Last checked at 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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G4S, up 4.3%. The security company said organic revenue rose 4.2% in the first nine months of the year and it has agreed new contracts with annual revenues of over GBP870 million and total contract value of GBP1.7 billion. Contract retention for the nine months was similar to historical levels, at slightly above 90%, the company said.
Tullow Oil, up 1.5%. The oil explorer said it is reviewing its capital expenditure and costs, with overall exploration spending significantly reduced and focused primarily on East Africa where it has major basin-opening potential.
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FTSE 100 LOSERS
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Sainsbury's, down 5.4%. The supermarket operator swung to a pretax loss in the first half of the year, and outlined plans to cuts costs and capital expenditure. Pretax loss was GBP290 million for the 28 weeks to September 27 from a profit of GBP433 million in the same period a year earlier. First-half revenue fell 0.1% to GBP12.67 billion. It maintained its interim dividend, but its full-year dividend is expected to be cut.
Capita, down 5%. The outsourcing company said it has secured GBP1.63 billion of major sales so far this year, down from GBP2.9 billion in the same period last year when it had booked its largest ever contract worth GBP1.2 billion with O2.
SSE, down 2.7%. The utility reported a drop in pretax profit in the first half of the year due to warmer weather, lower electricity output and weak gas prices. For the six months ended September 30, pretax profit fell 6.2% to GBP316.6 million compared with GBP337.4 million a year earlier, mainly driven by a GBP22.1 million loss from its share of joint ventures.
Barclays, down 2%. The bank was among the five investigated by regulators over its FX dealings but remains in talks with regulators over its settlement. It has set aside GBP500 million in provisions to cover potential fines.
Burberry, down 1.2%. The luxury fashion retailer reported a 14% rise in underlying revenue of GBP1.1 billion but said it expects some pressure on full-year margin, a reflection of the strong pound, a more difficult external environment, and continued investments.
Royal Bank of Scotland, down 0.4%. The bank was one of five fined a total USD3.38 billion by UK, US and Swiss regulators for failings in its FX dealing operations. RBS was fined GBP399 million but said this is fully covered by provisions made in the third quarter.
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FTSE 250 WINNERS
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Essentra, up 2.5%. The company said it will buy the specialist packing arm of Clondalkin Group in a USD455 million deal, issuing shares to cover GBP160 million of the consideration. Clondalkin, which provides secondary packaging products for the pharmaceutical and healthcare industries, is owned by an affiliate of US private equity house Warburg Pincus and Essentra expects to complete the deal in the first quarter of 2015.
Moneysupermarket.com, up 2%. The price comparison website said it remains confident of meeting its expectations for the full year, after the "positive momentum and solid margins" seen in the third quarter continued through October. Third-quarter revenue rose by 18% year-on-year to GBP66.8 million, driven by increases in MoneySuperMarket.com, MoneySavingExpert.com, and TravelSupermarket.com, the company said
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FTSE 250 LOSERS
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SIG, down 7.5%. The building products distributor lowered its expectations for the year due to weak economic conditions in Europe, although it also raised its cost-benefit targets from the strategic initiatives it is taking.
Playtech, down 7.5%. Credit Suisse cut its rating on the stock to Underperform from Neutral and lowered its price target to 580 pence from 780p.
Diploma, down 1.6%. The company said Chairman John Rennocks is to step down from his role after the company's annual general meeting in January, appointing John Nicholas, currently a senior independent director on Diploma's board.
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AIM ALL-SHARE WINNERS
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Mountfield, up 8.1%. The company said its Connaught Access Flooring subsidiary has won a contract worth around GBP4.5 million to supply and install access flooring at a newly-built office development in the City of London. Work will start in January 2015 and is expected to be completed in the first quarter of 2016.
Solo Oil, up 7%. The company said it is awaiting formal approval from Tanzanian authorities for a deal that will see Solo buy a stake in the Kiliwani North Development license from Aminex, and the companies expect the deal to close shortly.
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AIM ALL-SHARE LOSERS
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Proteome Sciences, down 16%. The company said contract delays will mean its full-year revenue will come in below market expectations and lower than the revenue posted last year.
Quindell, down 9.6%. The company is understood to be on the brink of a formal probe by the City regulator over a share-transaction controversy which has caused its share price to plunge in the past week, the Daily Mail reported. The FCA declined to comment to Alliance News.
Physiomics, down 4%. The company posted a slightly narrowed loss in its year to end-June of GBP464,252, down from GBP543,791 a year before, as revenue rose to GBP267,903 from GBP240,000.
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By Ian Edmondson; ianedmondson@alliancenews.com;
Copyright 2014 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.
IN BRIEF: Physiomics warns large contracts taken longer than expected
Physiomics PLC - Milton Park, England-based data science company, focused on new therapeutics and personalised medicine solutions - Warns several large contracts have taken longer than expected to be signed. It predicts total income for the year to June 30 will decline to a range of GBP600,000-GBP650,000 as a result. It adds: "The company is in the final stages of negotiation for two projects (one with an existing client and one with a potential new client), the total value of which is expected to be, in aggregate, approximately GBP350,000. Whilst the board anticipates that the contracts for these two projects will be signed in FY24, the majority of the revenue is now expected be recognised in the company's next financial year ending 30 June 2025, and accordingly the board's expectations for FY25 revenues have been correspondingly increased."
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