Highlands Natural Resources Share News (HNR)

LONDON (Alliance News) - The following stocks are the leading risers and fallers within the main London indices on Monday.
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FTSE 100 - WINNERS
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Fresnillo, up 6.0%, Glencore, up 5.7%, Anglo American, 5.7%, Antofagasta, up 2.5%. Miners were benefiting on the potential for easier monetary policy. CMC Markets analyst Michael Hewson said the boost was coming from speculation for easing monetary policy not only in Japan, but also from China following the weaker-than-expected inflation data published over the weekend. Data from China's National Bureau of Statistics showed Chinese consumer prices rose 1.9% year-on-year in June. This slowed from the 2.0% growth in May and remains below the 3.0% target set by the government, but was a touch ahead of the 1.8% consensus forecast. Mid-cap mining stocks were also higher with Acacia Mining, up 5.5%, Vedanta Resources, up 4.9%, Centamin, up 4.6%.

Barratt Developments, up 3.6%, Taylor Wimpey, up 3.0%, Berkeley Group Holdings, up 2.2%. Housebuilders were again gaining back some of the heavy losses suffered following the UK's vote to leave the European Union. Property developers Land Securities Group, up 2.2%, and British Land Co, up 1.9% were also gaining back further ground having taken a similar Brexit-powered bruising.

Mondi, up 2.0%. The Anglo-South African paper and packaging company said it has struck a deal to buy Russia's ZAO Uralplastic-N. Mondi will buy the company, which makes consumer flexible packaging products for food, hygiene, homecare and other applications, for an undisclosed amount from Russian investment group JSC Rusnano and a private investor. Uralplastic-N operates one plant near Ekaterinburg, in the Urals region of Russia. In 2015, it made adjusted earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation of EUR4.7 million, on revenue of EUR29.2 million.
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FTSE 100 - LOSERS
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Rolls-Royce Holdings, down 1.2%. The engineer's shares were lower despite saying it has agreed to acquire the other 53.1% stake in Spanish aerospace components firm Industria de Turbo Propulsores SA it does not already own for EUR720.0 million. Rolls-Royce will acquire the stake from SENER Grupo de Ingeniería and said the deal will strengthen its position on large engine programmes in its civil aerospace operations by growing aftermarket revenue. Industria de Turbo Propulsores is based in Bilbao, Spain and design and manufacturers aerospace components.

Dixons Carphone, down 0.5%. The mobile phone and electronics retailer was downgraded to Equal Weight from Overweight by Barclays. The bank said Dixons Carphone's housing market-dependent big-ticket electronic items will likely come under pressure in the second half of 2016 and into 2017. Mobile sales are likely to prove resilient, but white goods and television sales softness could drag on earnings and a lack of large, struggling competitors may limit any potential market share gains.
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FTSE 250 - WINNERS
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CLS Holdings, up 3.2%. The property investor said it has acquired two properties in Germany for a combined EUR49.5 million. CLS said it has acquired Parsevalstrasse 11 in Dusseldorf for EUR43.6 million. The property comprises 239,496 square feet of mixed-used space and generates a net rental income of EUR3.1 million a year. The price reflects a net initial yield of 7.1%. The group also has agreed to buy Harburger Ring 35 in Hamburg for EUR5.9 million. That property comprises 36,028 square feet of office space and generates EUR400,000 in net rental income a year. The net initial yield on the purchase is 6.4%.

NCC Group, up 3.0%. The cyber security company was upgraded to Buy From Hold by N+1 Singer. The broker said a return for NCC to focusing on its core Assurance and Escrow business will drive stronger cash generation for the company.
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FTSE 250 - LOSERS
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IMI, down 0.9%. The engineer was cut to Sell from Neutral by UBS, reflecting a view at the Swiss bank that general industrial stocks still face a soft market backdrop.
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MAIN MARKET AND AIM - WINNERS
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Sound Energy, up 12%. The oil and gas company said the first well that was drilled on the Tendrara licence onshore Morocco has flowed gas at a higher-than-expected rate despite only accessing a small proportion of the reservoir. The TE-6 well was drilled in early June and encountered 28.0 metres of net gas pay in the TAGI reservoir, but operations are ongoing and the full results are expected to be released "later this month". "The company confirms that rigless operations continue and that the results are already significantly above company expectations as a significant stable flow has already been achieved, despite only having accessed so far 18% of the total reservoir and no stimulation having yet been performed," said Sound.

Surface Transforms, up 11%. The carbon-ceramic brake discs maker said it has signed a pre-production technology development agreement with an unnamed German carmaker. Surface said the deal with the "leading German performance car manufacturer" would, if successfully concluded, lead to a series of supply deals covering the carbon ceramic brake discs Surface Transforms makes. The company said that should a production contract be awarded, minimal additional revenue would be made in the year to the end of May 2017, but revenue would grow to around GBP3.0 million in its 2018 financial year and further to GBP10-12 million a year once volumes mature.

McBride, up 7.7%. The household and personal care products company said adjusted operating profit for its full financial year will be slightly ahead of its previous expectations, although revenue fell in the year as it worked to reduce the number of small customers it serves and due to pricing pressures. McBride said its financial year, which ended on June 30, benefited from better-than-anticipated progress on cost-saving initiatives, including from its UK business restructuring project and from purchasing-driven savings resulting from reductions in product ranges.
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MAIN MARKET AND AIM - LOSERS
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Highlands Natural Resources, down 8.3%. The oil and gas company said it no longer plans to sell the natural gas and helium project located in the US to Opera Investments as the London-listed company opts to develop the asset itself. The company had agreed to sell its subsidiary, Highlands Helium Development, the owner of Highlands' Helios Two natural gas and helium project in Montana, US, back in June but said Monday there is a "mutual agreement" with Opera to terminate the deal. Highlands now plans to develop Helios Two itself and said an update would be provided "in the coming weeks". The company did, however, state it will develop the project in two phases. Opera shares were untraded, having last traded at 7.50 pence. Shares in the company were restored to trading on Monday after the termination of the Highlands talks.

SThree, down 6.2%. The recruiter said its pretax profit dipped in the first half of its financial year due to restructuring costs and a sluggish UK recruitment market, counteracting growth in revenue and gross profit. SThree said its pretax profit for the half to the end of May dipped to GBP12.8 million from GBP13.8 million a year earlier. In the half, the group booked one-off charges on the restructuring actions taken in its energy, banking & finance and UK businesses. Excluding those charges, pretax profit grew to GBP15.1 million from GBP13.8 million.
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By Arvind Bhunjun; arvindbhunjun@alliancenews.com; @ArvindBhunjun

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