Legal & General Share News (LGEN)

LONDON (Alliance News) - The following stocks are the leading risers and fallers within the main London indices on Tuesday.
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FTSE 100 - WINNERS
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J Sainsbury, up 0.7%. The grocer reported growth in sales in the fourth quarter of its financial year and said that, while the market remains competitive, it is confident it will outperform its major peers. The supermarket chain said total retail sales in the nine weeks ended March 12 increased by 1.2% excluding fuel and by 0.5% including fuel, both year-on-year. On a like-for-like basis, retail sales were up by 0.1% excluding fuel, but declined by 0.4% including fuel. Sainsbury's made no mention of its takeover bid for Argos retail chain owner Home Retail Group, for which a formal offer must be made by Friday.
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FTSE 100 - LOSERS
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Antofagasta, down 10%. The Chilean miner confirmed suspicions it will skip its final dividend for 2015 after earnings were slashed by lower commodity prices and a fall in production. The group reported net earnings from continuing operations of only USD5.5 million in 2015, a dramatic fall from the USD422.4 million reported in 2014, as revenue dropped 34% to USD3.39 billion as a result of weaker copper prices and lower production. Antofagasta said it will not pay a final dividend for the year, leaving shareholders with the 3.1 pence interim dividend paid for the first half. That is a huge drop from the 21.5 cents full-year dividend paid in 2014.

Legal & General Group, down 5.1%. The life insurer and investment manager said profit and cash generation improved in 2015, prompting a higher dividend, though future increases in the payment to shareholders will be more strongly informed by underlying business growth. Pretax profit rose to GBP1.36 billion in 2015 from GBP1.24 billion in 2014, slightly ahead of company-supplied analyst consensus of GBP1.34 billion. Net cash generation grew by 14% to GBP1.26 billion, ahead of the GBP1.22 billion expected by analysts. Speaking to journalists in a conference call, Chief Financial Officer Mark Gregory said the group is "broadly happy" with its dividend cover ratio, with dividend increases to be "more strongly correlated simply to the underlying business growth".
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FTSE 250 - WINNERS
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Ocado Group, up 5.9%. The online grocery delivery firm reported growth in sales in the first quarter of its financial year, boosted by a rise in average orders per week and said it expects to continue growing ahead of the online grocery market. Ocado said group sales in the 12 weeks to February 21 grew to GBP312.4 million from GBP271.1 million in the same period the year before, as retail sales rose to GBP286.7 million from GBP252.0 million. Average orders per week increased to 214,000 from 183,000, but the average order size slipped to GBP111.41 from GBP114.72.

Hastings Group Holdings, up 5.5%. The insurer declared its first dividend since listing as operating profit and net premiums rose in 2015. Operating profit rose to GBP126.1 million in 2015, up from GBP103.5 million in 2014, as net earned premiums increased to GBP255.9 million from GBP199.1 million. Pretax profit, which took into account amortisation and depreciation of GBP27.6 million and finance costs of GBP91.1 million, amounted to GBP5.0 million in 2015, versus a pretax loss of GBP1.4 million in 2014. Hastings declared a dividend of 2.2 pence per share.

Inchcape, up 2.5%. The car distributor said its pretax profit and revenue both edged up in 2015, driven by a robust performance in its emerging markets business. The company said pretax profit rose 2.7% to GBP262.6 million from GBP255.8 million a year earlier, as revenue inched up to GBP6.8 billion from GBP6.7 billion. Inchcape will pay a final dividend of 14.1 pence per share, up from 13.8p a year earlier, taking its total dividend to 20.9p, a 4.0% rise on its 20.1p payout in 2014.
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FTSE 250 - LOSERS
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Evraz, down 4.3%. The Russian steelmaker and miner said its loss narrowed in 2015 despite revenue falling and said it has made a series of cuts to its capital expenditure and operating costs to try to cushion the blow of lower commodity prices and demand. Evraz said its pretax loss amounted to USD707.0 million in 2015, which is considerably narrower than the USD1.08 billion loss booked in 2014, despite revenue falling to USD8.55 billion from USD12.74 billion. Evraz slashed spending and costs in the year, with capital expenditure down 35% to USD428.0 million in 2015 from USD654.0 million a year earlier. Evraz said it also made USD374.0 million in operating cost savings in the year.

Dechra Pharmaceuticals, down 2.0%. The veterinary products company said it has acquired Portland, Maine-based generic animal drugs developer Putney for USD200.0 million in total. Dechra will pay USD200.0 million in cash to acquire Putney, which will be backed by an extension to its existing credit facility and by the group raising GBP47.1 million via a share placing. Dechra has issued 4.4 million shares at 1,100 pence per share to raise the funds.
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MAIN MARKET AND AIM - WINNERS
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Kimberly Enterprises, up 178%. Late on Monday, the Eastern European-focused property developer said it will borrow EUR2.2 million on a short term basis from Real Property Investment to repay debt owed by subsidiary Eurobul to Bank Leumi Le-Israel. The loan from Real Property Investment is interest free, Kimberly said in a statement, and will be repaid from the cash proceeds arising from the sale of Kimberly's property assets, including the Canadian residential developments it sold in January.

Gem Diamonds, up 11%. The diamond miner said it will pay a special dividend after reporting a rise in profit during 2015 despite its revenue coming in slightly lower year-on-year. The miner said its pretax profit from continuing operations rose in 2015 to USD99.0 million from USD95.4 million in the previous year despite revenue falling to USD249.5 million from USD270.8 million. Lower royalty and selling costs, reduced operating expenditure and lower corporate expenses partly cushioned the fall in revenue to produce underlying earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation of USD103.5 million compared to the USD106.0 million reported in 2014.
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MAIN MARKET AND AIM - LOSERS
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Totally, down 12%. The healthcare services company said it has agreed to acquire Premier Physical Healthcare for up to GBP6.8 million and has raised funds to back the deal. Premier Physical Healthcare is a UK-based provider of physiotherapy, podiatry and ergonomics services. Totally will pay up to GBP6.8 million for Premier Physical, with GBP371,974 to be paid upfront and the rest to be paid through four potential deferred payments through to 2019, dependent on performance targets being met. To back the deal, Totally will issue 10.0 million shares at 62.00 pence per share, raising a total of GBP6.2 million.
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By Sam Unsted; samunsted@alliancenews.com; @SamUAtAlliance

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