Blue Star Share News (BLU)

LONDON (Alliance News) - The following stocks are the leading risers and fallers within the main London indices on Thursday.----------FTSE 100 - WINNERS----------St James's Place, up 2.4%. The wealth manager expects a rise in funds in 2018 amid improved inflows despite a "particularly difficult market". The company expects funds under management to increase by 5.3% to GBP95.55 billion as of December 31 from GBP90.75 billion a year before. St James's Place North American Equities fund - which makes up 22% of total funds - increased 3.5% to GBP20.7 billion from GBP20.0 billion last year. Net inflow of funds under management increased 8.1% to GBP10.28 billion from GBP9.51 billion in 2017, as St James's recorded an increase of 7.5% in gross inflows of GBP15.70 billion from GBP14.70 billion. The rise in net flows were attributed to the investment manager's "continued strength" in client retention. ----------FTSE 100 - LOSERS----------Reckitt Benckiser, down 2.4%. Jefferies downgraded its rating on the consumer healthcare firm to Underperform from Hold. ----------FTSE 250 - WINNERS----------Premier Oil, up 4.6%. The oil and gas firm reported successful completion of the first part of the Block 7 Zama appraisal programme, located offshore Mexico, and said that the Zama-2 well encountered 152 metres of net pay as expected. The Zama-2 appraisal well was drilled 2.1 kilometres to the north of the Zama-1 discovery well and encountered the top Zama reservoir at 3,279 metres true vertical depth. Premier Oil said the Zama appraisal programme is currently progressing ahead of schedule and is under budget. The Zama-2 well will now be side-tracked up-dip and flow tested as planned by Block 7 operator Talos Energy, it added.----------Just Eat, up 3.4%. JPMorgan lifted its rating on the takeaway platform to Overweight from Neutral.----------FTSE 250 - LOSERS----------Restaurant Group, down 5.4%. The pub and restaurant owner reported a dip in annual like-for-like sales in what it described as a "pivotal" year. The Frankie & Benny's owner reported like-for-like sales down 2.0%. Total sales however, including one week of trading from recently acquired Wagamama, were up 1.0%. "Wagamama has continued to trade well over the festive period and we look forward to delivering the benefits of the acquisition and creating significant long-term value for our shareholders," the company said. Looking ahead, the company said it expects to report adjusted pretax profit in line with current market expectations. A year ago, adjusted pretax profit was GBP56.7 million. ----------SIG, down 3.5%. UBS cut the construction materials firm to Sell from Neutral. ----------OTHER MAIN MARKET AND AIM - WINNERS----------Nautilus Marine Services, up 40%. The offshore services firm said it upped its efforts to divest its Colombian oil & gas assets, after receiving "escalating interest" from multiple parties. The company said that its board believes that the sale of the company's non-strategic assets presents a "significant opportunity to realise cash value", while eliminating the associated annual operating costs and future abandonment obligations. "It should be noted that these efforts toward a near-term divestiture may not result in an acceptable transaction being identified or completed at this time," Nautilus added.----------Haynes Publishing, up 15%. The technical data firm held its interim dividend despite pretax profit diving amid pension pain. For the six months ended November 30, 2018, pretax profit fell to GBP188,000 from GBP1.1 million the year prior. This was despite revenue rising to GBP18.3 million from GBP17.1 million the year before. Profit was hurt by a sharp jump in one-off costs to GBP1.4 million from GBP171,000 the year before. This was primarily related to change in the recognition of its pension liabilities, it has since closed its defined benefit pension scheme. Adjusted pretax profit - excluding the impact of one-off costs - increased to GBP1.6 million from GBP1.3 million the year before.----------Fevertree Drinks, up 7.9%. The premium mixers maker said it expects annual revenue to jump 39% on last year as warm summer weather in the UK boosted sales. For 2018, the tonic water maker expects revenue of GBP236 million, up from GBP170.2 million last year due to a "strong" UK sales performance, with revenue in the region up 52%, driven by an "outstanding summer trading period". In the US, revenue was up 21% on the previous year on the back of "significant operational progress". Continental Europe revenue is expected to grow 24% year-on-year due to positive momentum in a number of key regions. On the back of the positive trading performance, the company guided for its annual results to be "comfortably ahead of the board's expectations".----------OTHER MAIN MARKET AND AIM - LOSERS----------Flybe, down 40% at 3.85 pence. The firm said the consortium which is in the process of acquiring the troubled budget airline has extended the first GBP10 million of its credit facility in order to allow Flybe to continue to trade. In early January, Connect Airways - a joint venture comprising Stobart Group Ltd, Virgin Atlantic Ltd and DLP Holdings SARL - agreed to buy Flybe for 1p per share in a GBP2.2 million deal. Flybe continues to expect the Connect Airways takeover to complete by the longstop date of February 22. ----------Blue Star Capital, down 31% at 0.172 pence. The investment company returned to trading as the company said it cancelled its proposed reverse takeover of investee SatoshiPay. The company blamed difficult market conditions for its decision, as the period since the takeover was proposed was "marked by significant uncertainty in global financial markets". "It therefore proved more difficult to reach the targeted level of fundraise in the time anticipated," Blue Star said. Blue Star continues to hold a 30% stake in SatoshiPay valued at approximately GBP4.5 million. Furthermore, Blue Star said it raised GBP200,000 via the issue of 111.1 million shares at 0.18p each. The proceeds of the placing will be used for working capital purposes and to settle adviser fees related to the abandoned merger. ----------Tower Resources, down 24% at 0.9068 pence. The oil & gas company raised GBP1.7 million via issue of 170.0 million shares at 1 pence each. The firm placed the shares, with 85 million of attached three-year 1.25p warrants, in order to fund long-lead items for the drilling of the Thali NJOM-3 well, offshore Cameroon, scheduled for the second quarter of 2019. The placing proceeds will also cover other costs related to the Thali work programme, and general working capital.----------