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(An item published at 1209 BST misstated the first name of Aggreko's incoming chief executive. The correct version follows.)
LONDON (Alliance News) - The following stocks are the leading risers and fallers within the main London indices midday Thursday.
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FTSE 100 - WINNERS
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Smith & Nephew, up 4.1%. Shares in the medical technology company have risen after the publication of an article by The Financial Times on Wednesday suggested that Stryker, a US maker of hip implants and knee replacements, was about to make an unquantified takeover bid for the UK medical equipment company. Stryker was quick to deny the rumours, but Smith & Nephew's shares are still benefiting from the speculation. Smith & Nephew jumped 4.3% on Wednesday on the news.
Royal Dutch Shell, up 1%. The major oil and gas company said it has signed a 20-year liquefied natural gas supply deal with Japan's third largest electricity company to begin in October. It said its Singapore-based subsidiary, Shell Eastern Trading Ltd, signed its first deal with Chubu Electric Power Co Inc to provide up to 12 cargoes of LNG a year for the next 20 years.
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FTSE 100 - LOSERS
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Kingfisher, down 5.7%. The home improvement retailer has reported a strong increase in its retail profit for the first quarter, helped by robust trading in the UK and Poland, but saw its share drop as it warned of tougher trading in the second quarter against stronger comparatives and said margins were hit by promotions and sales mix.
Aggreko, down 2.7%. The temporary power provider said Centrica's Chris Weston will take over as the company's chief executive and said Angus Cockburn will continue his role as interim chief executive officer in the short term, before stepping down from the group later in the year. It also said it has confirmed Carole Fran, its current interim chief financial officer, in the CFO position with immediate effect. Liberum Capital believes that Weston's experience in energy lends some support to his competency to run Aggreko, and that the appointment of Fran provides important continuity to the group's finance function, but notes that the departure of Cockburn represents a significant loss for the business.
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FTSE 250 - WINNERS
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Man Group, up 5%. The hedge fund manager has confirmed that it is in talks to buy quantitative hedge fund specialist Numeric Holdings LLC. The company said the talks are continuing and may or may not lead to a deal. Numeric is currently owned by its own senior partners, and private equity firm TA Associates, which has a minority stake it bought back in 2004.
Tate & Lyle, up 3.6%. The group's full-year results were broadly in line with expectations, but analysts say that was always likely to be the case given the tight guidance provided last quarter. However, the guidance for the coming year has been a little more positive than the market had feared. Tate & Lyle reported earnings per share of 55.7 pence for its 2014 financial year, which was 2% ahead of consensus expectations. It also guided that its financial 2015 pretax profit will be "slightly lower" than the GBP322 million reported Thursday for financial 2014, on a constant currency basis. Given the recent volatility and profit warnings, there has been some concern that the company outlook would contain further bad news for the stock, leading to something of a relief rally Thursday, analysts say.
TalkTalk Telecom Group, up 2.2%. UBS has upgraded TalkTalk to Neutral from Sell, increasing its price target to 310.00 pence from 235.00p, following a recent change of analyst coverage. "Our prior cautious stance was based on concerns that TalkTalk would see rising competition/churn for the likes of BT Group/British Sky Broadcasting Group," says UBS analyst Polo Tang. While this remains a risk, the company's key performance indicators have been solid so far, Tang says.
Electra Private Equity, up 1.9%. The firm's shares have risen after it reported higher net asset value for the first half of its financial year, returns in line with long-term averages and targets, and it said it had made a record level of new investment despite the tough competition in the market.
Mitchells & Butlers, up 1.6%. The UK pubs and restaurant operator said that it has entered into exclusive discussions to acquire the majority of pub operator Orchid Group. Mitchells & Butlers said that discussions are ongoing, and there is no certainty a transaction will be concluded. Founded in 2006, Orchid is the UK's sixth-largest managed pub and restaurant chain, with 240 outlets and 5,000 employees.
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AIM ALL-SHARE - WINNERS
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Caza Oil & Gas, up 20%. The petroleum and natural gas company said it received strong results from its Bone Spring drilling programme with the initial test well on its Gramma Ridge Property in Lea County, New Mexico. The company said that oil from the site is already being sold and it expects to have natural gas sales in the near future. In addition, the company said it is currently drilling ahead of schedule on the West Copperline 29 #4H horizontal Bone Spring well and should reach total depth in the same 3rd Bone Spring Sand interval in around 10 days. It also said it has started a shallow pool Cherry Canyon development programme at its Forehand Ranch licence in New Mexico, and its non-operated Jazzmaster #3H horizontal Bone Spring well in new Mexico has reached its intended total depth and will be fracked in the near future.
