Marks & Spencer Share News (MKS)

LONDON (Alliance News) - The following stocks are amongst the biggest risers and fallers within the main London indices late-morning Wednesday.
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FTSE 100 WINNERS
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Marks and Spencer Group, up 9.7%. The high-street retailer reported a slight dip in its first-half pretax profit, after seeing a slowdown in food sales growth in the second quarter and citing a warm autumn in the UK as the reason for weaker clothing sales. But the company said its gross margins in the UK held up well in the period, especially in its struggling general merchandise business, and it delivered its first rise in underlying pretax profit for four years.

Meggitt, up 6.8%. The engineer of components for aerospace, defence and energy markets said its organic revenue increased in the third quarter, buoyed in particular by growth in its civil aerospace markets, but its total revenue declined as it took a hit from currency movements and as sales declined at its energy business. The engineer of compenents for aerospace, defence and energy markets also cautioned that its organic growth rate is set to slow in the fourth quarter. However, its shares rose after it announced a new share buyback and analysts deemed the third quarter statement to be better than the low expectations reflected in the company's recent share price performance.

Tullow Oil, up 3.3%. India's state-owned oil producer ONGC Videsh has been in deal talks in recent weeks with the company, the Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday quoting ONGC's exploration chief. The WSJ quoted Anil Bhandari saying his staff met Tullow executives in London last week, and they will continue their talks in coming days. Bhandari said Tullow executives told him that they are not interested in selling the company, but they are willing to sell assets, it added.

Shire, up 2.9%. Goldman resumed its coverage of the Irish pharmaceutical company by adding it to its Conviction Buy List, with a price target of 5,600.00 pence. The stock currently trades at 4,190.00p.
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FTSE 100 LOSERS
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Randgold Resources, down 3.0%, and Fresnillo, down 2.4%. The companies are trading lower as the price of gold fell to its lowest price since April 2010. The yellow metal hit a low of USD1143.30 an ounce Wednesday.

Kingfisher, down 1.7%. Deutsche Bank has downgraded the home improvement company to Hold from Buy, with a price target cut to 340.00p from 400.00p. The stock currently trades at 288.40p.

Petrofac, down 1.2%. The oil services company continues to be affected by the low oil price, which hit a fresh four-year low. Brent oil fell to USD81.59 per barrel Wednesday morning.
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FTSE 250 WINNERS
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Howden Joinery Group, up 6.2%. The kitchens and joinery products supplier said it expects its pretax profit for its recently-ended financial year to beat market expectations, after it put in a strong sales performance in the second half. The company said sales performed well in the second half of the year, including during October, and it noted that about 10% of annual revenue is typically generated in the last two months.

FirstGroup, up 3.8%. The bus and train operator reported a rise in underlying earnings in the first half of the year, boosted by its UK bus and rail operations, and said its restructuring program is on track. Underlying pretax profit, which excludes certain exceptional items, was GBP33.3 million in the six months to September 30, up from GBP19.6 million a year earlier, even though revenue fell 11% to GBP2.94 billion due to structural changes in rail revenues, UK bus operations that have been sold or closed, and foreign exchange movements. The company's statutory pretax profit was GBP9.9 million compared with an GBP8 million loss a year earlier, when the company incurred GBP36.3 million in costs on property sales and derivatives contracts.
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FTSE 250 LOSERS
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Stock Spirits Group, down 24%. The branded spirits producer is by some distance the biggest faller in the mid-cap index following its warning that third-quarter revenue growth had fallen short of expectations after it was hit by aggressive pricing by competitors and heavy promotional activity in the trade market in the latter half of the quarter, and its full-year results could miss expectations as a result. In a statement, the company said trading had become "very tough" in the latter half of the third quarter, particularly in Poland where it continued to see disruption in the supply chain resulting from a duty increase. It also warned the trends had continued into the start of the fourth quarter. It said it faces a challenge to make up the shortfall in its key fourth-quarter trading period. Unless conditions do improve, there "is a risk" its full-year earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation could be between EUR5 million and EUR10 million below expectations, it said.

Centamin, down 8.4%. The gold miner is down after it downgraded its full-year production guidance for the Sukari gold mine in Egypt, its main project. The company said its forecast production for the full year in 2014 at Sukari is expected to be between 370,000 and 380,000 ounces at a cash operating cost of USD700 per ounce. The group said the cut to the production guidance was due to reduced monthly plant activity at Sukari during October and lower-than-expected average grades from underground development ore. It does expect improvements in average plant throughput rates in the rest of the year and into 2015 as its expanding processing plant moves towards optimisation.

Esure Group, down 6.7%. The insurer warned it expects its combined operating ratio, a measure of underwriting profitability, for the full year to tick up towards 92%, assuming "normal" weather for the rest of the year. The company had previously said it was on track to deliver a full-year combined operating ratio "broadly similar" to the 90.9% reported for the first half of the year. A combined operating ratio of 100% represents a breakeven point, while anything above is a loss and anything below a profit.

