Millennium & Copthorne Hotels Share News (MLC)

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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RSA Insurance Group, up 1.2%. The insurer cautioned that lower interest rates and currency moves in its vital areas of business are having an unwelcome effect on business, but said its net profit in the first quarter of 2015 was "a little ahead" of plans and included gains it is expecting to make on asset sales.

EasyJet, up 0.3%. The airline said it flew 6.0 million passengers in April, up from 5.8 million a year earlier, while its load factor, a measure of how many paid seats are filled on its planes, rose to 90.8% from 89.8%. For the 12 months to the end of April, it flew 66.2 million passengers, up from 62.4 million in the previous 12 months, while its load factor improved to 91.0% from 89.7%. The increase came despite easyJet cancelling 602 flights in April compared with 48 a year earlier, mainly due to air traffic control strikes in France.
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FTSE 100 LOSERS
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WM Morrison Supermarkets, down 6.8%. The supermarket chain reported a drop in sales in its first quarter but said the company's financial position remains "strong" as it predicted higher profit in the second half of its financial year than in the first. The grocer said total sales in the 13 weeks to May 3 were down 5.1% on the same period a year earlier, while like-for-like sales were down 6.6%.

Admiral Group, down 4.5%, G4S, down 3.6%, and BP, down 2.7%. The stocks are down after going ex-dividend, meaning new buyers no longer qualify for the latest dividend payouts.

Barclays, down 2.4%. Four big banks are expected to plead guilty to rigging foreign-currency exchange rates and pay billions in combined penalties as part of settlement agreements expected to be announced as early as next week, the Wall Street Journal reported citing people familiar with the matter. The report indicated that US prosecutors are preparing to announce separate settlements simultaneously with Citigroup Inc, Barclays, JPMorgan Chase & Co and The Royal Bank of Scotland Group.
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FTSE 250 WINNERS
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Telecity Group, up 19%. The company said it has received a takeover approach from American data-centre provider Equinix Inc, a few months after agreeing an all-share deal to acquire data-centre services provider Interxion Holding NV. Telecity also reiterated its guidance for 2015. Equinix has approached with a potential offer of 1,145 pence per share, payable in a mixture of cash and stock in Equinix. Around 54% of the consideration would be payable in cash, and 46% in Equinix stock. Telecity currently trades at 1,066.50p.

Esure Group, up 1.2%. The insurer said it increased motor gross written premiums in the first quarter of 2015 and made some progress on its pricing. It said total gross written premiums increased to GBP130.7 million in the three months ended March 31, compared with GBP123.5 million in the corresponding quarter of the prior year. In-force policies increased to 1.971 million from 1.962 million at the same stage of the prior year. Additional services revenue was down 1.2% to GBP23.4 million.
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FTSE 250 LOSERS
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Henderson Group, down 4.4%, Morgan Advanced Materials, down 3.9%, Acacia Mining, down 3.6%, and Rightmove, down 3.2%. The stocks have gone ex-dividend.

Millennium & Copthorne, down 4.2%. The hotels operator reported lower profit in its first quarter, despite a rise in revenue and in revenue per available room, as profit was hit by labour cost pressures and a tough comparative in 2014. It said pretax profit in the three months to March 31 declined to GBP19 million from GBP20 million the year before. This was despite an increase in revenue to GBP189 million from GBP175 million and a rise in revenue per available room to GBP61.60 from GBP58.23.

IMI, down 4.1%. The engineering company said its market conditions remained challenging in the first quarter of 2015 and said its revenue dropped on the back of foreign exchange movements and contract delays. IMI said its revenue in the first quarter to the end of March was down 4% year-on-year, reflecting the ongoing damage to its results from the strength of sterling, though this was partially offset by an initial contribution from German power valve company Bopp & Reuther, which it acquired in 2014.
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AIM ALL-SHARE WINNERS
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Sareum Holdings, up 20%. The cancer drug discovery and development company said its equity swap deal with YA Global Master SPV Ltd has concluded ahead of schedule. Sareum said YA Global Master will remain an ordinary shareholder in the company, with a 1.15% stake, but said there are no further obligations under the equity swap agreement.

Stellar Diamonds, up 16%. The company said it will hold its next diamond sale of up to 4,439 carats from trial mining at the Baoulé kimberlite project in Guinea in Dubai and Antwerp via the eDiamond auction platform this month. Stellar said the sale will include gem quality stones of up to 12.6 carats in size and is part of its anticipated regular sales process from Baoulé, where it is targeting a total of 15,000 carats in order to establish the diamond grade at the project.

Tiziana Life Sciences, up 14%. The company said it has licensed from Cardiff University scientists a new anti-cancer stem cell agent capable of targeting aggressive tumours forming from cells originating in the breast, pancreas, colon and prostate.

ValiRx, up 7.4%. The life sciences company said it has signed a contract with bioanalytical chemistry and research company Admescope Ltd for access to the TRAC Finnish gene expression and biomarker technology. ValiRx acquired the assets and intellectual property rights of TRAC at the start of 2015. Under the agreement, on which no financial details were disclosed, Admescope will licence the TRAC technology for its toxicological testing services unit.
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AIM ALL-SHARE LOSERS
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African Copper, off 84%. The company said it will seek approval from shareholders to cancel its trading on AIM and in Botswana at a general meeting to be held towards the end of May due to the company's size and lack of liquidity, a proposition that has already gained support from the company's largest shareholders. It said it is suffering from a "lack of demand" for its shares which is making it difficult to use the listings to raise money from investors, adding that the "low liquidity" in the company's shares could lead to "volatility" in the share price.

MXC Capital, down 17%. The merchant bank said it has raised GBP11.7 million after expenses in a placing of 480.0 million new share priced at 2.5 pence each. In a statement, it said it will use the money raised and cash it already has to "pursue a number of near-term, identified opportunities and further develop a growing pipeline of future opportunities". The company's shares currently trade at 3.173p.

Red Rock Resources, down 16%. The gold explorer said it has moved to protect its interests in Kenya after the country's Ministry of Mining told the company's local partner that it had terminated two special licenses, although it warned that it may have to book a further writedown on its Kenyan assets if it doesn't get a positive result quickly.

Asian Citrus Holdings, down 11%. The company said it expects the 2015 winter harvest from its Xinfeng Plantation to be significantly reduced compared with the previous year, which in turn will have a knock-on effect for its results in the year to end-June 2016, as it tackles Huanglongbing disease amongst its orange trees.
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By Neil Thakrar; neilthakrar@alliancenews.com; @NeilThakrar1

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