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
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Glencore, up 4.1%, Anglo American, up 2.6%, Fresnillo, up 1.9%, BHP Billiton, up 1.3%, Randgold Resources, up 1.2%. Miners are recovering from Tuesday's losses as the Asian stock markets declined sharply. On Wednesday, the Japanese Nikkei ended down 3.1%, while the Hang Seng closed down 5.8% and the Shanghai Composite fell 5.9%. Around half of China's roughly 2,800 listed firms announced trading halts as increasing signs of deleveraging drove down stocks across the board. New measures by the Chinese central bank have so far failed to arrest the recent decline in Chinese stock prices.
Barclays, up 3.2%. The bank said its board has taken the decision to replace Chief Executive Antony Jenkins, with John McFarlane, the newly appointed chairman, to act in an executive capacity until a successor is found, as the banking group looks to accelerate its restructuring and improve returns to shareholders. Shore Capital Gary Greenwood says the move was not one it was expecting but says it could cause uncertainty around the bank's future.
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FTSE 100 - LOSERS
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Pearson, down 1.6% at 1,193.00 pence. Berenberg downgraded the publisher to Sell from Hold, cutting its price target to 1,090p from 1,200p, saying the publisher continues to face headwinds in its US education business, which generates a sizeable chunk of its profits.
HSBC Holdings, down 1.0%, Standard Chartered, down 1.4%. The banks are taking a hit on the Chinese stock markets falls owing to their substantial exposure to Asian markets.
Marks & Spencer Group, down 1.2% at 528.5p. The fashion and food retailer price target has been cut by Barclays to 580p from 600p, keeping an Equal Weight stance, and by S&P Capital IQ, which cut M&S' price target to 570p from 600p, keeping a Hold recommendation.
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FTSE 250 - WINNERS
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Daejan Holdings, up 4.3%. The property business said that pretax profit increased by two-thirds in its last financial year, as income from investment property rose and it recorded net valuation gains on investment property. It said pretax profit increased to GBP271.9 million in the year ended March 31, compared with GBP164.5 million in the prior year.
Dairy Crest Group, up 3.4%. Credit Suisse upgraded the dairy company to Outperform from Neutral.
Cairn Energy, up 3.0%. Deutsche Bank upgraded the company to Buy from Hold.
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FTSE 250 - LOSERS
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Fidelity China Special Situations, down 9.0%. The company, which invests in securities issued by companies listed in China or Hong Kong and Chinese companies listed elsewhere, is also suffering after the declines in Asian stock markets.
Bwin.Party Digital Entertainment, down 2.4%. AIM-listed sports betting and gaming company GVC Holdings said that talks over its proposed takeover of Bwin.Party Digital Entertainment are continuing, although there can be no certainty that such talks will result in a formal offer being made. On Tuesday, the Financial Times reported that GVC had made an offer of just over GBP900 million to acquire much-larger Bwin.Party in a bid backed by Canadian gaming company Amaya Gaming.
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AIM ALL-SHARE - WINNERS
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Beowulf Mining, up 23%. The miner welcomed some supportive findings by the County Administrative Board for Norbotten County in Sweden regarding the company's Kallak North iron ore project in the area. Beowulf said the board found that mining is "economically relevant" and said the Kallak North site will generate economic benefits on local, regional and national levels.
Independent Oil & Gas, up 15%. The oil company said it is moving closer to securing financing to bring its North Sea assets into production. It said it is now close to securing a long-term financing deal which will be split between equity and debt funding. The unnamed potential funder of the company, which Independent described as "an internationally listed group with a multi-billion dollar market capitalisation", is expected to subscribe for 30 million shares in the company at 23.79 pence per share, raising approximately GBP7.1 million for the company.
Empyrean Energy, up 11%. The onshore oil and gas development and production company said it has received a major upgrade to the reserve estimates for the Sugarloaf project in Texas. Empyrean said the proven reserve estimate for the site has been increased by 63% to 5.78 million barrels of oil equivalent, while probable reserves have been increased to 6.86 million barrels.
Fevertree Drinks, up 10%. The supplier of carbonated mixers for alcoholic spirits said it expects a rise in sales in the first half of 2015, boosted by a strong June, and said its results for the full year will be ahead of expectations. The company said that it continued to perform strongly in the first six months of the year and anticipates that sales will be approximately GBP24 million, up 61% on the first half of 2014.
Premier African Minerals, up 6.9%. The multi-commodity natural resource company said the initial fines concentrate grades from the RHA Tungsten mine in Zimbabwe exceeded expectations. Premier African, which is the operator of RHA and holds a 49% interest in the project, said it expects the first commercial shipments from the site to start this months, with mine plant upgrades expected to increase throughput from the mine.
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AIM ALL-SHARE - LOSERS
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Kennedy Ventures, down 20% at 5.78p. The company raised GBP1.4 million via a share placing to back the Tantalite Valley Mine in Namibia. It holds a 75% stake in African Tantalum, which owns the Tantalite Valley Mine, and is seeking to raise funds to bring the mine back into production. Kennedy is issuing 26.7 million shares at 5.25 pence, a discount to its current share price.
Monitise, down 19%. The company said that Visa Europe, which owns 5.3% of the mobile banking and payments company, is to cut its shareholding over time. Monitise, which designs the mobile apps banks make available to their customers, said that Visa Europe will continue to work with it for the duration of their three-year commercial agreement expiring at the end of March 2016.
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By Daniel Ruiz; danielruiz@alliancenews.com and Neil Thakrar; neilthakrar@alliancenews.com; @NeilThakrar1
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