LXB.L Share News (LXB)

LONDON (Alliance News) - The following stocks are the leading risers and fallers within the main London indices on Monday.
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FTSE 100 - WINNERS
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Antofagasta, up 2.8%, Glencore, up 2.5%, Anglo American, up 2.2%, Rio Tinto up 1.3%. The copper and diversified miners were rebounding having led the blue-chip index lower on Friday. The dollar's rally was a key theme for markets last week, as expectations for a December US interest rate hike ramped up. On Monday, the dollar lost some of the its steam, which was supporting commodity prices. "Once again commodities and miners are back in favour, a trend that could accelerate as the dollar weakens. Having come off their highs of late, big-name miners like Rio, BHP and Anglo American could be due a decent rally," IG Group analyst Chris Beauchamp said.

Randgold Resources, up 2.0%, Fresnillo, up 1.4%. Gold and gold miners were benefiting for the same reason, with spot gold priced at USD1,215.78 an ounce compared to USD1,207.05 at the London equities close Friday. Midcap peers Hochschild Mining and Centamin were up 2.6% and 2.5%, respectively.

BP, up 1.3%, Royal Dutch Shell 'A', up 1.3%, Shell 'B', 1.2%. Oil and oil stocks also were tracking higher. Brent crude was quoted at USD47.43 a barrel compared to USD46.34 at the London equities close Friday.
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FTSE 100 - LOSERS
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Next, down 2.0%. The clothing and homewares retailer was suffering a read-across from the poor results of women's clothing retailer Bonmarche, whose pretax profit more than halved year-on-year in the six months ended September 24, as both online and store-only sales declined over the period. "Retailers are taking it hard this morning, with Next at the bottom of the index, as some aggressive read-across from Bonmarche sees investors worrying about the next batch of trading updates," IG's Beauchamp noted. Bonmarche shares themselves were up 4.3%, though they are down 50% in the year so far.
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FTSE 250 - WINNERS
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Diploma, up 1.7%. The technical products supplier reported growth in profit and revenue in its financial year to the end of September, with solid trading across its divisions despite a margin squeeze. The maker of medical devices, hydraulic seals and specialised wiring said it made a pretax profit of GBP54.0 million in the year to September 30, up 4.0% from GBP51.8 million a year before. Revenue rose 15% to GBP382.6 million from GBP33.8 million, but this was diluted on the bottom line by a decline in adjusted operating margin to 17.2% from 18.1%, driven mainly by weaker margins in Diploma's Healthcare business. Diploma declared a final dividend of 13.80 pence per share, meaning its total payout rises 10% year-on-year to 20.00p from 18.20p a year prior.

PageGroup, up 1.6%, Hays, up 1.1%. The recruiters were upgraded to Buy from Hold by HSBC.
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FTSE 250 - LOSERS
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Essentra, down 20%. The plastic and fibre products company issued a profit warning for 2016, hit by market softness in its pipe protection arm and slower-than-expected improvements in its packaging unit. Essentra now expects to make an adjusted operating profit of GBP137.0 million to GBP142.0 million in 2016, down from its previous guidance of GBP155.0 million to GBP165.0 million previously.

Mitie Group, down 11%. The facilities management and outsourcing firm said it swung to a substantial pretax loss for the first half of its financial year after it decided to write off the value of its Healthcare business. Mitie said it has decided to withdraw from the domiciliary healthcare market and placed its business serving this sector under review. As a result, it has written down all goodwill and intangibles related to the business. This decision has meant the group booked a GBP128.1 million one-off charge, mostly on the Healthcare division, for the half-year to the end of September. This pushed it to a pretax loss of GBP100.4 million in the period, compared to a GBP45.1 million profit a year earlier. The group cut its dividend to 4.00p from 5.40p.

WS Atkins, down 4.3%. The design, engineering and project management consultancy was cut to Hold from Buy by Liberum.
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MAIN MARKET AND AIM - WINNERS
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BOS Global Holdings, up 39%. The software company said it has signed a distribution agreement with Hong Kong software developer Ag-I Solutions. Under the agreement, BOS will distribute AG-I products globally. BOS said it anticipates the agreement will generate revenue in the near term, though no financial details on the three-year deal were disclosed. "This is a milestone agreement for BOS. It provides us with four new BOS branded products with an existing client base and therefore a new revenue stream to the BOS360 business," said BOS Managing Director Michael Travia.

Plutus Powergen, up 22%. The flexible power projects firm said it has received an offer to enter a partnership with an unnamed large utility. Plutus said it has received an offer from the unknown utility to fund up to 20% of any 20 megawatts renewable or gas-powered flexible energy projects in the UK going forward. "This interest from a major utilities company is transformational. Most importantly, it enables PPG to start implementing the next phase of our strategy, which is focused on retaining a much larger share of the value of our projects for the benefit of our shareholders," said Phil Stephens, Plutus PowerGen's chief executive.

Alternative Networks, up 17% at 333.00p. The telecoms service provider it is recommending a takeover offer made by privately held rival Daisy Intermediate Holdings. Daisy's cash offer is priced at 335.00p a share, said Alternative Networks, valuing the company at approximately GBP165.3 million. The price is a 17% premium to Alternative Networks' share price of 285p last Friday, and a 20% premium to its average price of 280p over the preceding six months. Daisy currently has irrevocable undertakings or letters of intent to vote for the takeover in respect to approximately 29.4 million Alternative Network shares, around 57% of the company's total share capital.
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MAIN MARKET AND AIM - LOSERS
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Senterra Energy, down 45%. The oil & gas investing company said its proposed acquisition of Singaporean SIM-card technology business Oasis Smart Sim has been terminated by Oasis. Senterra said it was "disappointed" that Oasis chose to withdraw from the deal, but provided no reason for the late termination. Senterra added that a proposed loan to Oasis will not be made. "The directors believe that there continue to be other attractive businesses and technologies available for acquisition. The board believes that a replacement transaction will be found and hopes to be in a position to update shareholders in the near future," said Senterra. Its shares had been suspended while the talks on the reverse takeover took place.

Instem, down 25%. The healthcare market IT services company said the performance of its Instem Clinical division has continued to deteriorate since the end of its first half, and anticipates full year results behind market expectations. Instem said it was focusing on resolving issues within the division and expects revenue growth and a return to profit in 2017. However, Instem said it was "now clear that in 2016 Instem Clinical will fall materially short of its financial targets" and will cause the group's 2016 results to miss market expectations.

LXB Retail Properties, down 18%. The closed-end real estate investment company said delays in its development programme, increased construction costs, and reduced expectations of sales values drove down its net asset value in its recently completed financial year. LXB said its net asset value per share was 56.70p at the end of its financial year on September 30, from 103.27p at the end of the prior year. LXB cited the "very difficult" environment in which it operates, where bricks and mortar retail remains under pressure, the construction industry is suffering from difficulties in its supply chain and where statutory bodies are "often very under-resourced".
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By Arvind Bhunjun; arvindbhunjun@alliancenews.com; @ArvindBhunjun

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