Interserve Share News (IRV)

LONDON (Alliance News) - London stock prices started mixed Wednesday, while Entertainment One shares rose after it said it has rejected a takeover offer from an unspecified suitor, widely reported to have been television broadcaster ITV.

Entertainment One said its board has unanimously rejected the takeover offer, which valued the company at 236.00 pence per share. That would value Entertainment One as a whole around GBP1.01 billion. Shares in the company closed up 9.9% at 210.78p on Tuesday and traded up a further 7.9% to 235.00p on Wednesday morning.

The television and film producer did not name the bidder it had rebuffed, but an earlier report by the Financial Times had named ITV as the interested party. ITV shares traded down 0.1%.

The FTSE 100 index was down 0.1%, or 9.71 points, at 6,841.59. The FTSE 250 was up 0.1% at 17,708.28 and the AIM All-Share was flat at 776.90.

In mainland Europe, the CAC 40 index in Paris was down 0.5% and the DAX 30 in Frankfurt was down 0.2%.

In Asia, the Japanese Nikkei 225 index and the Shanghai Composite both closed down 0.2%. In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng continues down 0.2%.

Elsewhere in UK corporate news, security company G4S led the mid-cap gainers, up 13%, after it said pretax profit and revenue grew in the first half of 2016 as it experienced a largely flat period year-on-year in terms of contract wins.

The company - which runs detention centres, transports prisoners and handles cash collections - said pretax profit for the half-year to June 30 was GBP115.0 million, up from GBP80.0 million a year prior.

Revenue increased to GBP3.53 billion from GBP3.42 billion year-on-year, and G4S said the bottom line benefited from an improvement in margins as it continued to boost productivity in the business. Profit before interest, tax and amortisation margins improved to 6.27% in the half from 6.45% a year prior.

The group declared a flat interim dividend of 3.59 pence.

Payments services company Paysafe Group said pretax profit and revenue rocketed higher in the first half of 2016 following its merger in the second half of 2015, but underlying growth also proved strong and it upgraded its full-year revenue guidance.

Paysafe was formerly called Optimal Payments and merged with rival payments provider Skrill in August 2015. It said pretax profit in the half-year to the end of June was USD74.6 million, compared to USD4.6 million a year earlier when the company was smaller and when it booked costs related to the reverse takeover of Skrill by Optimal Payments that effected the merger.

Revenue for the half-year more than doubled to USD486.7 million from USD223.0 million, though pro-forma constant currency revenue growth for the half was 20% year-on-year.

Paysafe said the integration of the Skrill business is now complete, and it remains on track to deliver the USD40.0 million in annual cost synergies promised when the deal was done. The stock traded up 5.6%.

Centamin significantly increased its production guidance for 2016 and said costs will be lower than previously expected, as the gold miner's profit in the first half of the year soared, leading it to double its interim dividend.

Centamin had already said it was going to adjust its full-year guidance after production in the first quarter of the year beat expectations, followed by an even larger rise in the second, which in turn has helped costs come in lower than what were targeted.

Full-year 2016 production, which comes solely from the Sukari mine in Egypt, is now expected to be 520,000 to 540,000 ounces, compared to the previous aim to produce 470,000 ounces.

Cash costs this year will also be much lower, at a range of USD530 to USD550 per ounce, rather than the original target of USD680 per ounce. All-in sustaining cash costs will be around USD720 to USD750 per ounce, also considerably lower than the original USD900 per ounce target. The stock traded up 3.5%.

Interserve was up 10%. The construction company swung to a heavy loss in the first half of its financial year after having incurred a GBP70.0 million exceptional loss provision in relation to its Glasgow energy-from-waste facility contract.

Interserve posted a pretax loss of GBP33.8 million for the six months to the end of June, from a pretax profit of GBP33.7 million a year earlier, despite revenue rising to GBP1.63 billion from GBP1.60 billion.

The loss came from a deterioration in the outlook from its energy-from-waste contracts, which Interserve had first reported in May and which meant it booked a GBP70.0 million contract provision in respect of the Glasgow energy-from-waste project.

In the economic calendar, US MBA mortgage applications are at 1200 BST, US JOLTS job openings are at 1500 BST, and US Energy Information Administration's crude oil stocks are at 1530 BST. After the London close, the US monthly budget statement is at 1900 BST.

By Neil Thakrar; neilthakrar@alliancenews.com; @NeilThakrar1

Copyright 2016 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.