LONDON (Alliance News) - The following stocks are the leading risers and fallers on the main London indices midday Wednesday.
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FTSE 100 - Winners
Aberdeen Asset Management, up 3.0%. Aberdeen's shares are up about 15% from last week's closing price having confirmed Monday that it will acquire Scottish Widows Investment Partnership from Lloyds Banking Group at a cost of up to GBP660 million. The latest boost to the share price Wednesday comes from a round of broker upgrades following analysis of the deal and the group's full year results. The results were better than expected, with pretax profit 4% ahead of consensus expectations and, with the unexpected inclusion of Investment Solutions and Lloyds Wealth, the acquisition holds more value to Aberdeen than first thought, says Berenberg.
easyJet, up 1.4%. Shares of the budget airline are continuing to rise after gaining 3.8% on Tuesday following the release of full-year results. With two recent profit warnings from Ryanair, there had been an expectation that easyJet's results would disappoint. However, not only were underlying results in line with forecasts but management announced a 44.1p special dividend. The airline was cautious on the outlook for the coming year, but shares are continuing to outperform.
Pearson, up 1.0%. Shares in the publishing company have been upgraded to Buy from Neutral by Merrill Lynch, with a price target upgrade to 1,550p from 1,380p, suggesting a 15% upside to the current share price price.
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FTSE 100 - Losers
AMEC, down 2.3%. The oil services company gained 1.5% on Tuesday after saying its year-to-date trading remains in line with expectations. Management said the order book at the end of October was GBP4.0 billion, an 11% increase on the GBP3.6 billion level at the end of October in 2012, as the company benefited from strong performance in the UK North Sea and US renewable markets. Shares have slipped back in a downward market Wednesday.
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FTSE 250 - Winners
Telecom Plus, up 15%. The utility services company, which trades under the Utility Warehouse brand, said it has boosted its energy market credentials with two acquisitions and 20-year supply agreement with Npower, while also reporting higher pretax profits in its first half. The company announced that its pretax profit increased 9.6% to GBP13.7 million for the six months ended September 30 from GBP12.5 million the previous year, as sales jumped significantly.Telecom Plus also increased its interim dividend by 23% to 16 pence from 13 pence the previous year.
International Personal Finance, up 3.2%. The home credit business announced the appointment of Adrian Gardner to its board as Chief Financial Officer, effective from January 2. David Broadbent, who has served as Finance Director since the company was listed in 2007, is taking on the newly created role of Chief Commercial Officer with effect from the same date, the company said. Gardner, who has spent more than a decade as CFO across multiple sectors, joins the firm from RSM Tenon. Previously, he was CFO of PA Consulting Group. Canaccord Genuity has upgraded the stock to Buy from Hold following the announcement.
Kentz Corporation Limited, up 2.7%. The engineering and construction business said it has been awarded a contract in Qatar worth USD190 million for engineering, procurement, installation and commissioning for wellhead industrial control systems. The holding company for Kentz Engineering & Construction Group said the deal was completed with Qatar Petroleum for roughly 775 wells across the Dukham Oilfield in Qatar. Kentz said the contract will run for three years through to 2016 and will require a peak workforce of 800 staff and field personnel.
Barratt Developments, up 1.1%. Barclays has initiated coverage on the whole UK house building sector Wednesday, with Barratt as its top pick. Barclays initiate the stock with an Overweight rating and a price target of 444.7p, suggesting a 39% potential upside. The whole UK housing sector has come into focus for analyst upgrades in recent weeks on the back of rising house prices and the initiation of stage two of the UK government's Help to Buy scheme.
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FTSE 250 - Losers
Centamin PLC, down 3.4%. On Tuesday the gold mining company further reduced its stake in Nyota Minerals. Following the disposal of shares, Centamin now holds 111 million shares or 12.6% of the company's issued share capital, down from 17.2% in early October. In an ongoing debate between Nyota and Centamin, Nyota's shareholders voted against an attempt by Centamin PLC to remove the company's Chief Executive Richard Chase. Centamin had been in talks with the Nyota about its future, but started reducing its stake after Nyota signed a sales agreement with another exploration company. Centamin had tabled a resolution to remove Chase in an attempt to try and salvage a deal for itself. The uncertainty has created volatile share price movements for both parties.
Hikma Pharmaceuticals, down 2.1%. Hikma will pay a total of USD40 million for exclusive global rights to use Unilife's Unifill pre-filled syringes with a selection of Hikma's generic injectable products. Hikma will pay USD5 million upfront and further instalments of USD15 million in 2014 and USD20 million in milestone payments thereafter. Shares have reacted negatively to the news.
Bovis Homes Group, down 2.9%. Within the same report under which Barclays initiated coverage of Barratt with an Overweight rating, the bank initiated coverage of Bovis with an Underweight rating, suggesting the stock will under-perform the sector. Bovis have a very strong forward sales book, which underpins 2013 and 2014 results, but restricts Bovis's exposure to near-term house price inflation.
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AIM - Winners
Servicepower Technologies, up 42%. The software company shares have surged after it said the strong growth it posted in the first half of the year had continued into the second half, with revenues by mid-October up on the GBP11.1 million it had recorded over the same period in 2012. Management said they had secured new customers, while renewals with existing customers are high as they adopt more of the company's products and expand into new areas.
New World Oil & Gas, up 16%. The oil and gas exploration and development company said it is continuing to work with Niel Petroleum SA to finalise its proposed subscription for over 75% of New World's shares. The company said it will make a further announcement when all matters have been resolved and it expects to be able to do so later this month. New World said the fresh equity capital will be used to acquire near-term production or producing oil and gas projects to complement its existing exploration portfolio, while a related debt facility from Niel will fund development work.
Beacon Hill Resources, up 13%. The steel and coal production company said it is progressing towards final commissioning of its rail logistics solution at its flagship Minas Moatize Coal Mine. Management said a maiden test train has arrived at the company's Tete coal loading facility, which is set to collect 2,600 tonnes of coal.
East West resources, up 12%. In a trading update, the company said that its performance has further strengthened in the second half of the year after an improved performance in its first half, and it now expects metal trading revenues to be higher than it previously expected. Management said that revenues at its Ambrian Metals trading business were already above USD10 million at the end of October after it sold more metal than the company had expected. It expects the strong trading to continue in November and December.
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AIM - Losers
Mariana Resources Limited, down 20%. The exploration and development company said it has achieved positive results from scout drilling at the Pucayacu target of the Condor de Oro copper-gold project in Peru. Management announced that drilling at its first two holes indicate multiple mineralisation spaces, including porphyry-related copper-molybdenum and epithermal gold.
Sula Iron & Gold, down 18%. On Tuesday Sula said it has commenced further exploration work to prove up the gold mineralisation at its Ferensola project in Sierra Leone. The multi-commodity exploration company with assets in Sierra Leone said the detailed work is focused on locating optimum sites for a drilling programme targeted to commence in 2014. Shares gained more than 6% Tuesday on the news but have slipped back Wednesday to last week's prices.
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By Jon Darby; jondarby@alliancenews.com; @jondarby100
Copyright © 2013 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.
4 Nov 2016 13:09