LONDON (Alliance News) - The following stocks are the leading risers and fallers on the main London indices early morning Monday.
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FTSE 100 -Winners
Fresnillo, up 1.4%, is the biggest riser on the blue-chip index. The mining company's shares are benefiting from UBS upgrading the company to Buy, as well as adding it to "most preferred mining shares."
William Hill is up 0.5% after Jefferies said the bookmaker is its preferred company in the gaming sector following an analyst meeting with the company late on Friday. The online market is increasingly important in the UK and William Hill has an 18% share, which is the company's greatest opportunity, says Jefferies. Last week's quarterly trading update indicated a difficult few months, but Jefferies expects the trading backdrop to improve. Looking forward, with an increasing focus on football, William Hill is positioned well to benefit from the 2014 World Cup, the bank said.
Rolls-Royce climbs 0.5% as it is awarded two contracts with a combined value of USD496 million to support T56 engines on US government aircraft. The company has won a USD406 million six-year deal to provide parts and field support for T56 engines on about 1,000 aircraft in service with the US Air Force, Navy, Coast Guard and Customs and Border Control and international fleets. It also won a separate contract from the US Navy, worth up to USD90 million, for repairing T56 engines on E-2 Hawkeye aircraft. Rolls-Royce also welcomed Japan Airlines' decision to order 31 Airbus A350 XWB aircraft, which are powered by Rolls-Royce Trent XWB engines.
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FTSE 100 - Losers
Burberry Group drops 1.5% after its Chief Executive Angela Ahrendts warned that the slowdown in China may be the new reality rather than a temporary slowdown. Despite, doing better than expected in China, Ahrendts, talking to Les Echos, cautioned that slower growth in the country might be more entrenched than everyone thinks.
Royal Bank of Scotland, down 1.4%. The bank falls as investors react badly to a report in the Financial Times that it could face a good-bad bank split after it emerged that Chancellor George Osborne has already sought clearance from Brussels over the matter. Osborne filed papers in July to inform the European Commission of the move, which could even include new state funding just before new EU regulations that would constrain the Chancellor's options, the FT said. However, the filing for European clearance does not predetermine the outcome of RBS, the FT reported, citing officials familiar with the matter. A Treasury review is set to conclude this month over whether toxic assets at RBS should be put into a state-owned bad bank that could speed up RBS's recovery.
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FTSE 250 - Winners
Petra Diamonds climbs 1.6% after reporting that it is on track to produce the production target of three million carats for the whole year. The company delivered 816,735 carats in the first quarter of its new financial year despite a strike that hit some of its mines for nearly three weeks.
Ted Baker, up 0.8%. Analysts at Jefferies are positive after the company's trading update. The company reported sales growth of 31% and EBIT of GBP12.6 million in the first half, in line with expectations. The investment bank says it is starting to see evidence of the so-far untapped global consumer demand for the clothing brand. Retail sales density figures, which exclude online sales, for the UK and Europe have risen by 15%, with a 21% increase in the US. Alongside this, Jefferies is confident that the US retail business will reach approximately GBP55 million in sales for the full year, more than five times the GBP10 million secured in 2009-2010. Online sales also are strong. The clothing company has seen an increase of 52% in online sales to GBP9.4 million. Jefferies is also positive about Ted Baker's progress in the Asian market. Jefferies has maintained its Buy recommendation with a price target of 2,150p.
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FTSE 250 - Losers
Cranswick drops 4.2% after it reported higher revenues but warned that soaring feed costs were driving up pig prices and it may not be able to convert the higher revenues into higher profits unless it can push up prices to customers and make further efficiency savings. It does not expect to see any reduction in pig prices until the turn of the year. Subsequently, Investec has reduced its forecast for pretax profit by 7% to GBP49.4 million from GBP52.9 million, and for earnings per share to 78.6p from 84.1p. Alongside this, Cranswick said that the start-up costs of its gourmet pastry facility in Malton, North Yorkshire had been higher than anticipated.
