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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Royal Mail, up 1.3% at 511.68 pence. Goldman Sachs lifted the postal operator price target to 610p from 585p, keeping its Buy recommendation.
Barratt Developments, up 0.9% at 645.34p. Barclays raised the housebuilder price target to 779.6p from 507.3p, reiterating an Overweight stance.
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FTSE 100 LOSERS
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Rolls-Royce Holdings, down 9.5%. The aerospace and engineering group said maintained its revenue guidance for 2015 but cut its underlying profit forecast as it said it is facing more challenges in its Civil Aerospace and Marine divisions and said it expects to take a significant hit in 2016 from the transition of its Trent 700 engine programme, while adding it will halt its GBP1 billion share buyback amid deteriorating free cash flow.
Anglo American, down 1.8%, Glencore, down 1.7%, Antofagasta, down 1.6%, BHP Billiton, down 1.1%, Rio Tinto, down 1.1%. Miners are being sold following a decline in metal prices. Carsten Menke, commodities research analyst at Julius Baer, says concerns over Chinese demand are pushing commodity prices lower, with aluminium, copper, iron ore and steel prices are all moving towards multi-year lows. China announced a string of measures over the weekend to reverse the recent free-fall of Chinese stock markets.
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FTSE 250 WINNERS
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Bellway, up 2.4% at 2,451.40p. Barclays upgraded the housebuilder to Overweight from Equal Weight, raising its price target to 2,799p from 2,096p.
Bovis Homes Group, up 2.0%. The housebuilder outlined plans to increase its interim dividend after it said home sales rose in the first half of 2015 at higher prices. It said it is planning to hike its interim dividend for the six months to June 30 to 13.7 pence per share, up 14% from the 12.0 pence per share payout it made a year earlier. The bigger payout to shareholders follows a rise in legal completions in the first half to 1,525 homes, up from 1,487 a year earlier and a record sales volume for the company in the half. For the full-year, the group expects to legally complete 3,505 homes, up from 3,297 in 2014.
Evraz, up 1.3% at 117p. Credit Suisse upgraded the steel, mining and vanadium company to Neutral from Underperform, but cut its price target to 120p from 170p.
Berkeley Group Holdings, up 1.1% at 3,428p. Barclays lifted the housebuilder's price target to 3,717.5p from 2,581.2p, keeping an Equal Weight rating.
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FTSE 250 LOSERS
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Vedanta Resources, down 4.6%, Kaz Minerals, down 3.6%, Acacia Mining, down 2.3%. Miners in the mid-cap index also are down due to the decline in metal prices.
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AIM ALL-SHARE WINNERS
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Seeing Machines, up 15%. The company said Caterpillar Safety Services has ordered decision support system units to provide Fatigue Risk Assessments for Caterpillar customers. No financial details were disclosed on the order. "Theses assessments will gradually replace Seeing Machines' very successful DSS trial program while broadening the technology's geographical footprint and expanding the offering from only the mining sector into the other Caterpillar fields of operation," said Ken Kroeger, Seeing Machines' chief executive.
Intercede Group, up 10%. The cybersecurity company said its revenue in the first quarter doubled year-on-year and said its trading has given it a solid base to meet market expectations for the full year. Intercede said its revenue in the first quarter of its financial year to the end of June was GBP2.7 million, double the amount it made a year earlier and up by 34% on the fourth quarter of its 2015 financial year.
Richland Resources, up 8.6%. The miner said it is currently preparing and cutting selected sapphires ahead of the launch of its new retail website in the third quarter of 2015. Richland said it hosted sessions with a series of wholesale gemstone distributors, jewellery manufacturers and other interested parties. Following the sessions, the company has booked in two site visits in the third quarter from potential buyers to view its operations, including the launch of its retail platform.
Galantas Gold Corp, up 8.0%. The miner said it has conducted a non-brokered private placement to raise CAD2.4 million, with the majority of that being invested by Ross Beaty. Galantas said the placement consisted of 20 million units, equating to CAD0.12 per unit, with each unit comprising of one share and one share-purchase warrant. Each warrant shall be exercisable into one Galantas share for a period of 12 months from closing at an exercise price of CAD0.16, it said. The majority of the units have been taken up by Ross Beaty, chairman of Pan American Silver Corp, who will acquire 16.0 million units. Following the deal, Beaty will hold a 14.9% stake in Galantas before he exercises any warrants.
Newmark Security, up 6.5%. The company said its Safetell subsidiary has won a GBP2.5 million service and maintenance contract renewal from an unnamed UK financial institution. The renewal will cover the support of the bank's security products and is for four years.
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AIM ALL-SHARE LOSERS
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Europa Oil & Gas Holdings, down 18% at 6.45p. The company said it has raised GBP1.4 million from a firm placing and said it intends to raise a further GBP2 million by conducting an open offer. It said it placed 20 million new shares under a firm placing and another 2.6 million new shares under a conditional placing, both at 6.0 pence per share to raise the GBP1.4 million, and said it will raise up to a further GBP2.0 million by issuing a further 34.1 million new shares at the same issue price.
Litebulb Group, down 17%. The branded product developer called time on its acquisition-led growth strategy, with Chief Executive Simon McGivern and Sales Director James Phillips resigning and the company turning its focus to integrating its operating divisions and driving organic growth. Litebulb said: "There is no intention of making further acquisitions in the short-term."
By Daniel Ruiz; danielruiz@alliancenews.com
Copyright 2015 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.
31 Mar 2015 09:56
