FRM.L Share News (FRM)

LONDON (Alliance News) - The following stocks are the leading risers and fallers within the main London indices midday Friday.

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FTSE 100 - WINNERS

Old Mutual, up 5.1%. The life-insurance and investment company said its 2013 pretax profits rose by 11% and revealed the acquisition of Intrinsic Financial Services Ltd, a network of 3,000 advisers, as it beefs up its distribution powers in response to recent regulatory changes in the UK. Pretax profits rose to GBP1.53 billion, up from GBP1.39 billion in 2012. The group said revenues fell marginally and at a slower rate than expenses. Revenue was down by 1.4% to GBP19.81 billion, whereas expenses were down by 2.1% at GBP18.30 billion. Adjusted operating profit was flat at GBP1.61 billion, hit by the depreciation of the South African rand. It also revealed that it intends to go ahead with a minority initial public offering of its US Asset Management business in 2013, subject to market conditions.

Mondi, up 4.2%. The international packaging and paper company said its pretax profit and underlying operating profit rose significantly in 2013, convincingly beating 2012 results, as the firm delivered a "record financial performance." It said underlying operating profit came in at EUR699 million, up 22% from the EUR574 million reported in the previous year, with pretax profit up 36% at EUR499 million from EUR368 million last year. Group revenue came in 12% higher than 2012, reaching EUR6.48 billion from EUR5.80 billion. Ebitda for the year was up 15% on last year at EUR1.07 billion from EUR927 million.

William Hill, up 3.6%. The betting company reported lower 2013 profits due to higher finance and acquisition costs and investments it made in its online business, but revenues grew strongly, it raised its dividend, and said trading had turned around in February this year after a difficult January.

Aviva, up 0.5%. The insurer said it has appointed Tom Stoddard as its new finance chief as it moves to replace Pat Regan, who is joining QBE Insurance Group Ltd in Australia. Stoddard will join the company on May 5 from investment giant Blackstone, where he is currently a senior managing director.

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FTSE 100 - LOSERS

Pearson, down 6%. The publisher posted a lower 2013 pretax profit as it was hit by lower margins in North America and an accounting charge for the merger of its Penguin books unit with Random House, and it warned that earnings are set to fall this year due to policy changes in its biggest markets and the strength of sterling. The group reported a pretax profit of GBP382 million, down from GBP391 million in 2012, even though revenues in its continuing operations rose to GBP5.07 billion, from GBP4.96 billion. Its closely watched adjusted operating before net restructuring charges, which excludes gains and losses on acquisitions and disposals and amortisation and impairments, fell 6% to GBP871 million. Pearson said it expects to book about GBP50 million of restructuring charges this year, and that 2014 earnings will also hit by its recent asset disposals. It also warned of a hit from the recent rise in sterling. It said that if rates stay where they are, then that will reduce operating profits by GBP50 million compared with 2013, GBP30 million for the strengthening against sterling and GBP20 million for moves against other currencies.

Aggreko, down 4%. Struggling outsourcing company Serco Group has announced that it has poached Aggreko's chief executive Rupert Soames to be its next boss. Soames, one of Winston Churchill's grandsons, has been head of Aggreko for 11 years, overseeing the temporary power unit company's steady but relentless growth over that period.

International Consolidated Airlines, down 3.7%. The airline company said it swung to a net profit of EUR122 million in 2013, compared with a loss of EUR716 million in 2012, driven by growth at British Airways. The market may have been hoping for more however as the shares have moved lower. "There was nothing concerning in any way", in the announcement, said Liberum Capital analyst Gerald Khoo. The group did not provide explicit profit guidance for 2014, but said it expects to "make steady progress" towards its 2015 operating profit target of EUR1.8 billion. "You always hope to get explicit guidance, but don't expect it," says Khoo.

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FTSE 250 - WINNERS

Serco Group, up 6.1%. The firm's share price has jumped on the news that FTSE 100-listed Aggreko's Chief Executive Rupert Soames will be joining the company.

