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LONDON (Alliance News) - The following stocks are the leading risers and fallers within the main London indices midday Tuesday.
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FTSE 100 - WINNERS
BHP Billiton, up 1.2%. The Anglo-Australian mining giant has reported an 83% increase in profit for the first half of fiscal 2014, aided by its cost-cutting measures that helped offset the impact of lower commodity prices. It said profit for the half-year to December 31 was USD8.11 billion, up from USD4.43 billion in the year-earlier period. The company's underlying earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization rose 16% from the year-ago period to USD16.52 billion. BHP also increased its interim dividend by 3.5%.
IMI, up 0.7%. The company has followed up Monday's share consolidation with the return of cash to shareholders through payment of a C share dividend and redemption of B shares. The moves are a result of its decision to return GBP620 million in cash to shareholders from the proceeds of the sale of its beverage dispensing business.
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FTSE 100 - LOSERS
InterContinental Hotels, down 3.7%. Despite reporting positive 2013 results, shares are lower on concerns of a tougher 2014. The owner of hotel brands including Crowne Plaza, Holiday Inn, and Intercontinental Hotels & Resorts, reported a pretax profit of USD600 million for the year, up from USD547 million in 2012, as revenues rose to USD1.90 billion, from USD1.84 billion. Analysts at Investec say that 2014 is "shaping up as a high capex year", after the company guided that capital expenditure will be 20% ahead of previous forecasts. Investec has put its forecasts under review as it worries about what impact hotel refurbishments will have on room closures, as well as the associated delay in further cash returns.
Centrica, down 2.7%. UBS has downgraded the company to Sell, from Neutral, cutting its price target to 280.00 pence from 340.00p. UBS believes that UK Energy Secretary Ed Davey's recent letter to regulators highlighting areas of energy market concern, in which British Gas' gas retail margin and large market share was the primary focus, leaves Centrica facing risks from both the opposition Labour party and the coalition government.
Randgold Resources, down 1.7%. AIM All-Share-constituent Goldstone Resources has announced that test results from drilling on the Baraboye and Ibel prospects at its Sangola joint venture project in Senegal, which it shares with Randgold, has not returned gold intercepts that justify an immediate follow-up programme.
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FTSE 250 - WINNERS
Bwin.party digital entertainment, up 5.2%. The group has seen its share price jump Tuesday after a US investment manager late Monday said that it has agreed in principle to acquire a stake of about 6.1% in the online gaming company from its founders. SpringOwl Gibraltar Partners B Ltd said it has agreed to buy just over 49.8 million bwin.party shares from Emerald Bay Ltd and Stinson Ridge Ltd, funds owned by the company's founders.
John Wood Group, up 4.1%. The oil services company said it has performed well in 2013, with strong pretax profit driven by higher revenues and margins. Its pretax profit increased 14% to USD412.8 million, from USD361.4 million in 2012, although that was slightly below the USD424 million analysts had been expecting. Revenues increased 3% to USD7.06 billion, from USD6.83 billion in 2012, with an 11% revenue increase at its engineering division and a 8.3% revenue increase at its PSN division significantly offsetting a 19% fall in revenues from its GTS division.
Bank of Georgia Holdings, up 3.9%. The group has reported record earnings for 2013. The bank said it made a GEL245.3 million pretax profit, compared with GEL212.8 million in 2012, buoyed by net interest income and net insurance revenue growth. Overall revenue grew by 9.5% to GEL545.5 million. Moreover, with the macro economy looking positive, a combination of a dominant market position, strong GDP growth, low levels of debt to GDP, and high return on equity, "make for an ideal backdrop for Bank of Georgia," says Numis analyst James Hamilton.
Paragon Group of Companies, up 3%. The consumer finance lender and buy-to-let mortgage provider has now launched its new challenger bank, making good on previous guidance that the new bank would get regulatory approval inside the second-quarter. The group will provide Paragon Bank with an initial GBP12.7 million in capital and will inject more over time in order to support growth.
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FTSE 250 - LOSERS
Drax Group, down 2.9%. The UK energy provider said its pretax profit fell significantly during 2013 as expected increased costs offset positive revenues. It said pretax profit fell 83% to GBP31.8 million, down from GBP190.2 million in 2012, blaming the loss predominantly on increased carbon costs. Although Liberum Capital said the company's 2013 results beat its estimates, it said that it now expects the firm to experience tougher conditions in 2014.
Unite Group, down 1.8%. The student accommodation provider has acquired a 1.8 acre development site on St Leonard's Street in Edinburgh, subject to planning and funding agreements, for an undisclosed fee.
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AIM - WINNERS
Probability, up 49%. The group said it is to be acquired by GTECH UK Interactive Ltd in a deal valuing the company at GBP18.0 million. Shares have jumped to 47.01 pence in the wake of the news, with shareholders set to receive 50 pence a share under the terms of the recommended cash acquisition. The deal means shareholders will receive a 59% premium on Monday's closing price of 31.5 pence.
Clean Air Power, up 8.7%. The company said it has received an order for 19 Genesis-EDGE Dual Fuel trucks from an unnamed distribution company in the UK in a deal worth GBP500,000.
Dekeloil, up 7.9%. The company said oil production at its CPO extraction mill in the Ivory coast has commenced ahead of schedule. It said construction was completed ahead of schedule and on budget by Malaysian company Modipalm Engineering SDN BHD and following successful testing, commercial production began.
Providence Resources, up 6.8%. Providence Resources said that the licence area at its 80% owned Barryroe Oil Field has been increased after it was granted a 180 square kilometre increase in the extent of the standard exploration licence 1/11, which contains the site.
Keywords Studios, up 6.7%. The firm has acquired Babel Media for GBP5.4 million in both cash and shares, as it steps up its growth strategy to add client numbers and penetrate markets. Keywords said it will pay Babel GBP2.2 million in shares, with the remaining GBP3.2 million being used to pay off Babel's debts.
ANGLE PLC, up 6.5%. The specialist med-tech company said it will launch its Parsortix non-invasive cancer diagnostic system at a science and medical researcher conference in Berlin on Wednesday. ANGLE's Parsortix system enables the capture of circulating tumour cells from cancer patient blood for mutational analysis, using a simple blood test to capture the cancer cells for analysis.
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AIM - LOSERS
Goldstone Resources, off 15%. The company's share price has dropped after it said results from drilling on two sites at its Sangola joint venture project were not enough to warrant a follow-up programme.
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By James Kemp; jameskemp@alliancenews.com; @jamespkemp
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