LONDON (Alliance News) - The following stocks are the leading risers and fallers within the main London indices on Thursday.
----------
FTSE 100 - WINNERS
----------
Pearson, up 4.9%. Citigroup resumed coverage of the education and publishing company at Buy with a 1,425 pence target price. Shares in the company were at 1,182.00 pence on Thursday. On Wednesday, Sky News reported Pearson was set to strike a deal to buy e-assessments company Learndirect, which recently won the Driver & Vehicle Standards Agency's testing mandate away from Pearson. No such announcement has yet been made, however.
----------
FTSE 100 - LOSERS
----------
Tesco, down 1.9%, Wm Morrison Supermarkets, down 1.8%, J Sainsbury, up 1.5%. The supermarkets were trading lower as investors took profits following gains by the company's shares on Wednesday. The whole sector was buoyed by Sainsbury's, which said its full-year underlying pretax profit will be "moderately ahead" of consensus after it achieved growth in sales in the second quarter of its financial year. Sainsbury's closed up 12% Wednesday on the news, while Tesco rose 7.0% and Morrisons 6.0%, as they benefited from their rivals upbeat update.
----------
FTSE 250 - WINNERS
----------
Tullow Oil, up 9.6%. The oil and gas company said its banks have completed their reserve-based lend redetermination process and said its financing arrangement remain the same as a result. Tullow said is available debt capacity remains at USD3.7 billion. At the end of September, the company had cash and undrawn credit facilities totalling USD2.1 billion with headrooms and no near-term maturities. Numis also added Tullow to its Top Picks, according to traders.
Drax Group, up 4.2%. The biomass power plant operator appointed Will Gardiner as its new finance director, effective from November 16. He will take over from Tony Quinlan, who stepped down in May and was replaced on an interim basis by Michael Scott, who will continue in the role until Gardiner takes up the position. Gardiner is joining from chipmaker CSR, which was recently acquired by US rival Qualcomm, where he was the chief financial officer.
----------
FTSE 250 - LOSERS
----------
BBA Aviation, down 1.3%. The aviation services company had its price target downgraded by French bank Societe Generale to 300 pence from 330 pence and was kept at Hold. BBA shares were trading at 264.21 pence on Thursday.
----------
MAIN MARKET AND AIM - WINNERS
----------
Ortac Resources, up 40%. The miner said Zamsort, which it has a 19% stake, has raised a further USD2.0 million from Kopara Investments. The investment made by Kopara takes its stake in Zamsort up to 20% and will mean it can appoint someone to Zamsort's board. "Kopara's investment is an endorsement of the quality and potential of Zamsort's licences and stands in stark contrast to the prevailing market," said Vassilios Carellas, Ortac's chief executive.
Atlantic Coal, up 9.5%. The coal miner posted sharp increases in clean coal production and coal sales in the nine months to the end of September. The company, which operates from the Stockton anthracite mine in the US state of Utah, said its clean coal production in the nine months to September 30 rose 28% to 151,523 tonnes, up from 118,279 tonnes a year earlier, while its run of mine production rose 50% to 365,985 tonnes from 243,527 tonnes. Atlantic Coal also said its total coal sales in the nine months increased to 186,186 tonnes, a 65% year-on-year increase from 112,831 tonnes.
----------
MAIN MARKET AND AIM - LOSERS
----------
Caza Oil & Gas, down 51%. The oil and gas company said it has had to secure an extension on its financing agreement with Apollo Investment as it failed to meet the covenants in the arrangements. Caza previously had the deadline for it to achieve the necessary compliance with the covenants extended to Wednesday after it had failed to meet the requirements in June and in December 2014. The new extension takes the deadline for it to comply with the covenants to October 31. The company said, as highlighted in its second quarter results in August, that is is in advanced talks with a potential financier and said those talks have progressed, though it said that given the number of conditions that would have to be met to secure new financing, there is no certainty that any deal will be sealed on acceptable terms.
Golden Saint Resources, down 24%. The miner said it will take on board recommendations made by Rock Forage Consulting Services following their exploration report on its licences in Baja, Tongo and Moa, as it plans to progress its exploration activities. Amongst the recommendations made in the report, Rock Forage said the potential for alluvial free gold in the basal gravels of the Woa River floodplain deposits need to be assessed more critically. In terms of the alluvial diamond potential, there is potential in the more inaccessible placer deposits in all three licences.
----------
By Sam Unsted; samunsted@alliancenews.com; @SamUAtAlliance
Copyright 2015 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.
12 Feb 2016 10:43
