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LONDON (Alliance News) - The following stocks are the leading risers and fallers within the main London indices midday Thursday.

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FTSE 100 - WINNERS

British Sky Broadcasting Group, up 3.1%. BSkyB has raised its dividend and reaffirmed that it was on track for the full year, as it saw revenue rise in the half year ended December 31, 2013. The company raised its interim dividend to 12.0 pence, up 9.1% from 11.0 pence. Although pretax profit for the period fell to GBP554 million, down from GBP610 million in the previous year, it was significantly ahead of Numis Securities' GBP530 million forecast. Revenues rose 6% to GBP3.76 billion.

Royal Dutch Shell, up 2.9%. The oil and gas giant announced negative results for all of 2013, in line with its recent profit warning. Despite this, the company continued with its dividend plan and increased its fourth-quarter dividend by 5% to USD0.45 per share and USD0.90 per American Depositary Share. Furthermore, Shell has encouragingly indicated an approximate 4% increase in its 2014 dividend to USD1.88, says Deutsche Bank analyst Lucas Herrmann. "This places it at the upper end of market expectations and is said to reflect Shell's confidence in forward free cash flow potential," he adds.

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FTSE 100 - LOSERS

Diageo, down 6.7%. Although the company reported pretax profit of GBP2.13 billion for the six months ended December 31, 2013, up from GBP1.93 billion a year earlier, sales slowed. It said total sales for the period were GBP8.01 billion, compared with GBP8.13 billion the prior year. Furthermore, it said that hoped-for improvements in emerging markets during the period were not met, and weakness will continue for the remainder of the year.

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FTSE 250 - WINNERS

Renishaw, up 6.6%. After opening lower, the company is now amongst the index's biggest risers. The firm has maintained its 11.33 pence dividend and expressed confidence for the second half of the year despite declines in revenue and pretax profit, as its performance was hurt by strong year-earlier comparators for its first quarter.

Kazakhmys, up 3.1%. The copper-focused miner said its production across most of its portfolio met or beat its previous guidance in its full year 2013.

Mitchells & Butlers, up 3.5%. The UK pubs and restaurants operator said its trading performance over the Christmas period was strong, resulting in a 2% increase in like-for-like sales in the year to date. It said it sold a total of 6.9 million meals across its estate over the three-week festive period to January 4, with like-for-like sales up 2.6% and like-for-like food volumes up 1.3%. In the year to date, which is the 17 weeks to January 25, it said total like-for-like sales are up 2%, buoyed by the strong festive trading and milder weather compared to last year.

888 Holdings, up 2%. The group said quarterly revenues in the quarter ended December 31, 2013 rose 10% on the year before to a record USD107 million, boosted by an impressive performance from its casino products. It said it expects revenues for 2013 to come in at USD401 million, up 7% on the previous year.

Cranswick, up 2.1%. The food producer reported that sales rose 14% in its fiscal third quarter, buoyed particularly by strong sales of pork products, particularly over Christmas, while its operating margin rose compared with the first-half of the year as it took step to offset record high input costs.

Centamin, up 1.5%. The firm forecast that production at its Egyptian Sukai gold mine will increase by 18% in 2014. Centamin said the site is expected to produce 420,000 gold ounces at a cash operating cost of USD700 per ounce, representing an 18% increase on 2013 production and making for a fifth successive year of output growth at the site.

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FTSE 250 - LOSERS

Serco Group, down 15%. The support services company warned of a bigger and ongoing hit from its corporate renewal program in the wake of issues with some UK government contracts and additionally said it was being hurt by recent currency moves. Serco said it now expects its 2014 adjusted operating profit to come in about 10% to 20% below current market forecasts for GBP277 million. It expects to book about GBP10 million in costs for its corporate renewal programme and costs of about GBP15 million to pay for external advisors, implementing the programme and initial training and systems set-up. It said it will also book a further restructuring charge of between GBP10 million and GBP15 million for cutting headcount and relate costs.

Lonmin, down 1.8%. The company said its sales volumes and refined production increased in its first quarter, but announced a possible reduction in sales volume guidance due to strike action in South Africa. Lonmin said it had planned to maintain its guidance of sales volumes in excess of 750,000 platinum ounces and capital expenditure of around USD210 million, but that ongoing strike action has meant it will reassess its guidance and update the market in due course.

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AIM - WINNERS

Newmark Security, up 13%. The electronic and physical security systems provider reported an 8% increase in revenue for the first half of the year. The company also reported a pretax profit from operations, before exceptional items of GBP893,000 for the six months to October 31 2013, up from GBP799,000 year earlier. However, after booking an exceptional impairment charge during the period, the group reported a pretax profit of only GBP19,000 for the first-half of the year, compared with a pretax profit of GBP734,000 a year earlier

Egdon Resources, up 9.4%. Egdon and its partners announced an opt-in agreement with Total E&P UK Ltd for its UK exploration and development licence PEDL209 in Lincolnshire. Under the terms, the subsidiary of major oil and gas company Total, will have an option to earn a 50% interest in the PEDL209 licence until December 31 2015. In return, Total would pay 100% of the exploration programme of up to GBP13.47 million including seismic acquisition and the drilling of a well. As consideration for granting of the option, Total will make a non-refundable cash payment totalling GBP1.5 million, with Egdon receiving GBP918,015 subject to certain approvals.

Rare Earth Minerals, up 8.5%. The rare metals and minerals projects investment company said the current drilling programme at its Fleur-El Sauz Lithium project has significantly increased the potential size of the Mexican deposit. Rare Earth, along with its joint venture partner at the site, Bacanora Mineral Ltd, also announced that the building of a bulk-testing pilot plant has commenced.

Photonstar LED, up 7.1%. The maker of LED lighting said its performance had improved substantially in the second half of 2013, meaning revenues for the year as a whole rose 8% while its operating loss narrowed. Revenues were GBP9.4 million, up from GBP8.7 million in 2012, while its EBITDA loss narrowed to GBP0.1 million, from a GBP0.3 million loss in 2012. The company had reported a difficult first half of the year, but revenues in the second half improved 18% half-on-half in the second period, while gross profit rose 13%.

DiamondCorp, up 6.8%. The diamond development and exploration company said underground development at its 74%-owned Lace diamond mine in the Free State province of South Africa, remains close to schedule and under budget.

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AIM - LOSERS

Public Service Properties Investment, off 18%. The European real estate investment and financing company said its UK portfolio was valued at GBP37.7 million at December 31, 2013, compared with GBP47.3 million in 2012, while its German portfolio decreased 8.3% in constant currency to GBP34.4 million from GBP37.5 million a year earlier.

African Copper, down 17%. The company has noted a corporate and financial update filed by its 74% shareholder ZCI Ltd. As part of the disclosure, ZCI cited that it only has one major investment, the debt and equity held in African Copper, and this lack of diversity is one of the key risks facing ZCI. The company said ZCI are pursuing all relevant opportunities to unlock value and to move towards a more diversified portfolio, which could include selling part of its stake in African Copper.

Greatland Gold, down 8.9%. The mineral exploration and development company is amongst the index's biggest fallers despite saying it has achieved further positive results from drilling activities at its Warrentinna Gold project in Tasmania. The company said the three holes intersected gold mineralisation above 0.7 grams per tonne gold including an 8 metre space at 3.11 grams per tonne gold and a 4 metre space at 2.16 grams per tonne gold.

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By James Kemp; jameskemp@alliancenews.com; @jamespkemp

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