CLP.L Share News (CLP)

LONDON (Alliance News) - The following stocks are the leading risers and fallers within the main London indices midday Wednesday.

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FTSE 100 - WINNERS

Babcock International Group, up 2.4%. The company has confirmed its joint venture, ABC Electrification Ltd, has been appointed by Network Rail as one of four suppliers to the GBP2 billion National Electrification programme, delivering electrification to more than two thousand miles of the UK's rail system. The contract is valued at an initial GBP900 million to the joint venture under a seven-year term, extendable by a further three years. ABC Electrification is an equal share joint venture comprising France's Alstom SA, Babcock and Costain.

WM Morrison Supermarkets, up 1.4%. The founding family of the food retailer has contacted private-equity funds such as CVC Capital Partners Ltd and Carlyle Group LP to weigh their interest in taking the retailer private, Bloomberg Businessweek has reported. The family, which hold about 9% to 10% of the business, has so far been unable to find a buyout partner due to concerns about Morrison’s slow sales growth and the size of the deal, the magazine said on its website.

Petrofac, up 1.4%. The major oil and gas services company said it has received an award notification for Kuwait National Petroleum Co's Clean Fuels Project at the Mina Abdulla refinery in Kuwait. It said the award was given to its joint venture with Samsung Engineering Co Ltd and CB&I Nederland BV, and is worth USD3.7 billion, with Petrofac's share being USD1.7 billion. The Clean Fuels Project is one of KNPC's major investment priorities and plans to upgrade the Mina Abdulla and Mina Al Ahmadi refineries, in order to reach a daily production target of around 800,000 barrels of oil per day.

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FTSE 100 - LOSERS

Tullow Oil, down 3.1%. The major oil and gas company said its pretax profit fell significantly in its recent full year, due to lower disposal gains and higher exploration write-off charges. Pretax profit fell 72% to USD313 million in 2013 from USD1.12 billion the previous year. The company said its figures were hit by both a USD670 million decrease in profit on disposals, following major disposal gains the previous year, and a USD200 million increase in exploration write-offs to USD871 million after spending USD1.1 billion on exploration and appraisal activities during the period.

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FTSE 250 - WINNERS

African Barrick Gold, up 2.7%. The gold producer is the biggest riser in the FTSE 250 despite saying that it swung to a pretax loss in its full year. The company posted a pretax loss of USD928.7 million in 2013, versus a pretax profit of USD179.2 million in 2012, as gold prices and impairment charges hit company finances. However, Liberum Capital analyst Kate Craig is confident that the company's 2014 guidance is in line, and that costs are guided to fall by an impressive 19% year-on-year.

Carillion Group, up 1.3%. The company said its joint-venture business in the United Arab Emirates has been awarded a GBP110 million contract by Aabar Properties to build a five-star Hard Rock Hotel in Abu Dhabi. The joint venture, Al Futtaim Carillion, will build the hotel which will consist of 378 rooms, restaurants, meeting facilities and a Hard Rock Cafe.

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FTSE 250 - LOSERS

Telecity Group, down 9.5%. Despite raising its full-year 2013 dividend, the company has disappointed invesotrs by announcing 2014 guidance lower than analysts' forecasts. The revenue guidance of GBP355 million to GBP362 million is approximately 5% lower than Liberum's estimates. As a result, the brokerage now forecasts the group's EBITDA to fall by 5% in the full-year 2014 and by 10% in 2015.

Crest Nicholson Holdings, down 1.5%. Barclays Bank has announced that certain funds managed by Varde Management LP have sold an aggregate of 25.14 million shares in Crest Nicholson at a price of 369.00 pence per share. Following the completion of the placing, Varde will hold 25.37 million shares in the company. Crest Nicholson shares are quoted at 375.00p.

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AIM - WINNERS

Accsys Technologies, up 9.5%. The company has reported a 71% increase in revenues for the nine months to end-December, driven by growth in demand for its Accoya wood, and said it expects the growth trend to continue. The producer and licenser of Accoya and Tricoya wood said revenues rose to EUR23 million in the period, up from EUR13.4 million a year earlier, as Accoya revenues rose to EUR20.2 million, from EUR11.6 million. It said it sold 89% more Accoya than a year earlier. Accoya is wood that has been enhanced to be more long lasting and stable.

Stellar Diamonds, up 7.8%. The diamond miner said that further high-grade diamonds have been returned from bulk sampling at its Tongo dyke kimberlite projest in Sierra Leone. It said initial sample processing yielded 151 carats from 141 tonnes of kimberlite for a grade of 107 carats per hundred tonnes. Further results are expected roughly every four weeks, and it is anticipated that diamond grade will continue to increase as more diamonds are recovered following re-processing.

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AIM - LOSERS

Zoo Digital Group, off 19%. The company warned that it expects its pretax loss for the year ending March 31, 2014, to be "significantly" widened from the previous year. Revenues are now expected to come in at USD9.5 million.

Rare Earth Minerals, down 14%. The rare metals and minerals projects investment company announced that it has conditionally raised GBP4.6 million gross at 0.4 pence per share to fund the expansion of its Mexican lithium interests. Rare Earth Minerals shares are quoted at 0.467p.

Clear Leisure, down 12%. The company has announced that ORH SpA, its 73.43% owned hotel and travel company, has been placed into voluntary liquidation. The decision was made by ORH after the discovery of a sizeable, undisclosed debt position.

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By James Kemp; jameskemp@alliancenews.com; @jamespkemp

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