LONDON (Alliance News) - The following stocks are the leading risers and fallers within the main London indices Monday.
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FTSE 100 - WINNERS
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Randgold Resources, up 3.1%, and Fresnillo, up 2.6%. The gold miners are up following a rebound in the gold price. The metal had fallen to a five-year low last week at USD1,073.40 an ounce. On Monday it trades just above the USD1,100 an ounce mark at USD1,103.25 an ounce.
Reckitt Benckiser Group, up 2.1%. The consumer goods company said it has upgraded its like-for-like revenue growth target for the full year after its pretax profit rose in the first half thanks to a solid performance across the business. The company said its pretax profit for the six months to the end of June was GBP921 million, up from GBP838 million a year earlier.
Royal Dutch Shell 'B', up 0.4%, and Royal Dutch Shell 'A', up 0.4%. BG Group said the Brazilian competition authority has cleared the company's proposed mega-merger with Royal Dutch Shell. The authority had already given initial approval earlier in July before formally clearing the deal after an appeal period ended. The clearance is the first of five needed by the pair as BG and Shell await approval from Australia, China and the European Union. The company did not state the fifth approval that it requires.
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FTSE 100 - LOSERS
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Merlin Entertainments, down 3.3%. The theme park operator said it expects its full-year results to be below its previous forecasts due to the roller-coaster crash at its Alton Towers theme park in June. Merlin's Alton Towers theme park was shuttered back in June after a serious accident occurred on the Smiler ride. People on the Smiler ride were trapped 25 feet up at a 45 degree angle for up to four-and-a-half hours after two carriages collided, resulting in 16 people being injured, including four seriously.
Pearson, down 2.2%. The publishing and education company on Saturday confirmed it is in discussions with The Economist Group Board and trustees regarding the potential sale of its 50% share in the group. There is no certainty that this process will lead to a transaction. The news follows Pearson agreeing a deal last week to sell the Financial Times Group to Japanese media company Nikkei.
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FTSE 250 - WINNERS
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Bwin.Party Digital Entertainment, up 1.2%. GVC Holdings made an increased takeover bid for the online gaming company, having previously seen its advanced spurned in favour of a rival offer from 888 Holdings. Earlier this month, Bwin.Party turned down GVC's first offer in favour of the 888 bid, despite it valuing the company for less. Bwin.Party said it had sided with the 888 offer due to the higher execution risks involved in the GVC offer, which had been backed by Canada's Amaya Gaming Inc.
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FTSE 250 - LOSERS
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Fidelity China Special Situations, down 6.5%. The company, which invests in securities issued by companies listed in China or Hong Kong and Chinese companies listed elsewhere, is down after heavy declines in the Asian stock markets. The Shanghai Composite closed down 8.5% on Monday.
Lonmin, down 5.4%. HSBC cut the miner to Hold from Buy and slashed its price target to 82 pence from 222p. The company trades at 59.00 pence.
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AIM ALL-SHARE - WINNERS
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PhotonStar LED Group, up 14%. The company said it has secured a supply contract for its Camtronics Vale manufacturing division with an unnamed professional electronics company. PhotonStar said the contract will cover the manufacturing of a sophisticated consumer product at the Camtronics factory in South Wales and is expected to generate revenue of around GBP0.5 million in the current financial year.
MySale Group, up 11%. The online flash sale retailer said it is set to post a rise in revenue for the year to the end of June and said its performance improved in the second half as it said it has appointed a new chairman. MySale said its revenue for the year was up by 5% to AUD235 million and said its second-half underlying earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation should be broadly break-even.
Octagonal, up 11%. The company said Global Investment Strategy UK Ltd, the settlements and global custody business it acquired through a reverse takeover in June, made a GBP534,000 net operating profit on revenue of GBP1.3 million in the first quarter of its financial year. GIS's revenue in the year ended March 31 was GBP3.3 million, according to Octagonal.
Daily Internet, up 10%. The company said it has signed contracts worth a total of GBP400,000 with builders' merchant JT Atkinson & Sons Ltd. The contract, to be provided by Daily Internet's Netplan subsidiary, will cover the provision of a cloud-based platform for JT Atkinson. No financial details were disclosed but Daily Internet said billing on the three-year deal will start immediately.
Benchmark Holdings, up 9.6%. The company said it has acquired Akvaforsk Genetics Center AS and an 80% stake in Spring Genetics Inc for a total of NOK140 million, or GBP11 million, in cash. Benchmark, which provides technical services, products and specialist knowledge for the food and farming industries, said Akvaforsk Genetics Center AS is a Norway-based aquaculture genetics and research business, while Spring Genetics is a US-based tilapia genetics and breeding business.
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AIM ALL-SHARE - LOSERS
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REACT Energy, off 30%. The company's shares are down after it resumed trading after suspension. REACT said last week that its scheme of arrangement that has been suggested by its examiners has been approved by the High Court in Dublin, which will be followed by its exit from the examinership process, and it has raised GBP1.0 million by way of a secured loan facility. The company's shares had been suspended since December.
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By Neil Thakrar; neilthakrar@alliancenews.com; @NeilThakrar1
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