Serco Group, down 3.6%. Serco's share price has fallen after it was revealed that the company may be excluded by the UK Military of Defence from bidding on a GBP15 billion defence outsource contract. The Sunday Times reported that the continuing investigation by the UK Ministry of Justice into allegations that the security-services group over-charged on a prisoner transfer contract may result in its exclusion.
Man Group is down 2.5% after UBS decided to cut its target price for the investment management business to 86p from 98p, retaining its Neutral recommendation. The company is one of the biggest fallers on the FTSE 250.
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AIM - Winners
Suretrack Monitering jumps 663%. Shares in the company have soared as its newly consolidated share issue started trading on AIM. The company has sold its operating unit and converted itself into an investment firm. As part of its conversion, it issued new shares to raise funds to make investments, but also then reorganized its share capital, consolidating each group of 11 shares of 0.05 pence into one of 0.55 pence and then subdividing the new shares into one ordinary share of 0.05 pence and one deferred share with a nominal value of 0.50 pence. The deferred shares don't trade.
JSJS Designs climbs 40% after signing a deal that makes Megaman UK, a subsidiary of Neolight Hong Kong, its sole distributor for the UK. The deal is expected to raise cash and reduce its UK working capital needs to zero. The company said the deal allows it to make similar agreements with Megaman in more of its key markets, which it hopes will help drive sales growth in 2014. It expects to generate up to GBP650,000 in cash over the next six months as stock is transferred to Megaman.
Physiomics is up 25% after it signed a contract with a new speciality pharmaceuticals customer to investigate how one of the client's new candidate drugs shrinks tumours. Physiomics scientists will use systems biology approaches to map the possible pathways by which the drug could act, it said in a statement without giving any financial details. The analysis will be used to narrow down possible mechanisms and suggest new experiments that the client can perform to home in on one mechanism.
Sabien Technology Group, up 16%, after it won a contract from Lincolnshire County Council to deploy its M2G Boiler Optimisation Technology into its estate for an estimated GBP2.2 million. The company provides technology for the reduction of carbon emissions and energy usage. It anticipates the programme will be completed by September 2017, and will commence its first phase in October 2013 with 70 schools.
Tri-Star Resources, up 12%, is prospering after it announced that it has completed its acquisition of Portage Minerals Inc. Portage's Chairman and Chief Executive Ken Hight has become an executive director of Tri-Star.
Sable Mining, up 10%. The iron-ore exploration company said that it has been granted an export decree from the Republic of Guinea to transport iron ore from its flagship Nimba project through Liberia to the port of Buchanan. The company announced September 30 that it had been granted its Mining Licence at the Nimba project and it is now authorised to mine and extract ore from the Nimba area and transport it across the Liberian border. It now needs approval to transport through Liberia.
Motive Television is up 8.8% after the television software and services company said that it had renewed its contract with Mediaset for another year following the success and growth of Mediaset Premium Play in Italy.
Fusionex International climbs 6.5% following its announcement that it expects its results for the full year ended September 30 to be at least in line with expectations. Fusionex said it had seen good progress in its growth strategy over the period, and that its sales pipeline remained strong. The company said it was confident it would progressively win more new business from Hong Kong and China following the win of its first client in Hong Kong during the year.
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AIM - Losers
Beacon Hill Resources, down 18%. The mining company continues to slip after it announced Friday the issue of convertible loan notes to raise up to USD19.2 million to fund the development of upgrades at the companies Minas Moatize Project. With notes convertible at a price of 2p per share, share prices have continued to fall to 1.47p from Friday's opening price of 2.05p.
Optare drops 8.5% as investors react negatively to the news that it has appointed Enrico Vassallo as its new chief executive, effective immediately, while Per Gustav Nilsson, who has been acting as interim CEO since the start of the year, will step down from the board and leave the company.
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By James Kemp; jameskemp@alliancenews.com; @jamespkemp
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