Next Share News (NXT)

LONDON (Alliance News) - The following stocks are amongst the biggest risers and fallers within the main London indices midday Wednesday.
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FTSE 100 WINNERS
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TUI Travel, up 2.3%. The holiday operator is one of the best performing blue chip stocks Wednesday after its German parent company TUI AG released a positive update on Tuesday. TUI AG said its operating results are on track, and that the third quarter, in particular, has shown this very clearly. Unlike in previous quarters, the earnings improvement was not only driven by cost reductions but for the first time by turnover growth. TUI Travel is in the process of being bought by the parent company, which will create the worlds largest tourism business.

Antofagasta, up 1.2%. The Chilean-based miner said it remains on track to hit its production targets for the full year, despite reporting reduced gold and copper production during the third quarter. During the quarter, copper production decreased by 5% to 169,200 tonnes compared with 178,800 tonnes in the second quarter. Gold production during the quarter fell by 3.4% to 64,700 ounces compared with 67,000 ounces of gold produced in the previous quarter. Investec says that the last quarter has been "vanilla" for the company, and expects the share price to move with copper prices. Copper prices rose on Tuesday amid concern over a mining strike in Peru.
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FTSE 100 LOSERS
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Next, down 1.2%; Marks & Spencer Group, down 1.1%; Associated British Foods (owner of Primark), down 0.4%. The clothing retailers are underperforming after Next lowered its full-year earnings forecasts, blaming lower sales as warm autumn weather meant consumers delayed purchases of winter clothes. The UK fashion retailer said it now expects sales growth of 6% to 8% for the year to January 2015, down from its previous growth forecast of between 7% and 10%, and cut its full-year pretax profit estimate to between GBP750 million and GBP790 million, representing annual growth of between 8% and 14%. The company had warned in September that unseasonably warm weather might affect sales of new clothes as winter approached, reporting sales of 6% at that point in the quarter compared with its forecast for more than 10%.

Standard Life, down 0.7%. The long-term savings and investments company warned that its growth in the near term may be hit by difficult investment conditions, although it reported a rise in assets under administration in the first nine months of the year. Standard Life said group assets under administration from continuing operations rose to GBP290.0 billion at the end of September, from GBP214.7 billion at the start of January, driven by GBP4.3 billion of net flows and the acquisition of Ignis Asset Management. The GBP290.0 billion figure includes GBP60.9 billion of assets managed by Ignis and excludes GBP30.8 billion of assets of its now discontinued Canadian operations.

Petrofac, down 0.4%. Liberum Capital published a negative note on the company, cutting its price target on the stock by 7% to 1,031p from 1,112p, while reiterating a Hold rating. Liberum says that having taking a closer look at Petrofac's integrated energy services division, it is less confident about the profitability of the groups production enhancement contracts.

Standard Chartered, down 0.4%. The bank has suffered a number of negative broker notes after releasing a disappointing third-quarter update on Tuesday. Despite falling almost 9% on Tuesday, shares have continued lower again. Price target cuts Wednesday have come from UBS, Goldman Sachs, and HSBC amongst others.
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FTSE 250 WINNERS
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IP Group, up 2.7%. The intellectual property business has seen its shares rise after saying its chairman is to step down, but will stay in the position until a successor is appointed. Bruce Smith joined the board of IP Group in September 2002 and has served as non-executive chairman since it floated on the stock market in 2003.
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FTSE 250 LOSERS
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SuperGroup, down 3.7%; JD Sports Fashion, down 1.1%. The mid-cap clothing retailers are also suffering after the weather-related profit warning from Next.
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AIM ALL-SHARE WINNERS
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Image Scan Holdings, up 16%. Shares in the electronic equipment company rose after it said it has signed a two-year deal with Sectus Technologies for the distribution of its X-ray products in Canada, the Caribbean and in Central and South America. Image Scan did not provide any financial details about the contract, but said that Sectus, the Canada-based security products distributor, will distribute its portable X-ray security product range in those markets.

Victoria Oil & Gas, up 11%. The exploration company saw its shares rise after saying it has successfully laid 678 metres of gas pipe under the Wouri River in Cameroon. The pipe has been laid to the northern Bonaberi shore in Douala, the Cameroon industrial city, and will be connected to the first customers in the area once testing has been completed. Following the extension to the network by Gaz du Cameroun, three customers are now signed up with gas supply agreements in place, Victoria said.

Forum Energy, up 10%. The exploration company's revenue jumped in the first nine months of the year on the back of the start of production at the Galoc oil field. Forum said its unaudited revenue for the first nine months to September 30 was USD6.1 million, up from USD3.4 million a year earlier. The revenue was boosted by the start of Phase 2 production at the Galoc oil field in the Philippines, Forum said.
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AIM ALL-SHARE LOSERS
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Photonstar LED Group, down 35%. The maker of smart LED lighting warned on its full-year outlook, saying it expects revenue to be below market expectations on the back of weak sales of its fixed white lighting products and its light engines. Photonstar warned in August that weather-related delays in the new-build market would meant an element of its revenue would slip into the second half, meaning its full year would be more weighted to the second half than previously. On Wednesday the company said it now expects sales for fixed white lighting products for the full year to be lower than indicated due to a number of large lighting domestic and export contracts being delayed to next year. The group also said its light engines business has seen a slowdown in sales, with pressure on margins in the unit. The group said it would now pull development resources from this business line and focus instead on its Halcyon product range.

SacOil Holdings, down 10%. The oil and gas producer said it expects its earnings per share to drop heavily in the first half on the back of currency fluctuations and impairment charges. The company said it expects its basic earnings per share and headline earnings per share to decline to between 0.65 cent and 0.79 cent per share for the six months to August 31, from EPS and HEPS of 2.76 cents in the same period a year earlier. SacOil said the main drivers of the drop are the impact of currency valuations on financial assets, along with provisions to cover impairment charges and higher expensed business development activities.
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By Jon Darby; jondarby@alliancenews.com; @jondarby100

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