Earthport Share News (EPO)

LONDON (Alliance News) - The following stocks are the leading risers and fallers within the main London indices on Wednesday.
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FTSE 100 - WINNERS
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EasyJet, up 4.2%. The budget carrier said it beat its guidance for revenue per seat in the third quarter, even as its total revenue fell for the period. The company said its revenue per seat was down by 5.4% in the three months to the end of June to GBP59.08, slightly better than the guidance it issued in May. The better-than-expected figure was driven by good trading in the UK and on beach routes in Europe in May and June. These bright spots partly offset the impact of French air traffic controls strikes in April.

Sage Group, up 2.0%. The business software company reiterated its expectations for its current financial year, continuing to expect at least 6% organic revenue growth for the full year, as it saw organic revenue up 6.6% in its first nine months. The company said that in the third quarter to end-June it saw organic revenue growth of 7.5%. Sage said growth was flattered by a relatively weak comparative third quarter in the previous year.

Land Securities, up 0.3%. The property developer said its good momentum seen in its 2015 financial year has continued into the current period, with good performances in its London and Retail portfolios. The company said take-up in its London portfolio was healthy in the first quarter to the end of June, with vacancy rates low and rental values increasing. The group said it has seen good interest in its schemes in the capital and remains confident on securing lettings for the remaining vacant space on its books.
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FTSE 100 - LOSERS
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BHP Billiton, down 3.7%. The mining giant reported a 6% increase in iron ore production for the fourth quarter, while production of metallurgical coal grew 13%. However, following the spin- off of South32, BHP Billiton also said it expects to recognise a net loss on the demerger of about USD2.1 billion post-tax as an exceptional item in the June 2015 half year. For fiscal 2016, BHP Billiton forecast a 7% decline in petroleum production to 237 MMboe, 12% decrease in copper output to 1.5 million tons, 6% decrease in metallurgical coal production to 40 million tons and 2% decrease in energy coal production to 40 million tons.

Fresnillo, down 2.9%. The gold miner said gold and silver production both significantly rose in the first half of 2015, leading to the company increasing its full year production guidance for its gold segment. It said silver production in the first half of the year totalled 23.8 million ounces, up 10.6% from the 21.5 million ounces produced a year earlier resulting from the start of operations at Saucito II mine offsetting lower production from the Fresnillo mine, both in Mexico. However, the price of gold continues to be pushed lower Wednesday, currently trading at USD1,094.01 an ounce.

ARM Holdings, down 2.7%. The chip designer's shares are down despite saying it expects to meet market expectations for dollar revenues in 2015 as it posted a rise in pretax profit for its first half. The company reported a pretax profit of GBP198.1 million for the half year to end-June, up from GBP146.0 million a year before, as revenue rose 22% to GBP456.0 million from GBP373.7 million. In dollar terms revenue rose 15% to USD705.2 million from USD614.8 million. However, one of ARM's major customers, Apple, late Tuesday posted results considered disappointing.

Johnson Matthey, down 2.1%. The metals and speciality chemicals company said it expects its overall group performance in the current financial year to be "slightly ahead" of the previous year and reiterated it expects to deliver "good underlying growth". The company said group sales totalled GBP797 million in the first quarter ended June 30, up 6% from the GBP749 million reported a year earlier, leading to a pretax profit before amortisation, impairments, restructuring charges and disposals of GBP94 million, slightly down from GBP95 million.
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FTSE 250 - WINNERS
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Mitchells & Butlers, up 5.1%. Numis has raised the pub operator to Add from Hold.

Marston's, up 3.5%. The pub owner and brewer said wage costs will be "moderately greater" than it had expected in the wake of the UK government's move to introduce a compulsory national living wage of GBP9 per hour by 2020. However, it said the higher staff costs are mitigated by the fact it already had expected wage costs rising above the rate of inflation, as well as by the government's simultaneous move to cut corporation tax to 18% by 2020 from the current 20% rate.

Morgan Advanced Materials, up 2.9%. The carbon and ceramic products manufacturer said its pretax profit increased in the first half of 2015 on the back of improved revenue and solid order intake. The company said its pretax profit for the half was GBP49.2 million, up from GBP37.5 million a year earlier. Revenue increased to GBP469.2 million from GBP448.4 million and the group's profit was further boosted by an improvement in its earnings before interest, taxation and amortisation margin to 13% from 12.6% a year earlier.

Tate & Lyle, up 2.5%. The sugar and food ingredients company has been upgraded to Neutral from Sell by Goldman Sachs.
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FTSE 250 - LOSERS
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TalkTalk Telecom Group, down 8.7%. The telecommunications company said it is on track to meet its previous guidance of revenue growth of 5% for its current financial year as it saw revenue rise in its first quarter in what it called a "good start" to the year. However, the broadband market was softer than the company has seen in recent quarters as a result of higher promotional activity in the sector.

Acacia Mining, down 4.4%. HSBC cut the gold miner to Hold from Buy.

Euromoney Institutional Investor, down 1.8%. The publisher and events organiser said the outlook for the current financial year looks set to be in line with expectations despite no signs of the challenging market improving ahead of a very important quarter for the company.

Rentokil Initial, down 1.7%. Credit Suisse has cut the business services company to Neutral from Outperform.
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AIM ALL-SHARE - WINNERS
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Weatherly International, up 16%. The company said production at its Tschudi copper project in Namibia ramped up in the fourth quarter and affirmed its monthly production guidance. Weatherly said production at the Tschudi project is rising, with 2,257 tonnes of London Metal Exchange Grade A copper cathode produced in the quarter to the end of June, Weatherly's fiscal fourth quarter.

Independent Oil & Gas, up 7.1%. The company said it has secured the outstanding funds from an investor which will keep the company funded until early September. On Monday, the company had said it was still awaiting the payment of GBP145,000 from an investor who purchased 609,500 new shares in the company at 23.79 pence per share in June as the company eagerly awaited the funds to keep it ticking over whilst it secures longer-term funding. Those funds have now been received and will keep the company afloat until September 4.

Alexander Mining, up 6.7%. The company said its MetaLeach subsidiary has received a patent in Australia covering its method for recovering cobalt from cobalt-containing ores. The patent is part of the company's AmmLeach recovery technology portfolio.

Earthport, up 6.1%. The financial services company said it is going to concentrate on generating recurring revenue, leading the cross-border payments company to review some of the products it currently offers. It said that broadening acceptance of its business model has stimulated demand for its services in the last six months, prompting the company to accelerate its investment in staff, the areas it serves, and its product development.
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AIM ALL-SHARE - LOSERS
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Goeng International, off 24%. The Beijing-based software and services company expressed confidence in its long term success, although market conditions remain challenging in China, and it warned there will be a delay in recovering some of its revenues. It said it can confirm it expects revenue in the region of GBP8 million for the full year to end-March. However it warned that this amount remains conditional on the agreement by some clients on the work performed and what milestones were met.

North River Resources, down 17%. The miner said it is behind schedule on developing the Namib project in Namibia and laid out a revised schedule and funding plan for the project after incurring problems with its existing plan. The company said it has reached a "critical milestone" as it moves toward the construction phase of the project, which will ultimately lead to a 250,000 tonne per annum operation.

Tungsten Corp, down 15%. The electronic invoicing, analytics and financing company reported a wider loss in its last financial year, as revenue growth was outweighed by higher operating expenses. It said it made a GBP27.3 million pretax loss in the year ended April 30, compared with GBP11.1 million in the prior year.
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By Neil Thakrar; neilthakrar@alliancenews.com; @NeilThakrar1

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