Nature Group Share News (NGR)

LONDON (Alliance News) - The following stocks are the leading risers and fallers within the main London indices midday Wednesday.
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FTSE 100 WINNERS
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Kingfisher, up 2.9%. The DIY retailer said the head of its Castorama business in France, Veronique Laury, will take over as group chief executive before the end of the current financial year, tasked with expanding the company's online sales, integrating recent acquisitions and expanding some of its brands into new markets. In a statement, the company said current CEO Ian Cheshire will step down by the end of the financial year in January. Cheshire told journalists that after seven years as CEO, and 17 years in the Kingfisher business, he has decided that he didn't want to remain in place through the next five-year strategic plan the company has started. The home improvement retailer's pretax profit for the 26 weeks to August 2 fell by 6.5% to GBP375 million, down from GBP401 million last year when profit was buoyed by a tax repayment related to its previous demerger of the Kesa business. Excluding exceptional items, pretax profit was flat on the year at GBP364 million, as a 0.9% rise in revenue to GBP5.77 billion, from GBP5.72 billion, was offset by a slight drop in operating margin.

Barratt Developments, up 1.4%. The housebuilder said it plans to return around GBP950 million to shareholders over the next three years, as it more than doubled its final dividend following a strong year underpinned by recovery in the UK housing market. The company, which will drop out of the FTSE 100 on September 22, said it will pay a final dividend of 7.1 pence for the year that ended June 30, compared with 2.5 pence the year before, making a total dividend of 10.3p. The company paid a total dividend of 2.5 pence a year earlier. Under a special cash payment programme, Barratt hopes to make a special cash payment alongside its full-year 2015 results of GBP100 million, followed by a special cash payment of GBP125 million alongside its full-year 2016 results and a special cash payment of GBP175 million with its full-year 2017 results. The capital return plan came as the housebuilder posted pretax of GBP390.6 million for the year to June 30, up from GBP192.0 million a year earlier, as revenue rose 21% to GBP3.16 billion from GBP2.60 billion.
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FTSE 100 LOSERS
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Admiral Group, down 4.6%, Hargreaves Lansdown, down 2% and G4S, down 1.3%. The companies are amongst the fallers in the blue-chip index after going ex-dividend, meaning new buyers no longer qualify for the latest dividend payouts.
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FTSE 250 WINNERS
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African Barrick Gold, up 4.6%. The East Africa-focused gold production company has had its rating increased by Goldman Sachs to Neutral, from Sell, with a price target increase to 230 pence from 210p. The stock currently trades at 240.3p.

Premier Oil, up 1.2%. The oil exploration and production company said that the subsea oil storage tank, jacket and topsides have been successfully installed at its Solan oil field and it will now start the offshore hook up and commissioning programme. In a statement, the company said the precise timing of first oil from the field will depend on the progress of the hook up and commissioning.
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FTSE 250 LOSERS
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Greene King, down 2.6%. The company said growth in its like-for-like sales in the first 18 weeks of the year was muted against tough comparatives from last year and a disappointing World Cup this year, though it expects further improvement in the rest of the year as momentum for its Pub Partners and Brewing & Brands businesses continues. It said like-for-like sales in its retail arm were up 0.4% in the first 18 weeks.

The Restaurant Group, down 2.2%, Berendsen, down 1.6%, Rathbone Brothers, down 1.6%, and Temple Bar Investment Trust, down 1.3%. The companies are amongst the fallers in the mid-chip index after going ex-dividend.
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AIM ALL-SHARE WINNERS
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Ncondezi Energy, up 16%. The company said that it has agreed a 25-year commercial deal with Electricidade de Mozambique on the sale of electricity from the Ncondezi Power Project. The deal includes the range for the starting electricity tariff to be paid by EdM, said Ncondezi, which will then be subject to adjustments throughout the 25-year operational life of the project. The agreement is subject to a number of conditions, including the introduction of a strategic investor acceptable to EdM, confirmation of the availability of political and commercial risk cover, bankable EPC contracts, and agreeing a timetable for the substantial completion of all key project agreements involving EdM, said Ncondezi.

Zytronic, up 16%. The company said it expects its pretax profit in the current financial year to be significantly above market expectations. Increased sales of larger touch products and the significant improvement in margins that it had reported when it released its interim results in May continued into the second half of the year and it said revenue is currently about 8% above the corresponding period of its last financial year.

