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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Coca Cola HBC, up 2.8% at 1,728.00 pence. The soft drinks bottler was adding to the rally seen on Thursday, when the stock rose 7.0% following a well-received set of interim results. Coca-Cola HBC said pretax profit in the recent six months to June 30 rose to EUR190.9 million from EUR164.7 million in the first half of 2015, although net sales revenue decreased to EUR3.04 billion from EUR3.15 billion. On Friday, the stock reached 1,733.00p its highest level since January 2014.
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FTSE 100 - LOSERS
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Fresnillo, down 2.7% and Randgold Resources, down 2.4%. The gold miners were tracking a lower spot gold price, quoted at USD1,338.09 an ounce early Friday compared to USD1,350.20 at the London equities close Thursday.
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FTSE 250 - WINNERS
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Restaurant Group, up 11%. The Frankie & Benny's and Garfunkel's restaurant chain owner ousted its chief executive, as the company attempts to restore itself to health following a series of profit warnings and weak trading updates. Chief Executive Danny Breithaupt will leave after two years at the helm and 15 at the business, with immediate effect, Restaurant Group confirmed on Friday morning. The move had been flagged earlier in a report by Sky News. Breithaupt is being replaced by Andy McCue, the former CEO of Irish betting firm Paddy Power. He left Paddy Power following its merger with UK online betting company Betfair Group. That merger created Paddy Power Betfair, the only blue-chip bookmaker on the London market. McCue will take up the role on September 19.
Tullow Oil, up 4.3%. The oil and gas company was upgraded to Buy from Neutral by Merrill Lynch, according to traders.
Ladbrokes, up 3.9%. The bookmaker was raised to Buy from Neutral by Citigroup, according to traders.
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FTSE 250 - LOSERS
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Genus, down 11%. The animal genetics company said a US court has ruled that it infringed Inguran's two patents, and that Genus materially breached confidentiality obligations. The US district court for the western district of Wisconsin found that the two patents held by Inguran, operating as Sexting Technologies, were valid and infringed by Genus' sexed semen processing technology. The court also ruled that Genus had breached its confidentiality obligations under the 2012 semen sorting agreement between the two parties. Genus said the jury will now consider a verdict on damages in relation to these matters later this week.
AG Barr, down 3.0%. The soft drinks company was cut to Sell from Hold by Berenberg. The German bank said AG Barr will struggle to deliver on its full-year guidance as it was hit by challenging markets in the first half of its financial year. Last week, AG Barr said it will meet profit expectations for its full financial year to end-January 2017 as long as the challenging market conditions it is facing improve and it is able to deliver its "robust" second-half plans. Berenberg believes meeting full-year guidance will be "very tough" for AG Barr as it would require a "significant turn around in sales performance and margin expansion". "Although AG Barr is attempting to rebalance its portfolio to low-sugar drinks, we think it could prove difficult to convert existing customers quickly, and we are unsure its new releases will substantially broaden the customer base."
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MAIN MARKET AND AIM - WINNERS
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Ortac Resources, up 9.7%. The mining development and exploration investment company reported an increase in the potential gold resource at the Akyanga project in the Democratic Republic of Congo and said it has upped its stake in the African miner. Ortac said it now holds a 13.1% stake in Casa after participating in a private placing, subscribing for 166,667 shares at 30.0 cents per share to pay a total consideration of USD50,000. Ortac also has the right to subscribe for a further 233,333 shares at the same price in the next two months, and to subscribe to any shares made available that are not taken up in the placing. Casa is the 71.25% owner and operator of the Misisi gold project, and Ortac said the gold resource potential at the Akyanga prospect has been increased following a review to 2.3 million ounces of gold.
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MAIN MARKET AND AIM - LOSERS
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Edenville Energy, down 12% at 0.0165p. The coal and uranium exploration company said shareholders will vote on the proposals laid out on Friday to undertake a capital reorganisation after the 12.0 billion shares that it has in issue began trading close to their nominal value. The company said it will hold a meeting on August 30 for shareholders to vote on the proposal, stressing that the capital reorganisation will not result in an existing shareholder being diluted. "The board of directors of the company believes that significant progress has been made over recent months on several areas of the power plant development process. The board believes that in order to continue this progression and to deliver shareholder value over the coming years it now needs to take appropriate steps to restructure the company's share capital," said Edenville.
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By Arvind Bhunjun; arvindbhunjun@alliancenews.com; @ArvindBhunjun
Copyright 2016 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.
3 Aug 2023 18:32
IN BRIEF: Edenville shareholders pass changing name to Shuka Minerals
Edenville Energy PLC - Africa-focused mine operator and developer - At its annual general meeting on Thursday, shareholders approved the proposed name change to Shuka Minerals PLC. Says a further announcement will be made in "due course". Also confirms following an announcement last month, Non-Executive Chair Nick von Schirnding has tendered his three months' notice to resign, effective October 31.
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