifier technology for two biomass power plants in California. The company said it expects the deal with Phoenix Energy, to be worth around EUR10 million. vEQTEC will supply its technology for the 12 months, starting from the final quarter of 2018. "We are delighted to be the exclusive supplier of technology to Phoenix Energy," said EQTEC Chief Executive Ian Price. "The US is a key country for waste-to-gasification technology and we are excited to be entering this market with our first project with Phoenix Energy."----------OTHER MAIN MARKET AND AIM - LOSERS----------OPG Power Ventures, down 29%. The India-focused power generation projects operator swung to a loss in its most recent financial year, as a result of higher coal prices and large provision related to its exit from the Gujarat power plant. OPG said it swung to a pretax loss of GBP1.1 million in the year to the end of March, compared to GBP31.7 million profit reported a year earlier. OPG said the Chennai plant's power generation during the year totalled 2.49 billion kilowatt hour, up 6% year-on-year. However, the average landed cost of coal was 32% higher year-on-year, which had a significant impact on profitability. Following a strategic review, OPG decided to deconsolidate its Gujarat plant and focus on its Chennai plant. As such, OPG disposed its 5% holding in the Gujarat special-purpose vehicle, leading to GBP46.3 million provision against the company's receivable balances from the Gujarat SPV and financial securities pledged with lenders of Gujarat SPV. In addition, OPG noted an 18% decline in the coal price in the first half of its financial 2019 and said it expects about 20% reduction by March 2020. ----------Deltex Medical Group, down 23%. The oesophageal Doppler monitoring probes maker said it is re-evaluating its strategy following slower than expected sales. Deltex, which has developed a haemodynamic monitoring technology called the TrueVue System, has been investing to expand the use of TrueVue. However, the firm said adoption has been slower than anticipated, hitting revenue, and thus meaning it is still using rather than generating cash. Turning to interim results, Deltex's revenue for the six months to June came in at GBP2.3 million compared to GBP2.9 million a year prior. Its pretax loss was GBP1.2 million, broadly flat year-on-year. The company said 2018 revenue is predicted to be lower than last year and behind market expectations due to lower sales. However, loss is estimated to be in line with market expectations due to reduced costs. In 2017, revenue was GBP5.9 million, declining from GBP6.3 million in 2016. Pretax loss stood at GBP2.1 million versus GBP2.5 million loss.----------