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
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Shire, up 1.6%. Following weeks of speculation that has seen Shire gain about 40% in value, US suitor AbbVie has confirmed that the two companies have agreed on a takeover deal that values Shire at about GBP32 billion. The agreement will give Shire shareholders GBP24.44 in cash and 0.8960 of an AbbVie share for each Shire share. The agreement comes after a series of proposals from AbbVie, which Shire rebuffed on three separate occasions. The agreement is the latest of a number of "tax inversion" deals that has seen US companied re-domicile abroad to take advantage of lower corporate tax rates.
Severn Trent, up 0.9%. The water company is seeing a rebound after falling amid a wider equity sell-off Thursday that saw it lose 1.7%. In a statement Thursday, management said it has been trading in line with expectations in recent months.
British Land, up 0.4%. Barclays upgraded its price target on the real estate investment company by 35%, to 936 pence from 695 pence. The bank said it expects the British Land to outperform as the value of its underlying real estate values continue to increase.
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FTSE 100 - LOSERS
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Barratt Developments, down 2.6%. The housebuilder suffered a downgrade to Hold from Buy by Liberum Capital Friday. In a note on the whole sector, Liberum was positive about the outlook for the housebuilders over the coming year, saying that the market has been overestimating the risk of a near-term UK interest rate rise and that mortgage lending should begin to rise again. Even so, the brokerage lowered its price targets on most of the stocks in the sector to take account of recent weakness and said it has concerns over Barratt Development's relative valuation.
UK Banks: RBS, down 2.0%; Lloyds, down 0.9%; HSBC, down 0.7%; Barclays, down 0.2%. The banking sector is under pressure after the UK Competition Markets Authority recommended an in-depth market investigation into the retail banking sector, saying that essential parts of it do not meet the needs of its customers. The big four banks account for more than 75% of all UK current accounts and, in a worst case scenario for the banks, the CMA could recommend that they are broken-up to increase competition from smaller financial service providers.
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FTSE 250 WINNERS
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Carphone Warehouse, up 3.3%; Dixons Retail, up 2.3%. The shareholders of the two retailers voted overwhelmingly in favour of their proposed merger at their separate annual general meetings on Thursday. The deal will create a new giant of the UK high street, Dixons Carphone, which will own 1,298 stores in the UK, and almost 3,000 worldwide.
Hikma Pharmaceuticals, up 1.3%. Goldman Sachs upgraded the stock to Buy from Neutral, and also increased its price target by 20% to 2,250 pence from 1,800 pence
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AIM All-Share WINNERS
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Anglo Asian Mining, up 15%. The gold producer with operations in Azerbaijan said gold production for its second quarter ended June 30 increased 39% on the previous quarter and 77% on the previous year to 15,736 ounces, with the vast majority coming from its agitation leaching plant at the Gedabek project. The company also increased its copper production target due to strong production from its sulphidisation, acidification, recycling, and thickening (SART) processing operations.
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AIM All-Share LOSERS
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Ducat Ventures, down 29%. The investment company proposed the purchase of OptiBiotix Health Ltd, in a reverse takeover that will turn the investing company into a food science business to be called OptiBiotix Health PLC. In a statement, Ducat Ventures said that its broker, Peterhouse Corporate Finance Ltd, also has conditionally raised an additional GBP3.3 million before expenses for the company by placing 41.3 million new shares at 8 pence each. The net proceeds of the second issuance, estimated at GBP2.8 million, will be used to develop OptiBiotix products and for general working capital purposes.
PhotonStar LED Group, down 10%. The designer and manufacturer of smart LED lighting solutions said it has conditionally raised around GBP2.2 million through a placing of 31.4 million new shares at a price of 7 pence per share. The company said it will use the proceeds of the placing to maximise the commercial opportunities of its Halcyon system. Halcyon is a wireless retrofit lighting system that includes sensors and is controlled wirelessly by a powerful, low cost server.
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By Jon Darby; jondarby@alliancenews.com; @jondarby100
Copyright 2014 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.
