Next Share News (NXT)

LONDON (Alliance News) - The following stocks are the leading risers and fallers within the main London indices on Thursday.
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FTSE 100 - WINNERS
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Dixons Carphone, up 1.8%. The electricals retailer said its like-for-like sales grew in the first quarter, driven by a strong performance in the UK and Ireland which offset mixed conditions in Southern Europe. The company, created by the merger of Dixons Retail and Carphone Warehouse last year, said its group like-for-like revenue growth in the 13 weeks to August 1 was 8%, driven by 10% growth in the UK and Ireland. Like-for-like revenue from its Nordics operations was up by 4% in the quarter, but Southern Europe revenue was flat, as an improvement in Spain and growth in Greece was offset by challenging markets elsewhere.

Next, up 1.5%. The fashion retailer traded up 2.4% after it said its pretax profit and revenue both rose in the first half of its financial year, driven by higher-than-expected full-price brand sales growth and a robust performance in its directory business, while retail sales rose only marginally. The company said its pretax profit for the 26 weeks to July 25 was GBP347.1 million, up from GBP324.2 million, as its total sales revenue for the period rose to GBP1.89 billion from GBP1.85 billion a year earlier.

Barratt Developments, up 1.7%, Taylor Wimpey, up 0.7%, Persimmon, up 0.4%. Housebuilders were trading higher after UK house prices logged their biggest monthly increase in 15 months, according to data from Lloyds Banking Group's Halifax division. House prices advanced 2.7% in August from July, which was the fastest monthly increase since May 2014. Economists had forecast prices to climb 0.5% after falling 0.4% in July.
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FTSE 100 - LOSERS
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Wm Morrison Supermarkets, down 3.9%. The grocer reported a sharp drop in profit in the first half of its financial year, as its revenue and like-for-like sales continued to decline in a deflationary UK food market and as it competes on price with other supermarkets in the face of discounters Aldi and Lidl. Morrisons posted a drop in pretax profit in the half year ended August 2 to GBP126 million from GBP239 million in the first half of the prior year, as total revenue fell 5.1% to GBP8.1 billion from GBP8.5 billion, and like-for-like sales excluding fuel declined 2.7%. It said that its like-for-like sales continue to be hit by deflation as it continues to lower prices. The news also depressed shares in competitors Tesco, down 2.8%, and J Sainsbury, down 2.1%.

BHP Billiton, down 5.3%, Glencore, down 3.7%. Miners were trading lower on following weak producer price inflation data in China. The producer price index was down 5.9% in August, offsetting any good sentiment from consumer price inflation, which rose 2.0% in August to its highest point for a year. Standard Chartered, down 3.2%, and HSBC Holdings, down 2.0%, also were trading lower given their heavy exposure to Asian markets. Also Thursday, HSBC shares were raised to Neutral from Underperform by Merrill Lynch, according to traders, while Exane BNP remained Neutral on the stock while cutting its price target.
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FTSE 250 - WINNERS
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Bellway, up 2.7%, Crest Nicholson Holdings, up 0.9%, Redrow, up 0.5%. The mid-cap housebuilders were tracking the rises in their blue-chip peers, boosted by the above-consensus rise in UK house prices in August.
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FTSE 250 - LOSERS
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Home Retail Group, down 3.2%. The company, which owns catalogue retailer Argos and home improvement retailer and garden centre Homebase, said its total sales for Argos and Homebase both declined in the second quarter and said the outcome for the full year is less predictable than in the past. Home Retail said total sales for Argos in the second quarter were down 0.4% year-on-year to GBP897.0 million, while like-for-like sales in the business fell 2.8%. Total sales at Homebase were down 2.8% to GBP378.0 million as a result of the ongoing store closure programme for the business," though like-for-like sales were up 5.9%.

Tullow Oil, down 6.6% to 194.00 pence. The oil and gas stock was hit by HSBC cutting its target price to 310p from 514p, though it kept a Buy rating on the shares. It was the second price target downgrade for Tullow this week, after UBS cut its target to 195 pence from 270 pence on Tuesday.
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MAIN MARKET AND AIM - WINNERS
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MyCelx Technologies, up 14%. The clean water technology company said that expense control measures will allow it to be cash neutral in its second half and supports its goal of being cash generative in 2016, as it posted a narrowed pretax loss for the first half of 2015. For the half year to end-June the company reported a pretax loss of USD1.3 million, narrowed from a pretax loss of USD2.2 million, as revenue rose to USD8.7 million from USD7.5 million.

Amphion Innovations, up 9.1%. The investor its subsidiary DataTern received a favourable ruling from the US District Court in Massachusetts over a patent dispute. The ruling denied two motions for summary judgement filed by MicroStrategy, which sought the dismissal of DataTern's claims on the grounds of validity and infringement. The two motions argued that DataTern's '502 patent is invalid, and that MicroStrategy did not infringe on the '502 patent.

88 Energy, up 8.4%. The company said it has executed the rig contract with Kuupik Drilling to spud the Icewine 1 well in Alaska. The well is on schedule to be spud in October, 88 Energy said. "With the spud date for Icewine #1 fast approaching, it is great to have finalised a rig contract with Kuukpik. We are now fully funded, with a rig. The last of the permits required are also falling into place such that spud of the well remains on track for mid October," said Dave Wall, 88's managing director.
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MAIN MARKET AND AIM - LOSERS
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Sefton Resources, down 12%. The oil company confirmed it has received a requisition from a group of shareholders including former Interim Chairman Daniel Levi for an extraordinary general meeting to remove some directors of the company, and said that its nominated adviser Allenby Capital Ltd has said it will resign with immediate effect if this resolution is passed.

Gable Holdings, down 11%. The European non-life insurance company reported that it swung to a loss in the first half as it set aside additional reserves, and ruled out paying a dividend for the time being as it seeks to bolster its capital levels ahead of new insurance rules to be introduced across the EU from January 2016. The insurer reported an underlying pretax profit of GBP1.4 million in the six months to June 30, down from GBP4.9 million in the corresponding half the prior year. After setting aside additional reserves of GBP3.8 million, the company swung to a GBP2.4 million pretax loss of GBP2.4 million against a GBP2.5 million pretax profit the prior year.
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By Sam Unsted; samunsted@alliancenews.com; @SamUAtAlliance

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