Astrazeneca Share News (AZN)

(Alliance News) - The following stocks are the leading risers and fallers within the main London indices on Tuesday.----------FTSE 100 - WINNERS----------J Sainsbury, up 2.5%, Ocado Group, up 2.4%. The UK grocery market was flat in the past three months due to "tough" comparatives with last year's hot summer, a survey by Kantar Worldpanel showed. In the 12 weeks to August 11, supermarket sales were flat compared to a year before, Kantar said. Ocado claimed the top spot as the UK's fastest growing grocer, increasing sales by 13% during the period. The online grocer increased its shopper base by 7% and encouraged its customers to spend GBP1.93 more each delivery, Kantar noted. Sainsbury's accounted for 15.4% of all UK supermarket sales during the 12-week period. Overall Sainsbury's sales fell by 0.6%, however, despite sales of branded goods rising by 1.5%, driven by higher levels of promotion and Sainsbury's price lockdown strategy.----------Antofagasta, up 1.9%. Goldman Sachs raised the copper miner to Neutral from Sell. ----------AstraZeneca, up 1.7%. The Anglo-Swedish drugmaker reported positive results from the third phase of the DAPA-HF trial. Astra said the study showed Farxiga met the primary composite endpoint with a reduction of cardiovascular death or the worsening of heart failure, compared to a placebo.----------FTSE 100 - LOSERS----------Rentokil Initial, down 2.0%. RBC Capital cut the pest control company to Sector Perform from Outperform. ----------BHP Group, down 1.0%. The Anglo-Australian miner reported an improvement in performance in its most recently ended financial year, but results were mostly below what the market had expected. For the 12 months to June, the mining giant's pretax profit rose 2.0% to USD15.05 billion the prior year, while underlying earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortisation were broadly flat year-on-year at USD23.16 billion compared to USD23.18 billion. The underlying Ebitda figure fell short of the USD23.71 billion expected by analysts. BHP's annual revenue from continuing operations was USD44.29 billion, up 2.7% from a year earlier, but again below consensus of USD44.74 billion. "The current negative backdrop would suggest BHP may find it hard to keep growing earnings at the current rate, particularly in the short term," noted AJ Bell's Russ Mould. ----------FTSE 250 - WINNERS----------Mitchells & Butlers, up 3.2%. Canaccord upgraded the pub and restaurant operator to Buy from Hold. ----------IMI, up 1.7%. The engineer IMI announced the USD85 million acquisition of Pennsylvania-based valve and flow control product maker PBM. PBM will join IMI's Critical Engineering division, and IMI said the deal is an "important opportunity" to broaden into an "attractive, adjacent market". PBM registered USD6.8 million of adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortisation in 2018, on revenue of USD35.6 million. By comparison, FTSE 250-listed IMI delivered revenue of GBP1.91 billion.----------FTSE 250 - LOSERS----------Ashmore Group, down 2.8%. Exane BNP cut the emerging markets-focused asset manager to Neutral from Outperform. ----------OTHER MAIN MARKET AND AIM - WINNERS----------Avesoro Resources, up 27% at 87.70p. Shares in the miner climbed after it said its major shareholder is considering a buyout. The firm is also considering a review of the Youga gold mine, and has suspended guidance due to ongoing problems both at Youga and the New Liberty mine. Avesoro Jersey currently owns 73% of Avesoro, and the company has now said a "non-binding expression of interest" has been made to buy the rest of Avesoro's shares at 100 pence each. The company said shareholders owning 13% of Avesoro have already supported the move. Avesoro Jersey is led by Avesoro Non-Executive Chair Murathan Gunal, a Turkish businessman. On the operational front, Avesoro is now assessing the long-term viability of Burkina Faso's Youga gold mine. Last Wednesday night, a security guard at the mine shot dead a clandestine miner at Youga, which led to a break-in by an armed group of fellow artisanal miners. ----------OTHER MAIN MARKET AND AIM - LOSERS----------Mysale Group, down 47% at 2.5p. The online retailer said it intends to raise at least GBP10.0 million before expenses from a share placing. The online retailer said the placing will enable it to repay its bank debt, meaning that it will operate on a debt-free basis, improving cash flow. The fundraising also will support the restructuring of MySale into an Australia and New Zealand-focused retail marketplace platform - what it calls its "ANZ First" strategy. Some 79% of MySale shareholders have supported the placing of 500.0 million shares at a price of 2.0 pence each. The placing price represents a discount of 58% to the closing price of 4.75 pence on Monday. Looking forward, MySale proposed an open offer for up to a further GBP2.0 million to be launched in due course.----------