Barclays Share News (BARC)

LONDON (Alliance News) - The following stocks are amongst the biggest risers and fallers within the main London indices midday Friday.
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FTSE 100 WINNERS
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International Consolidates Airlines Group, up 3.3%. The parent company of British Airways reported strong growth in 2014 operating profit as fuel costs fell and its Spanish airline Iberia swung to a profit, and said it expects further strong profit growth in 2015. The company reported a closely-watched operating profit excluding exceptional items of EUR1.39 billion for 2014, up from EUR770 million a year earlier, as revenue rose 8.0% to EUR20.17 billion. Its net profit rose to EUR1.00 billion, from just EUR147 million in 2013.

Associated British Foods, up 2.3%. Barclays has initiated the company with an Overweight rating.

Pearson, up 1.9%. The publisher raised its dividend for 2014 as it posted earnings per share slightly ahead of its previous guidance, and announced that it will appoint Coram Williams, currently chief financial officer of its book publishing joint venture Penguin Random House, as its new chief financial officer. The company proposed a final dividend of 34.0 pence, taking its total dividend for the year to 51.0 pence, up from 48.0 pence a year before.

Reckitt Benckiser, up 1.0%. Societe Generale has upgraded the consumer goods giant to Buy from Hold with an increase in price target to 7,000.00 pence from 5,200.00p. The stock currently trades at 5,850.00p.

Old Mutual, up 0.7%. The investment, savings, insurance and banking group said that its closely-watched adjusted operating profit was flat due to a further weakening of the rand against its sterling reporting currency over the course of 2014. However, net client cash flow amounted to GBP4.9 billion, while funds under management rose by 9% to GBP319.4 billion on a reported currency basis. Old Mutual also increased its dividend for the year by 7% to 8.7 pence per share.
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FTSE 100 LOSERS
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Intu Properties, down 4.2%. The shopping centre and retail space owner and operator reported growth in property valuations and total returns for 2014, although its underlying earnings per share fell due to a drop in like-for-like net rental income. Its adjusted earnings per share fell slightly to 13.3p, from 13.7p in 2013, reflecting a 3.2% drop in like-for-like net rental income.

Royal Bank of Scotland Group, down 2.5%. SocGen has cut the bank to Sell from Hold after RBS reported its full-year results Thursday. In addition Sky News reported Thursday that the group's private banking business is being investigated by German authorities over allegations of aiding client tax evasion.

Weir Group, down 1.9%. Liberum has downgraded the oil services company to Sell from Hold. The company closed down 8.8% on Wednesday after it warned it is preparing for a "significant reduction" in revenue and operating margins in 2015.

Reed Elsevier, down 1.5%. Panmure Gordon has cut the Anglo-Dutch publisher to Hold from Buy after the company reported full-year earnings Thursday. Panmure says recent forex movements means that its estimates have nudged lower.

Barclays, down 1.0%. The bank is set to more than double its provision to cover allegations of foreign exchange market manipulation when it reports annual results next week, Sky News reported on Friday. According to the report, Barclays' current GBP500 million provision over the forex rigging scandal will be increased as a settlement with a number of US authorities draws nearer.

Meggitt, down 0.8%. Cantor Ftizgerald has cut the engineer of components for the aerospace, defence and energy markets to Hold from Buy.
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FTSE 250 WINNERS
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Rightmove, up 9.2%. The online property portal said its pretax profit was lifted in 2014 by higher revenue, driven by a growth in website traffic and an increase in its average revenue per advertiser. It said its pretax profit rose to GBP122 million, from GBP97 million in 2013, as revenue rose to GBP167 million from GBP139.9 million.

Rentokil Initial, up 1.9%. The business services company said its pretax profit increased in 2014 despite lower revenue as its cost-cutting measures improved its profit margins over the year. Pretax profit for the company rose to GBP163.2 million in 2014, compared with GBP112.2 million in 2013.

Spectris, up 1.2%. The instrumentation and controls company reported a fall in pretax profit and sales in 2014, as its was hit by challenging market conditions in Europe and China, but said it should get a boost from acquisitions and new product investments in 2015. The company said its pretax profit for the year was GBP171.1 million, down 37% from GBP271.7 million in 2013, as sales fell 2% to GBP1.17 billion from GBP1.20 billion. A strong year of trading in North America was offset by weakness in its European and Chinese markets, it said.
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FTSE 250 LOSERS
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William Hill, down 5.3%. The bookmaker posted a lower profit for 2014, as a number of exceptional costs associated with higher taxes and store closure costs more than offset growth in revenue. William Hill reported a pretax profit of GBP233.9 million for 2014, 9% lower than the GBP257.0 million profit it made in 2013, having booked a total of GBP83.4 million in exceptional costs, compared with only GBP22.8 million last year.

Berendsen, down 4.3%. The provider of workwear, linen and facility hygiene and cleaning products reported higher profit for 2014 as its offset a currency-related hit on its revenue by cutting costs and improving margins, and said it expects good underlying progress in 2015 although the strength of the pound will continue to weigh on its results. Its closely-watched adjusted operating profit, which excludes GBP21.5 million amortisation of customer contracts, was flat at GBP158.7 million, although it would have grown 6% if exchange rates had stayed the same. Its adjusted operating margin was up 20 basis points at actual rates, and 40 basis points at constant rates.

Redefine International, down 3.6%. The real estate investor said it will launch a share placing to back its investment plans in the UK and Germany, as it said it is trading in line with expectations and said it has signed up Primark as a tenant in a German shopping centre. The company did not provide and pricing details on the placing.

IMI, down 3.2%. The engineering company reported a slight fall in pretax profit in 2014 as revenue was hit by the strength of sterling and challenging economic conditions in key markets. Pretax profit fell to GBP246 million, from GBP249 million in 2013, as revenue fell to GBP1.69 billion from GBP1.74 billion. Including exceptional items, notably the sale of non-core businesses over the year, total profit for the year rose to GBP671 million from GBP227 million.

Saga, down 2.8%. Bank of America Merrill Lynch said the majority owners of Saga successfully sold a 6% stake in the business in a secondary placing, meaning they sold a further 10% stake in total, leaving them with a 62% stake.
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AIM ALL-SHARE WINNERS
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Baobab Resources, up 33%. The company said that its agreed terms with major shareholder Redbird Investments Ltd for an offer to buy up the remaining shares in Baobab it does not already own for 6.0 pence per share, valuing Baobab at GBP20.5 million. Baobab currently trades at 5.506p.
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AIM ALL-SHARE LOSERS
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Craven House Capital, off 14%. The company swung to a pretax loss for its first half, mostly as a result of the write down of its holding in Pressfit Holdings. The company posted a pretax loss of GBP545,000 for the half year to end-November, compared with a pretax profit of GBP518,000 a year before, as a result of a GBP469,000 negative return on its gross portfolio. The net asset value of the company's holdings reduced to GBP5.0 million in the half year from GBP5.5 million as a result of the write-down.

Thor Mining, down 11%. The company reported a slightly wider loss in the first half of its financial year as it works to progress its Molyhil and Pilot Mountain projects. Thor said its pretax loss in the six months to the end of December widened to GBP579,000, compared with GBP380,000 a year earlier. The company generates no revenue.

Kea Petroleum, down 9.4%. The company reported a significantly wider pretax loss for 2014 due to a writedown on the Wingrove and Douglas wells in New Zealand. It said its pretax loss for the year to the end of November was GBP8.5 million, compared to a GBP1.1 million loss a year earlier.
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By Neil Thakrar; neilthakrar@alliancenews.com; @NeilThakrar1

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