OPM.L Share News (OPM)

LONDON (Alliance News) - The following stocks are the leading risers and fallers within the main London indices midday Wednesday.
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FTSE 100 - WINNERS
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Kingfisher, up 2.1%. UBS has upgraded Kingfisher to Buy from Neutral and increased its price target to 470.00 pence from 440.00p, saying that there may be more benefits from last week's acquisition of French home improvement retail chain Mr Bricolage than previously anticipated. With sales of EUR552 million and pretax profit of EUR17 million, pro forma earnings per share enhancement initially looked to be around 2%, assuming the deal passes through anti-trust, says UBS analyst Andrew Hughes. "However, there could be more upside from converting some of the owned stores (which lost EUR13 million last year) to Brico," he says.

IMI, up 1.4%. HSBC has raised the engineering firm to Overweight from Neutral, lifting its price target to 1,750.00 pence from 1,620.00p, to account for a weak share price run, strong organic growth in 2014, and the potential for acquisitions to boost earnings per share growth to 2016 under new Chief Executive Mark Selway.
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FTSE 100 - LOSERS
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Standard Life, down 2%. The life insurer is one of just a handful of losers in the blue-chip index after going ex-dividend, meaning new buyers no longer qualify for the latest dividend payout.

Admiral Group, down 1.3%. According to the latest price index from Confused.com and Tower Watson, the cost of motor insurance has fallen again in the first quarter of 2014, after a suggestion that rates might have stabilised in the fourth quarter of 2014, says Shore Capital analyst Eamonn Flanagan. The first quarter reduction for comprehensive cover was 7.5%, leaving rates down approximately 19% over the last month, whilst non-comprehensive rates were down around 9% and 18% respectively, he says.

Antofagasta, down 1.3%. UBS has downgraded the mining company to Sell from Neutral, lowering its price target to 710.00 pence from 785.00p. Myles Allsop, an analyst at UBS, believes that, while the firm has historically commanded a premium rating versus its sector and copper peers due to its strong balance sheet, low cost position, high dividend yield, and growth optionality, these are no longer as compelling as in the past. A challenging copper price outlook also increases the risk of de-rating, says Allsop. The sharp drop comes after the company's share price jumped 2.2% on Tuesday after the company's chief executive told Reuters on Monday that, despite the market for copper facing its first supply glut in four years, the price of copper may have found a bottom.
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FTSE 250 - WINNERS
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Evraz, up 7.5%. The steel maker is the biggest riser in the mid-cap index despite reporting a wider net loss for its 2013 full-year as cost cutting failed to offset a drop in revenues caused by a drop in steel prices. Evraz also noted the potential for disruption from geopolitical tensions in the region seeing as it also has operations in Ukraine. However, the steel maker's reported earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation of USD1.82 billion were well in excess of the consensus estimate of USD1.06 billion.

African Barrick Gold, up 3.8%. Deutsche Bank has upgraded the stock to Buy from Hold. The bank believes that there are three ways for miners to adjust to a decreasing price of precious metals. They can reassess the economic value of assets, cut operational and capital expenditure to drive down all-in sustaining costs, and/or cut project capital and re-assess future project options. Deutsche believes that African Barrick is well placed to deliver the most rationalisation of its costs and capex between 2012 and 2014.
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FTSE 250 - LOSERS
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Esure Group, down 7.3%, and Direct Line Insurance, down 2.8%. The motor insurers are being hit following the release of the latest Confused.com/Towers Watson price index. Alongside this, esure has gone ex-dividend Wednesday.

Bwin.party Digital Entertainment, down 1.7%. The online gaming company said that its revenues in the first quarter were down when compared to the previous year, but up on the prior quarter. It said that the quarter to March 31 had been hit by a number of factors, including its shift in focus from 'volume to value'. Bwin.party has been changing its business model to focus on newly regulated online betting and gaming markets, where returns are higher and the companies have more certainty over regulatory conditions. Bwin.party said that average daily net revenue was up 4% in the first quarter, versus the previous quarter, but was down 9% versus the prior year, hit by the shift in strategy, as well as internet-service-provider blocking in Greece, migration losses, and a challenging poker market in Europe. The group has also announced the appointment of Philip Yea as its new chairman.

Centamin, down 1.2%. The metals and minerals producer has revealed that total gold production from its Sukari Gold Mine in Egypt declined in the first quarter of 2014 from the previous quarter. It reported total gold production for the quarter to end-March of 74,241 ounces, down 14% compared to the previous year and down 19% from the fourth quarter of 2013. Despite this, the miner maintained its production guidance for 2014 at 420,000 ounces of gold.

