Johnson Matthey Share News (JMAT)

LONDON (Alliance News) - The following stocks are the leading risers and fallers within the main London indices on Wednesday.
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FTSE 100 - WINNERS
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Smiths Group, up 3.1%. The engineering company said an improvement in margins helped its profit to edge higher in the year to the end of July, despite revenue falling, though it said its results for the current financial year will be more second-half weighed than normal. The company, which has operations spanning energy services, medical devices and security sensors, said its pretax profit for the year was up to GBP459.0 million from GBP445.0 million a year earlier. The increase in profit was driven by a better operating margin in the year, up to 17.6% from 17.1%, which offset a 2% decline in revenue to GBP2.90 billion from GBP2.95 billion.

easyJet, up 2.2% to 1,738.00 pence. Barclays hiked its target price on the budget carrier to 2,100p from 1,950p and kept an Overweight rating on the stock. Barclays said the upside potential for easyJet going into its 2016 financial year is clear, with the company having successfully navigated through an intense competitive environment which should show signs of easing in the coming year.
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FTSE 100 - LOSERS
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Johnson Matthey, down 2.3%. Shares in the platinum group metals company that makes emission control technologies continued to be sold Wednesday, having lost 8.0% on Tuesday, amid the scandal engulfing German car maker Volkswagen. VW is facing a major fine in the US for installing software on its diesel cars that cheats emissions tests. GKN, the engineering group which makes driveline components for VW, also opened lower, having fallen 6.1% on Tuesday, but recovered through the morning to be up 3.0%, one of the blue-chip index's best performers.
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FTSE 250 - WINNERS
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Premier Oil, up 9.0%. The oil and gas producer said production is currently running above its full-year guidance, as it continues to focus on lowering costs and using its substantial hedging programme to battle the downturn in oil prices. Premier said production since the start of 2015 has averaged 57,100 barrels of oil equivalent per day after the company completed its summer maintenance activities. In terms of sales, Premier has hedged around 60% of its production in the second half of 2015 at USD92 per barrel and 30% of its production in 2016 at USD68 per barrel. Both those prices compare favourably to current Brent prices, which was trading at just under USD49 per barrel on Wednesday.
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FTSE 250 - LOSERS
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Greene King, down 4.6%. HSBC has cut its rating on the pub company to Reduce from Hold.

BBA Aviation, down 2.0% at 279.10 pence. The aircraft services company confirmed it has agreed a USD2.07 billion deal to acquire US rival Landmark Aviation and will launch a big rights issue of shares to fund the deal. BBA said the deal will be funded by existing debt facilities and by raising around GBP748.0 million via a fully-underwritten rights issue, which will see it issue 562.3 million shares at 133.0 pence per share, less than half its closing price of 284.7 pence on Tuesday. BBA said the deal will be transformational for its business, increasing its Signature fixed-base operator unit's network to 133 locations in North America and 189 locations overall. The deal also will materially increase BBA's exposure to the business and general aviation segment of the market, a key growth area in the aviation services sector.
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MAIN MARKET AND AIM - WINNERS
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Hague and London Oil, up 151%. The oil and gas company said it has entered a conditional deal to buy a stake in the Duyung production sharing contract in Indonesia. The contract includes the undeveloped Mako natural gas discovery and nearby infrastructure, with an initial estimate of gas in place of 902 billion cubic feet gross. Hague said the deal will expand its southeast Asia portfolio, in line with its strategy, and said it will take an 85% working interest in the contract at a relatively low risk. Hague added the project has healthy economics even within the current low commodity price environment.

Formation Group, up 12%. The property development and project management company said its results for the year to the end of August will come in ahead of its expectations. Formation said its pretax profit for the year to the end of August will be more than double the GBP1.8 million target it had in place at the start of the year. This compares to a GBP99,000 loss it made a year earlier, and the company expects its profitability will continue to improve in the current financial year.
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MAIN MARKET AND AIM - LOSERS
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Publishing Technology, down 17%. The company, which provides technology products and business development services to the media industry, issued a profit warning after the close on Tuesday and said that its chief executive has stepped down. The company said it is now now "not expected to meet current market expectations and is expected to produce a loss for the year" because its Advance division is under-performing. CEO Michael Cairns has departed with immediate effect.
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By Sam Unsted; samunsted@alliancenews.com; @SamUAtAlliance

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