Kingfisher Share News (KGF)

LONDON (Alliance News) - The following stocks are the leading risers and fallers within the main London indices midday Tuesday.

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FTSE 100 - WINNERS

Kingfisher, up 6.6%. The home improvement retailer has reported an increase in profits and revenues for its recent financial year and announced the start of a multi-year capital return programme to shareholders. For the year ended February 1, it reported pretax profit of GBP759 million, up from GBP691 million a year earlier, driven by a 5.2% increase in revenue to GBP11.13 billion for the year. It also said that it will start a multi-year programme of additional capital returns to shareholders, starting with around GBP200 million during the current financial year. The retailer also said that it is looking for a strategic partner for B&Q China and that it plans to take its successful UK Screwfix business internationally.

EasyJet, up 4.9%. Shares in the low-cost airline company have soared after it said it expects its pretax loss for the first-half to be smaller than previous expectations and boosted forecast revenue per seat growth, after revising figures announced in January due to the timing of Easter. It said it now estimates that its first-half pretax loss will come in between GBP55 million and GBP65 million, narrower than the GBP70 million to GBP90 million range predicted in January.

Wolseley, up 3%. The building materials distribution company's total revenue rose nearly 4% and pretax profit jumped during the half-year as it recorded good growth in its USA and UK businesses, and a modest uptick in like-for-like growth in Nordics. Total revenue for the half-year to January 31 was up 3.9% at GBP6.52 billion from GBP6.28 billion in the comparable period last year. Pretax profit jumped 64%, reaching GBP316 million for the six months, up from GBP193 million in 2013. The group also increased its dividend payout to 27.5 pence per share from the 22 pence per share paid on the comparable period.

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FTSE 100 - LOSERS

Royal Mail, down 1.6%. The company has announced that it will commence a formal consultation with unions Unite and Communication Workers Union with a proposal to cut 1,600 jobs and create approximately 300 new or enhanced roles as part of its continued efficiency programme.

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FTSE 250 - WINNERS

888 Holdings, up 8.6%. The online gaming company has reported a 30% increase in pretax profit in 2013, driven by a continued strong performance from its core casino and poker products. It said that pretax profit rose to USD53.2 million in 2013, up from USD40.8 million the year before, as revenues for the year rose to USD400.5 million from USD375.8 million.

AG Barr, up 2.8%. For its recent financial year, the soft-drink reported a 6.9% increase in revenues to GBP254.1 million, up from GBP237.6 million a year earlier, which drove its pretax profit for the year up 8.5% to GBP34.3 million, compared with GBP31.6 million the prior year. It said it margins improved during the year, reflecting improvements in the cost of goods, controlled overheads and a positive product sales mix.

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FTSE 250 - LOSERS

ITE Group, down 3.4%. The firm has announced that Executive Director Edward Strachan will step down from the board from March 31.

Unite Group, down 1%. The company said it had succeeded in raising gross proceeds of about GBP100 million through a share placing and open offer. It said 93.6% of the open offer shares were taken up, with the rest taken up in a placing. It will offer a further 7.7 million shares through a firm placing. The company had announced March 6 that it wanted to raise the money so that it could increase its stake in the the Unite UK Student Accommodation Fund to 22%, from 16%, and to fund future development activity. Unite shares are quoted at 432.70 pence.

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AIM - WINNERS

ProPhotonix, up 22%. The LED lighting and laser diode company said it more than halved its losses in 2013, driven by a 12% revenues increase and cost savings. It said it has begun 2014 with the "strongest ever" backlog at its business units, and gave a confident outlook for the year ahead, highlighting that it expects first-half revenue for the current financial year to be in the range of USD7.8 million and USD8.2 million. For the six months ended June 2013, it reported revenues of USD7.4 million.

Horizonte Minerals, up 9.1%. The exploration and development company's shares have risen after it said that it prefers a single-line 15,000 tonnes of nickel per year base case for its Araguaia development in Brazil, following a Pre-Feasibility Study at the site. The company said the study showed two options for the developments of the site and it prefers a 25-year life-of-mine which is expected to have cash costs of USD9,166 per tonne over the full life, leading to a projected generation of USD1,766 billion post tax over its life. This option has a post-tax USD519 million net present value at an annual discount rate of 8% and 20% internal rate of return based on a 900,000 tonnes of ore per year single-line rotary kiln-electric furnace process plant, leading to 15,000 tonnes per year of nickel product. The second option, which the company rejected, was to create a post tax USD1,204 billion net present value larger site at an annual discount rate of 8% and 21% internal rate of return, based on 2.7 million tonnes per year of ore through a twin-line RKEF process plant.

Symphony Environmental Technologies, up 7.3%. The group has reported that it narrowed its pretax loss in the 2013 full-year. It said that pretax loss narrowed to GBP778,000 in 2013 from GBP2.2 million in 2012 as revenue rose 46% to GBP7.2 million, up from GBP4.9 million in the previous year.

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AIM - LOSERS

Billing Services Group, off 20%. The company reported a narrower annual pretax loss but warned that it expects both its revenue and its earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation to fall again in 2014. Posting a USD9.5 million pretax loss for 2013, compared with USD14.3 million for 2012, Billing Services said it expects revenue and EBITDA will continue to be affected by the secular decline in the volume of billable long distance and operator service calls initiated on landline phones.

Sovereign Mines of Africa, down 8.3% at 1.49 pence. The gold mining exploration company has raised GBP625,000 through a subscription of 62.5 million shares at a price of 1.0 pence each. It said the proceeds from the fund raising will be used to seek out key acquisitions as well as strategic partners for its Mandiana-Magana property, along with providing working capital for the company for at least the next 12 months.

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By James Kemp; jameskemp@alliancenews.com; @jamespkemp

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