Jupiter Fund Management, down 1.4%, Berendsen, down 1.4%, BBA Aviation, down 1.4%, Bodycote, down 1.1%, Essentra, down 0.9%, and Ultra Electronic Holdings, down 0.5%, are six more companies that have gone ex-dividend.
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AIM ALL-SHARE - WINNERS
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Tangiers Petroleum, up 27%. The company has resumed trading on AIM following the appointment of a new non-executive chairman and director. The company's were suspended on AIM in early February after two directors resigned, meaning its didn't have enough directors on its board to meet its constitution. It said Wednesday that it has now appointed Michael Evans as its non-executive chairman and Stephen Staley as a non-executive director. Tangiers also reported its 2013 results. Its net loss widened to USD6.9 million, from a USD4.8 million loss in 2012, as administrative expenses rose and it wrote off over USD2 million of exploration spending.

TomCo Energy, up 14%. The firm said that Red Leaf Resources is moving towards commencing mining at its ML43374 and ML 50150 leases at the Seep Ridge site in Utah, which will use TomCo's EcoShale In-Capsule technology to extract oil. The company inked a licence agreement with Red Leaf for the use of the technology to extract oil from its leases. Red Leaf is planning a 9,800 barrels of oil per day commercial operation at the site, which is around 15 miles southwest from TomCo's Holliday block lease.

1PM, up 8.8%. The provider of financing facilities to small businesses said it has negotiated GBP2.5 million of additional block discounting facilities which it will use to write new business, as it reported strong trading in the first three months of 2014. It said the additional facilities are made up of a new GBP2 million facility and a GBP500,000 increase to an existing facility. The company also said that trading during the first quarter of calendar 2014 has been very positive, and it will raise the amount available for individual loans to GBP25,000, from GBP15,000, due to the success of a business loan product it recently introduced.

Science in Sport, up 7.7%. The sports nutrition company said revenue growth in its last financial year was ahead of market expectations, and has announced that it raised GBP2.3 million before expenses in an oversubscribed share placing to fund further revenue growth and investments. It said that it maintained its strong sales momentum throughout the year, and revenue in the year to March 31 is expected to be 24% ahead of the previous year at roughly GBP6.84 million. While the full year will be hit by exceptional costs associated with its listing on AIM in August last year, the firm believes the outlook for the company is extremely positive. The firm has also revealed that it raised GBP2.3 million before expenses in an oversubscribed share placing of 5.1 million shares at 45 pence per share, with new and existing institutional shareholders. The company's shares are currently quoted at 49.00 pence.

Xtract Resources, up 7.6%. The miner has accelerated the development of the Chepica gold and copper project it recently acquired, and now expects it to become profitable in the second quarter of this year. Xtract, which said it had been trying to open more areas to mine at the project in Chile, has increased the total development rate to 300 metres a month, from 40 metres a month, which has resulted in higher volumes and greater flexibility in achieving both a better mining mix and an improvement in recovered concentrate grades, it said.

GVC Holdings, up 7.1%. The online gaming service provider has more than doubled its total dividend for 2013, after reporting a strong increase in revenues and profits for the year, boosted by its acquisition of e-gaming operator Sportingbet. The group declared a total dividend for the year 2013 of EUR48.5 cents, up 120% from EUR22.0 cents in 2012. It posted net gaming revenue of EUR168.4 million in 2013, a significant increase from the EUR60.3 million it reported in 2012, while its pretax profit rose to EUR13.0 million, up from EUR10.8 million in 2012. It also said that current trading in its new financial year is at record levels, with net gaming revenues exceeding EUR50 million in the first quarter, compared with EUR35.6 million the prior year, with an average of more than EUR556,000 per day.
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AIM ALL-SHARE - LOSERS
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Tower Resources, off 17%. The oil and gas exploration company said it will raise GBP19.3 million in a placing and subscription and buy Rift Petroleum Holdings Ltd by issuing the sellers 550 million Tower shares. It also has agreed a farm-in to an oil exploration block in Kenya. It said it will place new shares at 3.5 pence each to raise the GBP19.3 million, money that will mean it is fully funded to drill the Welwitschia-1 well in Namibia, pay for the ongoing costs of the Rift Petroleum acquisition, fund the Kenya block farm-in, as well as paying for an expected entry into another block offshore Cameroon. The group's shares are currently quoted at 3.84 pence.

Pentagon Protection, down 12%. Shares in the company have plummeted after it said Managing Director Steve Chambers will also become interim chairman after Haytham ElZayn resigned as chairman with immediate effect. The company didn't give any reason for ElZayn's resignation.
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By James Kemp; jameskemp@alliancenews.com; @jamespkemp

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