Fitbug Holdings, up 14%. The provider of online personal health and well-being services said its losses widened in 2013, as it continued to invest in its product offering. It posted pretax losses of GBP2.6 million for 2013 compared with a GBP1.5 million loss in 2012, as revenue dipped to GBP749,000 from GBP1.3 million. The company said its losses reflected significant investment in new product, infrastructure and distribution channels to "support strategic decision to focus on the consumer market." Looking ahead, Fitbug said it has supportive financial backers and has positioned itself for growth. It said sales and confirmed orders in 2014 are 60% ahead compared with sales for the whole of 2013.
Belgravium Technlogies, up 14%. The mobile devices and software company said that its trading in the year to date was "significantly" ahead of the previous year, but still more slow than it had expected, in a statement ahead of its annual general meeting. It said that its results will be heavily weighted towards its second half, as it is confident it can convert a good proportion of order enquiries to sales during the latter half of the year.
Range Resources, up 11%. The hydrocarbon exploration firm said it has received USD12 million in financing, through a previously announced subscription agreement with Abraham Ltd, a Hong Kong-based private investor. It said that, based on the first tranche of USD6 million, the investor will subscribe for 356.2 million shares which will be issued on or around May 28 with AIM market admission expected on June 6. It added that the next tranche of USD6 million is subject to shareholder approval and, if it doesn't receive this approval, the cash will be repaid to the investor. The company said the funds will be used to repay existing debt and for general working capital of the company.
Bond International Software, up 9.6%. The provider of recruitment and human resources software has won a AUD1.6 million, three-year deal from an unnamed recruitment company for its Bond Adapt software product. It said it won the deal through its Australian office and that the software will initially be implemented in the customer's New Zealand, Australia, Singapore, Hong Kong and Malaysia sites. It is effective immediately. Bond Adapt is a staffing and recruitment software system which manages the placement cycle.
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AIM ALL-SHARE - LOSERS
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Sabien Technology Group, off 20%. The energy efficiency technology company has warned that it now expects to post a loss of up to about GBP0.3 million for the current financial year, after some orders it had expected to receive were delayed. It blamed a revenue shortfall on a delay in the receipt of some substantial customer orders that were expected to be received in the second half of the current financial year, but which now are expected in the first half of its next financial year.
Contarf Energy, down 18%. The oil and gas exploration company said its pretax loss widened in 2013 as the company, which is currently involved in an ongoing dispute over a licence award in Ghana, was hit by impairment charges and higher administrative expenses. The company, which is yet to produce any revenues, said its pretax loss widened to GBP3.2 million from GBP1.3 million the previous year. It said its losses widened as administrative expenses increased to GBP667,370 from GBP458,501 and it faced a GBP2.5 million impairment on its evaluation and exploration assets. Clontarf said it is facing a difficult period after its Bolivian interests were written down to zero value, its Peruvian licences proved difficult to farm out and the Ghanaian government granted a licence to a US company over a region which the company believed was theirs, leading to court action.
Mercom Oil Sands, down 15%. The group, which recently switched from an oil exploration and development company to an oil and gas investment company, said it has made investments in NWT Coal Ltd, Lion Natural Resources PLC and Maverick Petroleum Ltd totalling GBP768,000 as part of its new investment strategy. It said it has paid GBP300,000 for a 35% interest in NWT Coal, GBP400,000 for a 30% interest in Lion Natural Resources PLC, and a small investment of GBP68,000 in 7% convertible debentures of Maverick Petroleum Ltd.
Sovereign Mines of Africa, down 14%. The Africa focused gold resource company said its pretax loss widened in 2013 as lower administrative expenses were offset by losses to the fair value of its financial assets. The firm, which is yet to produce any revenues, said its pretax loss widened to GBP923,075 from GBP583,684 the previous year. It said that despite reducing its administrative expenses to GBP351,995 from GBP477,410 it was hit by losses to the fair value of its financial assets of GBP574,006 from GBP110,000 the previous year.
Geong International, down 11%. The company said it has made progress in 2014 with its strategy of achieving greater gross margins and short payment terms by focusing more on Software as a Service business, however due to the appreciation of sterling it expects to report revenues of around GBP8.0 million and a "very small" pretax profit for the year to end-March.
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By James Kemp; jameskemp@alliancenews.com; @jamespkemp
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