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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Next, up 1.3%. Nomura has upgraded its view on Next to Buy from Neutral, saying the fashion retailer has multiple growth opportunities which could drive shareholder return. Nomura analysts said Next has the ability to grow its UK market share in its stores, homewares and online development through targeting the branded spend of existing customers and through the growth of overseas online to attract new customers.
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FTSE 100 - LOSERS
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Smiths Group, down 4.2%, after closing up 1.1% on Wednesday. Nomura and JPMorgan both cut their target prices on the diversified engineering company following its full-year results on Wednesday. Nomura cut its target price to 1,235 pence from 1,275 pence, keeping a Buy rating, while JPMorgan cut its target price to 1,250 pence from 1,280 pence, keeping an Overweight rating. Shares in Smiths are trading at 995.5 pence. The group reported higher pretax profit despite revenue falling for the year to the end of July, but said its results will be more second-half weighted in 2016 than normal and said its John Crane energy services arm is facing significant challenges given tough market conditions.
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FTSE 250 - WINNERS
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Thomas Cook Group, up 3.6%. The travel operator said that summer holiday sales were in line with expectations and that it has had an encouraging start to winter trading, leaving its guidance for full-year earnings unchanged. It said that all markets performed in line, with Northern Europe achieving particularly strong trading in the second half of the year. The summer season is 91% sold, in line with the same time last year, and all major source markets have seen improved bookings for the winter season.
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FTSE 250 - LOSERS
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Poundland Group, down 6.3%. The single-price discount retailer said it will raise GBP50 million through the placing of shares in order to fund its acquisition of 99p Stores Ltd, and said that it expects core pretax profit for its full financial year to meet market expectations, although it will be weighted towards the second half. Sales for the 14 weeks ended September 20 increased 5.9% to GBP303.2 million from GBP286.2 million in the same period the year before, and grew 4.9% to GBP532.1 million in the 25 weeks to the same date from GBP507.5 million the prior year. Like-for-like sales however declined 2.9% in the first half, compared with 4.7% growth last year.
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MAIN MARKET AND AIM - WINNERS
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Independent Oil & Gas, up 18%. The oil and gas company said it has made significant progress on its Skipper licence in the North Sea and said it has reached an agreement to extend its funding deal with Darwin Strategic. It said planning work on the Skipper well is now at an advanced stage and essential long-lead items have been ordered in order to facilitate the start of drilling later in the year. In addition to the progress made at Skipper, the company said it has secured a deal with Darwin Strategic to extend the deadline for the repayment of its GBP358,000 loan to December 7, with no extra interest or penalties. Discussions with other funders are ongoing, the company said.

Falanx Group, up 10%. The security and risk management consultancy announced a slew of new contract wins for its cyber security and corporate intelligence businesses. Falanx said said its cyber arm has entered into deal with three financial services companies, which it did not name, to become their preferred cyber security provider. One of the bank is an international trading house, while the others are boutique advisory firms, it said. In addition, the company said its corporate intelligence unit has secured five new contracts, with a trade, shipping and energy group, an oil and gas producer, a financial services company and two communications and IT firms.
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MAIN MARKET AND AIM - LOSERS
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Greatland Gold, down 18%. The gold miner said it has shifted its strategy amid the challenging commodities environment to focus on more advanced projects and will cut it exposure to early-stage mineral exploration work. The company will relinquish assets at three of its projects, two in Western Australian and one in Tasmania, as it moves away from early-stage prospects. "Due to challenging market conditions, Greatland has altered its strategy. We will now focus on our more advanced exploration assets, whilst significantly reducing our exposure to early stage mineral exploration. We are actively seeking new opportunities for near term production and are currently evaluating several projects in jurisdictions outside of Australia," said Callum Baxter, Greatland's chief executive.

RM2 International, down 18%. The pallet development and manufacturing company said that its revenue and production numbers in the full year 2015 will be significantly below previous guidance due to a decision to change the friction coating method used for the manufacturing of shipping pallets. The company said it will not achieve the substantial upswing in production that had been expected to begin in the third quarter, and therefore will see a fall in revenue and production numbers for the full year.

London Capital Group, down 13%. The trading house said its pretax loss ballooned and its revenue dropped heavily following a major restructuring which resulted in a loss of foreign exchange customers. London Capital also suffered a weak performance in its UK financial spread betting and contracts for difference business. The company said its pretax loss for the six months to the end of June was GBP8.6 million, substantially wider than the GBP400,000 loss it made a year earlier, as restructuring costs exacerbated a plunge in its revenue in the half to GBP5.3 million from GBP9.2 million, which was not accompanied by a major cut in its cost of sales.
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By Sam Unsted; samunsted@alliancenews.com; @SamUAtAlliance

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