Blenheim Natural Resources Share News (BNR)

LONDON (Alliance News) - The following stocks are the leading risers and fallers within the main London indices on Wednesday.
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FTSE 100 - WINNERS
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Pearson, up 5.4%. The education publisher was upgraded to Outperform from Neutral by Exane BNP Paribas. The upgrade came after the shares had declined amid reports the Pearson had backed down from planned increases to the selling price of its e-books in the face of a rebellion by academic institutions.

Dixons Carphone, up 2.4%. The electricals and mobile phone retailer said its pretax profit rose in the first half thanks to higher revenue and solid like-for-like sales growth, as it added two notable names to its board. Dixons Carphone said its pro-forma headline pretax profit for the 26 weeks to the end of October was GBP121.0 million, up 23% year-on-year from the GBP98.0 million it made a year earlier. The headline result strips out costs from the merger. The company will pay an interim dividend of 3.25 pence per share, up 30% year-on-year. Dixons Carphone also said it has appointed Ian Livingston, the former chief executive of telecoms giant BT Group, as its deputy chairman with immediate effect.

Rolls-Royce Holdings, up 1.9%. The engineer said it will ditch its divisional structure in the new year and move to a model of five market-facing businesses, part of the wider restructuring programme the group is enacting. The jet engine and power systems manufacturer, which has been hit by a slew of profit warnings caused by pressures on all of its business units, said from January 1, it will end its current divisional structure, by which it operates under the Aerospace and Land & Sea units. Instead, it will operate as five market-facing units, covering Civil Aerospace, Defence Aerospace, Marine, Nuclear and Power Systems. The presidents of those five units will then report directly to Warren East, Rolls-Royce's chief executive.
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FTSE 100 - LOSERS
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Tesco, down 1.8%, J Sainsbury, down 1.0%, Wm Morrison Supermarkets, down 0.5%. The supermarkets were giving back some of the gains made on Tuesday after the Kantar Worldpanel figures on grocery sales showed an overall rise in sales for the industry of 0.1% in the 12 weeks to December 6. Tesco and Morrisons both still saw sales and their respective market shares shrink, but Sainsbury's delivered higher sales and market share year-on-year.
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FTSE 250 - WINNERS
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SuperGroup, up 8.4%. The fashion retailer said its pretax profit dipped in the first half due to the group booking exceptional costs which offset robust revenue growth. The company, which owns the Superdry clothing brands, said its pretax profit for the 26 weeks to October 24 was GBP11.5 million, down from GBP17.2 million, as it booked costs on the restructuring of its business in North America. Stripping out the exceptionals, the company said its pretax profit for the half rose to GBP19.3 million from GBP12.5 million. Supergroup has proposed paying a 6.2 pence interim dividend, having not paid an interim nor final dividend in the previous financial year.
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FTSE 250 - LOSERS
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Kaz Minerals, down 4.5%. The Kazakhstan-focused miner was off after Exane BNP Paribas cut its target price on the stock to 75 pence from 120p, keeping its Underperform rating unchanged. Kaz shares were trading at 88.57p.
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MAIN MARKET AND AIM - WINNERS
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Thor Mining, up 46%. The miner struck a deal with an Australian company which may lead to the sale of its Spring Hill and Dundas gold projects for up to AUD3.5 million. Thor has signed an option agreement to sell its wholly owned subsidiary, TM Gold, which owns the two gold projects in Australia to PC Gold. PC Gold will pay a AUD150,000 deposit within the next 21 days to obtain a 30-day option to acquire the subsidiary from Thor. PC Gold will pay an initial AUD2.0 million, including that deposit, to acquire the initial 60% stake in the subsidiary, but "100% management control". To acquire the other 40% stake in the subsidiary, PC Gold will have to pay another AUD1.5 million within a 12 month window.

MX Oil, up 13%. The oil and gas company secured four out of the five concessions it applied for under the landmark licensing round held in Mexico and believes the assets will be "transformational" for the company. MX Oil applied for five of the 25 onshore land contract areas that were available under the licensing round, which was significant as it signalled the re-opening of Mexico's energy sector to foreign companies after 76 years of a state monopoly. MX Oil is working with its partner Geo Estratos in the country, where it has now secured four concessions in the Veracruz region. Those concessions are Tecolutla, Ponton, La Laja and Paso de Oro. The other concessions awarded to other companies lie in the states of Chiapas, Nuevo Leon, Tabasco and Tamaulipas.

Fletcher King, up 10%. The commercial property manager said its pretax profit and revenue both surged in the first half, though it expects this will level out over the course of the year. The company's pretax profit for the six months to the end of October rose to GBP1.2 million, four-times the GBP293,000 it made a year earlier, as revenue rose to GBP3.0 million from GBP1.8 million. Fletcher King said the exceptionally good results were driven by the sale of its 145 Leadenhall Street property in London, which prompted it to pay an 8.0 pence special dividend to shareholders. Its ordinary, interim dividend, however, was cut to 1.00p from 1.50p to reflect the likelihood its results will not repeat the trick in the second half.
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MAIN MARKET AND AIM - LOSERS
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Bonmarche Holdings, down 29%. The fashion retailer said it expects to report a fall in pretax profit for its current financial year and said its chief executive is off to lead fashion chain Karen Millen. Bonmarche said trading conditions have been "very challenging" in December, particularly since the Black Friday sales on November 27. "The board's view is that these trading conditions are likely to continue for the remainder of the winter season, and it has therefore revised its profit expectations for the current financial year," Bonmarche said. Beth Butterwick is leaving after four years as the chief executive of Bonmarche to join rival Karen Millen.

Blenheim Natural Resources, down 17%. The company said it has raised GBP640,000 though a share placing which will see fellow London-listed firm African Potash take a stake in the company. Blenheim will issue 80.0 million shares at 0.8 pence per share to raise the funds, though it did not define how it plans to use the money. Shares in the company were down 20% on the placing to 1.0p. As part of the placing, African Potash has subscribed for 8.8 million shares in the company, giving it a 4.7% stake in Blenheim. Under the terms of the investment, Chris Cleverly, the executive chairman of African Potash, has joined the board of Blenheim as a non-executive director.
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By Sam Unsted; samunsted@alliancenews.com; @SamUAtAlliance

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