Echo Energy Share News (ECHO)

LONDON (Alliance News) - The following stocks are the leading risers and fallers within the main London indices on Friday.----------FTSE 100 - WINNERS----------DS Smith, up 2.1%. Davy upgraded the recycled packaging firm to Outperform from Neutral. Peer Smurfit Kappa was also up 1.3%.----------FTSE 100 - LOSERS----------AstraZeneca, up 2.7%. The pharmaceutical company reported a substantial fall in profit for the first quarter of 2018, as revenue from externalisation dropped sharply. Pretax profit for the three months to the end of March dropped by 36% to USD374.0 million from USD582.0 million for the same period the year before, due to a decline in gross margin to 77.3% from 82.3%, higher selling, general and administrative costs, and a sharp fall in Externalisation revenue. Externalisation revenue fell 66% to USD193.0 million from USD562.0 million, resulting in a 4.0% drop in total revenue to USD5.18 billion from USD5.40 billion the prior year. Product sales rose 3.0% at actual exchange rates to USD4.98 billion from GBP4.84 billion. The company expects product sales growth for 2018 is expected to be second half weighted.Vodafone Group, down 1.5%. Citi downgraded the telecommunications company to Neutral from Buy. Smith & Nephew, down 1.1%. Commerzbank cut the medical devices maker to Hold from Buy. ----------FTSE 250 - WINNERS----------Capita, up 3.2%. JPMorgan raised the outsourcer to Overweight from Neutral late Thursday. ----------FTSE 250 - LOSERS----------Grainger, down 3.0%. Barclays cut the residential landlord to Equal Weight from Overweight.BTG, down 2.6%. Investec cut the healthcare firm to Hold from Buy. Just Group, down 1.6% at 147.90p. Numis Securities said Just Group shareholder Permira has completed the sale of its 18% stake in the retirement products and services firm. Permira sold 166.1 million Just Group shares at 143.00 pence each in an accelerated bookbuild, jointly run by Numis and Barclays Bank. At that price, the sale raised GBP237.5 million. Just Group did not receive any proceeds from the sale. ----------OTHER MAIN MARKET AND AIM - WINNERS----------Echo Energy, up 13%. The Latin America-focused oil and gas firm said it has made a gas discovery on the first well in a four-well drilling programme in Argentina. Echo has been drilling at the ELM-1004 well on its Fraccion C project onshore Argentina. It drilled to 1,760 metres, and found over 40 metres of gas with peak amounts of over 195,000 parts-per-million and a full distribution of various hydrocarbons. The company said this was an encouraging result, and it is now running in a production casing string as it awaits the arrival of the completion rig, which is scheduled for June. After that, it will test the well to asses deliverability. Once that is done, Echo will move the rig onto the second well in the programme, Los Alamos x-1.Carpetright, up 11% at 36.75p. The troubled floor coverings retailer confirmed it has begun a previously planned fundraise worth GBP60.0 million as part of its company voluntary arrangement. Carpetright is placing 232.5 million new shares at a price of 28.00 pence each, a 16% discount to its closing price on Tuesday of 33.25p. The company said GBP6.0 million of this will cover CVA costs, GBP12.5 million the repayment of the principal for a loan secured from shareholder Meditor, and GBP33.0 million will fund its capital expenditure plans. The rest will be used for working capital needs. The placing is conditional on shareholder approval and there being no challenge to the CVA.----------OTHER MAIN MARKET AND AIM - LOSERS----------Ophir Energy, down 3.2%. The oil and gas company said Chief Executive Officer Nicholas Cooper will step down form his role with immediate effect, but will remain with the company temporarily to ensure a smooth handover. Non-Executive Director Alan Booth has been appointed as interim CEO until a permanent successor is found. The look for a new chief executive reflects Ophir's strategy to rebalance its portfolio towards larger production, and support more sustainable exploration activity, the company said. Cooper has been chief executive at Ophir since 2011, joining from Salamander Energy, where he was chief financial officer for six years from 2005 to 2011.----------