Berendsen, up 6%. The textile maintenance services provider reported that its pretax profit jumped by over 20%, rising to GBP112.4 million in 2013 from GBP91.7 million in 2012. Group revenue rose to GBP1.05 billion, up from GBP985.1 million in the previous year.

Rightmove, up 5.5%. The firm said its property website continues to be popular with advertisers and consumers, as profit and revenue rose significantly in 2013. It posted pretax profit of GBP97.0 million for 2013, up from GBP83.2 million in 2012, as revenue rose 17% to GBP139.9 million from GBP119.4 million. Rightmove, which runs rightmove.co.uk, said the number of advertisers rose 4% to 18,425 from 17,680 a year earlier, while site traffic rose 27% to 14.0 billion pages from 11.0 billion page in 2012. Additionally, Numis Securities has upgraded Rightmove to Buy from Add.

Man Group, up 5.2%. The hedge fund's share price continues to rise, having jumped 14% on Thursday after it said that it swung to a profit in 2013, net outflows halved, client redemptions declined and its investment performance improved. Helping to lift the company Friday, Bank of America Merrill Lynch has upgraded the company to Buy from Hold, while Jefferies has increased its price target on the stock to 100p, from 70p.

UBM, up 3.6%. The marketing, media and events company reported a fall in full-year profit, as it disposed of its data services business and restructured its marketing services activities. The group posted pretax profit of GBP109.5 million for 2013, down from GBP122.2 million in 2012. However, this was in line with expectations and what makes the update positive is the encouraging outlook for 2014, says Liberum Capital. With a new management in place Liberum anticipates a greater focus around its underlying business and says the stock is "fundamentally attractive".

Rentokil Initial, up 3.2%. The company reported that revenue and profits rose for the full-year, in line with expectations, and organic revenues rose as the firms restructuring efforts continued to pay off. The company, which offers services ranging from pest control to facilities management, said revenue rose 3.2% reaching GBP2.3 billion for 2013, up on the GBP2.2 billion the previous year, which it says largely reflects the contribution from its acquisition of Western Exterminator. Pretax profit for the year jumped 13% to GBP122.6 million from GBP107.7 million, the firm said. Rentokil also said it has agreed the sale of its Initial Facilities business to Interserve for a total cash consideration of GBP250 million.

Imagination Technologies, up 3.2%. The company has signed a collaboration deal with Japanese home entertainment products company Onkyo Corporation under which the two companies will jointly develop wireless audio music streaming systems and High Quality Audio technology. As part of the deal, Onkyo has licensed Imagination's wireless multi-room audio streaming platform Caskeid and its FlowCloud internet connection technology, Imagination said in a statement.


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FTSE 250 - LOSERS

Laird, down 2.9%. The electronics firm has reported a fall in pretax profit for the full year, after a slow first half. It posted pretax profit of GBP43.2 million for 2013, down from GBP45.1 million in 2012. Revenue increased to GBP537 million from GBP520.2 million a year earlier, but operating margin fell to 12.5% from 13.1%, reflecting the struggles experienced across a number of business segments.

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AIM - WINNERS

Formation Group, up 25%. The group has reported a 148% rise in group revenues as the London property market continues to strengthen. Group revenues were boosted to GBP5.8 million from GBP2.4 million, attributed to an increasing workload driven by the current strong London property market. However, despite a huge rise in revenues, the group continues to focus on cutting overheads in order to ensure a lean cost base, it said, with its full-year numbers resulting in a pretax loss. The group posted a pretax loss of GBP387,000 in 2013, down from a pretax profit of GBP528,000 last year.

W Resources, up 8.4%. The tungsten and gold exploration and development company said that the construction of its concentration plant is now complete and that testing and commissioning at its La Parrilla Trailings project will commence next week.

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AIM - LOSERS

Octagonal, off 18%. The group said it has raised GBP550,000 through a share subscription with existing shareholders and new investors, as it looks to strengthen its balance sheet and "implement" acquisition and investment opportunities. Octagonal said the 183.3 million new shares were sold at 0.30 pence each and that it has applied for them to begin trading on AIM on Friday next week. Octagonal shares are quoted at 0.35p.

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

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