AVEVA Group, down 6.4%. Liberum has cut its target price on the company to 1,400.00p from 1,500.00p, maintaining its Hold rating, saying that spending in the sector isn't a short-term issue and AVEVA's technology isn't enough to offset the slowdown. Investec has also cut its target to 1,350.00p from 1,600.00p, maintaining its Hold rating on the stock, noting considerable uncertainty on forecasts. The company currently trades at 1,338.00p.

JD Wetherspoon, down 3.6%. The British pub chain said like-for-like sales rose 6.3% in the first quarter of its new financial year, but warned that growth slowed in October, and its operating margin declined year-on-year on the back of salary increases for its staff and higher supplier costs. "As a result of the slowdown in sales growth in October, combined with the cost increases referred to above, the company is currently anticipating an operating margin in the range of 7.2% to 7.8% for the current financial year," the company said in a trading update.

Lancashire Holdings, down 1.5%. The speciality insurer said it will pay a special dividend of USD1.20 a share for the current financial year due to its strong capital position, as it reported a rise in pretax profit in the third quarter. Shore Capital's Eamonn Flanagan, who has a 'Buy' on the stock, said Lancashire's nine monthly results were a "mixed bag", with profits below Shore's expectations and at the bottom of company-sourced market consensus, but that the special dividend was "materially ahead" of both what he and the market had been expecting. The analyst expects another special dividend at the end of the year.
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AIM ALL-SHARE - WINNERS
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Bezant Resources, up 59%. The copper and gold explorer said a financial and technical review of the historic conceptual study at its Mankayan project had improved the economic feasibility of the project, making its search for a potential buyer or partner for the project easier. The company said a supplementary report by Mining Plus Pty Ltd has remodelled and investigated the original mine design, mine schedule, cave footprint and cost estimations and incorporated revised estimates in an updated financial model. It said it had identified a USD307 million potential cost reduction compared with the original 2011 study, based on a change in mine design to a decline access plus conveyor decline for material haulage from the previous decline and shaft haulage configuration.

Edenville Energy, up 33%. The company said it has successfully completed a GBP200,000 share placing which it will use for working capital to continue investing in its Rukwa coal project in western Tanzania. The company said it placed 500 million new shares on the market at a price of 0.04 pence each, which raised the GBP200,000 of additional working capital.

Security Research Group, up 18%. The company reported a rise in half-year earnings, boosted by an improved performance at its Specialist Electronics and Property Information Services divisions, and said its outlook for the full year is very positive. Pretax profit rose to GBP798,000 from GBP219,000 on lower administrative costs and a credit of GBP113,000. Revenue increased to GBP5 million from GBP4.8 million.

Ideagen, up 9.6%. The information management company said it has won a contract to supply compliance and quality management systems to NuGen. Under the deal, Ideagen will implement an electronic document and quality management system using its Workbench software.

Symphony Environmental Technologies, up 7.4%. The company said its SANAFOR PO-5 anti-microbial product has been registered with the US Environmental Protection Agency and said it has launched a bag for life.
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AIM ALL-SHARE - LOSERS
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Alba Mineral Resources, off 50%, Stellar Resources, down 39%, Solo Oil, down 23%, and Regency Mines, down 21%. The oil companies behind the Horse Hill project in the Weald Basin in the UK saw their shares drop significantly after they said they failed to find oil in the Triassic target at the Horse Hill-1 well. UK Oil & Gas Investments owns a 20% stake in the vehicle, with Doriemus, Stellar Resources and Solo Oil each holding 10% stakes and Regency Mines and Alba Mineral Resources each owning 5% stakes. Angus Energy, a company in which UK Oil & Gas Investments has a 6% stake, holds the remaining 40% of Horse Hill Developments. The Horse Hill-1 well has been drilled to a total depth of 8,770 feet measured depth, reaching its Triassic target at 8,054 feet. Despite reaching the target, no observable reservoir rocks or moveable gas was encountered. The Marriot 50 rig which was used to drill the Triassic formation, is now being demobilised and removed from the site whilst the companies consider a decision about future testing and production from the well.

Mosman Oil And Gas, down 21%. The company said it has discovered a fault line and identified a potential new target from a seismic acquisition at its Petroleum Creek project in New Zealand, which will help determine the locations of the company's next exploration wells in the area. Mosman is currently exploring its Petroleum Creek project in New Zealand, and has now completed a seismic acquisition despite delays caused by challenging weather, topography and slower seismic drilling than originally forecast. Despite the delays, Mosman says the data has identified a fault, which is a line in the ground that traces a geological fault, between the Crestal-1 and Crestal-2 wells but has also shown early indications of a new target similar to the nearby Niagara oil discovery.
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By Neil Thakrar; neilthakrar@alliancenews.com

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