BT Share News (BT.A)

LONDON (Alliance News) - The following stocks are amongst the biggest risers and fallers within the main London indices midday Thursday.
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FTSE 100 WINNERS
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St James's Place, up 3.1%. The wealth manager reported strong growth in funds under management in the third quarter, buoyed by a 23% increase in net inflows as clients took the opportunity of the higher limits now allowed on the amount that can be put into Individual Savings Accounts. The company said its funds under management stood at GBP49.1 billion at the end of September, up from GBP41.8 billion a year earlier and up 11% since the start of 2014, as it booked net inflows of GBP1.27 billion in the quarter, up from GBP1.03 billion a year earlier, and inflows of GBP3.71 billion for the first nine months, up from GBP3.02 billion in the first nine months of 2013. It also said it had retained 95% of client's funds under management during the quarter.
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FTSE 100 LOSERS
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Tullow Oil, down 3.4%, BG Group, down 2.06%, Royal Dutch Shell 'A', down 1.8%, and Royal Dutch Shell 'B', down 1.8%. The companies are down after the price of oil slid from its two-week high on Wednesday.

Separately, Royal Dutch Shell said quarterly earnings rose by a quarter from a year ago as weak oil prices were offset by higher-margin production and improved earnings from gas. The oil major also announced a replacement for its chairman of nine years. During the third quarter ended September 30, Shell said earnings on a current cost of supplies basis totalled USD5.3 billion compared to USD4.2 billion in the third quarter of 2013. Revenue totalled USD107.85 billion, down from the second quarter when it totalled USD111.22 billion, mainly due to weak oil prices. Revenue also was down compared to a year earlier, when it generated USD116.51 billion.

Randgold Resources, down 3.4%, and Anglo American, down 2.9%. The companies are down because the price of gold fell to its lowest level in three weeks overnight, as the dollar strengthened in the wake of the Fed decision. The yellow metal bottomed at USD1,201.10 per ounce, and currently trades at USD1,206.33 per ounce.

BT Group, down 3.4%. The company reported a pretax profit of GBP1.11 billion for the six months to September 30, up from GBP948 million a year earlier, even though revenue declined to GBP8.74 billion, from GBP8.94 billion. Its pretax profit in the fiscal second quarter rose to GBP690 million, from GBP609 million a year earlier, even though revenue fell to GBP4.38 billion, from GBP4.49 billion. BT has also raised its interim dividend by 15% to 3.9 pence, from 3.4p, on the back of the profit increase, and as it reaffirmed its outlook. "Although this morning’s trading statement may have exceeded forecasts, it failed to mask the aggressive competition in the sector. Deepening pension liabilities and rocketing premiums to secure TV content have led to the share price stagnating over the past 12 months and have seen downgrades creeping in from City analysts," says Accendo Markets trader Aymen Azizi.

Standard Chartered, down 2.5%. US federal and state prosecutors have reopened investigations into the company to determine whether the bank withheld evidence of Iran sanctions violations, Bloomberg reported on Thursday, citing two people briefed on the matter. The US Justice Department, Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr and New York Department of Financial Service Superintendent Benjamin Lawsky are all reopening their inquiries into the bank to determine if it deliberately withheld information from regulators prior to the 2012 deferred prosecution agreement, Bloomberg added. Furthermore, Societe Generale has cut its rating on the company to Hold from Buy and its price target to 1,085.00 pence from 1,450.00p, saying revenue headwinds and rising costs require a more aggressive approach to tackle the problem. The stock currently trades at 967.70 pence.

ITV, down 1.9%. The company has gone ex-dividend, meaning new buyers no longer qualify for the latest dividend payouts.
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FTSE 250 WINNERS
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National Express Group, up 3.3%. The transport operator said its third-quarter pretax profit was up nearly 15% on the year, driven by revenue growth, performance improvements and cost cutting, and said it is on track to meet its profit and cash expectations for the year as a whole. It said the growth meant it was progressively recovering the one-off hits and currency translation impact it suffered in the first half of the year. National Express added that passenger numbers and revenue are up in all its divisions so far this year. Revenue was up 4% on the year in the three months to end-September in its UK bus unit and 3% in the year to date.

