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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Glencore, up 7.5%. The multi-commodities miner and trading house said it will cut production of contained zinc metal by 500,000 tonnes per year across its operations in Australia, South America and Kazakhstan in an effort to preserve the value of reserves in the ground at a "time of low zinc and lead prices". This represents around a third of Glencore's annual zinc production, and will reduce its fourth quarter mine production by around 100,000 tones of contained zinc metal.
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FTSE 100 - LOSERS
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London Stock Exchange Group, down 0.7%. The company agreed the long awaited sale of Russell Investments, having originally announced plans to sell the business in February, to TA Associates for USD1.15 billion. Numis lowered its price target for the stock from 2,450 pence from 2,500p, saying that the sale price came in below figures that had been rumoured in the press of up to USD1.8 billion, and below the USD1.4 billion that Numis was valuing it at.
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FTSE 250 - WINNERS
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Vedanta Resources, up 9.4%. The multi-commodity company reported a rise in production across most of its commodities in the first half of its financial year and said its net debt is expected to be below the USD8.0 billion mark as of the end of September. Vedanta said it was focused on optimising its operating expenses and capital expenses in light of current market conditions, and it implemented several initiatives to generate cash savings across its business during the second quarter. This has resulted in improved cost performance and lower net debt, the company said.
Petrofac, up 8.6%. The oil and gas company said it has terminated its contract with ZPMC, the company that was constructing the Petrofac JSD 6000 deepwater multi-purpose offshore vessel, over issues with ZPMC's performance in respect of the construction.The contract was awarded to ZPMC back in 2014, and the vessel was expected to be constructed and installed sometime in early 2017. The move may lead to Petrofac abandoning its plans to construct the new vessel, marking another strategic reversal, but "not an unpopular one", according to Investec analyst Neill Morton. If Petrofac does abandon the new vessel, it would "bring the company full circle", back to its roots as an onshore, MENA-focused engineering and construction contractor, said Morton.
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FTSE 250 - LOSERS
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Carillion, down 0.8%. Investec downgraded its rating on the construction and support services company to Hold from Buy, saying Carillion has struggled to grow profits and there are few positive catalysts in the near term. Investec also cut its price target on the stock to 300.00 pence from 380.00p. Investec said it found it "hard to get excited about a stock which is clearly struggling to grow profits organically and with some question marks around its balance sheet."
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MAIN MARKET AND AIM - WINNERS
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Renewable Energy Generation, up 31% at 48.78p. The company said it had received non-binding approaches for its subsidiary which holds all of its assets and operations from a "highly credible" unnamed potential buyer, and said the subsidiary's management plans to spin off some of its assets into a new company if the deal goes through. The offer made would generate a net cash distribution of around 60.0 pence per share, the company said, which was a 61% premium to the closing price of the company's shares on Thursday.
Botswana Diamonds, up 21%. The company said it has been awarded a new prospecting licence in Botswana through its joint venture with Alrosa, and said this new license area is now its "highest priority." Sunland Minerals, the 50/50 joint venture between Botswana Diamonds and OJSC Alrosa, a Russian diamond miner, was awarded prospecting licence PL260/2015 by the government. The licence contains three previously discovered kimberlite bodies and the joint venture has began work immediately as it was already working on its other joint venture licences which are nearby in the Orapa region.
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MAIN MARKET AND AIM - LOSERS
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Adgorithms, down 56%. The advertising software company warned its earnings for the full year will be materially below expectations, citing disruption in the online advertising market. Adgorithms said severe disruption in recent weeks which has resulted in a loss of supply for major online advertising exchanges and a drop in demand from major media buyers. This had a "significant effect" on indirect revenue generation, Adgorithms said, and is expected to continue to do so in the near term. Full-year earnings will miss market expectations as a result.
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By Hana Stewart-Smith; hanassmith@alliancenews.com; @HanaSSAllNews
Copyright 2015 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.
27 Apr 2016 15:09