LONDON (Alliance News) - The following stocks are the leading risers and fallers within the main London indices on Tuesday.----------
FTSE 100 - WINNERS----------
BP, up 1.8%. Goldman Sachs upgraded the oil major to Buy from Neutral. In addition oil stocks were tracking oil prices higher, with Brent hitting its highest level since late 2014 of USD75.25 a barrel in early trade. Peer Royal Dutch Shell 'A' and Shell 'B' shares were up 0.6% and 0.7% respectively.
BAE Systems, up 2.2%. The defence giant was raised to Buy from Hold by Berenberg. The German bank expects BAE's future prospects to improve
BHP Billiton, up 1.7%. The Anglo-Australian miner said late on Monday a court in Brazil has granted a 66-day extension for discussions over a settlement for the Samarco dam failure. BHP, a constituent of both the FTSE 100 and Top 40 indices in London and Johannesburg respectively, is talking to federal prosecutors from Brazil's 12th Federal Court alongside Samarco Mineracao and Vale. During this 66 day period, BHP said, the suspension of legal proceedings will remain. It follows a 150 day extension granted for the same reason in late November last year. Discussions began between BHP and Vale in January 2017, outlining a preliminary agreement of settlement worth BRL155.0 billion, or USD45.45 billion, for public civil claims and a further BRL20.0 billion for civil claims. ----------
FTSE 100 - LOSERS----------
Paddy Power Betfair, down 4.0%. The bookmaker's shares were lower following a report in the Times newspaper overnight saying move to cut the maximum stake on highly addictive gambling machines to 200 pence is set to be announced within weeks as the Treasury indicated in a deal Monday. "This would be even more onerous than the UK Gambling Commission's 19 Mar recommendations of a GBP2.00 slots stake limit, a 'GBP30 or lower' non-slot limit, along with player tracking and limits on both games per session and player," said Mike Van Dulken, head of research at Accendo Markets said. Midcap bookmakers
William Hill was down 15% and
GVC Holdings was down 7.0%.
Anglo American, down 1.2%. The miner reported an increase in production for the first quarter of 2018, despite disruption at the Minas-Rio iron ore mine in Brazil, which is expected to hit earnings for the year. Total production for the three months to March was up 4% on a copper equivalent basis, Anglo American said. Iron ore production at Minas-Rio fell 30% year-on-year to 3.0 million tonnes, due to a planned move into harder ore as well as the suspension of operations from March 12 due to leaks in the pipeline. As a result of the leak, no more production is expected for 2018. Anglo American said as a result, it is expecting a reduction of between USD300.0 million to USD400.0 million in earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortisation. ----------
FTSE 250 - WINNERS----------
QinetiQ Group, up 5.5%. The defence outsourcer said it agreed to buy German-based aerial training provider EIS Aircraft Operations, currently part of EIS Aircraft Group, for EUR70.0 million on a cash-free and debt-free basis. The company said EIS Aircraft Operations generated revenue of EUR20.1 million for 2017 and earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization of EUR5.4 million. QinetiQ said it expects to complete the transaction during the first half of its 2019 financial year, following regulatory and legal approvals. Upon completion, Aircraft Operations will be integrated into QinetiQ's Europe, the Middle East and Africa Services Division as well as led by its existing management team. The company said it will fund the purchase through its available cash resources.----------
FTSE 250 - LOSERS----------
Card Factory, down 4.7%,
Superdry down 5.0%. Liberum downgraded the greeting cards retailer and the fashion retailer to Hold from Buy.
Victrex down 3.8%. Berenberg cut the specialty chemicals firm to Hold from Buy. ----------
OTHER MAIN MARKET AND AIM - WINNERS----------
CityFibre Holdings, up 89% at 79.24p. Shares in the fibre optic infrastructure company rose after it agreed a GBP537.8 million all-cash takeover offer from a infrastructure investment consortium. CityFibre agreed to a 81.0 pence per share offer from Connect Infrastructure Bidco. Connect is a newly-formed company jointly-owned by Antin Infrastructure Partners UK and West Street Global Infrastructure Partners III. The offer price represents a 93% premium to the share price at the close on Monday. CityFibre listed at 60p per share in January 2014, valuing it at the time at GBP31.4 million. In 2017, CityFibre saw its pretax loss widen to GBP16.6 million from GBP12.6 million the year prior. This was despite revenue rising to GBP34.8 million from GBP15.4 million the year before.----------
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