easyJet Share News (EZJ)

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

Standard Life, up 5.2%. The company has agreed to buy Ignis Asset Management from FTSE 250-listed Phoenix Group Holdings in a GBP390 million cash deal, with the two life insurance companies also agreeing to a long-term strategic asset management deal. The strategic deal will result in Standard Life managing assets for Phoenix's Life subsidiaries, including the potential to manage future books of assets that Phoenix may acquire.

Legal & General Group, up 2.8%. The life insurer said it has won a bulk annuity contract with ICI Pension Fund, covering GBP3.00 billion of its liabilities, as it moved to reinforce its expectation that it will exceed the GBP2.1 billion of annuity net flows in 2013. Legal & General said the deal is the largest ever bulk annuity contract arranged by a pension scheme in the UK.

William Hill, up 2.7%. HSBC has upgraded the betting company to Overweight from Underweight, after its shares were sold off following an increase in UK duty on gambling machines. Nevertheless, both Goldman Sachs and Nomura have decreased the bookmaker's price target.

EasyJet, up 1.8%. The airline company's shares are up again Wednesday, having jumped 3.7% on Tuesday after it said it expects its pretax loss for the first-half to be smaller than previous expectations. Citigroup has increased its price target on the stock to 1,840.00 pence from 1800.00p, while Liberum has raised it to 1,700.00p from 1,600.00p.

SSE, up 1.7%. The energy supplier has announced a major asset-disposal plan, cost-cutting initiatives, and a freezing of UK household energy bills ahead of its full-year results next week. It said that, as part of its value programme, it is now planning asset and business disposals that will secure proceeds and debt reduction estimated to total around GBP1 billion. It also said it has identified further operational efficiencies that will result in annual savings in overheads of around GBP100 million by March 2016 but will result in a reduction of roughly 500 UK employees. The firm also announced that it will freeze at current levels its household energy prices in the UK until at least January 2016, subject to no marked or sustained increase in wholesale prices and no new environmental, social or other policy costs.

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FTSE 100 - LOSERS

Lloyds Banking Group, down 3.9%. The bank's shares are sharply down after the UK government said it had raised GBP4.2 billion in its sale of a second tranche of the company's shares, meaning it has now recouped GBP7.41 billion of the roughly GBP21 million it had to pump into the bank during the financial crisis. UK Financial Investments, which manages the government's stakes in bailed out banks, said it had sold a 7.8% stake in Lloyds at 75.5 pence a share, taking the UK government stake down to 24.9%, from 32.7%. Lloyds shares are quoted at 76.05p

Royal Bank of Scotland, down 1.4%. Numis Securities has downgraded RBS to Hold from Add, lowering its price target to 300.00 pence from 374.00p, saying that the company's valuation looks stretched and that, while the company's second phase of rehabilitation will lead to a simpler, more effective business, with a very strong capital position, the results will be "long-dated".

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FTSE 250 - WINNERS

Bellway, up 4.3%. The housebuilder said its profit almost doubled in the first half of its financial year, as it took advantage of recovery in the UK housing market. It posted pretax profit of GBP103.8 million for the six months ended January 31, up from GBP59.9 million in the same period in 2013, as revenue rose to GBP701.1 million from GBP502.5 million a year earlier. The interim dividend was increased 78% to 16.0 pence per share up from 9.0 pence a year earlier.

Phoenix Group Holdings, up 4.1%. Phoenix is a big gainer following its sale of Ignis Asset Management to FTSE 100-listed Standard Life. Phoenix also said its operating profit increased by GBP10.0 million to GBP439.0 million in 2013, while it generated GBP817.0 million in cash flows from its operating subsidiaries, including cash flows of GBP332.0 million from management actions. In 2012, cash flows from operating subsidiaries totalled GBP690.0 million. However, pretax profit fell to GBP420.0 million from GBP557.0 million after operating expenses spiralled to GBP3.83 billion from GBP649.0 million.

Homeserve, up 2.4%. The home emergency company has revealed that it expects its key profit measure to be in line with market expectations in its current financial year, as it also reiterated that costs related to the settling of previous regulatory issues in the UK had met its expectations. It said it expects its underlying pretax profit for the year to end-March to be in line with market expectations. It said the range of analysts' forecasts for the figure currently is between GBP81.6 million and GBP86.3 million, and the average of the forecasts is GBP84 million.