Al Noor Hospitals Group, up 2.4%. The Abu Dhabi focused healthcare services company said its revenue increased in the third quarter in line with its expectations and it is on track to meet forecasts for the full year. Al Noor said revenue in the three months to September 30 was up 20.5% to USD101.2 million from USD84 million a year earlier.
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FTSE 250 LOSERS
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Afren, down 6.9%. The oil producer and explorer reported flat net profit for the first nine months of 2014 as a tax exemption credit offset a fall in pretax profit and revenue driven by lower production, and it said it is implementing the recommendations in a recent review of its business practices as it tries to put a recent payments scandal behind it. Afren reported a net profit of USD167.9 million for the nine months to September 30, compared with GBP170.1 million profit a year earlier, mainly thanks to a income tax credit of USD1.3 million as a result of now being in a five-year tax exemption period for the Ebok field in Nigeria and thanks to a smaller loss on derivative financial instruments of USD0.6 million, down from USD38.7 million. However, revenue fell to USD798.5 million, from USD1.20 billion a year earlier, and pretax profit fell to GBP165.8 million, from GBP427.0 million, as production dropped to 31,147 barrels of oil a day, from 48,305 barrels a day, below the company's full-year production guidance range of between 32,000 to 36,000 barrels of oil per day. It blamed the revenue decrease primarily to a reduced share of production and liftings from the Ebok field after cost recovery.

Kazakhmys, down 4.3%. The metals miner reported increases in sales volumes during the first nine months of the year and said it is on target to hit full-year production guidance. During the third quarter ended September 30, the company extracted 9,520 kilotonnes of ore compared to 9,351 kilotonnes in the second quarter. A year earlier, the company produced 9,984 kilotonnes of ore. Kazakhmys saw the copper grade decrease, averaging 0.97% in the third quarter compared to 1.01% in the previous quarter. A year earlier it averaged a copper grade of 1.00%. Copper in concentrate production rose to 81 kilotonnes in the quarter, compared to 80 kilotonnes in the second quarter. A year earlier it produced 79 kilotonnes. It said it achieved an average price of USD6,057 per tonne during the first nine months of the year, compared to USD6,725 per tonne in the first nine months of 2013. For the nine months to September end, Kazakhmys sold 131 kilotonnes of copper cathodes, consistent with production volumes, compared to 217 kilotonnes in the previous year. The company is on target to achieve its copper production guidance for the full year, it said in a statement.

Cairn Energy, down 2.3%. The oil company said it is working to resolve its tax issue in India. Owing to the issues in India, the group is still restricted from accessing its 10% residual shareholding in Cairn India Ltd, valued at USD927 million at the end of the third quarter to September. It also added that its financial position is currently strong and said it is planning to start drilling wells in the North Sea and in western Europe by 2016-17. The company has also been impacted by the fall in oil price.
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AIM ALL-SHARE WINNERS
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Ferrex, up 9.7%. The Africa-focused manganese and iron ore development company said it has been given the environmental permit approval for the Nayega Manganese project in northern Togo. The environmental permit is a key milestone for the company in securing the mining permit for the site, which it expects to receive by the end of the year. The company has also received an extension on its prospecting permits after it relinquished half of the area, as per the mining code.

Nostra Terra Oil & Gas, up 9.3%. The oil and gas explorer said production increased 80% in the third quarter compared with the second quarter, averaging 84 barrels of oil equivalent per day during September alone. The company said the total production net to its working interests in the wells hit 2,511 barrels of oil in September, the highest of any month so far this year, earning revenue of USD201,817.
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AIM ALL-SHARE LOSERS
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Union Jack Oil, off 27%, and Egdon Resources, down 15%. Egdon Resources said it has completed drilling operations at the Burton on the Wolds-1 well in Leicestershire and found weak hydrocarbon shows. Egdon said interpretation of the log data indicates the thin sands are water bearing. Egdon said the well is being plugged before the drilling rig is released from its contract. Egdon owns a 32.5% working interest in the well as the operator. Union Jack Oil PLC, which noted Egdon's announcement, owns a 10% stake.
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By Neil Thakrar; neilthakrar@alliancenews.com

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