Last checked at LONDON (Alliance News) - The following stocks are amongst the biggest risers and fallers within the main London indices midday Wednesday.
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FTSE 100 WINNERS
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BG Group, up 37%. Royal Dutch Shell and BG Group said they have reached an agreement on a cash and shares takeover of BG by Shell, valuing BG at around GBP47 billion. Under the terms of the deal, BG shareholders will get 383 pence in cash plus 0.4454 Shell B shares per BG share. Based on the 90 trading day volume weighted average price of 2,170.3 pence per Shell 'B' Share on Tuesday, the total value of the deal is 1,350.00 pence per BG share. Shell B shares are quoted at 2,100.00p Wednesday, down 4.9%, while A shares are down 2.1%.
BP, up 3.2%. The oil major's shares are up as Shell's takeover of BG Group has sparked expectations of further consolidation in the oil and gas sector.
Experian, up 3.1%. Credit Suisse has raised the information services company's shares to Outperform from Neutral, according to traders.
J Sainsbury, up 1.4%, and Wm Morrison Supermarkets, up 1.1%. Sainsbury has registered its first sales growth since August last year, according to the latest Kantar Worldpanel UK grocery market data. The grocer grew its sales by 0.2% in the 12 weeks to March 29 to GBP4.14 billion, up from GBP4.13 billion a year earlier. Its market share remains slightly lower year-on-year, down to 16.4% from 16.5%, but the rate at which it is losing market share slowed in the period, Kantar said. Morrsions sales fell 0.7% to GBP2.76 billion in the period, while market share was down to 10.9% from 11.1%.
EasyJet, up 1.1%. The budget carrier said its passenger numbers rose 7.5% year-on-year in March to hit 5.5 million, up from 5.1 million a year earlier. On a rolling basis to the end of March, the company's passenger numbers rose 6.7% to 66 million, up from 61.8 million a year before.
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FTSE 100 LOSERS
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Aviva, down 2.1%. The insurer has gone ex-dividend, meaning new buyers no longer qualify for the latest dividend payouts
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FTSE 250 WINNERS
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Tullow Oil, up 11%, Ophir Energy, up 7.7%, and Premier Oil, up 2.3%. The oil and gas producers are trading higher as investors consider further merger and acquisition activity in the sector.
Go-Ahead Group, up 4.2%. Nomura has upgraded the passenger transport services provider to Buy from Neutral.
AG Barr, up 3.3%. The soft drinks manufacturer has been upgraded to Buy from Add by Investec.
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FTSE 250 LOSERS
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National Express Group, down 1.0%. HSBC has cut the travel operator to Hold from Overweight, according to traders.
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AIM ALL-SHARE WINNERS
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Lansdowne Oil & Gas, up 16%. The company said it has launched a strategic review to consider all of its options which could lead to a potential merger, acquisition, sale or farm-out of its assets after receiving proposals. Lansdowne said it will discuss a potential merger on a confidential basis with a third-party under a formal sale process.
Kalimantan Gold Corp, up 13%. The gold miner said it has been informed by the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources in Indonesia that the company's KSK contract of work has been renewed. It said the KSK contract of work, which covers the Beruang Kanan project, has now entered its fifth year of exploration after the renewal, which came after its forestry permit was also renewed. The company said the forestry permit will allow it to conduct surface and drilling activities at the project for two more years.
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AIM ALL-SHARE LOSERS
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SeaEnergy, off 14%. The offshore energy services business and oil and gas investment company reported a wider pretax loss in 2014 as a rise in revenue was offset by an impairment made against its investment in Lansdowne Oil and Gas.
Trinity Exploration & Production, down 14%. The company said it has launched a strategic review of the business after receiving a number of conditional proposals which could lead to a merger, the sale or farm-out of some of the company's assets or the sale of the company. Following on from the approaches, Trinity said it has decided to enter discussions with interested parties under a formal sale process framework in order to enable discussions about a potential merger on a confidential basis, it said in a statement.
Blinkx, down 9.0%. The internet media company said it expects to meet market expectations for the full-year to end-March, although earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, amortisation, acquisition and exceptional costs is expected to be significantly down from the previous year. Blinkx expects to post adjusted Ebitda of at least USD3 million, compared to USD39.6 million a year before, on revenue of at least USD210 million, compared to USD247.2 million.
Starcom, down 8.1%. The wireless services company said a change to its accounting policy will mean its 2014 results are materially below market expectations. Starcom said it will no longer recognise revenue in respect of so-called "bill and hold" sales prior to the delivery of goods.
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By Neil Thakrar; neilthakrar@alliancenews.com; @NeilThakrar1
Copyright 2015 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.
IN BRIEF: Lansdowne Oil & Gas shares up on ECT claim update
Lansdowne Oil & Gas - Exploration company with licences in the Irish offshore shelf areas - Says that shareholder will receive an economic benefit relating to their shareholder if the company is successful in its ongoing claim against the Irish government, following its refusal to grant the company a lease undertaking for the Barryoe gas field. In May, the company was informed by the Irish environmental department that the Barryroe lease undertaking would not be granted, after the company had invested USD20 million in the project. Lansdowne is pursuing a claim against the country through the Energy Charter Treaty, an international agreement permitting companies to sue national governments. Lansdowne says that the benefit will be taken from the net proceeds of the ECT claim, after legal and ancillary cost deductions, but notes that there is no guarantee of success.
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