PGR.L Share News (PGR)

LONDON (Alliance News) - The following stocks are the leading risers and fallers on the main London indices early morning Friday.

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FTSE 100 -Winners

Tate & Lyle is up 2.4%, despite announcing that it expects its first half operating profit to be lower than last year. Alongside this, Jefferies has lowered its earnings per share estimates for Tate & Lyle by 4% due to the recent strengthening of the pound and lower Sucralose pricing. The investment bank also has cut its target price to 900 pence from 980p. However, it re-iterates a Buy recommendation on the back of the food producer announcing that it expects to deliver another year of profitable growth. Jefferies believes that Tate & Lyle's superior scale, cost advantages, and reliable product quality should see it continue to grow despite the less favourable Sucralose pricing environment. Tate & Lyle also said that it expects a stronger performance from its bulk ingredients business in the second half of the year, with solid demand for liquid sweeteners in North America, and lower corn prices in Europe, more than offsetting the impact of lower sugar prices on isoglucose margins.

GKN climbs 1.5% on the back of strong UK car sales data. An announcement from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders reported that passenger-car sales in the UK has increased for the 19th successive month in September. New car registrations increased 12% year-on-year to 403,136 units in September, the highest monthly total since March 2008. The automotive components company is one of the biggest risers on the blue-chip index.

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FTSE 100 - Losers

Standard Chartered, down 1.4%. The international banking group's share price continues to fall after Numis downgraded on Thursday its recommendation to Hold from Add, decreasing its price target to 1,500p from 1,780p. Currency depreciation across a large number of Standard Chartered's operational territories saw Numis reduce its 2013-2014 forecasts by 5%.

Petrofac falls 1.2% as investors react negatively to the news that it has successfully priced its debut bond offering. It raised US$750 million via senior notes due 2018. The company said it will use the majority of the net proceeds from the offering to reduce the amount outstanding under its existing Revolving Credit Facility and the rest for general corporate purposes.

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FTSE 250 - Winners

Dixons, up 2.3%. The company is benefiting from UBS upgrading it to Buy from Neutral, increasing its target price to 60p from 45p.

Eurasian Natural Resources jumps 2.5% after Kazakhmys announced that it had accepted an offer from Eurasian Natural Resources Group B.V for the buy back of its share in Eurasian Natural Resources Corporation PLC. Kazakhmys has a shareholding of around 26% in the company.

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FTSE 250 - Losers

Carpetright, down 9%, is by far the biggest fallers on the FTSE 250. The company has announced that it expects its full-year results to be significantly below expectations, due to a softer UK market and losses at its Dutch business. In a trading update for the 10 weeks to September 29, the floor-covering retailer said that group sales for the 10-week period fell 3.7%. It said that UK like-for-like sales were down 2.5%, and total UK sales were down 4.1%. Carpetright said that in local currency terms, like-for-like sales in the rest of Europe, which comprises the Netherlands, Belgium and the Republic of Ireland, declined 7.6%. It said that total sales dropped 7.8% in the 10-week period. The firm also announced that Chief Executive Officer Darren Shapland will step down. It said that Chairman Philip Harris will become a full-time executive chairman.

Serco Group is down 1.1%. The drop in share price comes after it reported the completion of the sale of its UK occupational health business in a transaction with the management team for GBP3.5 million, as it seeks to manage its portfolio.

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AIM - Winners

DDD Group, up 22%. The 3D solutions company said that Non-Executive Chairman Nicholas Brigstocke bought 200,000 shares at an average price of 5.6875 pence per share, between Tuesday and Thursday. Brigstocke now holds a 1.3% stake in the company, with a total of more than 1.8 million shares.

Phorm Corporation, up 21%. The technology company continues to see share price grow following Thursday's news that it had launched operations of its advertising platform in mainland China. It has started a nationwide opt-in process, and in its first week of operations has seen an average of 4.3 million users a day.

TXO jumps 12% after it announced that a court result that could bring it significant benefits took a step closer as the judge retired to consider his verdict. The oil and gas investment company said it has been told that a written decision will be provided regarding the Empire vs Smartwin court case in the US. The case concerns a USD1.5 million convertible bond in Empire which it was unable to repay. Tasmanian Oil & Gas Limited, in which TXO currently have a 25% equity interest, is beneficially entitled to 50% of any successful claim on this case. Whilst the verdict of the case remains uncertain; the financial impact for TOG, and accordingly TXO, could be significant. In a follow-up development Friday morning, TXO said the court ordered that two more witnesses be produced by December 17.

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AIM - Losers

Premier Gold Resources, down 24%, is the biggest faller on the AIM All-Share index. The gold exploration-and-development company has said it has encountered resistance from factions of local gangs seeking to hold up the work programme at its Cholokkaindy mine in the Kyrgyz Republic. As a result, it will not be able to commence operations as originally intended. Premier Gold said it will focus on resolving the situation to create a safe working environment so that work can resume. It said that it may still be able to undertake a limited work programme before winter sets in, but it cannot be certain it achieve the operational objectives it had set for 2013.

Verdes Management drops 20% after it announced it had agreed a new convertible loan agreement, according to brokerage Simple Investments. Under the terms of the contract, Newick Developments will provide the company with GBP500,000. Newick will be able to convert this loan at a price of 0.055 pence per share. As the conversion price is lower than the current share price of 0.097p, the company will call a general meeting to discuss "capital reorganisation." This will enable Verdes to issue the shares that are required by the terms of the loan and also will allow the company to offer current shareholders the chance to subscribe for new shares at a price of 0.055p per existing share.

Tricorn Group, down 8.7%. The pipe manufacturer is struggling in the aftermath of its announcement that pretax profit is expected to come in lower than expected.

Beacon Hill Resources, down 8.7%. The mining company announced Friday the issue of convertible loan notes to raise up to USD19.2 million to fund the development of upgrades at the companies Minas Moatize Project. The notes will be convertible at a price of 2p per share. The Shares have fallen from an opening price of 2.05 to just under the conversion price on the announcement.

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By James Kemp; jameskemp@alliancenews.com; @jamespkemp

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