LONDON (Alliance News) - The following stocks are the leading risers and fallers within the main London indices on Friday.
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FTSE 100 - WINNERS
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Oil companies BP, up 2.4%, Royal Dutch Shell 'A', up 2.1% and Royal Dutch Shell 'B', up 1.8%. The stocks were up on the higher oil price. Brent was at USD40.72 a barrel on Friday morning compared to USD38.93 at the London equities close Thursday.
Vodafone, up 1.4%. Deutsche Bank added the mobile communications company to its Short Term Buy List according to traders.
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FTSE 100 - LOSERS
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Experian, down 1.8%. HSBC downgraded the consumer credit reference agency to Reduce from Buy.
Schroders, down 1.0%. The asset manager was cut to Neutral from Outperform by Exane BNP.
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FTSE 250 - WINNERS
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Vectura, up 3.8%. The respiratory pharmaceuticals company and Jordan-founded drug maker Hikma Pharmaceuticals said the new drug application for their fluticasone propionate and salmeterol inhalation powder was accepted for filing by the Food & Drug Administration in the US. The pair are working together on the inhalation powder, which is a generic version of GlaxoSmithKline's Advair Diskus, used to treat asthma and maintain treatment of airflow obstruction and reducing exacerbations in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Hikma was 0.7% while Glaxo was down 0.3%.
John Wood Group, up 1.6%. The energy services company said it acquired Ingenious Inc, a supplier of proprietary software and consulting services to the global chemical, oil and gas, and energy industries. John Wood bought the company from Ingenious's executive management team. The move is intended to boost John Wood's automation and control unit and expand its geographical reach. The acquisition will enhance John Wood's manufacturing operations management systems capability, diversifying and building on John Wood Mustang's automation and control business, within which Ingenious will operate.
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FTSE 250 - LOSERS
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Elementis, down 8.3% at 218.76p. Berenberg cut the specialty chemicals company to Hold from Buy and decreased its price target on the stock to 220p from 258p, citing "a full-looking valuation" and the "potential reduction in pricing and margins" within Elementis’s chromium division.
DFS Furniture, down 5.0% at 302.00p. Private equity firm Advent International Corp said it agreed to sell a 14.1% stake in the sofa retailer for GBP90.0 million. Advent agreed to sell 30.0 million shares at 300.00p per share to institutional investors, leaving the private equity firm with a 24.1% stake in DFS, held through 51.4 million shares. Settlement of the accelerated bookbuild placing is expected to take place on Tuesday next week, Advent said in a statement.
Tullow Oil, down 2.7%. The oil and gas company said it plans to revise its full-year production guidance after confirming operations are having to be restrained due to the turret bearing on its floating production, storage and offloading vessel at the Jubilee field offshore Ghana being damaged. Although operations are being hampered by the ongoing issue, Tullow stressed it has insurance that covers the costs related to the damage and the loss of revenue that may come from it.
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MAIN MARKET AND AIM - WINNERS
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Oilex, up 45%. The oil and gas explorer said it started producing gas from the Bhandut field in India, which it will be able to sell while it waits for approval from authorities for its field development plan. Oilex said the Bhandut-3 well has produced a flow rate of 700,000 standard cubic feet of gas per day, equal to around 120 barrels of oil, through an 8/64 inch choke. The gas being produced is initially being processed at the on-site production facilities and then delivered to a third-party operated gas processing plant. There, it is further treated to the required pipeline specification, before being sent into the high pressure gas network for delivery to an end user.
Immedia Group, up 72%. The digital audio content services group said it signed a new five-year service contract with an undisclosed global brand to provide a supply of branded in-store music and marketing channels. Under the deal Immedia will provide services to the brand's operations in the UK and Europe, and provide in-store equipment to facilitate delivery of the service, in return for an annual subscription fee per site. Additionally, Immedia will produce language specific marketing content at contract prices, and will sup
Trafalgar New Homes, up 88%. The residential property developer said it expects to report a return to profit when it publishes results for its recently ended financial year, with the company now looking to complete GBP7.8 million worth of developments over a two-year period on sites it owns. The group said it expects to report revenue in the region of GBP2.2 million in its financial year that ended March 31. In the previous financial year, Trafalgar made a GBP619,106 pretax loss on revenue of GBP3.9 million.
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MAIN MARKET AND AIM - LOSERS
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Pathfinder Minerals, off 26%. The miner said a court in Mozambique made a ruling against the company in its lengthy litigation process. The company wants to appeal the decision as it continues to try to reclaim numerous licenses. Pathfinder has been fighting over the ownership of Companhia Mineira de Naburi SARL, that hold the licenses. Pathfinder claimed the rights to the licences were illegally seized by General Jacinto Veloso and Diogo Cavaco and was hoping the court would rule Pathfinder validly acquired a 99.99% stake in Companhia Mineira. Veloso and Cavaco, claimed Pathfinder failed to pay the USD10.0 million required under the option agreement in place to buy the shares, meaning these licences could not have been seized as Pathfinder never owned them.
Metal Tiger, down 19%. The natural resources-focused investing company was down after publishing the first set of results from the drilling programme on the company's joint venture project in Botswana over the Kalahari copper belt. Metal Tiger, which owns a 30% stake in the joint venture with Australian-listed MOD Resources, said the first assay results from samples taken from the T3 prospect delivered intersects of 4.0 metres at 0.78% copper from an 88.0 metre downhole and 12.0 metres at 0.76% copper from an 69.0 metre downhole. The best intersect highlighted by the company was 14.0 metres at 1.97% copper from 86.0 metres downhole, including 7.0 metres at 2.9% copper from 92.0 metres.
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By Arvind Bhunjun; arvindbhunjun@alliancenews.com; @ArvindBhunjun
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