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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Old Mutual, up 6.6%. The Anglo-South African financial services group said "all options" are being considered for its strategic review but no decision has yet been made, in response to a report from Sky News that the company is planning a break up of its operations. Sky News reported Old Mutual is planning to split into four standalone units. This would comprise its stake in South African lender Nedbank, its UK-focused wealth management unit, its South Africa-based emerging markets operation, and its institutional asset management business. Shore Capital's Eamonn Flanagan believes that a disposal or demerger of Old Mutual Wealth is a possibility. "The interaction with the South African life and banking operations is pretty limited and, indeed, probably introduces the conglomerate discount that the stock has traded on for quite a while," Flanagan said.
GlaxoSmithKline, up 0.4%. The pharmaceutical giant said results from its long-term safety study of Advair Diskus for the treatment of adults and adolescents with asthma were published in the New England Journal of Medicine. The study, which reported results in October, compared Advair Diskus to a monotherapy of fluticasone propionate. The results were simultaneously presented at the American Academy of Asthma, Allergy and Immunology Congress in Los Angeles, California, where the company also released new data from a long-term efficacy and safety study of Nucala in severe asthma with an eosinophilic phenotype.
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FTSE 100 - LOSERS
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Anglo American, down 4.3%. UBS downgraded the miner to Sell from Neutral
Randgold Resources, down 4.6%. The gold miner was cut to Equal-Weight from Overweight by Morgan Stanley.
InterContinental Hotels Group, down 2.2%. CitiGroup downgraded IHG, which operates Holiday Inn and Crowne Plaza hotels, to Sell from Neutral.
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FTSE 250 - LOSERS
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Clarkson, down 2.9%. The shipping services group said it will increase its dividend once again after it achieved a 26% rise in profit and a 27% lift in revenue during 2015. The company said its pretax profit rose to GBP31.8 million in 2015 from GBP25.2 million in 2014, as revenue climbed to GBP301.8 million from GBP237.9 million. However, Clarkson warned on turbulence in shipping and offshore markets in its outlook for 2016. "The challenges witnessed across the global shipping markets have continued into 2016. The macro-economic environment remains very uncertain and as such we do not anticipate any changes to our markets in the near term," said Chairman James Hughes-Hallett.
Howden Joinery Group, down 1.9%. Jefferies cut its recommendation on the kitchen manufacturer to Hold from Buy
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MAIN MARKET AND AIM - WINNERS
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APC Technology Group, up 17%. The electronic components supplier said it appointed Art Russell as its chief financial officer, and its Advanced Power Components business saw its best first half performance in terms of bookings since 2011. The company said the Advanced Power Components business saw bookings of GBP7.2 million in the half year to end-March, up 28% compared to the comparative period the previous year. It did not provide the comparative figure. This included bookings of GBP1.8 million in February, which were the highest ever recorded in a single month, it said.
Trading Emissions, up 17%. The environmental and emission assets investor said a further arbitration claim of around EUR5.6 million that had been lodged against the company by a subsidiary of Yunnan Dianneng (Group) Holding Co has been terminated. The arbitration was in relation to claims challenging amendments made to a total of six emissions reductions purchase agreements between Trading Emissions and a project company owned by Dianneng. Additionally, Trading Emissions was awarded HKD289,105 in relation to its legal costs.
Telit Communications, up 16%. The machine-to-machine communication products and services provider said it is confident it will maintain its double digit revenue growth in 2016, underpinned by a positive outlook for the 'internet of things' space, as it reported a rise in pretax profit in 2015. Telit Communications said its pretax profit rose 14% to USD15.9 million in 2015 from USD13.9 million in 2014, as revenue rose 13% to USD333.5 million from USD294.0 million. Within this, Telit saw a 60% rise in revenue from its automotive business to USD39.6 million from USD24.8 million, and a 30% rise in revenue for its Services division to USD26 million from USD20 million.
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MAIN MARKET AND AIM - LOSERS
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fastjet, down 35%. The Eastern and Southern Africa focused carrier said issued a profit warning for 2016 following "prolonged" challenges in the African aviation industry. The airline said challenging market conditions affecting much of the aviation industry on the continent have been "a lot more prolonged" than it had originally forecast, and therefore, results for 2016 will be "materially below" market expectations. Fastjet also no longer expects to be cashflow positive for the year, but said it has sufficient funds to meet its operational requirements, with over USD20 million of cash available at the end of February.
Hydrodec Group, down 14%. Hydrodec said it has disposed of its UK operations to Andrew Black, a non-executive director and shareholder, for a nominal GBP1. Black also is taking on GBP1.2 million in the third-party debt owed by the operations, while Hydrodec will retain a 10% royalty entitlement. Hydrodec said it undertook a strategic review of its UK operations, which comprise Hydrodec (UK) and Hydrodec Re-Refining (UK), following a "significant deterioration" in the outlook of the businesses due to falling oil prices, making them unprofitable.
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By Arvind Bhunjun; arvindbhunjun@alliancenews.com; @ArvindBhunjun
Copyright 2016 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.
7 Mar 2016 10:15
