RLD.L Share News (RLD)

LONDON (Alliance News) - The following stocks are amongst the biggest risers and fallers within the main London indices midday Monday.
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FTSE 100 WINNERS
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CRH, up 4.9%. The Irish building materials company said it has agreed a deal with Lafarge SA and Holcim Ltd under which it will buy a range of assets being sold by its French and Swiss rivals as part of the conditions for their merger to be given regulatory approval. CRH will pay EUR6.5 billion to buy assets from the companies primarily in Europe, Canada, Brazil and the Philippines. It will use EUR2.0 billion of cash from its balance sheet, new bank debt, and the proceeds of a share placing to fund the deal, which it expects to result in EUR90 million of synergies by year three after completion. It also expects the deal to boost earnings per share by about 25% in the first full year of ownership of the assets.

Tullow Oil, up 5.3%, BG Group, up 4.7%, and Royal Dutch Shell B, up 3.2%. The oil companies' shares were trading up after a rise in the price of Brent oil, which was up 1.7% at USD52.44 a barrel.

Shire, up 1.8%. The company said late Friday that the US Food and Drug Administration has approved Vyvanse Capsules, the first and only medication for the treatment of moderate to severe binge eating disorder in adults, shown to significantly reduce the mean number of binge days per week.
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FTSE 100 LOSERS
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EasyJet, down 4.8%. Rival Ryanair Holdings raised its guidance for its current financial year for a fourth time, citing lower oil prices, but it also urged investors and analysts to be cautious about fiscal 2016, saying that rivals who haven't hedged fuel prices at all will us that advantage to cut fares. Ryanair shares are down 4.6%.

Kingfisher, down 2.2%. UBS has cut the British company's rating to Neutral from Buy and its price target to 360p from 375p. Jefferies has also cut Kingfisher's rating to Hold from Buy, and its price target to 350p from 385p.

Standard Chartered, down 1.4%. JP Morgan has cut the emerging markets bank's price target to 1,050p from 1,125p, keeping its rating at Neutral, while Goldman also has cut the bank's price target to 940p from 1,130p, also keeping it at Neutral.
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FTSE 250 WINNERS
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Afren, up 55.4%. The oil and gas company said it has struck a deal with the lenders on its USD300 million Ebok facility for the deferral to February 27 of a USD50 million amortisation payment that had been due on Saturday. The company added it has decided to utilise a 30-day grace period under its 2016 bonds in relation to a USD15 million interest payment due on February 1 in order to allow it to complete a review of its capital structure and funding alternatives.

Premier Oil, up 6.5%. The group's shares are also trading higher after the rise in the price of Brent.

Grainger, up 3%. The residential property owner and manager said it has exchanged contracts to buy a regional tenanted residential property portfolio for about GBP58 million from Sarunas Properties Ltd, a deal that will take its total investment into residential assets in the UK regions to about GBP76 million over recent months.
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AIM ALL-SHARE WINNERS
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Ashcourt Rowan, up 55.3%. The financial adviser's shares surged higher after the company agreed to a GBP97 million takeover by Towry Finance Company Ltd, a unit of wealth manager Towry Holdings Ltd. Under the terms of the deal, Ashcourt shareholders will get 270 pence per share in cash, along with a principal amount of 5 pence in loan notes. The purchase price is a 60% premium to the closing price of Ashcourt Rowan on January 30 and is a 53% premium to its average closing price for the three months to January 30, Ashcourt said.

Ferrum Crecent, up 34.7%. The company said it has completed the first drilling programme at the Moonlight iron ore project in South Africa. Ferrum said all holes at the project intersected magnetic zones across various depths and said it expects the full exploration results for Moonlight in March.

Mariana Resources, up 17.7%. The company said its joint-venture partner on the Hot Maden Prospect in Turkey has reported strong drilling results for the prospect. Mariana said Lidya Madencilik Sanayi ve Ticaret had intersected a significantly higher grade massive sulphide zone in one of the drill holes, and found zinc mineralisation below the gold-copper zone in another of the holes.

Falkland Oil and Gas, up 16%. The company said the Eirik Raude rig had started to be moved from West Africa to the Falkland Islands for the 2015 drilling programme. The rig will be operated by Premier Oil and Noble Energy, and drilling will start in March on the Premier-operated Zebedee well which will test the southern lobe of the Sea Lion field.
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AIM ALL-SHARE LOSERS
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Ascent Resources, off 29%. The company's shares dropped by almost a third Monday morning after it said it had refinanced its 2013 and 2014 convertible loan notes with the majority holder Henderson, a move that takes Henderson's interest over the company's shares to 88.6%, because it couldn't afford to repay the notes when they fell due.

ISG, down 28%. The construction services company issued a warning on its full-year results after it said problems with a few contracts in its UK construction arm had offset a strong performance for the rest of the business. As a result of that provision, it expects its results for the year to June 30 to be below its previous expectations. Moreover, Numis has cut its price target for the company to 335p from 370p, keeping its rating at Add.

Richland Resources, down 18%. The gemstone producer said it has further reduced its operations in Tanzania as part of its ongoing strategic review, closing all its Tanzanite Experience retail operations because it couldn't find a buyer for them.
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By Daniel Ruiz; danielruiz@alliancenews.com

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