Marks & Spencer Share News (MKS)

LONDON (Alliance News) - The following stocks are the leading risers and fallers within the main London indices midday Tuesday.
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FTSE 100 - WINNERS
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ARM Holdings, up 2.9%. The semiconductor company has been raised by Morgan Stanley to Overweight from Equal-Weight.

Land Securities Group, up 1.7%. UBS has raised the real estate investment trust to Buy from Neutral.

AstraZeneca, up 1.5%. The pharmaceutical giant has agreed to pay the US and participating states a total of USD46.5 million, plus interest, to resolve allegations that it knowingly underpaid rebates owed under the Medicaid Drug Rebate Program, the US Justice Department announced. The settlement partially resolves a lawsuit filed under the qui tam, or whistleblower, provisions of the False Claims Act, which permit private individuals to sue on behalf of the government for false claims and to share in any recovery.

Lloyds Banking Group, up 1.1%. Investec has raised the bank to Hold from Sell.
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FTSE 100 - LOSERS
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Rolls-Royce Holdings, down 3.6%. JP Morgan has cut the aerospace company to Underweight from Neutral following its profit warning on Monday. Investec has also downgraded the company to Sell from Hold.

Smiths Group, down 2.8%. The engineering group said it has appointed Andrew Reynolds Smiths as its new chief executive, with plans for him to take the helm on September 25.

Weir Group, down 2.3%. The engineer said it has struck a USD47 million deal to acquire Delta Industrial Valves Inc. The price will comprise a USD37 million initial consideration, with USD21 million to be paid in cash and USD16 million to be paid in Weir shares. Up to another USD10 million will be paid over the next 18 months based on Delta meeting profit growth targets.

Marks & Spencer Group, down 1.0%. The clothing and food retailer reported year-on-year growth in sales in the first quarter of its financial year and said that all guidance for the full year remains unchanged. It said that total group sales were up 1.3% in the 13 weeks to June 27 from a year before, as food sales grew 3.2% and general merchandise revenue rose 0.2%. On a like-for-like basis, food sales grew 0.3% but general merchandise declined 0.4%. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated its Sell rating on the company, saying it feels it will be a challenge to keep the positive momentum in sales in both general merchandise and food going.

SSE, down 0.9%, and Centrica, down 0.7%. The UK Competition and Markets Authority published its provisional findings following a year-long investigation into the energy market, finding that a range of problems have hindered competition in the market and proposing a series of potential remedies to the issues it has identified.
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FTSE 250 - WINNERS
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Victrex, up 2.3%. Numis has upgraded the polymer products company to Add from Hold.
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FTSE 250 - LOSERS
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Aldermore Group, down 3.7%. Exane BNP initiates the lender with a Neutral rating and 325.00 pence price target. The company trades at 304.311p.
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AIM ALL-SHARE - WINNERS
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Jaywing, up 12%. The brand and digital agency announced the appointment of a new chief financial officer and a chief operating officer, while saying its pretax loss widened in its 2015 financial year, as a rise in operating costs offset an improvement in both revenue and margins. The group has spent the year focusing on integrating the Epiphany Solutions business that it acquired in 2014 and said the first quarter of Jaywing's current financial year has been in line with its expectations.

Eagle Eye Solutions Group, up 9.3%. The company said a new contract won with supermarket Sainsbury's will contribute "material revenue" to the company. The multi-year contract, which is for the deployment of the Eagle Eye transaction software platform AIR, adds to a contract signed with Asda. In addition to its contracts with the retailers, Eagle Eye said it has renewed a "significant contract" with betting and gambling company Ladbrokes for SMS services for a further two years.
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AIM ALL-SHARE - LOSERS
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Omega Diagnostics Group off 18%. The company said there is a stability issue with the storage of its Visitect CD4 product, which is a disposable, rapid test designed to test whether people with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) or acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) can be moved onto antiretroviral treatment.
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By Neil Thakrar; neilthakrar@alliancenews.com; @NeilThakrar1

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