Baron Oil, up 11%. The company said it has signed a farm-out agreement with Vale Oil and Gas, Peru, in a deal that means it now owns the entirety of Block XXI onshore northwest Peru. Vale, part of major Brazilian mining company Vale SA, has agreed to transfer its 70% working interest in Block XXI and make a payment of USD3.5 million to Baron Oil.

Sula Iron And Gold, up 11%. The exploration company said it has restarted work at the Ferensola project in Sierra Leone, targeting both iron ore and a new tantalum and niobium mineralisation target recently identified in the target area. Sula said geological interpretation and regional magnetic data at the site suggested potential for the banded iron formation to continue in a north easterly direction. The second target area is located north east of the known iron mineralisation area at the site and Sula said field crews completed grid surveying and line cutting in July in preparation for a magnetometer survey on the new target area.

Parity Group, up 7.6%. The information and marketing technology business said it swung to a profit in the first-half, after a number of years of losses as it relaunched one of its divisions. The company posted pretax profit of GBP120,000 for the six months ended June 30, compared with a GBP520,000 loss a year earlier, as revenue rose 3.8% at GBP48.3 million, from GBP46.5 million.

SolGold, up 7.5%. The company reported copper sulphide intersects, encouraging metallurgical tests, a second drill rig, and supportive induced-polarisation survey results at the Cascabel project in Ecuador. It said Hole 8 at the site had now reached a depth of 606.5 metres, with visible copper sulphide mineralisation starting at 378.2 metres. Preliminary metallurgical tests at the site showed 91-98% recovery of copper and gold. It added that the preliminary resistivity and conductance modelling from the IP survey supported the geological model for the site and the presence of porphyry targets.

Optimal Payments, up 6.7%. The online payments provider reported a jump in first-half pretax profit and said that robust trading since the end of that period means it now believes its full-year results will now come in ahead of its expectations. It made a USD27.5 million pretax profit in the six months ended June 30, compared with USD15.5 million in the corresponding period a year prior. Revenue increased by 34% to USD159.1 million, boosted by growth and improved gross margin at digital wallet business NETELLER. It also reported revenue at secure gateway and merchant account business NETBANX, with the company highlighting Asia as a particular area of growth.
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AIM ALL-SHARE LOSERS
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Frontier Resources International, off 25%. The oil and gas explorer reported a wider net loss for the first half of its financial year and said it was continuing to seek ways of raising fresh capital to fund its future exploration and development work. The company reported a net loss of USD681,000 for the six months to June 30, wider than the USD588,000 loss it reported a year earlier, as it booked USD239,000 in exchange differences on translation of foreign operations. The company doesn't make any revenue yet, so its loss depends on costs. It posted a pretax loss of USD442,000, narrowed from USD557,000 a year earlier, as administrative expenses and share payments rose, but not by as much as the USD185,000 expense it had booked for its AIM admission costs a year earlier.

Orogen Gold, down 22%. The gold explorer said it has raised GBP1.1 million after conditionally placing 1.02 billion new shares with existing and new investors, as it looks to advance the exploration programme at its Mutsk gold project in Armenia. The company said the shares were conditionally placed at 0.11 pence each and represented about 30% of its enlarged share capital.

Nature Group, down 15%. The maritime company said it swung to a pretax loss after contract delays hit its revenue, but was positive about its second half. Nature reported a pretax loss of GBP720,000 in the six months ended June 30, compared to a GBP1.4 million profit in the first six months of 2013, after it suffered from contract delays and its ongoing rebuild of its Gibraltar operation. Revenue fell to GBP9.1 million, from GBP11 million in the comparable period in 2013.

Advanced Oncotherapy, down 12%. The company said it has raised about GBP4.7 million before expenses through a placing and subscription of 145.6 million new shares, as it looks to fund the development of a new system for cancer treatments. It said it specifically wants to develop Linac for Image Guided Hadron Therapy (LIGHT) system. LIGHT is being developed along with ADAM, the spin-off from CERN acquired in 2012. The company said the new funds will be used to support the development of a complete LIGHT accelerator and will enable it to carry out the first installation of a LIGHT machine at SUNY Upstate Medical University in Syracuse, New York. In addition to the agreements to deliver the LIGHT system to hospitals such as the Upstate University hospital, Advanced Oncotherapy said it is in discussions with a number of other hospitals and healthcare organisations.
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By Neil Thakrar; neilthakrar@alliancenews.com

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