Last checked at LONDON (Alliance News) - The following stocks are amongst the biggest risers and fallers within the main London indices midday Thursday.
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FTSE 100 WINNERS
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Antofagasta, up 2.2%. The miner said it has reached an agreement to resolve protests near its Los Pelambres mine operations in Chile, and said normal operations will begin in "the coming days". On Monday, the miner had said copper production at its Los Pelambres mine in Chile had been reduced by about 5,000 tonnes due to ongoing protests that are causing limited disruption at the site after a small group of protesters from the the local Choapa valley community established intermittent blockades at several points on the access road.
Fresnillo, up 3.2%, Randgold Resources, up 2.1%, Rio Tinto, up 2.0%, and Anglo American, up 1.8%. The miners are trading higher after falling heavily over the last few days as commodity prices took a hit after the dollar appreciated on a strong US nonfarm payroll figure on Friday. The dollar's strong rise has paused Thursday.
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FTSE 100 LOSERS
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Standard Chartered, down 3.6%, Direct Line Insurance Group, down 3.2%, BHP Billiton, down 1.3%, Hammerson, down 1.0%, and Hargreaves Lansdown, down 0.6%. The companies have gone ex-dividend, meaning new buyers no longer qualify for the latest dividend payouts.
BT Group, down 1.1%. Sky Chief Executive Officer Jeremy Darroch again called on Ofcom to address rival BT Group's ownership of key infrastructure over which rivals must run their telephone and broadband services, after the UK regulator said it undertake a wide-ranging strategic review of digital communications in the UK. BT is the former state monopoly that controlled the entire UK's telephone network and was the country's only provider of services. BT was forced to carve infrastructure unit Openreach out of its business by Ofcom in 2006, as part of measures allowing rival operators access to BT's network.
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FTSE 250 WINNERS
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TSB Banking Group, up 26%. The bank confirmed it has received a preliminary takeover offer of 340 pence per share from Spanish banking group Banco de Sabadell SA. The offer values TSB at GBP1.70 billion. It said its board has indicated to Sabadell that it would be willing to recommend an offer at the proposed price, subject to the pair reaching agreements on other terms and conditions of the offer, on which the board has now entered talks with Sabadell. Lloyds Banking Group, which still owns 50% of TSB, also said it would be "minded to accept" the offer. TSB shares currently trade at 332.542 pence.
Cineworld Group, up 5.7%. The cinema chain said its pretax profit more than doubled in 2014 on the back of its acquisition of Cinema City Holding, prompting the company to hike its dividend by more than 30%. Cineworld said its pretax profit for the 53 weeks to January 1, 2015 was GBP67.3 million, compared with GBP30.9 million in the 52 weeks to December 26, 2013.
Interserve, up 3.9%. The construction and support services company said its joint venture with Babcock & Wilcox Vølund has won a GBP150 million contract to build a biomass-fired power plant in Rotherham, north east England. Interserve said the joint venture has been awarded the contract by the Brite Partnership North East, and it will cover the construction of a 45-megawatt plant based in Templeborough which will be fired by locally-sourced waste wood.
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FTSE 250 LOSERS
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SOCO International, down 24%. The oil and gas company reported a huge fall in profit in 2014, after its revenue fell due to lower oil prices and lower production and it took significant impairments, causing the company to slash its dividend nearly in half. It also warned that production will fall again in 2015, and it is expecting oil prices throughout the year to be below what it achieved in 2014, suggesting the company will have a difficult year ahead of it.
Serco Group, down 15%. The outsourcing company reported a massive pretax loss for 2014, as it booked huge provisions on onerous contracts, reported is first fall in revenue as a listed company, and confirmed it had scrapped its final dividend payout, while also saying it will launch a GBP555 million rights issue at more than a 50% discount.
Home Retail Group, down 11%. The company said it expects its benchmark pretax profit in the recently-ended financial year to be at the top end of current market expectations, after sales in the last eight weeks of the year fell but it said it had made progress on gross margin and costs. The owner of the Argos general merchandise chain and the Homebase DIY chain has spent a number of years turning around the Argos business and that is paying off, but it is now being hampered by efforts to also shrink and turnaround the Homebase business.
Crest Nicholson Holdings, down 1.5%, Dechra Pharmaceuticals, down 1.2%, and Temple Bar Investment Trust, down 1.2%. The companies have gone ex-dividend.
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AIM ALL-SHARE WINNERS
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Transense Technologies, up 20%. The transportation sensor system provider said it has signed a deal that will see Rema Tip Top Holding UK Ltd use Transense's tyre inspection probe, and it expects UK revenue from the contract to total at least GBP1.1 million over the next three years.
ASOS, up 20%. The online fashion retailer reported accelerating sales growth during the second quarter of its financial year, driven by strong growth in the UK, and Chief Executive Nick Robertson also said its new pricing strategy in international markets is also showing signs of paying off. The fast-growing retailer said revenue was up 20% at GBP298.3 million in the three months to February 28, from GBP249.0 million a year earlier, an acceleration from the first quarter that meant revenue for the first half was up 14% at GBP550.5 million.
Clean Air Power, up 15%. The company said it has signed a distribution partnership with Bruckner Truck Sales Inc in the US, giving it exposure to the southwestern region of the US, where Bruckner runs Volvo and Mack dealerships.
ITM Power, up 12%. The company said it has secured a GBP4.9 million strategic investment from JCB Research, a unit of construction equipment manufacturer JCB, and Valebond Consultants Ltd. The investors have agreed to subscribe for 16.2 million shares in the company at a price of 30 pence per share, representing a total of 9.1% of ITM's issued share capital.
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AIM ALL-SHARE LOSERS
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Doriemus, off 19%. The oil and gas company said it has raised GBP1.2 million via a share placing, money it will use to strengthen its balance sheet and on further farm-ins and investment opportunities in the UK oil and gas sector. The company has issued 2 billion shares at 0.06 pence per share. It currently trades at 0.0645p.
Physiomics, down 18%. The company raised GBP270,000 in a discounted share placing, funds it will use for working capital. The company said it issued 450 million new shares at 0.06 pence a share. It currently trades 0.0654p.
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By Neil Thakrar; neilthakrar@alliancenews.com; @NeilThakrar1
Copyright 2015 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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