LONDON (Alliance News) - The following stocks are the leading risers and fallers within the main London indices on Thursday.
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FTSE 100 - WINNERS
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Anglo American, up 9.7%. Shares were up despite the miner saying production fell across most of its commodities during 2015, including its iron ore division in South Africa. Iron ore production from South Africa fell 7% year-on-year in 2015 to 44.9 million tonnes whilst the Minas Rio mine in Brazil produced a total of 9.2 million tonnes in the year after only producing a small amount in 2014. On Tuesday, Anglo American had said its first sales cycle for its De Beers diamond business delivered a big increase in revenue compared to the final cycle it handled in 2015.
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FTSE 100 - LOSERS
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Ashtead Group, down 6.1%. Shares in the equipment rental business were dragged down by weak results reported on Wednesday by US-peer United Rentals. For the fourth quarter of 2015, United Rentals reported total group revenue USD1.52 billion and rental revenue was USD1.27 billion, compared with USD1.56 billion and USD1.32 billion, respectively, for the same period the prior year.
Centrica, down 3.8% at 201.60p. French bank Société Générale downgraded the British Gas parent company's stock to Sell from Hold. The stock has halved in value since it reached an all-time high of 403.30p in 2013, having dropped by 22% in 2015 alone.
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FTSE 250 - WINNERS
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Kier Group, up 4.1%. The property, residential, construction and services company said its trading was in line with its expectations after good growth across its divisions since November. Kier said it had experienced good underlying organic growth and an improving pipeline of opportunities in the period, with its net debt position GBP175 million ahead of expectations on December 31, putting it in line to deliver a net debt position at the lower end of guidance at June 30.
Mitchells & Butlers, up 2.5%. The pub operator said it saw robust like-for-like sales growth over the Christmas period, though its like-for-like sales declined in the 17 weeks to January 23. The company said its total like-for-like sales for the 17-week period were down 1.0%, with food sales down 1.5% and drink sales down 0.6%. For the two-week period of the Christmas and New Year's celebrations, however, total like-for-like sales rose 2.0%.
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FTSE 250 - LOSERS
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FirstGroup, down 7.9%. The transport company said it was lowering its outlook for operating profit in the current financial year, after a difficult third quarter across divisions. It said its group revenue in the third quarter to the end of November were down 9.5% on a constant currency basis, after its sales were hit by the number of First Student operating days this year, due to the timing of the school calendar, and changes to its rail franchise portfolio. Shares in peer Go-Ahead Group were down 3.6%
Paypoint, down 3.1%. The payments company said its total revenue dipped in the third quarter, hit in part by the unseasonably warm winter weather conditions in the UK. Total revenue for the quarter to the end of December fell 3.3% to GBP58.1 million, hit by declines in top-up and billing activity. Overall transactions processed in the quarter rose 3.9% to 225.4 million year-on-year.
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MAIN MARKET AND AIM - WINNERS
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Atlas Development & Support Services, up 15%. The business support services group said it has continued to make progress on its Ethiopian bottling plant project, sending its shares higher in early trade. Atlas said it has secured a land lease certificate and construction licence covering the Chancho site in Ethiopia where the plant will be built. The land lease has been granted for 100 years, with the first 45 years paid by the company in advance.
Victoria Oil & Gas, up 14%. The oil and gas company said gas production more than doubled year-on-year in 2015 and predicted further significant increases this year.
Kaz Minerals, up 11%. The miner said production in 2015 either met or exceeded the company's full year guidance as Kaz focuses on the development of its Bozshakol and Aktogay mines which will lead to substantial production growth moving forward.
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MAIN MARKET AND AIM - LOSERS
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EU Supply, down 29%. The e-procurement software provider said it expects to report its revenue for 2015 ticked higher but said sales for its Business Alerts division had fallen below expectations in the second half. The company said it expects 2015 revenue to be around GBP2.8 million, up from GBP2.5 million a year earlier, despite taking a hit from the translation impact of weak Nordic currencies.
Ten Alps, down 18%. The television and multimedia content producer said slower than planned progress in the turnaround of its publishing division meant it was now expecting its earnings before interest, deterioration and amortisation to come in below current market expectations for its full financial year to the end of June, but that it was still expecting to return to profitability in the following financial year.
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By Arvind Bhunjun; arvindbhunjun@alliancenews.com; @ArvindBhunjun
Copyright 2016 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.
19 Feb 2015 11:26