UK dividends calendar - next 7 days
Monday 29 April | |
NatWest Group PLC | dividend payment date |
New Star Investment Trust PLC | dividend payment date |
Quartix Technologies PLC | dividend payment date |
Tuesday 30 April | |
Abrdn Private Equity Opportunities Trust | dividend payment date |
Amedeo Air Four Plus Ltd | dividend payment date |
Balanced Commercial Property Trust Ltd | dividend payment date |
BioPharma Credit PLC | dividend payment date |
CT Private Equity Trust PLC | dividend payment date |
Doric Nimrod Air Three Ltd | dividend payment date |
Doric Nimrod Air Two Ltd | dividend payment date |
European Assets Trust PLC | dividend payment date |
Kings Arms Yard VCT PLC | dividend payment date |
Lowland Investment Cos PLC | dividend payment date |
Middlefield Canadian Income PCC | dividend payment date |
Shires Income PLC | dividend payment date |
US Solar Fund PLC | dividend payment date |
Wynnstay Group PLC | dividend payment date |
Wednesday 1 May | |
Dalata Hotel Group PLC | dividend payment date |
NWF Group PLC | dividend payment date |
Thursday 2 May | |
4imprint Group PLC | ex-dividend payment date |
AB Dynamics PLC | ex-dividend payment date |
Albion Development VCT PLC | ex-dividend payment date |
Alfa Financial Software Holdings PLC | ex-dividend payment date |
Ashtead Technology Holdings PLC | ex-dividend payment date |
Atrato Onsite Energy PLC | ex-dividend payment date |
Blackstone Loan Financing Ltd | ex-dividend payment date |
British American Tobacco PLC | dividend payment date |
Carr's Group PLC | ex-dividend payment date |
CLS Holdings PLC | dividend payment date |
Coats Group PLC | ex-dividend payment date |
CQS New City High Yield Fund Ltd | ex-dividend payment date |
Dunedin Income Growth Investment Trust PLC | ex-dividend payment date |
Edinburgh Investment Trust PLC | ex-dividend payment date |
Elementis PLC | ex-dividend payment date |
FBD Holdings PLC | ex-dividend payment date |
Genuit Group PLC | ex-dividend payment date |
Glencore PLC | ex-dividend payment date |
Global Opportunities Trust PLC | ex-dividend payment date |
Henry Boot PLC | ex-dividend payment date |
Hiscox Ltd | ex-dividend payment date |
Inchcape PLC | ex-dividend payment date |
IWG PLC | ex-dividend payment date |
J Smart & Co (Contractors) PLC | ex-dividend payment date |
M&G Credit Income Investment Trust PLC | ex-dividend payment date |
Mobeus Income & Growth VCT PLC | ex-dividend payment date |
Nichols PLC | dividend payment date |
Octopus Apollo VCT PLC | dividend payment date |
Porvair PLC | ex-dividend payment date |
Relx PLC | ex-dividend payment date |
Robert Walters PLC | ex-dividend payment date |
Schroders PLC | dividend payment date |
Seneca Growth Capital VCT PLC B | ex-dividend payment date |
Senior PLC | ex-dividend payment date |
Zotefoams PLC | ex-dividend payment date |
Friday 3 May | |
Anglo American PLC | dividend payment date |
Beazley PLC | dividend payment date |
BP Marsh & Partners PLC | dividend payment date |
CT UK High Income Trust PLC | dividend payment date |
CT UK High Income Trust PLC - Class B | dividend payment date |
European Smaller Cos Trust PLC | dividend payment date |
Glanbia PLC | dividend payment date |
Hikma Pharmaceuticals PLC | dividend payment date |
i3 Energy PLC | dividend payment date |
Marble Point Loan Financing Ltd | dividend payment date |
Maven Income & Growth VCT 3 PLC | dividend payment date |
Maven Income & Growth VCT 5 PLC | dividend payment date |
North American Income Trust PLC | dividend payment date |
Pearson PLC | dividend payment date |
Segro PLC | dividend payment date |
Synectics PLC | dividend payment date |
TwentyFour Income Fund Ltd | dividend payment date |
TwentyFour Select Monthly Income Fund Ltd | dividend payment date |
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