Rtc Grp. Share News (RTC)

LONDON (Alliance News) - The following stocks are the leading risers and fallers within the main London indices midday Friday.
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FTSE 100 - WINNERS
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Vodafone Group, up 3.9%. The mobile communications company confirmed its guidance for its current financial year, as it saw revenue fall 0.9% on a reported basis, saying it made a "good start to the year." It attributed the decline in revenue to a 7.3 percentage point hit from foreign exchange movements offset a 3.1 percentage point boost from merger and acquisition activity. On an organic basis, which Vodafone defines as being on a comparable basis, including merger and acquisition activity and movements in foreign exchange rates, revenue rose 3.3%.

Pearson, up 3.0%. The education and publishing company reiterated its outlook for 2015 and raised its interim dividend as it posted a widened pretax loss for the first half of 2015, a day after it announced the sale of the Financial Times. The company agreed Thursday to sell its FT Group, which includes Financial Times newspaper, to Japanese media group Nikkei Inc for GBP844 million in cash as it moves to focus solely on its education businesses. The deal doesn't include the sale of property at One Southwark Bridge in London - the home of the FT newspaper - nor Pearson's 50% stake in the Economist Group, which publishes the Economist magazine.

Anglo American, up 2.4%. The multi-commodity miner said it swung to a pretax loss in the first half of 2015 after recording a substantial USD3.5 billion impairment, driven by the fall in commodity prices, and said it is aiming to cut 35% of its workforce as part of its cost-saving initiative. The company said it would reduce costs "through the reduction" of its 6,000 overhead and indirect job roles. It said it will cut those jobs by 46%, some of which will come as a result of it selling its assets. The miner also said it is on track to meet its long-term net debt target even as net debt increased to USD13.5 billion at the end of June from USD12.9 billion at the end of December.

British American Tobacco, up 1.3%. The tobacco company said the Quebec Court of Appeal has granted the application that it and two other tobacco companies made to cancel a CAD1.1 billion provision execution order. The provisional execution was imposed on BAT's Imperial Tobacco Canada unit and the Canadian subsidiaries of Philip Morris International and Japan Tobacco International as part of a CAD15.6 billion judgement made against the three companies in two class action cases in June.
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FTSE 100 - LOSERS
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Diageo, down 1.0%. The drinks company is facing scrutiny in the US over claims it has artificially boosted its sales in the country, The Daily Telegraph reports. The company has been contacted by the Securities and Exchange Commission, the US financial regulator, for information on how it has shipped stock to distributors.
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FTSE 250 - WINNERS
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Beazley, up 3.7%. The specialist insurer posted a higher pretax profit for the first half of 2015 on the back of a better return on equity and higher gross written premiums in the period. It said its pretax profit was USD154.5 million for the six months to the end of June, up from USD132.9 million a year earlier. The company said its return on equity in the half improved to 20%, compared to 17% a year ago.

Playtech, up 3.2%. The gaming technology company said it has struck a deal with Ladbrokes on an early determination on the funds it is owed under its marketing services agreement with the bookmaker. Playtech will receive GBP75 million following merge of Ladbrokes and Gala Coral, with GBP40 million of this to be satisfied in Ladbrokes shares and GBP35 million to be paid in cash.

Cairn Energy, up 2.9%. Societe Generale has upgraded the company to Hold from Sell.
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FTSE 250 - LOSERS
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Aggreko, down 15%. The temporary power provider said it now expects its 2015 interim and full year results to fall short of current market expectations, citing a further slowdown in its North American oil and gas related business and "ongoing security challenges" in Yemen. Aggreko said it now expects to post a full year pretax profit for 2015 of between GBP250 million and GBP270 million at current exchange rates. It had previously said it expects its 2015 trading profit excluding currency movements and pass-through fuel to be broadly in line with 2014

Lonmin, down 7.8%. The platinum group metals miner said it is planning to close or temporarily shut down numerous mine shafts in South Africa, threatening around 6,000 jobs, which will lead to production being around 100,000 platinum ounces less per year over the next two years. It said it was taking the "necessary protective measures" to reduce its cost base in the current pricing environment so that it will be able to sustain a viable operation even if the current metal pricing environment continues for some time, it said.

Ladbrokes, down 2.6%. The bookmaker and Gala Coral Group said they have agreed to merge to create a gambling company with a market capitalisation of around GBP2.1 billion. Under the terms of the deal, Ladbrokes will issue new shares to Gala Coral shareholders representing 48.25% of the enlarged group, with Ladbrokes shareholders to own the other 51.75% of the business. Ladbrokes said it will launch a share placing, issuing 92.4 million shares, 9.99% of its existing total, via an accelerated bookbuild run by UBS and Deutsche Bank in order to strengthen the balance sheet of the new business.

AG Barr, down 1.5%. The drinks company said trading in the first half was subdued, in line with its expectations, but said it still expects to meet its expectations for the full year despite the competitive trading environment with which it is currently grappling. It said trading in the six months to the end of June remained subdued, as it had anticipated, thanks to tough comparatives from the year before and changes to market promotional phasing, in addition to poor weather, having impacted its sales performance.

B&M European Value Retail, down 1.4%. Private equity firm Clayton, Dubilier & Rice and SSA Investments, the Arora family investment vehicle, said they have sold a chunk of shares in the discount retailer, raising GBP408 million. The pair sold 120 million B&M shares for 340 pence per share, a discount to B&M closing price of 352.8 pence on Thursday. B&M currently trades at 347.80 pence.
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AIM ALL-SHARE - WINNERS
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Roxi Petroleum, up 13%. The company said it has reached a deal whereby it has issued shares in the company to certain parties and in return, Roxi will no longer have to pay those parties future royalty payments from its flagship asset in Kazkahstan.

Global Petroleum, up 13%. The oil and gas exploration company said it remains in a "strong financial position relative to many of its peers" which will allow it to continue to progress its existing licenses whilst pursuing acquisition opportunities in new geographical regions of the world. It said it has held detailed discussions with various parties about concluding an acquisition of assets which would add "significant near-term value".
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AIM ALL-SHARE - LOSERS
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Snacktime, off 14%. The vending machine company said its 2015 financial year results may take a hit from increased provisions. Snacktime said it is still waiting to publish its results for the year to March 31, 2015 as it finalises the results with its auditors. But the company said it expects that its forecast for earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation of GBP550,000 and its exceptional items estimate of GBP650,000 could be impacted by around GBP270,000 more in provisions the company is set to make.

DDD Group, down 9.1%. The company said its Australian subsidiary has filed a patent lawsuit in Los Angeles alleging the range of 3D television made by South Korea-based LG Electronics infringe on three of its patents. DDD said the complaint, made by its Dynamic Digital Depth Research Pty Ltd unit, alleges the automatic 2D to 3D conversion function on LG's televisions infringes three patents held in the US by DDD.

RTC Group, down 7.9%. The recruitment company said its pretax profit declined slightly in the first half of 2015, as higher costs offset a rise in revenue. RTC said its pretax profit in the first half was GBP398,000, compared to a GBP405,000 profit a year earlier. Revenue rose to GBP29.5 million from GBP25.3 million but this was wiped out by a higher cost of sales and more administrative expenses for the company.
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By Neil Thakrar; neilthakrar@alliancenews.com; @NeilThakrar1

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