LAD.L Share News (LAD)

LONDON (Alliance News) - The following stocks are the leading risers and fallers within the main London indices on Friday.
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FTSE 100 - WINNERS
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Anglo American, up 5.2%, Glencore, up 3.6%, Antofagasta, up 2.8%, BHP Billiton, up 2.8%, Rio Tinto, up 2.8%. Resource stocks were recovering some of the ground lost on Thursday after the US Federal Reserve minutes, released on Wednesday, suggested a US rate hike in June is a firm possibility. New York Fed President William Dudley added to the hawkish picture as he said the Fed is likely to raise rates in the summer if the economy meets the bank's expectations. Dudley said "June is definitely a live meeting".

BP, up 1.8%, Royal Dutch Shell 'A', up 1.9%, Shell 'B', up 1.9%, The stocks were up on the higher oil price. Brent is quoted at USD49.17 a barrel compared to USD47.73 at the London equities close on Thursday.
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FTSE 250 - WINNERS
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Ladbrokes, up 9.4%. The UK Competition & Markets Authority said it has provisionally found that the merger between the betting chain and Gala Coral may give rise to competition concerns in a large number of local areas. In order to resolve the concerns, around 350 to 400 betting shops may have to be sold for the merger to be conditionally cleared, the CMA said. Ladbrokes operates 2,154 betting shops in Britain and 77 in Northern Ireland, while Gala Coral operates around 1,850 betting shops in Britain. Combined, this would give Ladbrokes and Coral a total of 4,081 shops in the UK, while William Hill has 2,370. Even in the event the remedies result in 400 Ladbrokes-Coral shops being sold, the combined company would still be significantly larger than its nearest competitor and would only reduce the combined Ladbrokes-Coral estate by less than 10%.

Close Brothers, up 4.2%. The financial services company said it delivered an improved performance in the third quarter, with good trading for all three of its divisions. The firm, which runs banking, securities and asset management operations, said its banking arm has continued to see good demand for its specialist lending services. In the third quarter to the end of April, the loan book increased 4.0% over the quarter and 8.2% in the nine months to the end of April to GBP6.2 billion. Winterflood, the securities arm, has seen its performance improve after tough market conditions in the first half. Profit improved across its trading books thanks to a modest recovery in equity markets and better risk appetite, Close said.
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FTSE 250 - LOSERS
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Spectris, down 6.6%. The company said acquisitions boosted sales in the first four months as it continues to restructure to better align spending plans with sales growth. Spectris, which makes precision measurement instruments for industrial markets, said reported sales for the first four months of 2016 grew 2.0%. Acquisitions contributed all of this growth, as like-for-like sales declined 4.0% in the period, Spectris said.

Riverstone Energy, down 1.6%. The closed-ended energy investment company said its net asset value at the end of March stood at USD1.33 billion, falling from USD1.34 billion at the end of 2015, causing its net asset value per share to drop to USD15.85 from USD15.95. The overall loss for the first quarter of 2016 amounted to USD8.2 million, whilst the loss per share equaled 9.65 cents, compared to a year earlier when it booked a USD3.7 million loss and a loss per share of 4.86 cents.
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MAIN MARKET AND AIM - WINNERS
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DDD Group, up 10%. The imaging company said it has entered into an agreement with Arisawa Manufacturing for a USD750,000 secured loan, and the two companies have agreed to extend the term of a previous loan. DDD said the new loan was pursuant to the existing authorities granted to the board of directors, and is secured by its US patent covering 2D to 3D conversion. DDD also said that the term of its previous loan with Arisawa, announced in February, has been extended from June 30 to December 31. DDD said the proceeds are to be used to finance business development and licensing activities for its new TriDef SmartCam and UPix products, and for additional intellectual property licensing activities.

Sinclair Pharma, up 6.9%. The dermatological products maker struck a distribution and strategic marketing deal in the US and completed the sale of its non-aesthetics business, which was announced earlier in the year. Sinclair said it has signed a four-year, exclusive distribution and strategic marketing agreement with Thermigen for Silouhette Instalift. Sinclair said it has granted Thermigen a four-year distribution licence for the US market, running to mid-2020. Sinclair also said it has regained distribution rights for Silhouette Soft in Brazil, with the creation of a Brazilian affiliate to sell Silhouette Soft expected to be immediately earnings enhancing. Sinclair said it has seen revenue grow to GBP8.9 million in the three months to the end of March, significantly ahead of the GBP7.7 million it made in the six months to the end of December.
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MAIN MARKET AND AIM - LOSERS
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Circle Oil, down 71%. The oil and gas company said its huge debt pile means the result of its ongoing strategic review is likely to lead to "little or no value" for its shareholders and said it is attempting to conclude the review as soon as possible. Circle Oil said there is likely to be little or no value for its shareholders because of the amount of debt it has. The company has USD77.5 million worth of outstanding debt - a considerable sum for a company with a market capitalisation of around GBP11.3 million. That debt is split between a USD20.0 million convertible loan held by KGL Investment Co and the USD57.5 million reserve based lending facility from IFC.

Armadale Capital, down 18%. The resources investment company said it is still chasing the required finance from its potential partner on its main project in the Deomcratic Republic of the Congo. Armadale's primary focus is on the Mpokoto gold project in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where it is aiming to initially build an operation based around "easy mining, low cost weathered ore". Armadale said it is still in talks concerning the potential for A-MCS to become a partner on the project by constructing, operating and providing funding of at least USD20.0 million to allow construction to start in the second half of this year. The total capital cost of the initial phase is USD25.2 million.
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By Arvind Bhunjun; arvindbhunjun@alliancenews.com; @ArvindBhunjun

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