Marks & Spencer Share News (MKS)

LONDON (Alliance News) - The following stocks are amongst the biggest risers and fallers within the main London indices midday Thursday.
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FTSE 100 WINNERS
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Marks And Spencer Group, up 5.4%. The retailer reported UK sales growth that beat analysts' expectations, driven by strong online growth and the first rise in general merchandise sales for three years, although its international sales fell due to the crisis in Russia and Ukraine and issues in its Turkish franchise business.
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FTSE 100 LOSERS
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BHP Billiton, down 2.2%, Antofagasta, down 1.8%, Glencore, down 1.8%, and Anglo American, down 1.8%. The miners are down after iron ore prices fell below the USD50 a tonne mark for the first time in a decade.

InterContinental Hotels Group, down 1.1%, Lloyds Banking Group, down 0.6%, and Pearson, down 0.6%. The companies are down after they all went ex-dividend, meaning new buyers no longer qualify for the latest dividend payouts.
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FTSE 250 WINNERS
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BTG, up 6.2%. The healthcare company said it expects its revenue in the financial year that ended on Tuesday to be above the guidance range it had previously provided, and revenue to grow strongly in the year that has just begun. It said it now expects revenue for the year to March 31 to be above the previous guidance it gave of GBP345 million to GBP360 million, including revenue from the PneumRx acquisition that was completed in early January. It then expects revenue to grow strongly in the current financial year to between GBP410 million and GBP440 million on a constant currency basis.

Playtech, up 3.5%. The gaming software development company said it will buy a 91.1% stake in online contract for difference and options broker TradeFX Ltd For up to EUR458 million, a deal that will push it into a new area and that it expects to boost earnings immediately. The company also said it still has substantial resources with with to pursue further acquisitions.

Premier Oil, up 2.8%. Premier Oil, Falkland Oil and Gas and Rockhopper Exploration all said an oil and gas discovery has been made at the Zebedee well in the Falkland Islands. Premier Oil holds a 36% stake in the Zebedee well.

Tate & Lyle, up 2.5%. The sugar and sweeteners company reiterated its guidance for the financial year that just ended, after it was hit by operational and supply chain issues in the first half and its SPLENDA Sucralose sweetener business continued to face an extremely competitive market. Berenberg says "it is clearly a positive not to have guidance revised down for a change".
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FTSE 250 LOSERS
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Betfair Group, down 2.8%. Exane BNP Paribas has cut the online betting company to Underperform from Outperform.

John Laing Infrastructure Fund, down 2.5%, Interserve, down 0.9% and Murray International Trust, down 0.8%. The companies have gone ex-dividend.

Vedanta Resources, down 2.5%. The miner is down due to the fall in iron ore prices.

Redrow, down 0.7%. Citigroup has downgraded the housebuilder and construction company to Neutral from Buy.
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AIM ALL-SHARE WINNERS
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Arcontech Group, up 86%. The market data software systems company said it has signed a contract for its Excelerator product. The company said the deal will cover a minimum of 200 licences for the Microsoft Excel-based add-in product.

Densitron Technologies, up 29%. The company said it has agreed to surrender its lease for a property in Newcastle for GBP400,000, financed from an unsecured loan from its largest shareholder Peter Gyllenhammer. The loan has a coupon rate of 9% per year, and a repayment date up to end-March 2016.

Crimson Tide, up 16%. The mobile software and services company said pretax profit rose in 2014, as a higher number of subscribers led to improved margins, and it said it remains encouraged by its prospects. It made a pretax profit of GBP84,000, up from GBP20,000 in 2013, despite revenue declining slightly to GBP1.21 million from GBP1.27 million. It reduced administrative costs and margins improving to 86% from 80% as it signed up more subscription business.

21st Century Technology, up 15%. The company posted a widened pretax loss for 2014, and whilst it expressed cautious optimism for its future, it also warned about the risks of being reliant on a small number of large customers.
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AIM ALL-SHARE LOSERS
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Koovs, off 44%. The Indian online fashion retailer said it will spend more on marketing this year than anticipated and expects the trend to continue, even as it said it expects sales to have tripled in the year to the end of March. Koovs said it expects marketing costs for the year to the end of March to be around INR320 million, or around GBP3.2 million, which is approximately GBP2.1 million higher than originally anticipated. It also expects these higher costs to continue given the growth of the Indian e-commerce market.

Forbidden Technologies, down 20%. The company posted a widened pretax loss for 2014, mostly as a result of significant investments it made during the year including a thwarted attempt to expand into the US.

Red Rock Resources, down 11%. The company said it has liquidated and full repaid its loan facilities with YA Global, while MG Partners II Ltd has converted USD120,000 of its outstanding USD335,000 balance of unsecured convertible notes, which are due for repayment on January 1, 2016, into 121.7 million shares at the conversion price of GBP0.000665.
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By Neil Thakrar; neilthakrar@alliancenews.com; @NeilThakrar1

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