LONDON (Alliance News) - The following stocks are amongst the biggest risers and fallers within the main London indices midday Tuesday.
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FTSE 100 LOSERS
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Aberdeen Asset Management, down 2.7%. The asset manager said it is returning surplus capital to shareholders as net outflows in the first half of its financial year were "cushioned" by rallying markets. It said assets under management grew to GBP330.6 billion from GBP324.4 billion between September 30, 2014 and March 31, 2015. The group also said it intends to launch a share buyback of up to GBP100 million to return surplus capital to shareholders. However, Numis says the scale of the capital return may disappoint the market.
HSBC Holdings, down 2.2%. The bank reported higher first-quarter pretax profit, driven up by its investment banking division and its Asian operations, but pressure on returns remain as the group continues its restructuring. It said it made a USD7.06 billion pretax profit in the quarter ended March 31, compared with USD6.79 billion in the corresponding quarter of the prior year. Its first-quarter dividend remained at USD0.10.
RSA Insurance Group, down 1.4%. Barclays has cut the company to Equal Weight from Overweight.
Glencore, down 1.3%. The miner said production grew year-on-year across all of its commodities in the first quarter of 2015, but some segments saw production fall from the previous quarter. It said own-sourced zinc production was up 16% year-on-year to 356,200 tonnes, driven by the expansions at Lady Loretta and McArthur River. However, some temporary downtime at McArthur River and lower grades at the Kazzinc, Matagami and Rosh Pinah mines resulted in production falling by 8% quarter-on-quarter. The miner's shares also are being affected by sector-wide losses Tuesday.
Taylor Wimpey, down 0.4%. Liberum has cut the housebuilder to Hold from Buy.
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FTSE 250 WINNERS
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Just Eat, up 3.0%. The online takeaway operator said its orders surged in the first quarter, with total orders boosted by its French and Mexican businesses, though like-for-like orders also boomed. It said its total orders in the quarter to the end of March rose 51% year-on-year, driven by orders from the Alloresto.fr business in France and its Mexican business.
IP Group, up 2.8%. Numis has raised its price target for the intellectual property company to 339.00 pence from 273.00p, reiterating its Buy rating. The stock currently trades at 210.80p.
Ladbrokes, up 2.0%. HSBC has raised the bookmaker to Hold from Reduce.
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AIM ALL-SHARE WINNERS
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Red Emperor Resources, up 52%. The company said its partner on the Block SC55 project in the Palawin Basin offshore the Philippines has signed a contract for a drill ship to conduct work on the site. Otto Energy Ltd has signed the deal with Maersk Drilling to secure the Maersk Venturer ultra-deepwater drill ship, which will drill the Hawkeye-1 exploration well at the site.
Ferrum Crescent, up 38%. The company said it has signed a memorandum of understanding with South African investment company Principle Monarchy Investments Ltd to sell a 39% stake in the Moonlight Iron project in South Africa. The sale will be conducted via a placing of shares in Ferrum Iron Ore Ltd, a 97%-owned subsidiary of Ferrum Crescent which owns the Moonlight project.
DekelOil, up 33%. The company said total crude palm oil production from its project in the Ivory Coast has already exceeded total production for 2014. The company, which owns a 51% stake in the Ayenouan palm oil project in Ivory Coast, said total production from the site between the start of 2015 and April 30 is already passed the 14,242 tonnes produced last year.
CAP-XX, up 28%. The supercapacitors company said it is in talks to raise financing via a discounted share issue. CAP-XX said it is planning to issue 31 million shares at a discount to its current share price but at a premium to its last fundraising in March, when it raised GBP1.2 million via a share issue at 1 pence per share. The company's shares currently trade at 4.65p
Kalimantan Gold Corp, up 17%. The company said it has secured a key permit from the Indonesian government to start work at the Beruang Kanan copper project in the central Kalimantan region of the country.
Paragon Diamonds, up 11%. The company said it has signed a memorandum of understanding to acquire a 75% interest in the Mothae kimberlite resource near the company's existing Lemphane project in Lesotho, and said it has pushed back initial production into the third quarter to develop both projects simultaneously.
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AIM ALL-SHARE LOSERS
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Taihua, off 15%. The China-based pharmaceutical products company warned that it expects its Forsythia harvest to be smaller than in previous years due to poor weather conditions to date, although it is "too early" to tell what the actual affect on the harvest will be.
Northcote Energy, down 13%. The company said it has conducted a placing to raise GBP2.8 million to pursue investment opportunities in the Mexican energy sector and said it is currently evaluating a number of opportunities including one with its existing joint venture partner in the country. Northcote said it raised the proceeds by issuing 1.24 billion new shares at 0.225 pence per share to new and existing investors, representing around 20.77% of the company's enlarged issued share capital and said the placing price represents a 18.2% discount to the closing middle market price on May 1. It shares are quoted at 0.239p Tuesday morning.
Stellar Resources, down 12%. UK Oil and Gas Investments reiterated that the company has not completed sufficient work on the Horse Hill license area near Gatwick Airport to comment on the amount of oil in place, following an Evening Standard newspaper report quoting its chairman as placing a 100 billion barrel figure on the asset. Horse Hill Developments Ltd owns a 65% stake in the Horse Hill prospect and the remaining 35% of the prospect is held by Magellan Petroleum Corp. Stellar Resources holds a 10% stake in Horse Hill Developments.
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By Neil Thakrar; neilthakrar@alliancenews.com; @NeilThakrar1
Copyright 2015 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.
2 Mar 2015 08:36
