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 - WINNERS
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J Sainsbury, up 4.9%. The retailer once more emerged the star performer among the big-four UK supermarkets in the latest Kantar Worldpanel figures, with the group achieving a rise in sales and growing its market share as its listed rivals continued to struggle. Sainsbury's sales for the 12 weeks to December 6 rose 1.2% to GBP4.35 billion from GBP4.30 billion a year earlier, helping its market share rise to 16.7% from 16.5%, according to Kantar. Though rivals Tesco and Wm Morrison Supermarkets both saw their sales and market shares decline, both joined Sainsbury's among the gainers as total sales for the UK grocery market rose by 0.1% in the period, according to Kantar. Tesco was up 3.5%, while Morrisons was up 4.2%.
Meggitt, up 2.8% to 363.20p. The defence and aerospace components company was upgraded to Buy from Hold by Berenberg, which cut its target price on the stock to 445 pence from 536p. Berenberg said Meggitt shares "lurched into value territory" after the company's October profit warning and remain around those levels. With confidence expressed by the company on the medium-term and more clarity on the actions taken to mitigate the challenges it faces, Berenberg said Meggitt shares look attractive against peers.
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FTSE 100 - LOSERS
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Randgold Resources, down 0.8%. The gold miner was dragged lower by a price target cut from Credit Suisse, which lowered its target on the stock to 3,900 pence from 4,040p. Randgold shares were trading at 4,007.00p. The Swiss bank kept a Neutral rating on the shares.
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FTSE 250 - WINNERS
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Tullow Oil, up 6.1%. The oil and gas explorer said it has encountered a net oil pay at the Etom-2 well in northern Kenya and said its Ngamia well in the country has produced thousands of barrels of oil per day under test conditions. Tullow said the Etom-2 well on Block 13T encountered 102 metres of net oil pay in two columns after being drilled to a total depth of 1,655 metres.
UBM, up 2.9%. The events company said it has struck a deal to sell its PR Newswire business to private equity-owned PR software company Cision for USD810.0 million in cash and USD31.0 million in preferred equity. Following completion of the deal, which is in line with UBM's decision to focus on its events business, the FTSE 250 company intends to return GBP245.0 million to investors through a special dividend, with the remainder to be held back to provide financial firepower for bolt-on acquisitions.
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FTSE 250 - LOSERS
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AVEVA Group, down 34%. The engineering IT and software company said its proposed acquisition of industrial software assets from France's Schneider Electric has been terminated. AVEVA and Schneider reached a non-binding agreement in July, under which AVEVA would acquire industrial software assets from Schneider in cash and shares, giving Schneider a 53.5% stake in the company. The deal had been valued at around GBP1.3 billion. But on Tuesday, AVEVA said the pair had been unable to reach a definitive agreement and said the talks had been terminated. The non-binding nature of the agreement means no break-fees will be paid by either side. AVEVA said trading remains in line with its expectations for the full year to the end of March 2016.
SuperGroup, down 9.6%. The fashion retailer was downgraded to Hold from Buy by Liberum, which said any positive surprises from its upcoming interim results were unlikely. Liberum said, in the absence of any positive catalysts, the risk for SuperGroup shares appears to be to the downside, particularly given the big rise in its shares since Liberum first upgraded it to Buy in December last year.
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MAIN MARKET AND AIM - WINNERS
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Ukrproduct Group, up 33%. The Ukraine-based food and dairy producer said it has agreed a restructuring of its loan facility with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development. It said the new facility extends the maturity on the loan to December 2024 from December 2018 and includes a 12-month capital repayment holiday.
Motive Television, up 14%. The online television products company said it has developed a beta version of its TabletTV app for the new Apple TV platform and has submitted it for review to Apple. The beta version will allow US users to download the Apple TV version of the app, which allows users to watch and record free-over-the air television via a device without a contract or subscription. "The addition of the Apple TV platform to the options available to TabletTV Plus users represents an added convenience for viewers and an additional sales channel for TabletTV," said Leonard Fertig, Motive's chief executive.
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MAIN MARKET AND AIM - LOSERS
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Arian Silver, down 84%. Shares in the silver miner were restored to trading and immediately plummeted amid ongoing concerns about its finances. At the end of October, Arian shares were suspended from trading after the company said its loan note amendment agreement it was set to reach with Quintana AGQ had been terminated. Arian had signed a letter of intent with Quintana to amend its loan note agreement in order to provide the company with around USD10.0 million in extra funding, but Quintana pulled out shortly afterwards, leaving Arian scrambling for a solution to its financial concerns.
Trafalgar New Homes, down 24%. The residential property developer posted a big decline in revenue and swung to a loss in the first half due to a dearth of new homes available for sale. Trafalgar's pretax loss for the half to the end of September was GBP168,000, compared to a GBP35,000 profit made a year earlier, as revenue declined to GBP531,000 from GBP2.2 million, reflecting the final sale of homes at the Oakhurst Park Gardens development in Kent. The loss was driven by the company's costs against the lower revenue and the repayment of a loan taken out against the Kent development.
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By Sam Unsted; samunsted@alliancenews.com; @SamUAtAlliance
Copyright 2015 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.
9 Apr 2015 07:50
