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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ARM Holdings, up 0.8%. The chip designer said it has acquired UK-based imaging technology products company Apical for USD350.0 million in cash. ARM said Apical is a leading company in the field of imaging and embedded computer vision technology. Apical's technology is used in more than 1.5 billion smartphones and around 300 million other consumer electronics devices, digital cameras and tablets, ARM said, and the company is one of the UK's fastest-growing technology companies.
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FTSE 100 - LOSERS
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Anglo American, down 5.8%, Glencore, down 4.3%, Rio Tinto, down 3.3%, BHP Billiton, down 3.0%. Miners were down on as the dollar rose ahead of the US Federal Reserve minutes due after the London equities close. "The steady rise in expectations has put new life into the US dollar and firmly stymied expectations of a rally in stock markets. The pattern of recent sessions has repeated itself, with a stronger greenback hitting commodity prices, and thus pushing mining shares down," said IG Group analyst Chris Beauchamp.
Antofagasta, down 3.9%. The chairman of the Chilean miner said the company has not changed its "three-pillar strategy" and emphasise the importance of optimising its assets as it expects copper prices to remain low for the next one to two years. Ahead of Antofagasta's annual general meeting Wednesday, Chairman Jean-Paul Luksic said 2015 was a year focused around optimising existing assets to adjust to the current environment of lower commodity prices as the company restructured its operations.
Burberry Group, down 2.5%. The fashion house reported a fall in profit in its recently ended financial year, following a tough year which saw particular challenges in the Asian market, and it announced a three-year investment and cost-saving strategy. The luxury goods retailer said its pretax profit in the year ended March 31 fell to GBP415.6 million from GBP444.6 million the year before, as revenue slipped to GBP2.51 billion from GBP2.52 billion, which Burberry blamed on a "difficult luxury sector" with a decline in footfall, particularly in Hong Kong. Burberry will pay a final dividend of 37p, which is up 5% year-on-year. It also will launch a share buyback programme of up to GBP150 million in financial 2017, its current financial year.
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FTSE 250 - WINNERS
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Booker Group, up 6.0%. The food wholesaler was upgraded to Buy from Neutral by Goldman Sachs.
Marston's, up 2.7%. The pub operator and brewer said it swung to a profit in the first half of its financial year as revenue grew strongly following the openings of new pubs and its acquisition of the Thwaites beer business last year. Marston's said it made a pretax profit of GBP22.8 million in the 26 weeks ended April 2, having suffered a pretax loss of GBP27.5 million in the first half of the prior year. Revenue grew to GBP444.3 million from GBP400.5 million, which Marston's said was thanks to positive contributions from new openings, growth in its beer brands and the acquisition of Thwaites last year.
SSP Group, up 2.1%. The food and beverage outlets operator reported growth in profit in the first half of its financial year as growth in air passenger travel and new openings helped to boost revenue. SSP said its pretax profit in the six months ended March 31 grew to GBP22.2 million from GBP13.8 million in the first half of the prior year, as revenue rose to GBP896.7 million from GBP859.2 million. SSP said like-for-like sales were up by 3.3% in the half, driven by growth in air passenger travel and retailing initiatives, which along with new contract openings and operational improvements helped to boost overall results.
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FTSE 250 - LOSERS
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Marshalls, down 8.2%. The concrete paving manufacturer said revenue in the first four months of 2016 edged up against tough comparatives and a softening commercial market. Marshalls said revenue for the four months to the end of April was GBP120.0 million, up slightly from GBP119.0 million a year earlier. Domestic sales were up 4.0% year-on-year, Marshalls said, and the group said the pipeline for UK infrastructure projects remains strong. It added, however, the European market has continued to prove challenging.
Acacia Mining, down 3.9%. Citigroup downgraded the miner to Sell from Neutral.
Meggitt, down 3.3%. The defence components company was cut to Sell from Hold by Panmure Gordon. Panmure said it believes the two main sources of profit growth for Meggitt, namely its advanced composites and aircraft braking systems, will fall short.
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MAIN MARKET AND AIM - WINNERS
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Golden Saint Resources, up 9.7%. The miner said it has raised GBP536,930 through a share placing to back its bulk sampling operations. Golden Saint issued 958.8 million shares at 0.056 pence per share to raise the funds. Its shares were trading at 0.07p. The company said the funds will back bulk sampling work on the Tongo licence in Sierra Leone, along with coverings fees due from the renewal of Golden Saint's exploration licences in the country.
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MAIN MARKET AND AIM - LOSERS
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Environmental Recycling Technologies, down 13%. The recycling company's shares dropped after talks with its partners about developing an alternative method of disposing waste broke down after more than six months of discussions. The company continues to suffer from the impact of a weaker economic environment in the wider recycling industry and leaves the company holding discussions with "other interested parties" about developing new methods that are more suited to current conditions. Environmental Recycling said: "Discussions regarding the development of an alternative business model, as referred to in the chairman's statement at the annual general meeting on October 30, 2015, have been terminated."
DX Group, down 11%. The logistics company said its planning application for the development of a new central hub in the West Midlands has not been approved. DX Group said a local authority planning hearing was held on Tuesday night regarding the development of the central hub, but the planning application was not approved at the meeting. DX Group said it will now consider its options, including an appeal against the decision, in consultation with its planning and property advisors.
Asian Citrus Holdings, down 9.8%. The orange producer said it will shut down its Hunan plantation in China and will book a charge for doing so, hitting full-year results. The company said a crop analysis was undertaken on Hunan by the Citrus Research Institute, the Chinese national research centre for citrus fruits. The recommendations from the analysis called for significant investments to be made in Hunan and, given the added uncertainty on the actual outcome of any work the company would undertake, Asian Citrus has decided to shut down Hunan instead and terminate the land lease agreement. Operations at the plantation, in the Hunan Province of southern China, will finish by the end of May, it said.
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By Arvind Bhunjun; arvindbhunjun@alliancenews.com; @ArvindBhunjun
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