Milestone Group PLC Share News (MSG)

LONDON (Alliance News) - The following stocks are the leading risers and fallers within the main London indices on Tuesday.
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FTSE 100 - LOSERS
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Coca Cola HBC, down 2.5%. Societe Generale cut the soft drinks bottler to Hold From Buy. The French bank believes Coca-Cola HBC's margin guidance is achievable but, after a strong run for shares, sees limited upside.

Tesco, down 1.9%. Shares in Tesco were lower despite sales figures by Kantar Worldpanel showing it to be the only big-four UK grocer to achieve growth in sales in the 12-week period ended December 4, up 1.6% year-on-year, as its market share increased to 28.3% from 28.0%. This was Tesco's third consecutive period of growth in both sales and market share. Next in line from a sales perspective was J Sainsbury, which recorded a 0.6% decline in sales in the 12 weeks, as its market share dipped to 16.5% from 16.7%. Wm Morrison Supermarkets saw its sales fall by 1.4% in the 12 weeks, while its market share slipped to 10.8% from 11.0%. Sainsbury's and Morrisons were up 0.4% and 1.0%, respectively.
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FTSE 250 - WINNERS
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Balfour Beatty, up 2.7%. The construction and infrastructure company said the first phase of its 'Build-to-Last' transformation programme is nearing completion, and it expects to deliver on its restructuring targets. Balfour said its restructuring has simplified its business and strengthened its leadership team, noting "governance and processes are in place to drive greater transparency and control". Balfour said that by the year-end it expects to deliver its phase-one self-help targets of 'GBP200.0 million cash in, GBP100.0 million cost out' and also to have a positive net cash balance. Management of legacy issues across its portfolio is "proceeding to timetable" and "remains in line with overall expectations", Balfour said.

Bellway, up 2.7%. The housebuilder said it expects its housing completions to grow 5.0% year-on-year in its financial year to end July 31, citing a positive UK market backdrop. Bellway said that since August 1 it has taken an average of 176 reservations per week, up 7.0% from the 165 reservations per week taken the same period the prior year. Bellway said customer interest remains strong, with site visitor numbers and 'hits' to its website both ahead of the prior year, and it said the pricing environment is firm across the areas in which it has a presence. FTSE 100 peers Taylor Wimpey and Persimmon were up 1.7% and 1.0%, respectively.

Drax Group, up 2.4%. RBC Capital upgraded the electricity generator to Sector Perform from Underperform.
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FTSE 250 - LOSERS
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NCC Group, down 7.1%. The cyber security company said it expects earnings in its full financial year to be lower than its earlier expectations, despite reporting growth in the first half. The company said adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation in the six months to November 30 grew to GBP21.3 million from GBP18.5 million a year before, as revenue rose to GBP125.8 million from GBP93.5 million. But due to the cancellation of three large contracts and one deferral in the Assurance division, NCC said it does not expect to be able to make up the profitability lost in the current full year, meaning adjusted Ebitda for its financial year to the end of May will be lower than previous expectations.

Hunting, down 5.7%. The oilfield services company said its full-year results for 2016 are expected to meet expectations, and it hopes to move earnings into positive territory in 2017 following signs of improvement in some of its markets. Hunting said it has seen improving market indicators onshore the US, and said its Perforating business has particularly improved, especially in West Texas. However, deepwater and international drilling activity "remain subdued". Hunting said 2017 should hopefully see earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation move into positive territory after making cost reductions and seeing improvements in some markets.

John Wood Group, down 2.2%. Morgan Stanley cut the oilfield services company to Equal Weight from Overweight.
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MAIN MARKET AND AIM - WINNERS
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Scotgold Resources, up 12%. The miner said an application has been submitted to extend the bulk processing trial at the Cononish gold mine in Scotland. The small scale plant was approved to process 2,400 tonnes of ore that had been stockpiled over a nine-month period and, while the trial is expected to be completed on schedule, Scotgold has identified potential opportunities it wants to explore and, as a result, wants to extend it. Scotgold believes it has identified opportunities that could further enhance the economics of the full-scale operation. As it will take some time to evaluate its findings, Scotgold is keen to extend the trial for 12 months to March 2018 so it can make full use of the pilot plant.

GETECH Group, up 9.1%. The oil services company said it was "cautiously encouraged" by the mood in its core exploration market, though it said it had "no intention" of sitting back and waiting for a rebound. GETECH said, since reporting its annual results last month, it has secured several "strategically important" new contracts and said it continued to focus on profitability and diversified growth. The group said it has made a new sale of Globe phase-two to an unnamed super-major and has been contracted by the UK Oil & Gas Authority to develop and implement a Geographic Information Systems information and management strategy. In addition, having won its first contract within the nuclear industry in its previous financial year, GETECH said it is currently at an advanced stage of talks to expand on this network.
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MAIN MARKET AND AIM - LOSERS
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Proxama, down 33%. The mobile commerce and payment service provider said it expects the Proximity Marketing unit to "dramatically expand" in 2017 and said it will reveal a new, "very significant US partner" to its Digital Payments division shortly. The company said it expects to deliver revenue of GBP2.6 million in 2016, dropping slightly from GBP2.9 million in 2015. The loss before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation is expected to be GBP3.5 million, comparable to the GBP5.0 million loss in the prior year. Revenue from the Proximity Marketing division is expected to have doubled from 2015.

Milestone Group, down 33% at 0.350 pence. The digital media and technology firm said it has raised funds via a new share placing at a significantly lower price than in its previous fundraising attempt in October. Milestone had said last week it intended to launch a new share placing after said it had not received the proceeds from the GBP1.4 million placing it conducted in October at 1.50p per share. The company had said any new share issue would likely be at a significantly lower price than that. On Tuesday, Milestone has raised GBP518,220 via the placing of 172.4 million shares at 0.30p per share, a fifth of the previous price. Milestone also said it is still pursuing the funds it did not receive in the October placing, which relate to shares issued to an investor procured by the company rather than its broker, but GBP1.3 million remains outstanding.

Fox Marble Holdings, down 19%. The marble quarrying firm said the conversion of orders into delivered sales has taken "longer than anticipated" and will mean its 2016 sales will miss expectations. The company that quarries and finishes marble in Kosovo and the Balkans said it expects revenue from sales of its quarried block marble and finished marble to be in the region of EUR700,000 for 2016, ahead of the EUR200,000 generated a prior year. Of the sales expected in 2016, EUR600,000 will be derived from converted order book sales, Fox Marble said. Its order book for 2017 currently stands at EUR2.9 million, which the group said reflects the continued global appetite for high quality marble.

Carpetright, down 4.4%. The carpet retailer reported a fall in profit in the first half of its financial year due to "uneven" consumer demand and an "increasingly competitive market", but said it has made a "promising" start to the second half. The company said pretax profit in the 26 weeks ended October 29 fell to GBP4.1 million from GBP7.1 million the year before, as revenue decreased to GBP222.3 million from GBP231.2 million and like-for-like sales declined by 2.9%. Carpetright said its results reflected "uneven consumer demand in an increasingly competitive market", worsened by negative movements in foreign exchange rates.
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By Arvind Bhunjun; arvindbhunjun@alliancenews.com; @ArvindBhunjun

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