LONDON (Alliance News) - The following stocks are the leading risers and fallers on the main London indices midday Tuesday.
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FTSE 100 - Winners
Randgold Resources, up 2.2%, and Fresnillo, up 1%, are two of the biggest winners on the blue-chip index. Gold mining stocks are rising as gold bounces from Monday's sharp fall, with investors adopting a cautious stance ahead of the outcome of the US Federal Reserve's policy meeting Wednesday.
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FTSE 100 - Losers
Aggreko falls 4.6% after Credit Suisse downgraded the stock to Underperform, from Neutral, and Citi cut its target price to 2000 pence, from 2,100. The downgrade by the Swiss bank is the latest in a series of broker downgrades in recent weeks, with most citing worsening prospects for the company's power projects arm.
Barclays is down 3% after a string of bad news emerged from its rights issue prospectus late Monday. It revealed that it will have to pay out after incorrectly charging interest to consumer loan customers; that it has been fined GBP50 million by the UK financial services regulator for not divulging that it had paid fees to Qatari investors for advising on a 2008 rights issue when the Qatari's then provided billions of pounds to the bank through the issue; and that its investment bank had been hit by slow fixed income trading during July and August, with adjusted income down GBP500 million down on the same months last year. It said it is fighting the UK regulator fine.
Lloyds is down 2.4% following the sale of a 6% stake by the UK government overnight. The government has started returning the bank to full private ownership, reducing its stake to 32.7% in the initial sale to institutional investors.
Royal Bank of Scotland Group is down 1% after it is reported to have rejected the offer from W&G Investments for the 315 branches it is selling. BBC Business Editor Robert Peston reported that RBS had concluded that the other two offers, from private equity consortia led by Corsair and and Blackstone, offer better value because RBS can keep a stake in the new business for a while and benefit from any upside.
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FTSE 250 - Winners
Debenhams, up 1.7%. The department-store chain has announced that it expects its full-year pretax profit to be in line with current expectations after like-for-like sales in the 52 weeks to August 31 rose 2%. The retailer said that it performed well internationally in the second half of the year, following a number of store closures in the first half, and saw growth in its international online business. It said that it saw a particularly strong sales performance from its Danish department store, with like-for-like sales up 7.2% for the year.
IG Group Holdings, up 0.9%. The company reported that its first-quarter revenue increased 15%, buoyed by sales in the UK, Europe and the rest of the world. IG Group said made GBP93.6 million in first-quarter revenue, compared with GBP81.5 million for the corresponding quarter 2013.
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FTSE 250 - Losers
Evraz, down 4.2%, is the biggest faller on the FTSE 250, continuing a decline that started Monday after Barclays cut the stock to Underweight, from Equalweight. At the end of last month, the steel producer said it would cut spending after it made a pretax loss in the first half as the global decrease in commodity prices and a fall in steel production hit the company.
Investec is down 3.9% after it said it expects first-half operating profit to be below last year's figure due to weaker results from its UK specialist banking business. The company said it expects operating profit to decline marginally on the last half-year as expenses rise and revenues stay flat.
Domino Printing Sciences, down 3%. Sales in the ten months to the end of August increased 7%, but the company said it remains cautious about market conditions in general, noting that in some cases, including India, there are signs of possible deterioration and lower investment in capital equipment.
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AIM - Winners
Invu, up 35%. The computer software company is the biggest winner on the AIM All-Share index after it reported reported higher profits and revenues for the first half of the year, as demand for its invoice processing product drove growth in software and related services revenues. The company said that pre-tax profit rose to GBP133,000 in the six months to June 30, from GBP29,000 a year earlier, as revenues rose to GBP1.4 million, from GBP1.3 million.
Nature Group is up 11% as it reported that pretax profits more than doubled and revenues increased by nearly 40% in the first half of the year and it reaped the benefits of disposing of its 40% stake in a Norwegian onshore treatment facility.
Pan African Resources, up 9.1%. The company said its pretax profits increased 23% in its full year as more production from the newly acquired Evander Gold Mines helped company finances. The African-focused precious metals and mining company said its pretax profit rose to GBP54.7 million from GBP42.2 million for the 12 months ended June 30.
DDD Group is up 4.5% after it announced that it had received an investment from US-based InterDigital Inc as it signed a development agreement with the high definition video processing technology company. DDD said it had raised GBP575,500, or GBP568,500 after expenses, by issuing just over seven million shares to InterDigital at 8.175 pence each.
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AIM - Losers
Ukrproduct, down 16%, is one of the biggest fallers on the AIM All-Share index. The producer of dairy foods and beverages in Ukraine warned that its full-year profits would be below last year after high raw milk costs hit margins for its dairy branded products. It said it had tried to offset the higher input costs by raising the prices of its products, but hadn't managed to do so due to competition.
Gulfsands Petroleum, down 5.5%. Despite narrowing its pretax loss during the first half through intensive cost-cutting, production fell 36% during the period to 158 barrels of oil equivalent per day, from 245 barrels, as the company's activities in Syria remained suspended.
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By James Kemp; jameskemp@alliancenews.com
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