Millennium & Copthorne Hotels Share News (MLC)

LONDON (Alliance News) - The following stocks are the leading risers and fallers within the main London indices on Thursday.
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FTSE 100 - WINNERS
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Mondi, up 0.9%. The Anglo-South African paper and packaging company said it has struck a deal to sell its Raubling containerboard mill in Germany. It said it has signed a deal to sell its operations in Raubling to Heinzel Group, a German paper company, for EUR25.0 million on a debt- and cash-free basis. Mondi said the deal is expected to complete by the end of the year and will allow it to focus on its core containerboard operations.
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FTSE 100 - LOSERS
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Barclays, down 5.2%. The bank missed market expectations and cut guidance for 2016, as its adjusted pretax profit fell in the third quarter, with larger losses in the non-core businesses that Barclays is winding down more than offsetting stronger earnings in three of its four main operating businesses. Barclays raised its 2016 core cost guidance by GBP400 million and cut its core return on equity target for 2016 to 11% from the 12% previously guided due to the UK banking surcharge. The trading update comes after it appointed Jes Staley, the former JPMorgan Chase investment banking chief, as its new chief executive.

Smith & Nephew, down 4.7%. The medical equipment company said it has agreed to acquire Blue Belt Holdings for USD275 million, as it maintained its outlook for 2015, and reported a slight rise in revenue for the first nine months of 2015. Smith & Nephew expects revenue growth from the Blue Belt, which works in orthopaedic robotics-assisted surgery, to be over 50% in the medium-term. However, Smith & Nephew said that its group trading profit margin will be diluted by around 60 basis points in 2016 as a result of investment it will make in combined research and development programmes and supportive clinical evidence. It expects Blue Belt to become profitable in 2018.
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FTSE 250 - WINNERS
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Playtech, up 7.3%. The company said it has seen a strong trading from both its gaming and financial divisions in the third quarter of 2015. The gaming division's revenue increased by 23% to EUR143.4 million in the third quarter of 2015, while the financial division's revenue amounted to EUR27.5 million in the period without a prior year comparison. Overall, third-quarter revenue increased by 47% to GBP170.9 million. "Given the strength of our business and the momentum that we are enjoying, we have confidence for the remainder of 2015 and beyond," Chief Executive Mor Weizer said.

National Express Group, up 1.4%. The transport operator said it delivered constant currency growth in all of its divisions in the second quarter, with like-for-like operating profit also increasing. The company said its group revenue was up 3.0% in the second quarter to the end of September on the year before, with growth in all of its divisions. Like-for-like operating profit was up 7%.
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FTSE 250 - LOSERS
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Millennium & Copthorne Hotels, down 3.0%. The hotel operator said its revenue slowed in the third quarter following a weaker performance in its Asian hotels. Though revenue remains ahead in the year to date, pretax profit was lower in the quarter. It said its pretax profit in the third quarter was GBP36.0 million, a 28% fall on the GBP50.0 million it made a year earlier, and this dragged its pretax profit for the nine months to the end of September down 9.3% to GBP98.0 million from GBP108.0 million a year earlier. Millennium & Copthorne said the slowdown in its revenue per available room was driven by the performance of its Asian hotels, which were hit hard in the quarter by the weakness showing in the Chinese economy.
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MAIN MARKET AND AIM - WINNERS
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Trakm8 Holdings, up 8.9%. The telematics company said it has secured a deal with an unnamed US-based data company to supply its T10 BLE device. The Bluetooth device communicates with mobile phones to relay real-time journey data. The new client is expected to buy more than 25,000 devices in the first two years of the contract agreement.

OMG, up 6.7%. The image software and technology company said it is set to meet market expectations for the year to the end of September after a good second half. OMG said its image technology unit Vicon and Yotta infrastructure management arm both traded well in the second half, leaving the group on track to meet market forecasts for the year.
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MAIN MARKET AND AIM - LOSERS
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Falkland Oil and Gas, down 33%. The oil and gas company said it has failed to find a commercial amount of hydrocarbons at the Humpback exploration well offshore its namesake country, two weeks after the company said initial results suggested there was oil to be found. On October 16, Falkland Oil said it recorded oil and gas shows whilst drilling through the main target horizon, with the immediate wireline logging indicating the "possible presence" of hydrocarbon bearing sandstones. But those hopes were dashed on Thursday after Falkland confirmed the well encountered "non-commercial quantities of oil and gas within a number of sandstone intervals."
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By Sam Unsted; samunsted@alliancenews.com; @SamUAtAlliance

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