Last checked at LONDON (Alliance News) - The following stocks are the leading risers and fallers within the main London indices on Friday.
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FTSE 100 - WINNERS
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Lloyds Banking Group, up 2.9%, Royal Bank of Scotland Group, up 2.1%, Barclays, up 1.9%, and HSBC up 2.0%. The UK's Financial Conduct Authority said it is opening a consultation on introducing a deadline for consumers to make complaints on mis-sold payment protection insurance or lose their rights to have the claims assessed by firms or by the Financial Ombudsman Service. Confirming recent press speculation, the City regulator said it intends to consult on a deadline which would fall two years from the date the proposed rule would come into force which, subject to the consultation, would not be before spring 2016, meaning consumers would have until at least spring 2018 to make their complaints. Banks have already set aside close to GBP30 billion for PPI mis-selling compensation, with the state-backed Lloyds Banking Group responsible for almost half that sum. Despite having no PPI exposure, Standard Chartered is the top blue-chip gainer, up 3.9%, amid some rebound in confidence in emerging markets.
Legal & General Group, up 3.5%. The life insurer and investment manager said it has secured an agreement with the US arm of Dutch electronics company Royal Philips to provide retirement payments under a group annuity contract. The contract will cover around 14,000 Philips employees in the US and will cut the company's pension obligations when the contract transfers in December. L&G said the transfer of the USD900.0 million in retiree pension obligations will be split between Legal & General America and The Prudential Insurance Co of America, with each insurer providing 50% of the total monthly benefits.
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FTSE 100 - LOSERS
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Experian, down 3.9%. The information services and credit reports company confirmed its North American unit has been subject to a data breach. The firm's Experian North America unit confirmed its consumer credit bureau division was breached by a data hack. Specifically, the server handling information on behalf of client T-Mobile USA, the mobile carrier, was breached. The data includes personal information on around 15 million US consumers, including those who applied for T-Mobile post-paid services or device financing from September 1, 2013 to September 16, 2015, based on the investigation Experian has so far conducted.
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FTSE 250 - WINNERS
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Paragon Group of Companies, up 9.0%. The buy-to-let mortgage lender said its Paragon Bank business has struck a GBP117.0 million deal to acquire Five Arrows Leasing Group from Rothschild & Co, the boutique investment bank. Five Arrows provides equipment, vehicle and construction equipment financing and provides lease servicing. At the end of March, it had assets of GBP245.1 million on its books and for the year to that date, the company made a pretax profit of GBP10.2 million. Paragon expects the deal to complete by November and expects the deal to be earnings enhancing in its 2016 financial year. It added the acquisition will take its Paragon Bank business from break-even to profitability.
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FTSE 250 - LOSERS
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Electrocomponents, down 3.0%. The company, makes electronic, automation and control components, said revenue growth slowed in the second quarter amid continued weakness in the UK and worse conditions in the North American market. It said its group revenue growth in the second quarter to the end of September was 3.0%, slowed from the 5.0% growth in the first quarter and dragging first-half revenue growth down to 4.0%. The company said the primary culprit for the slowdown was North America where, after a slowdown in trading activity was flagged back in July, conditions continued to weaken in August, before recovering partially in September, This meant revenue fell in the second quarter in North America by 3%, reversing the 3% growth in the first quarter to leave the first half flat.
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MAIN MARKET AND AIM - WINNERS
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Corero Network Security, up 8.6%. The network security provider said it has secured an order for its SmartWall Threat Defense System from an unnamed FTSE 100-listed company. The network security company said the order, valued at USD700,000, will provide protection for the company's worldwide network
SDL, up 8.7%. The customer experience management services said its founder and chief executive will leave the company at the end of the month. Mark Lancaster will step down from the board and his chief executive role with immediate effect and will leave the company on October 31. Lancaster founded SDL in 1992. He moved from CEO to executive chairman in 2010 before returning to the CEO role in 2012.
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MAIN MARKET AND AIM - LOSERS
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Churchill Mining, down 18%. The miner said it has conditionally raised GBP750,000 through the placing of 4.2 million shares at 18 pence each, together with the issue of warrants on the basis of one warrant for every two placing shares exercisable at 27p each. It said that the warrants will be exercisable until October 31, 2018, and the proceeds of the placing will provide the company with additional funding to progress its international arbitration claim against the Republic of Indonesia, as well as for general working capital.
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By Sam Unsted; samunsted@alliancenews.com; @SamUAtAlliance
Copyright 2015 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.
7 May 2024 14:29
IN BRIEF: Corero Network Security names Chris Goulden as new CFO
Corero Network Security PLC - London-based cybersecurity provider specialising in distributed denial-of-service protection solutions - Names Chris Goulden, previously of CBRE Global Workplace Solutions, as its new chief financial officer with immediate effect. Follows CFO Phil Richards' resignation "to pursue an opportunity in the iGaming sector". Richards will remain with the business until the publication of the trading update for the six months ended June 30.
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