LONDON (Alliance News) - The following stocks are the leading risers and fallers within the main London indices on Tuesday.
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FTSE 100 - WINNERS
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BP, up 2.8%. Royal Dutch Shell 'A', up 2.3%, Royal Dutch Shell 'B', up 2.5%. Oil companies were supported by higher oil prices. Brent was trading at USD34.14 a barrel up from USD33.57 at the London equities close on Monday. Also on Tuesday, world's biggest oil producing countries including Russia and Saudi Arabia reached a conditional agreement to freeze production at January levels following a meeting in Doha, Reuters reported. Saudi oil minister Ali al-Naimi, said freezing production at January levels was an adequate measure and new steps to stabilise the market could be considered in the next few months.
Merlin Entertainments, up 1.3%. The theme park operator said it hired Anne-Françoise Nesmes as its chief financial officer, poaching her from veterinary pharmaceuticals company Dechra Pharmaceuticals. Nesmes will join Merlin from August 1 and will take over from Andrew Carr, who will retire from the role. Dechra shares were up 0.3%.
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FTSE 100 - LOSERS
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Standard Chartered, down 7.0%. Investec cut its rating on the emerging markets-focused bank to Hold from Buy, having upgraded the company only a few days ago, as the company's share price rallied from recent lows. Since upgrading the stock on Thursday last week, Investec said the stock has increased 17% to within 2.0% of its target price. Analyst Ian Gordon said this valuation remains "optically cheap" but Investec forecasts no return on tangible equity in 2015 and 2016, and only 4% in 2017.
Anglo American, down 6.8%. The miner reported 2015 earnings that beat analyst expectations despite sharp declines, as the company stepped up its restructuring programme in an attempt to adjust the business to cope with low commodity prices. Anglo reported a 55% fall in underlying earnings before interest and tax to USD2.23 billion from USD4.93 billion in 2014. However that was considerably higher than the USD2.00 billion expected by analysts. As previously guided, Anglo American will not pay a final dividend for the year, but shareholders did receive the interim dividend of 32.0 cents announced in 2015. Anglo American said it aims to have positive free cashflow in 2016, importantly at current commodity prices, and said it is targeting a USD1.90 billion Ebit benefit through further cost cutting and productivity improvements.
ITV, down 0.9%. The broadcaster said it has appointed Peter Bazalgette as its new chairman, with plans for him to replace Archie Norman in the role on May 12. Bazalgette has been a non-executive director of ITV since June 2013 and is currently the chair of Arts Council England, a position he will hold until January 2017. He also is president of the Royal Television Society. Bazalgette is the former chairman of television producer Endemol UK and is credited with the creation of a number of formats, including reality show Big Brother.
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FTSE 250 - WINNERS
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Spectris, up 6.1%. The precision instrumentation and controls supplier said restructuring costs and higher spending pushed its profit lower in 2015, exacerbating the mixed trading conditions in its markets as it was hit by a slowdown in the US manufacturing industry. The company said its pretax profit dipped to GBP141.6 million in the year, down 17% from the GBP171.1 million it made a year earlier. Spectris said it will pay a final dividend of 32.2 pence per share, taking its total dividend to 49.5p, up 6.0% year-on-year. Spectris said it expects an improvement in performance in 2016 as the benefits of its restructuring programme, which is on track, flow through, following a year hit by mixed conditions across its markets and divisions.
BGEO Group, 4.8%. The lender said it has increased its dividend payout after reporting a solid set of results in 2015 that showed a material rise in revenue and profit. BGEO, the holding company of JSC Bank of Georgia, reported an 30% lift in pretax profit in 2015 to GEL359.4 million from GEL276.6 million a year earlier after revenue soared 39% to GEL861.6 million from GEL621.2 million. BGEO raised its annual dividend for the year by 14% to GEL2.4 per share.
International Personal Finance, up 3.8%. Liberum upgraded the stock to Buy from Sell, following the sharp drop in its share price in the past year. The broker said it now favours the risk-reward case for the stock and while it remains high risk, and further downgrades are likely due to troubles in its Slovakian business, this looks to have been largely priced into the shares.
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FTSE 250 - LOSERS
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Pennon Group, down 2.8%. Credit Suisse downgraded the water utility and waste management company to Underperform from Neutral.
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MAIN MARKET AND AIM - WINNERS
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Alba Mineral Resources, up 43%, UK Oil & Gas Investments, up 41%, Solo Oil up 23%, Stellar Resources, up 28%. The companies involved in the Horse Hill project in southern England and said sweet oil has flowed naturally to the surface under flowtest conditions, with the initial results beating expectations. The initial flow from the Horse Hill-1 well was at a rate of 700 barrels per day using a 1-inch choke, producing a 50:50 mix of oil and water. UK Oil & Gas Investments holds a 30% stake in Horse Hill Developments, whilst Doriemus, Stellar Resources, Solo Oil and Alba Mineral Resources each hold 10% stakes in Horse Hill Developments, with Evocutis holding a 2% stake and the balance is owned by Angus Energy, in which UK Oil & Gas has a 6% stake. Doriemus shares are currently suspended, while Evocutis shares were up 6.7%.
Tri-Star Resources, up 6.4%. The miner said Strategic & Precious Metals Processing, in which Tri-Star holds a 40% stake, has signed a services agreement for the Oman Antimony Roaster project. Tri-Star said Strategic & Precious Metals Processing has signed an 18-month engineering, procurement and construction management deal with WorleyParsons Oman, the local unit of Australian professional services group WorleyParsons.
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MAIN MARKET AND AIM - LOSERS
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Hargreaves Services, off 13%. The solid fuels and bulk logistics supplier posted lower first half pretax profit and revenue, slashed its interim dividend and said it intends to reduce its exposure to thermal coal markets in the next 18 months following a tough half for the group. For the six months to the end of November, Hargreaves Services said its pretax profit dropped to GBP800,000 from GBP15.2 million, as revenue plunged to GBP174.8 million from GBP351.2 million and it booked restructuring costs, as it sought to protect itself amid very challenging coal and steel market conditions in the UK. The weak results meant the group slashed its interim dividend to 1.7 pence per share from 10.0p a year earlier.
DQ Entertainment, down 11%. The entertainment production and distribution company said it has received a notice to requisition a general meeting, proposing a resolution to remove two directors from its board. DQ said the requisition from Platinum Consulting Group, Anil Chintapalli and Corporate Computer Services is seeking to remove Executive Director Rashida Adenwala and Non-Executive Director Srinivasa Sundar from the board with immediate effect. Between them, the three parties requisitioning the meeting hold around 52% of the voting rights of the company.
Tertiary Minerals, down 25%. The miner saw its shares drop after releasing the analytical results from the phase 4 drilling programme at its MB fluorspar project in the US state of Nevada. The 1,553 metre drilling programme conducted by the fluorspar-focused company comprised of four holes, and Tertiary said it encountered "thick intersections" of fluorspar mineralisation in step-out drilling, and that mineralisation remains open at depth and along strike, the company said.
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By Arvind Bhunjun; arvindbhunjun@alliancenews.com; @ArvindBhunjun
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