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FTSE 250 - LOSERS

EnQuest, down 7.8%. The oil and gas development and production company said its pretax profit fell in its full year 2013 despite an increase in revenues, as costs and expenses hit the company. Its pretax profit fell 18% to USD330.9 million from USD403.4 million in the previous year despite an 8.1% increase in revenues to USD961.2 million from USD889.5 million in 2012. However, although production increased 6.2% in the year, its cost of sales also increased 18% to USD540.8 million from USD458.4 million the previous year, leading to a 2.5% fall in gross profit for the company to USD420.4 million from USD431.1 million in 2012.

Man Group, down 3.4%. Citigroup has downgraded the company to Sell from Neutral, decreasing its price target to 85.00 pence from 90.00p and saying that it believes that the share price rally following Man's full-year results for 2013 was an "over-reaction". It believes that the market is focusing on the near-term prospect for revenue growth and missing that cost dynamics and forex crosses may delay underlying pretax profit growth until 2016. Citi expects "consensus downgrades and/or Man to disappoint versus expectations at its first-half results (in August)."

John Laing Infrastructure Group, down 1.1%. John Laing Investments said it intends to sell up to 34.5 million shares in John Laing Infrastructure Fund Ltd, representing a 4.5% stake in the company. The placing is being conducted through an accelerated bookbuild led by JP Morgan Cazenove.

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AIM - WINNERS

Leed Resources, up 15%. The natural resources investment company said its pretax loss narrowed in its first half, announced spending reduction targets, and said it plans to shift investment focus. The firm, which is yet to produce any revenues, narrowed its pretax loss to GBP115,000 for the six months to the end of December 2013 from USD227,000 the previous year. It also said it reduced its administrative expenses by 40% to GBP122,000 from GBP205,000 during the period. The company said that because its future investments should focus on assets that are linked to the experience of the board, it decided to shift to sourcing compelling opportunities in the mining space with a preference for gold and copper.

Independent Resources, up 15%. The exploration and development oil firm has announced a USD837 million unrisked net present value for its Ksar Hadada permit, onshore Tunisia. It said a Competent Persons Report carried out by Blackwatch Petroleum Services Ltd showed total oil and gas in place for the site of 639.3 million barrels of oil equivalent. The report showed that, assuming an oil price of USD95 per barrel, the site has unrisked recoverable resources of 107.9 million barrels of oil equivalent at a net present value at a 10% discount rate of USD837 million. It also showed that the site has a risked recoverable resources of 33.9 million at a net present value at a 10% discount rate of USD263 million.

Cenkos Securities, up 8.8%. The company said that pretax profit from continuing operations rose to GBP10.7 million in 2013, up from GBP7.0 million in 2012, as revenues from continuing operations increased to GBP51.4 million from GBP43.2 million.

Kalimantan Gold Corporation, up 8.5%. The gold mining company has announced that the Indonesian Ministry of Forestry has granted PT Jelai Cahaya Minerals an extension to its Borrow and Use Exploration Forestry Permit for the Jelai Gold project. It said the renewable licence extends the authorisation for the its subsidiary PT Jelai to conduct exploration activities until December 16, 2015.

E-Therapeutics, up 8.4%. The biotechnology company said it has received approval from MHRA to recommence recruitment of new patients into its ETS2101 phase Ia solid tumours trial. Recruitment for the trial was temporarily paused over drug storage and supply issues in January. However, e-Therapeutics said that the issues have now been resolved to the satisfaction of the UK Regulatory Body, allowing the trial to continue to higher doses in further cohorts of patients.

32Red, up 8.3%. The online gaming company said trading has strengthened in recent weeks, with gross gaming revenue up 19% in the first 24 days in March. The group also said that UK Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne's announcements in the Budget regarding increased fixed odds betting terminal duties and levy collection does not impact the company.

Fitbug, up 7.4%. The online personal health services provider has agreed terms with six retail distribution partners providing coverage in the UK, France, Germany, Italy, Russia, South Africa, Southeast Asia, Australia and New Zealand.

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AIM - LOSERS

Hightex, off 53%. The engineering company has seen its shares drop sharply after it reported a widened pretax profit and as it resumed trading on AIM, a move that came after it signed a loan facility agreement of up to USD10 million, giving it enough money to cover its working capital needs for at least six months. The company's shares had been suspended last September after it said it could not publish its interim financial statements because of uncertainty over certain receivables due from its Brazilian joint venture SEPA Hightex Coberturas Ltda. It said it made a pretax loss of EUR1.5 million in the six months to June 30, 2013, wider than the EUR1.0 million loss it made a year earlier as revenues fell to EUR3.4 million, from EUR7.9 million.

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By James Kemp; jameskemp@alliancenews.com; @jamespkemp

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