RGU.L Share News (RGU)

LONDON (Alliance News) - The following stocks are the leading risers and fallers within the main London indices on Thursday.
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FTSE 100 - WINNERS
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Fresnillo, up 4.0%, Anglo American, up 3.6%, Randgold Resources, up 2.8%, Glencore, up 2.6%, Antofagasta, up 2.4%. Miners were trading higher as the gold price stages a recovery, up at 1,139.20 per ounce.

International Consolidated Airlines Group, up 0.6%. The British Airways owner's price target was upgraded by Nomura, which says IAG is its top pick in the airlines sector. The bank is bullish on the sector as a whole, saying cheap fuel prices and robust supply and demand dynamics leave the outlook for carriers looking strong.
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FTSE 100 - LOSERS
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British American Tobacco, down 2.0%, Mondi, down 3.0%, Prudential, down 2.2%, Hammerson, down 1.9%. The tobacco, paper and packaging, insurance and property companies were all trading lower after going ex-dividend. BAT and Prudential are among the largest companies by market capitalisation in the blue-chip index and the declines in their share prices are weighing on an already mostly lower market.
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FTSE 250 - WINNERS
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Kaz Minerals, up 17%. The miner said it swung to a tiny pretax profit in the first half of the year, despite revenue being hampered by lower commodity prices, but shares were boosted after Kazakhstan said will allow its currency to float freely. On Wednesday, Kazakhstan widened its trading band which allowed its currency to weaken 4.7% against the dollar, and on early Thursday said it would allow its currency to float freely. All of Kaz Minerals' operations are in Kazkakhstan, and the devaluation of the tenge will drive down costs at its operations, while sales are denominated in dollars.

Lonmin, up 18%. The miner, shares in which slumped on Wednesday, was gaining ground in line with blue-chip miners on firmer metals prices. Polymetal, up 2.5%, Evraz, up 1.7% and Acacia Mining, up 1.5%, were also benefiting, albeit to a lesser extent than Lonmin.

Rank Group, up 3.2%. The bingo and casino operator reported growth in profit in its recently-ended financial year, boosted by strong sales in its venues and digital businesses, and said that trading since the year-end has been in line with management expectations. The company said pretax profit multiplied in the year ended June 30 to GBP74.5 million from GBP14.4 million the year before, as its revenue grew 4.3% to GBP738.3 million from GBP707.7 million, comprising 2% growth in venues revenue and 21% growth in digital. Like-for-like sales rose 5%.

Premier Oil, up 2.1%. The oil and gas company swung to a substantial pretax loss in the first half of 2015 on the back of impairment charges, a drop in production and lower oil prices, but shares rose as analysts said they were satisfied with the results. The company also said it had agreed to amend its financial covenants out to mid-2017 to give it sufficient debt headroom whilst its continues developing its assets, alleviating short-term balance sheet concerns.
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FTSE 250 - LOSERS
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Regus, down 6.6%. Investec said that while it expects the office space provider's interim results to indicate continued strength in its underlying trading performance, it downgraded it to Hold from Buy given the recent rise in its share price.

Fidelity China Special Situations, down 4.7%. The China equities-focused investment fund was hit after shares in China plunged on Thursday. The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index lost 3.4% to 3,664.291 points, while the Hang Seng in Hong Kong fell 1.8% to 22,757.47, having touched its lowest level of 2015. The falls came on the back of continuing concerns about China's economy despite another round of cash injections by People's Bank of China. Furthermore, uncertainty over the implications of China's yuan devaluation lingers despite the country's central bank setting the yuan midpoint once again marginally higher than the prior setting.

Bank of Georgia Holdings, down 2.3%. The London-listed holding company of Georgia’s leading bank JSC Bank of Georgia and its subsidiaries, on Thursday reported higher pretax profit in the second quarter, driven by its banking and investment businesses. The company said it made a GEL83.7 million pretax profit in the three months to the end of June, compared with GEL59.0 million in the corresponding quarter the prior year.
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AIM ALL-SHARE - WINNERS
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Vast Resources, up 12%. The miner said it has commissioned the ball mill and carbon in leach plant for the Pickstone-Peerless Gold Mine in Zimbabwe. Vast said this will allow the start of gold absorption and marks a further milestone for the company in transitioning to becoming a cash generative mining company. The first gold production from the site is being targeted for the end of this month.
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AIM ALL-SHARE - LOSERS
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Sula Iron & Gold, down 33%. The miner said it will raise GBP400,000 via a discounted share placing.
Sula said it will issue 66.7 million shares at 0.6 pence per share. Sula said it will use the net proceeds from the issue for working capital purposes and to fund a scout drilling programme at the Ferensola gold project in Sierra Leone.
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By Sam Unsted; samunsted@alliancenews.com; @SamUAtAlliance

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