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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Worldpay Group, up 5.5%. The payments processing company said pretax profit was significantly higher in the first half of 2016 due to one-off costs not repeating, but underlying earnings and revenue also proved strong and it declared its maiden interim dividend. Underlying earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation rose 19% to GBP217.9 million from GBP182.6 million a year earlier. The group declared its maiden interim dividend at 0.65 pence per share.

Standard Life, up 4.7%. The life insurer and investment manager said operating profit grew 18% in the first half of 2016 with revenue also higher, though net inflows dipped year-on-year. The blue-chip company said its operating profit before tax for the half-year to the end of June was GBP341.0 million, up from GBP290.0 million a year earlier. Standard Life declared an interim dividend of 6.47 pence, up 7.5% year-on-year. Total assets under administration rose to GBP328.0 billion at the end of June from GBP307.4 billion at the end of December.

easyJet, up 3.3%. The low-cost carrier was upgraded to Buy from Hod by Cantor Fitzgerald.

Smiths Group, up 3.0%. The engineer said revenue for its financial year to the end of July will be ahead of its expectations following a strong performance in its Smiths Detection business. Smiths said Smiths Detection - which makes sensors which detect and identify explosives, chemical agents and narcotics - performed well over the year, and the group has benefited from a stronger dollar, which offset a decline in revenue in its John Crane oil services business. Headline operating profit for the year to July 31 is expected to be above expectations, though lower year-on-year.

Wm Morrison Supermarkets, up 2.2%. The supermarket chain and Ocado Group said they have agreed new terms for their existing contract. Morrisons and the online grocery delivery company said the key elements of the renegotiated agreement cover a restriction on store pick being lifted, the profit share agreement between the two being cancelled, and research and development fees being reduced. Ocado was up 0.7%, the stock was raised to Hold from Sell by Shore Capital.
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FTSE 100 - LOSERS
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Legal & General Group, down 6.1%. The investment manager and life insurer said operating profit grew in the first half of 2016, and assets under management increased. The company expressed confidence in navigating through any Brexit-driven challenges despite not being immune to them. L&G said operating profit for the first half to the end June was GBP777.0 million, up 4.0% year-on-year from GBP750.0 million a year prior. It declared an interim dividend of 4.0 pence per share. Despite the half-year results being largely in-line or above consensus estimates, UBS noted a miss in the L&G investment management business. The Swiss bank said operating profit in L&G's investment management arm declined 3% year-on-year to GBP171.0 million, which was 10% below the consensus estimate.

Aviva, down 0.9%. The insurer was cut to Neutral from Outperform by Macquarie.
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FTSE 250 - WINNERS
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Amec Foster Wheeler, up 8.8%. The oil and gas engineer reported a surprise lift in revenue during the first half of the year, achieving record levels from the solar division and UK North Sea unit, but entered the red at the pretax level after booking impairments. Amec warned earlier this year that like-for-like revenue would be slightly lower in 2016, but revealed revenue rose 7.0% in the first half of the year. Revenue amounted to GBP2.84 billion compared to GBP2.66 billion the year. Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation and exceptional items amounted to GBP177.0 million in the half, down from GBP188.0 million and adjusted earnings per share dropped to 28.2 pence from 34.0 pence. Although earnings dropped on an underlying basis, they were considerably better than analyst estimates.

Spirax-Sarco Engineering, up 3.8%. The engineer reported growth in pretax profit for the first half of 2016 as it said it has acquired the assets of a Brazilian valve maker. Spirax-Sarco, which makes steam management systems and peristaltic pumps, said pretax profit in the half to the end of June rose to GBP73.4 million from GBP57.3 million a year prior, as revenue rose to GBP344.0 million from GBP320.0 million thanks mainly to acquisitions the company made. Constant currency, organic revenue grew 5.0% in the half, with good growth from the Steam Specialities and Watson-Marlow businesses. Spirax-Sarco declared an interim dividend of 22.5 pence, up from 20.8p a year prior.

Paragon Group of Companies, up 1.7%. The specialist lender was upgraded to Outperform from Neutral by Macquarie, according to traders.
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FTSE 250 - LOSERS
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IP Group, down 4.4%. The developer of intellectual property-based businesses said it turned to a loss during the first six months of the year and reported a fall in net asset value but said it remains confident that it can capitalise on opportunities during the remainder of the year. IP said the pretax loss in the first half of 2016 amounted to GBP33.9 million, swinging from a GBP66.4 million profit a year earlier after it booked a GBP24.5 million loss from valuation changes in its portfolio compared to the GBP73.7 million gain last year. Net assets at the end of June, excluding intangibles, had fallen to GBP683.5 million from GBP714.3 million at the end of 2015 and from GBP700.6 million at the end of June 2015.

Regus, down 3.7%. The office space provider said it has seen some softening in revenue growth in some of its markets as global macro-uncertainty has increased but remains confident it will deliver full year profit in line with management's expectations. Regus said revenue grew 15% to GBP1.08 billion for the six months ended June 30, up from GBP937.0 million for the same period a year earlier, though noted that its revenue growth rate at constant currency decelerated from 15% in the first quarter to 6.4% in the second. Regus said half of the reduction in growth rate came from the base-line effect of acquisitions, but the remainder was a function of softening demand and its decision in certain specific markets to take a more cautious approach to lease renewals and "use the opportunity in some instances to consolidate locations".
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MAIN MARKET AND AIM - WINNERS
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Greatland Gold, up 16%. The natural resources development company said planning has commenced for a comprehensive drilling programme at the Ernest Giles gold project, after having lodged a programme of work application with the Western Australian Department of Mines & Petroleum. Greatland said its application includes plans for a wide-spaced reverse circulation drilling campaign. The campaign will target gold, arsenic and antimony anomalies identified by soil sampling and drilling previously conducted in the southern parts of the Ernest Giles area in the Yilgarn in central western Australia. Greatland said its programme of work also includes an application to drill at around 30 locations for an estimated 6,000 metres of drilling.

Tri-Star Resources, up 14%. The miner said the first major equipment order has been placed to launch the Oman Antimony Roaster project into the procurement and implementation phase. Tristar holds a 40% stake in the holding company that owns the project, Strategic & Precious Metals Processing, alongside its partners, the Oman Investment Fund and DNR Industries. Tri-Star said the equipment ordered will provide the project with a "modern metal oxide reduction technology" which will help the project to operate in a clean and low emission manner. Tri-Star said this will be a "key differentiator for antimony products" sold from the project.
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MAIN MARKET AND AIM - LOSERS
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Motif Bio, down 22%. The biopharmaceutical company said it has deferred the pricing of its proposed offering of American Depositary Shares and listing of those shares on the NASDAQ Global Select Market, due to current market conditions. In June, Motif Bio had said it had filed to list the shares on on the NASDAQ Global Select Market, but said the pricing and number of ADSs to be offered had not yet been determined. On Tuesday, Motif Bio said it had filed the registration statement for the ADSs, but said this has not yet become effective. Motif Bio did not say when or whether the ADSs will now be listed on the NASDAQ Global Select Market. Motif Bio said it continues to engage with investors and will provide an update in due course.
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By Arvind Bhunjun; arvindbhunjun@alliancenews.com; @ArvindBhunjun

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