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LONDON (Alliance News) - The following stocks are the leading risers and fallers within the main London indices midday Wednesday.
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FTSE 100 - WINNERS
Sports Direct International, up 6.2%. The sports goods retailer said gross profit grew by 14.6% in its fiscal third quarter, buoyed by double-digit revenue growth which was fuelled by strong growth in retail and online sales, and said it is confident it will meet its expectations for full-year underlying earnings. Gross profit increased 14.6% to GBP280.7 million for the 13 weeks to January 26, with group sales up 11.2% to GBP655.4 million. This compares to a gross profit of GBP244.8 million and group sales of GBP589.5 million, for the same period a year earlier.
Rolls Royce Holdings, up 2.1%. The company's share price has jumped after BAE Systems said that the UK and Saudi Arabia had finally agreed a deal on higher prices for Typhoon jets that Saudi Arabia ordered back in 2005. Rolls Royce makes the engines for the fighter jets.
Mondi, up 1.6%. The South African paper and packaging company said that its underlying operating profit for the full-year is expected to come in above the EUR574 million reported in 2012. It announced that its full-year earnings per share will be between 93 euro cents and 97 cents, which means the midpoint of that range, 94.5 cents, is 3% ahead of the current consensus estimate of 92.2 cents, says Jefferies analyst Justin Jordan.
Marks & Spencer, up 1.2%. Jefferies has upgraded Marks & Spencer Group to Buy, from Hold, raising its price target to 600.00 pence, from 480.00p, after the retailer launched its new website and in-house e-commerce platform. The investment bank believes that this development, together with a range of other improvements, "should lead to a step change in M&S' operating performance."
BAE Systems, up 0.7%. The British defence and security giant said that the governments of the UK and Saudi Arabia have now reached a deal on higher prices for the Typhoon jets that Saudi Arabia ordered in 2005. Although it did not provide any details of the agreement, it said it is in line with what it had expected when it gave a trading outlook for 2013. It expects cash settlement for the higher price to start being paid in early 2014.
Royal Dutch Shell, up 0.7%. The oil and gas giant has chosen a USD2.4 billion offer from oil trader Vitol Group as its preferred bid for its downstream Australian assets, The Australian reported, citing a person familiar with the offer. The downstream asset sale includes petrol stations and its Geelong refinery, a major hydrocarbon processing site in Victoria.
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FTSE 100 - LOSERS
ITV, down 1.3%. The British TV company said that it has acquired a 51% stake in New York-based television producer DiGa Vision, continuing a recent run of production company acquisitions as it tries to build a portfolio of international content it can show on its channels and sell around the world. ITV has made an upfront cash payment for the controlling stake, with a put and call option to buy the remainder of the company. No financial details of the acquisition were disclosed.
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FTSE 250 - WINNERS
Galliford Try, up 3.3%. The housebuilding and construction group has reported an 18% jump in both pretax profit and revenue in the first half of its financial year, as the recovery in the UK housing market buoyed its housebuilding unit, and said it is targeting a doubling of profits over the next five years. The group posted pretax profit of GBP38.1 million for the six months to end-December, from GBP32.3 million a year earlier, as revenues rose to GBP803.5 million, from GBP678.2 million.
Ultra Electronics Holdings, up 0.7%. Ultra Electronics said it has acquired US-based specialist sonar provider 3 Phoenix Inc for USD70 million in cash, a deal that it expects to boost earnings and enhance its relationship with the US Navy. The group said that it will integrate the company during 2014, and expects it to be fully earnings accretive during 2015.
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AIM - WINNERS
Plus500, up 21%. The group said it was confident in delivering "considerable growth" in 2014 and announced a special dividend, as it saw revenue and pretax profit more than double in 2013. In its maiden full year results since listing on AIM, Plus500 posted revenue of USD115.1 million, more than doubled from USD56.1 million in 2012. Pretax profit rose to USD67.2 million, from USD23.1 million in the previous year. Plus500 posted a final dividend of USD0.1504 per share, as well as a special dividend of USD0.1369. Subsequently, Liberum has raised its price target by 82% to 500.00 pence, up from 275.00p.
Versarien, up 7.7%. Versarien has reported that its second largest share holder, former Chairman James Murray-Smith, sold 14,000,000 shares in the company on Monday, representing 17% of the issued share capital of the company. As a result, Murray-Smith now holds 1,000,000 shares, representing 1.2% of the company, and thus no longer holds a notifiable interest in the company.
Avanti Communications Group, up 7.7%. The firm said it has signed a three-year technology deal with a Vodafone European company for the provision of Avanti's 3G IP backhaul services to the Vodafone company.
eServGlobal, up 6.3%. The mobile financial services company said it has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with BDCOM Online Ltd for a potential mobile financial services joint venture in Bangladesh.
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AIM - LOSERS
Altona Energy, off 13%. The Australian coal-focused energy company is amongst the index's biggest fallers despite reporting that its pretax loss narrowed in the first half of its financial year. However, the group also announced that its memorandum of understanding with Xinjiang Hetian Duwa Industry Ltd, under which it was hoping to get a deal to buy a cashflow-generative Duwa coal mine in Xinjiang, China, has now been terminated after the ownership title couldn't be proved.
Motive Television, down 11%. The software supplier said it has conditionally raised GBP775,000, before expenses through a placing of almost 3.9 million shares. The group said the placing proceeds will be used for developing and patenting additional technology, marketing, as well as for general corporate purposes, as the business hopes to accelerate growth in new markets such as Europe, Africa and Latin America, as well as increase demand for its Tablet Television product. The shares were placed at a price of 0.02 pence per share.
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By James Kemp; jameskemp@alliancenews.com; @jamespkemp
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