Next Share News (NXT)

LONDON (Alliance News) - The following stocks are the leading risers and fallers within the main London indices on Wednesday.
----------
FTSE 100 - WINNERS
----------
GlaxoSmithKline, up 1.6%. CitiGroup upgraded the pharmaceutical stock to Buy from Neutral.
----------
FTSE 100 - LOSERS
----------
Marks & Spencer Group, down 0.7%. The food and clothing retailer was downgraded to Hold from Buy by Jefferies, which also upgraded Next to Hold from Underperform. Next was up 0.3%.

Informa, down 0.2%. Keppler Cheuvreux cut the publisher and events provider to Hold from Buy, according to traders.
----------
FTSE 250 - WINNERS
----------
Centamin, up 5.4%. The gold miner was upgraded to Add from Hold by Numis, according to traders.
----------
FTSE 250 - LOSERS
----------
William Hill, down 1.7%. The bookmaker was downgraded to Underweight from Equalweight by Morgan Stanley.

Dunelm Group, down 1.5%. The homewares retailer was cut to Hold from Buy by Jefferies.
----------
MAIN MARKET AND AIM - WINNERS
----------
Milestone Group, up 119% at 0.865 pence. The digital media and technology company said it has raised funds and settled debts to creditors through a share issue at a significant premium. Milestone raised GBP540,500 in cash through the issue of 55.0 million shares at 1.00p per share. Milestone said the cash will be primarily used for working capital purposes, with a further GBP9,000 raised to settle debts to creditors.

Serabi Gold, up 10%. The gold miner operating in Brazil said it turned to a profit in 2015 after reporting its first full year of production from the Palito mine, and said it expects production to rise further this year now that the Sao Chico mine has officially entered commercial production. Serabi reported a pretax profit of USD476,294 in 2015, swinging from the USD174,401 loss reported in 2014 after revenue soared to USD35.1 million from only USD12.6 million the year before. The jump in revenue led its gross profit to rise to USD5.7 million from only USD296,451 last year.

Premier Foods, up 7.4%. US spices and flavourings group McCormick & Co made an increased bid for the UK food company and has called on Premier to engage with it over the offer. McCormick offered 65.00 pence per share, valuing Premier Foods at GBP536.7 million. The new offer comes after Premier Foods, the maker of Mr Kipling cakes and Bisto gravy, had rejected two previous bids from McCormick ahead of a key shareholder, Warburg Pincus, selling a 17% stake to Japanese noodle maker Nissin Foods Co instead. McCormick called on Premier Foods to engage with the offer, arguing it provides shareholders with the opportunity of a cash exit from their holdings at a full valuation of the company.
----------
MAIN MARKET AND AIM - LOSERS
----------
BowLeven, off 14%. The oil and gas company reported a pretax loss in the first half of the current financial year. The company said its pretax loss widened to USD132.0 million in the six months to the end of 2015 from the USD81.0 million loss booked in a year earlier after the company booked a higher amount of impairments in the period. The USD133.5 million impairment in the first half was almost the sole driver of the loss in the year, growing from the USD76.0 million impairment booked the year before.

7digital Group, down 10%. The digital music and radio services company said it posted a widened loss in 2015. 7digital said its total loss for 2015 hit GBP7.9 million, compared to GBP2.6 million a year earlier. The loss was driven by the group booking a GBP4.8 million loss on investments, compared to a GBP1.9 million gain a year earlier. This was caused by a loss taken on the sale of its investment in audio content platform Audioboom Group. Revenue was broadly flat at GBP10.4 million against GBP10.2 million in 2014, with high-margin licensing revenue up 21% and monthly recurring revenue up 72%. This offset a big decline in content revenue, which nearly halved. Audioboom shares were down 2.2%.
----------
By Arvind Bhunjun; arvindbhunjun@alliancenews.com; @ArvindBhunjun

Copyright 2016 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.