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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Fresnillo, up 2.8%. The Mexico-based precious metal miner said gold and silver production increased sharply in the first quarter, putting it on track to achieve its 2015 production guidance. Fresnillo said silver production in the three months to end-March was up 18.9% on the year as increased processed ore volume and higher ore grade at the Saucito mine more than offset lower production at the Fresnillo mine. Gold production in the quarter was up 62.4% on the year as the Herradura mine, which had been hit by a temporary explosives permit suspension a year earlier, was fully operational.

Dixons Carphone, up 1.8%. German telecom firm Drillisch announced that it has signed sale and purchase agreement with Dixons Carphone on the acquisition of The Phone House Deutschland. The transaction is anticipated to take place by the end of May at the latest. Drillisch said it expects to pay in new shares when the deal closes and then using future excess cash flows of The Phone House.

Next, up 1.6% at 7,220p. JP Morgan has raised the fashion retailer to Overweight from Neutral, saying it believes the company will experience stronger trading in the second half of its first quarter. "We think that the more favourable weather since Next last updated the market on 19th March, assisted by the favourable UK consumer background, should have led to stronger trading in the second half of Q116," said JP Morgan analyst Matthew Webb.

Weir Group, up 2.1%, BP, up 1.6%, Royal Dutch Shell 'B' up 1.5%. Oil companies are performing well as Brent oil prices have risen beyond the USD60 a barrel mark for the first time in over a month. Brent currently trades at USD60.53 a barrel.
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FTSE 100 LOSERS
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Bunzl, down 3%. The acquisitive distribution and outsourcing company shares are down even though it said revenue rose 6% in the first quarter of 2015 from a year earlier, buoyed mainly by acquisitions as it also said it has bought a personal protection equipment company in Turkey. Bunzl said underlying revenue was up 2% in the three months to end-March, with the remainder of the revenue growth coming from acquisitions. Shore Capital said it is disappointed with the group's first quarter trading results. The update "appears a little softer than we had anticipated, but not materially so," says Shore analyst Robin Speakman.

Old Mutual, down 1%. The investment, savings, insurance and banking group said Chief Executive Julian Roberts is to stand down from the role after seven years, with the head of Standard Bank Group's wealth, insurance and non-bank financial services to take over in the fourth quarter of 2015.
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FTSE 250 WINNERS
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JD Sports Fashion, up 4.6%. The retailer said it expects its pretax profit for the year to the end of January to come in ahead of market expectations following a rise in sales over the Christmas period. JD Sports said like-for-like sales rose 12% in the five weeks to January 3, noting the rise comes against strong comparative figures in the year-earlier period. As a result, cumulative like-for-like sales growth in the 48 weeks to January 3 is now at 12%, JD Sports said.

Premier Oil, up 5.7%, Ophir Energy, up 3.7% and Tullow Oil, up 4.6% at 986 pence. Mid-cap index oil companies are also benefiting from the rise in Brent oil prices. Moreover, Tullow Oil was upgraded to Buy from Neutral by Goldman Sachs.
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FTSE 250 LOSERS
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Vesuvius, down 5.7% at 472.5p. JP Morgan and Investec have both downgraded the molten flow engineering company following weak recent US steel production data which the brokers believe will affect the company's demand. JP Morgan has downgraded Vesuvius to Neutral from Overweight, cutting its price target to 510p from 531p, while Investec downgraded the company to Hold from Add, cutting its price target to 500p from 515p.

Virgin Money Holdings, down 5.2%. Funds run by US investor Wilbur Ross and Stanhope Investments are looking to sell off a big stake in Virgin Money, the Financial Times reported on Tuesday. According to the report, which cited people familiar with the situation, Ross and Stanhope Investments had been seeking to sell 45 million shares but the size of the offer increased to 60 million shares.
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AIM ALL-SHARE WINNERS
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Omega Diagnostics Group, up 17%. The medical diagnostics company said its results for its recently-ended financial year will be in line with market expectations. Omega expects revenue for the year to the end of March to be GBP12.1 million, up from GBP11.6 million a year earlier on the back of a 15% rise in revenue from its food intolerance business. The company said its adjusted pretax profit, before acquisition costs, share-based payments, IFRS-related discount unwinds and amortisation of intangible assets, will be GBP1.4 million, up from GBP1.1 million a year earlier, slightly ahead of its expectations.

Private & Commercial Finance Group, up 14%. The company, which finances acquisitions of vehicles, plant and equipment, said that it expects results for its recently-ended financial year to be ahead of market expectations. Private & Commercial Finance said that its profitability, as well as the growth and quality of its portfolio, outperformed its own expectations in its last financial year. It said that net business originations amounted to GBP56.0 million in the year ended March 31, compared with GBP50.8 million in the prior year.

Edenville Energy, up 13%. The African coal exploration and development company said it is now finalising the compilation of the necessary documents and data for a mining licence application for its Rukwa coal to power project in Western Tanzania and expects to submit the application in the second quarter of 2015.

Corero Network Security, up 9.6%. The security software provider said it has integrated its services with US network infrastructure company Verisign's OpenHybrid security platform. Under the deal, Corero's on-premises security technology will be integrated with Verisign's own cloud-based distributed denial-of-service protection platform. No financial details on the partnership were disclosed.
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AIM ALL-SHARE LOSERS
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Asian Citrus Holdings, off 19%. The orange plantation operator and owner said it has identified the presence of Huanglongbing, or citrus greening disease, at its Xinfeng Plantation in China and said the infection rate means the company's 2015 winter harvest will be severely impacted. The Xinfeng plantation provided 56% of Asian Citrus's interim revenue the end of December 2014. The news comes after the company last year saw production from the Hepu Plantation in China crippled by damage caused by Typhoon Rammasun and Typhoon Seagull.

DJI Holdings, down 10%. The Chinese regulated lottery products company said it expects its results for 2014 to be below market expectations due to delays related to the suspension of online lottery sales in China and due to higher-than-anticipated commission payments. Though DJI has performed the necessary services to earn the payments, it said there is a lack of certainty regarding the outcome of current payment negotiations. In order to ensure its results for 2014 are reported in a timely fashion, DJI said it has decided it will recognise this delayed revenue in its 2015 results.

By Daniel Ruiz; danielruiz@alliancenews.com

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