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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Admiral Group, up 0.9%. The motor insurer was up after Goldman Sachs raised its price target on the shares to 1,600 pence from 1,500p. Shares in the company were trading at 1,623.00p. The bank kept a Neutral rating on the shares.
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FTSE 100 - LOSERS
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Old Mutual, down 8%. The Anglo-South African financial services company fell for a second day as the South African rand trades near record lows against the dollar following the dismissal of finance minister Nhlanhla Nene. Old Mutual and Investec, another Anglo-South African financial services group, both fell 11% on Thursday after the news, along with an S&P downgrade on South African banks. Investec, a FTSE 250 constituent, joined Old Mutual in extending its falls, down 6.8%.
Sports Direct International, down 1.6%. The sports clothing and equipment retailer's price target was cut by Goldman Sachs to 725 pence from 850p, though it kept a Buy rating on the shares. Sports Direct shares were trading at 584p. Sports Direct shares plunged 11% on Thursday after its interim underlying pretax profit missed analyst expectations amid sluggish sales growth, while it also faced criticism over its treatment of temporary workers in its warehouse operation following a report by The Guardian.
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FTSE 250 - WINNERS
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Bellway, down 4.5%. The housebuilder continued the positive newsflow from the UK housebuilding sector as it said its reservation rate improved in the first months of its new financial year and that its total completions and average selling price are both set to rise in the full year. The group said its reservation rate in the 18 weeks from August 1 to December 6 has increased 12% year-on-year to 165 homes per week. The strong start to the year led the group to forecast its total completions for the full year to the end of July 2016 will rise around 10% year-on-year, from the 7,752 it completed in its 2015 financial year. Bellway added the average price of those completions will also rise by around 10%, meaning it expects its operating margin for the current financial year to increase about 21%, contributing to another anticipated improvement in its return on capital employed.
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FTSE 250 - LOSERS
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International Personal Finance, down 24%. The lender warned late Thursday it could be hit by new legislation in Slovakia. The company's Slovak business generated a pretax profit of about GBP6.0 million on revenue of about GBP43.0 million in the 12 months ended June 30, at which point it had a net receivables balance also of GBP43.0 million. International Personal Finance's update came one day after the Slovak parliament voted to adopt "previously undiscussed" proposals to amend various pieces of consumer legislation.
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MAIN MARKET AND AIM - WINNERS
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Proxama, up 20%. The mobile commerce company said it had won a contract with an unnamed North American bank. The two-year contract will cover the supply, installation and maintenance of a network of marketing proximity services for 10,000 mobile touch points across the bank's national branch network in the US. No financial details were disclosed on the deal, which will go live in January.
Surgical Innovations Group, up 20%. The company, which designs and makes medical technology for minimally invasive surgery, said its finance director will no longer depart, while trading has improved and the company's banking facilities have been extended. Melanie Ross will remain the finance director of the company, withdrawing her notice to resign on April 15, 2016, taking on the position of managing director of Surgical Innovations Ltd in addition to her existing responsibilities. It added trading in the second half of 2015 has "continued to demonstrate the improvement reported in the interim results". Further details will be released in due course, the company said. The company's existing bank loan facilities have been extended by six months to October 31, 2017, following an agreement with Yorkshire Bank. In addition, the financial covenants for 2016 have been modified to reflect current financial forecasts.
ISG, up 15%. US-based investment group Cathexis UK Holdings said it has made a takeover offer for the construction services company which values the company's issued share capital at GBP70.8 million. Cathexis will pay 143.00 pence per share for ISG, a 17% premium to its closing price on Thursday. The bidder said it believes the offer will provide some certainty to ISG shareholders on realising the value of their holdings and mitigate the inherent risks in ISG's construction business in the UK, which has been hit by troublesome legacy contracts. Cathexis already holds a 29.5% stake in ISG, having been a shareholder in the business since March 2012.
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MAIN MARKET AND AIM - LOSERS
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HaloSource, down 23%. The clean water technology company said delays in getting its drinking water plant in China up and running will result in the group's 2015 results materially missing expectations. HaloSource said the drinking water plant in China is now actively fulfilling customer orders, but this followed an extended shutdown of the facility due to unexpected operational challenges related to the production of cartridges as the company ramped up production capacity. These delays have pushed orders expected in 2015 back to the first quarter of 2016 and, as a result, drinking water revenue for the second half will be lower than anticipated, meaning its total revenue for the full year will be materially lower than market expectations of USD18.0 million to USD19.0 million. Therefore, its net loss will be wider than market expectations and will hit its cash position. The company said it is actively reviewing ways to boost its balance sheet and improve cash generation.
Digital Barriers, down 19%. The surveillance, security and safety video services provider said it has struck a deal worth up to GBP29.4 million to acquire US surveillance services company Brimtek, to be backed by a share issue, as its interim pretax loss narrowed significantly. The company said it would buy Brimtek, which provides surveillance systems to the US defence, homeland security, federal law enforcement and intelligence markets, for a total of GBP29.6 million, with GBP16.4 million payable in cash upon completion and another GBP13.2 million to be paid based on Brimtek hitting targets through to the end of 2017. The second tranche of the consideration may be made up of cash and shares as Digital Barriers' discretion. Digital Barriers said the deal backs its push into the US market and said acquiring Brimtek will offer a number of significant sales synergies for the company in the US.
Pennant International Group, down 15%. The logistics services company said it has secured only one of the two key contracts it needed to meet its full year expectations had been signed. Pennant said in its interim results in September that its outcome for 2015 would be dependent on it winning two contracts worth an overall GBP15.0 million. One of those deals has been secured, but the other has not, though the company remains confident the second, with an unnamed client in the Middle East, will be won eventually. Still, the delays to these contracts have hit its results for the second half of 2015, meaning its loss in the second half will be much wider than in the first half, even though its overall cash position will have improved.
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By Sam Unsted; samunsted@alliancenews.com; @SamUAtAlliance
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