K3 Business Technology Group Share News (KBT)

LONDON (Alliance News) - The following stocks are the leading risers and fallers within the main London indices on Monday.----------FTSE 100 - WINNERS----------Evraz, up 6.5%. Fitch Ratings upgraded the Russian steelmaker to BB from BB- with a stable outlook, reflecting Evraz's reduction of net debt to USD4 billion, leading to a funds from operations gross leverage of 2.4 times at the end of 2017. Evraz's is targeting absolute net debt in the range of USD3 billion to USD3.5 billion.----------NMC Health, up 5.2%. The UAE-focused private healthcare operator signed an agreement to form a joint-venture healthcare platform with Hassana Investment Co, the investment arm of the Saudi Arabia's largest pension fund, General Organization for Social Insurance. The joint venture will be formed through contribution of existing assets by both NMC Health and GOSI's investee Tadawul-listed National Medical Care Co. NMC will retain a majority stake and operational control of the Saudi Arabian joint venture. The venture will serve as the main vehicle of future expansion for NMC in Saudi Arabia and will seek to acquire stakes in regional healthcare operators. The venture will also seek to manage private and government sector hospitals in the country.----------Mediclinic International, up 1.7%. JPMorgan raised the private hospital group's price target to 760 pence from 750p, retaining a Neutral rating.----------FTSE 100 - LOSERS----------Old Mutual, down 1.0%. The financial services firm announced the price range for its global offer of a stake in soon-to-float Quilter PLC. Quilter was formerly Old Mutual Wealth, and the spun-off asset management business is set to list in both London and Johannesburg on June 25. Old Mutual is offering up to a 9.6% stake, or 165 million shares, in Quilter at a price between 125 pence and 155p. The final price will be determined, and the number of shares sold, at around the same time as it lists. Quilter itself Monday updated on the sale of its "single strategy" asset management business, Old Mutual Global Investors. This is going to plan, it said, and it is possible it may complete by June 25. Turning to the separation of its Multi-Asset business from OMGI, Quilter is expecting costs of about GBP20 million relating to the set up of a standalone Multi-Asset arm. ----------Rolls-Royce, down 0.9%. The jet engine maker identified durability issues on a number of Trent 1000 jet engines, dubbed Package B engines. Back in April, the aerospace and engineering firm had identified similar issues for the intermediate pressure compressor within another range of Trent 100 engines, known as Package C. Rolls-Royce said it has agreed with Boeing and the relevant regulatory authorities to conduct a one-off inspection of the group's Trent 1000 Package B fleet, which consists of 166 engines. The inspection requirements are expected to incur additional costs for 2018, however, Rolls-Royce said it remains confident that its free cash flow guidance of around GBP450 million, plus or minus GBP100.0 million remains unchanged. This follows a report by the Sunday Times that Rolls-Royce is set to cut 4,000 jobs in a bid to slash costs and increase profit.----------FTSE 250 - WINNERS----------Inmarsat, up 13%. RBC raised its price target for the satellite operator to 850 pence from 725p, while keeping its Outperform rating. On Friday, Inmarsat confirmed it had received a preliminary merger proposal from US peer Echostar Corp, which was rejected by the company's board. The company was responding to movement in its share price and a takeover speculation on the Financial Times' Alphaville blog. Shares in Inmarsat closed up 13% on Friday. "After carefully considering the proposal with its advisers the board rejected the proposal on the basis that it very significantly undervalued Inmarsat and its standalone prospects. The board remains highly confident in the independent strategy and prospects of Inmarsat," the company said, adding that there was no certainty over a formal offer from Echostar.----------BCA Marketplace, up 9.0%. Apax Partners said Sunday it is in early stages of considering an offer for the used vehicle marketplace.The private equity firm said the offer would be made by a new entity controlled by funds advised by Apax. It said it has no firm intention to make an offer, and there is no certainty an offer will be made. In a separate statement on Monday, BCA Marketplace noted the possible offer. BCA said it had rejected a preliminary all-cash offer from Apax in May valuing each share in the company 200 pence in May and has not received offers since. Shares in BCA Marketplace were trading at 231.55 pence on Monday, giving a market capitalisation of GBP1.68 billion.----------Ocado, up 1.8%. Bernstein raised the online retailer to an Outperform rating from Underperform, significantly raising its price target to 1,300 pence from 245p, while Goldman Sachs raised Ocado to a Buy rating from Neutral, with a target price of 1,160p from 540p.----------FTSE 250 - LOSERS----------Aggreko, down 3.4%. Liberum initiated the temporary power equipment supplier with a Sell Rating, and a target price of 635 pence.----------OTHER MAIN MARKET AND AIM - WINNERS----------KEFI Minerals, up 37%. The gold producer signed an agreement with an Ethiopian investment syndicate for the acquisition a 30% interest in KEFI's subsidiary KEFI Minerals (Ethiopia) Ltd, for an investment of USD30.0 million. This means that KEFI now has the full funding consortium for the Tulu Kapi Gold Project, with only government approval and due diligence required to start the project.----------Tern, up 15%. The Internet-of-Things focused investment company paid USD303,954 as a convertible secured loan to portfolio company Device Authority, giving Tern a loan note position of USD1.2 million within Device Authority.----------K3 Business Technology, up 10%. The business technology group signed a new contract for fashion-focused software Ax Is Fashion, bringing the total value of orders secured for the software since the start of the year ending November 30 to GBP1.8 million. In addition, K3 business won several new customers since the start of May, including shirt manufacturer Engbers, rural retailer Mole Valley Farmers and Dutch shoemaker Van Bommel.----------OTHER MAIN MARKET AND AIM - LOSERS----------XLMedia, down 31%. The digital marketing provider said it expects pretax profit and adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, deprecation and amortisation for 2018 to be lower than USD39.3 million and USD47.1 million, respectively the year before, as revenue is set to fall below the guidance of USD130 million. This is due to regulatory changes, including the closing of the Australian market at the end of 2017 as well as uncertainty regarding the status of some European markets.----------Widecells Group, down 25%. The healthcare services company was restored to trading on Monday following the closing of the placing first announced in May, raising a total of GBP2.0 million. In May, it was originally intended that Widecells would raise GBP1.5 million through a placing of 49.0 million shares at a price of 3.0 pence per share for the repayment of debt, working capital and product development. However, following the closing of the bookbuild, additional commitments have been received to raise another GBP513,000.----------Karelian Diamond Resources, down 22%. The diamond mining company plans to raise GBP500,000 through a placing and subscription of 11.1 million shares a a price of 4.5 pence per share, which will go towards advancing its diamond projects, including drilling to discover the source of green diamond discovered at Kuhmoand drilling the Riihivaara kimberlite for micro diamonds, both in Finland.----------LighwaveRF, down 23%. The smart home solutions provider's Chief Executive Officer Andrew Pearson stepped down from the company after more than a year in the role since 2017. He will be replaced by Jason Elliott, chief sales officer of data analytics provider Onzo, no later than mid-September. In the meantime, Chief Financial Officer Kevin Edwards will act as interim CEO.----------