Card Factory Share News (CARD)

LONDON (Alliance News) - The following stocks are the leading risers and fallers within the main London indices on Tuesday.
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FTSE 100 - WINNERS
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Anglo American, up 2.3%. The miner said the latest sales cycle to be undertaken by diamond giant De Beers has shown normal seasonal trends have returned to the market but said it is pleased with the ongoing stability of demand for rough diamonds. Anglo American has an 85% stake in De Beers, which has completed its fourth sales cycle of rough diamonds since the start of the year with a total value of USD630.0 million. The third sales cycle conducted in April is the only cycle to have generated a higher value this year. Preliminary figures for the third cycle estimated a value of USD660.0 million but this was confirmed to be higher on Tuesday at USD666.0 million. De Beers was the second biggest contributor to Anglo American's overall underlying earnings in 2015.

Kingfisher, up 1.9%. The DIY retailer reported growth in sales in the first quarter of its financial year and said it is on track in the first year of its five-year plan. The company said total sales in the three months to April 30 grew by 5.1% to GBP2.72 billion on the same period the year before, as sales in France rose by 9.7%, sales in the UK & Ireland were up 1.3%, and other international sales increased by 6.0%. Kingfisher said it is making progress with its operational milestones for the year, with its unified IT platform now in all B&Q stores and the set-up of its new offer and supply chain organisation well underway.

Imperial Brands, up 1.9%. Barclays upgraded the tobacco company to Overweight from Equalweight saying Imperial is executing its strategy well with improving organic sales momentum. In addition, rising margins and cash generation is supporting 10% dividend growth. "Moreover, we are increasingly confident margins will surprise to the upside and that US [brands] are performing ahead of expectations," the bank said.
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FTSE 100 - LOSERS
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Coca-Cola HBC, down 3.3% at 1,320.00 pence. Credit Suisse Securities said it placed 5.4 million shares in London-listed drinks bottler on behalf of New Argen Holdings at 1,315.00p each, raising GBP71 million. The placing was initially announced on Monday by Credit Suisse, which acted as sole global coordinator and bookrunner. Following completion, New Argen, which is a private equity vehicle, continues to hold 4.5 million shares in Coca-Cola HBC, representing 1.2% of its issued share capital.
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FTSE 250 - WINNERS
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HomeServe, up 2.8%. The home insurance and boiler repairs company reported an increase in full-year profit boosted by a strong performance from its US division. Pretax profit rose to GBP82.6 million in the year ended March 31, HomeServe said in a statement, from GBP76.7 million a year earlier, as revenue increased to GBP633.2 million from GBP584.2 million. HomeServe increased its total dividend for the year to 12.7 pence from 11.5p. The company said its US profit rose by 89% to GBP12.1 million, with customer numbers rising by 17% to 2.3 million. In the UK, customer numbers grew to 2.2 million from 2.1 million, with profit rising by about 3.0% to GBP58.0 million.

Micro Focus International, up 1.4%. The software company said it finished its financial year well and expects revenue and underlying earnings to be at the top end of its expectations. Micro Focus said it expects to report that revenue for the year to the end of April grew at the top end of its previous guidance for the year, with revenue to come in around USD1.25 billion, down 1.6% from USD1.27 billion on a pro-forma basis for the year prior. Guidance had been for pro-forma revenue to decline by between 2.0% and 4.0%.
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FTSE 250 - LOSERS
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AVEVA Group, down 3.7%. The engineering software company said its pretax profit fell in the financial year to the end of March due to one-off costs, while revenue also declined amid tough end-market conditions. The company, which last year saw a proposed reverse takeover by French energy company Schneider Electric collapse, said its pretax profit for the year to March 31 fell to GBP29.4 million from GBP54.9 million a year earlier. The drop mostly was caused by costs related to the failed Schneider deal and by restructuring costs. Revenue for the year fell to GBP201.5 million from GBP208.7 million. AVEVA will pay a final dividend of 30.0 pence per share, up 20% from 25.0p a year earlier. Total payout for the year will rise 18% to 36.0p from 30.5p.

Card Factory, down 3.7%. The greeting cards retailer said it will inform shareholders whether it will return surplus cash to shareholders when it releases its interim results later this year, but said it has made a good start to the financial year as it reiterated its guidance. The group said total sales in the first quarter to the end of April were 6.5% higher than the previous year, as a rise in the average spend of each customer offset a reduction in overall footfall. Although total sales are still growing, it is at a slower rate. In the first quarter of the previous financial year Card Factory saw sales grow by 7.5% year-on-year. The sales growth rate fell below UBS's expectation of 7.0%, which analyst Adam Cochrane put down to weaker high street footfall in the early months of the year. He said this implies a slowdown in like-for-like sales to 1.5% from 4.0% in the fourth quarter.

Intermediate Capital Group, down 2.6%. The specialist money manager said its assets under management rose by 20% in its most recently ended financial year. Assets under management amounted to EUR21.58 billion as of March 31, up from EUR18.01 billion a year earlier. The increase in AUM was driven by "strong" fundraising across ICG's European funds, the company said, as well as the raising of two US collateralised loan obligations and the acquisition of the management contract of Graphite Enterprise Trust. Full-year pretax profit fell to GBP158.8 million from GBP178.5 million, with ICG citing a change in market value of derivatives held for hedging purposes.
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MAIN MARKET AND AIM - WINNERS
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Mosman Oil And Gas, up 9.3%. The oil and gas company said it has bought a 20% stake in Canadian-based junior exploration company GEM International Resource Inc for CAD400,000. The investment forms part of a CAD1.2 million placing by GEM at a price of 5 cents per share, and there is a attached non-transferrable 15 cent two-year warrant, Mosman said. Mosman is now one of GEM's largest shareholders. It is anticipated that one of Mosman's directors may join the GEM board, although no final decision has been made yet.
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MAIN MARKET AND AIM - LOSERS
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Management Resource Solutions, down 14%. The human capital resource consultancy said it has raised GBP300,000 via a share placing. The company placed 3.5 million shares at 8.5p each. Shares in the firm were trading at at 8.52p. The net proceeds will be used to fund the pipeline of new and potential contract wins and will also provide additional working capital, Management Resource said. "We are very pleased to announce this small equity placing, which will amongst other things, fund the working capital requirements for the pipeline of new and potential contract wins," Chairman Murray d'Almeida said in a statement.

Chamberlin, down 9.9%. The castings and engineering group said it swung to a loss in the year to the end of March amid tough trading conditions and currency effects. Chamberlin said its pretax loss for the year to March 31 was GBP200,000, swung from a GBP100,000 profit a year earlier. Revenue declined to GBP35.0 million from GBP40.8 million, hit by a weak euro and difficult conditions in steel, oil and gas and mining sectors. Foundries revenue declined to GBP25.6 million from GBP30.4 million, while engineering revenue declined to GBP9.4 million from GBP10.4 million.
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By Arvind Bhunjun; arvindbhunjun@alliancenews.com; @ArvindBhunjun

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