OPM.L Share News (OPM)

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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Standard Chartered, up 4.4%. Shares in the company have risen amid hopes that UK Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne will set out plans to phase out the current GBP3.5 billion bank levy when he delivers his annual Mansion House speech on Wednesday evening. The UK Treasury is expected to replace the bank levy with a new corporation tax surcharge, according to a report from The Times. Unlike the bank levy, which is imposed on global balance sheets, the new tax would apply only to banks' assets in the UK. With relatively few domestic operations, Standard Chartered would benefit from a levy based solely on UK business. Separately, in a letter to employees to mark his first day as chief executive, Standard Chartered CEO Bill Winters said the company's capital strength is a top priority, highlighting its importance as a competitive advantage for banks in tough economic conditions.

J Sainsbury, up 4.2%, Tesco, up 3.9%, and Wm Morrison Supermarkets, up 3.5%. The food retailers are amongst the biggest risers in the blue-chip index even though Sainsbury's reported a drop in retail sales and a sixth consecutive quarter of declining like-for-like sales in the first quarter of its financial year, as it continues to be hit by food-price deflation amid a highly competitive UK grocery market. The supermarket chain admitted that it is difficult to establish when sales will return to growth, but its chief executive said he is encouraged by the "early trends" it is seeing.

Anglo American, up 1.9%, BHP Billiton, up 1.1%, Rio Tinto, up 1%, and Antofagasta, up 0.9%. The mining companies are among the leading risers in the blue-chip index, reversing some of their recent losses, after the People's Bank of China lowered its GDP estimate for the world's second largest economy to 7.0% for the current year, down from the previously expected 7.1%. "This adds to this week's poor trade and inflation data an bolsters the argument that more stimulus will be forthcoming from Beijing," says Mike van Dulken, head of research at Accendo Markets.

Persimmon, up 1.8%, and Barratt Developments, up 1.4%. Shares in the housebuilders have risen after HSBC increased its price target on both of them. HSBC, which has a Buy recommendation on both of the companies, has increased its price target on Persimmon to 2,460 pence from 1,920p and raised its price target on Barratt Developments to 745p from 650p. Shares in Persimmon are currently quoted at 1,929.00p, while Barrat Developments' trade at 597.00p.
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FTSE 100 LOSERS
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Weir Group, down 2.8%. Shares in the oil and gas support services company have fallen after it said it expects its full-year revenue, margins and profit to be weighted more towards the second half than in previous years. Weir Chief Executive Keith Cochrane said the second quarter is proving to be "very challenging" for its oil and gas division, with the US rig count continuing to decline, though at a slower rate over the past month. The main change from the April 29 interim management statement appears to be a deterioration in Oil & Gas order input, says Sanjay Jha, an analyst at Panmure Gordon. Divisional order input was down 34% over the first five months of 2015, compared with a 23% decline in the January to March period, he adds.
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FTSE 250 WINNERS
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FirstGroup, up 6.2%. The transport operator reported higher profits for its last financial year as its improvement plan delivered higher margins in its US First Student and UK bus operations. It posted a pretax profit of GBP105.8 million for the year to end-March, up from GBP58.5 million a year earlier, while the closely-watched figure excluding amortisation charges and some other items rose to GBP163.9 million, from GBP111.9 million, meeting analysts' expectations for a figure of around GBP160.0 million.

Vedanta Resources, up 5.9%. Shares in the natural resources company have continued to rise, having closed up 5.2% Tuesday, after it noted press speculation about potentially merging its subsidiary Cairn India Ltd into itself. Vedanta did not comment on the speculation on Tuesday, but said it "will make appropriate disclosures as and when required" about the potential merger of its wholly-owned subsidiary Vedanta Ltd and Cairn India, which is partly owned by Cairn Energy.

Cairn Energy, up 3.4%. Shares in the oil company have edged higher after Citigroup upgraded its recommendation on the group to Buy from Neutral.

Booker Group, up 3.1%. JP Morgan has increased it price target on the company to 174 pence from 160p. JP Morgan has an Overweight rating on the stock. Shares in Booker Group are quoted at 181.00p.

Crest Nicholson Holdings, up 2.7%. HSBC, which has a Buy recommendation on the housebuilder, has increased its price target on the company to 830 pence from 660p. Shares in Crest Nicholson are currently quoted at 537.00 pence.
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FTSE 250 LOSERS
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SOCO International, down 0.6%. The company is considering the options for its African portfolio, including rationalisation and farm-out of all or part of its asset base in the region, as the oil and gas exploration and production company maintained production guidance for 2015.
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AIM ALL-SHARE WINNERS
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Kimberly Enterprises NV's shares have more than doubled, but the Netherlands-based real estate company said it is not aware of any reason for a jump in its share price.

Reach4entertainment Enterprises, up 69%. The media and entertainment marketing company's have risen sharply after it said it had reached a deal with AIB Group to restructure and payoff its GBP14.8 million loan facility with the bank, and will replace it in part with new debt from new lenders at lower cost.

1PM, up 22%. The company said it expects pretax profit for its recently completed financial year to be significantly ahead of market expectations, with revenue slightly ahead, due to strong demand for finance from small- and medium-sized enterprises and lower costs from bad debts. 1pm, which provides finance to SMEs, issued the trading update ahead of reporting results for the year ended May 31, which are to be published in the second part of July.

Toumaz, up 19%. The UK semiconductor company focused on wireless healthcare, digital radio and connected audio, said it has inked a co-development deal with US technology giant Google Inc that will benefit the AIM-listed company's connected audio business. It said the agreement will see the inclusion of Google's cast-for-audio technology in its own proposition, described by the AIM-listed company as a "turnkey technology solution which allows consumer audio brands to build connected audio devices, such as Wi-Fi speakers and soundbars, quickly and easily". Google's cast-for-audio system enables music to be sent from mobile devices, such as smart phones and tablets, to speakers.

Ensor Holdings, up 12%. The holding company for a group of companies that produce products including high-speed motors, roofing slates, industrial doors to bubblewrap reported higher profits and revenue for its last financial year and said the current year has started well. It said its pretax profit was GBP3.3 million in the year to end-March, up from GBP1.5 million a year earlier, as revenue rose to GBP36.1 million, from GBP30.6 million. Ensor also raised its dividend for the last financial year to 1.9 pence, from 1.5p, after announcing a final dividend of 1.3p.
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AIM ALL-SHARE LOSERS
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DDD Group, off 7.8%. The imaging and 3d products company's shares have given back some of the strong gains registered on Tuesday. The company closed up 29% on Tuesday after it said that trading in the first quarter of 2015 was in line with the board's expectations, and that it is getting an initial positive response from prospective licensees and distribution partners to its TriDef SmartCam product for Windows.
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By James Kemp; jameskemp@alliancenews.com; @jamespkemp

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