LONDON (Alliance News) - The following stocks are the leading risers and fallers within the main London indices Friday.
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FTSE 100 - WINNERS
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ARM Holdings, up 0.6%. Investec upgraded its recommendation to Buy from Hold. The broker said ARM has underperformed the market recently and is at a discount to its five-year valuation range, leaving its shares looking attractive as an entry point for investors.
Centrica, up 0.4%. HSBC upgraded its rating on the British Gas parent company, to Buy from Hold.
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FTSE 100 - LOSERS
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Marks & Spencer Group, down 1.2%. The retailer said John Dixon, its general merchandise division executive director, has left the company to pursue other career opportunities. Dixon will leave the retailer's board with immediate effect and will leave the company on a date to be agreed. Dixon said he is leaving to become the chief executive of another company, though he did not specify which. Steve Rowe will take on responsibility for the general merchandise business, with Andy Adcock to become director of food.
Anglo American, down 0.6%. The miner said it has completed the sale of its 50% stake in Lafarge Tarmac Holdings Ltd to Lafarge SA. The deal was originally struck in July 2014 for the FTSE 100-listed miner to sell its stake to Lafarge SA for no less than USD885 million in cash. Lafarge SA already owned the other 50% of the company.
Royal Mail, down 3.0%. UK media and communications regulator Ofcom outlined the scope of its review into the regulation of the postal service operator, including whether any price controls should be imposed on the company given the lessening of competition in the postal services market.
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FTSE 250 - WINNERS
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B&M European Value Retail, up 3.3%. The company said its sales revenue rose in the first quarter of its financial year, despite a slowdown in like-for-like sales growth year-on-year. The discount retailer said its total group sales revenue for the 13 weeks to June 27 was GBP456.6 million, up from GBP367 million in the comparable period a year earlier. Total group sales growth in the quarter was 24%, slowed from the 32% growth it posted a year earlier, while its like-for-like sales growth slowed to 1.1%, compared to 6%.
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FTSE 250 - LOSERS
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Restaurant Group, down 2.3%. Nomura downgrades the stock to Neutral from Buy. The bank said the introduction of the National Living Wage in the UK will hit the leisure industry, with Restaurant Group among the hardest hit.
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Ocado Group, down 1.7%. UBS cut its rating on the online grocer to Neutral from Buy. The bank said any upside from the addition of a significant new parter for the company is already priced into the stock.
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HomeServe, down 1.4%. The home emergency company said it is trading in line with its expectations and expects to deliver robust growth for its 2016 financial year to the end of March. The FTSE 250-listed company said it is continuing to make investments to grow its international business but said the majority of its marketing activity, as in previous years, will be weighted to the second half.
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DCC, down 1.3%. The distribution company said it still expects a "very significant" improvement in its full-year results for its current financial year following robust trading in the first quarter. DCC said its overall operating profit for the first quarter to the end of June was in line with its expectations, with good growth in its DCC Energy, Healthcare and Environmental business, which was partially offset by weaker trading for DCC Technology.
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AIM ALL-SHARE - WINNERS
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TomCo Energy, up 23%. The oil shale exploration and development company said it has secured the final permits needed to develop the Holliday project in the US, but reiterated the project will not be fully developed until its partner's technology is ready in 2017. The company also said it has completed the board reshuffle announced in May, which sees Andrew Jones take over as its new non-executive chairman.
Rurelec, up 9.6%. The power generation company said it has completed the sale of its Peruvian subsidiary Empresa de Generación Eléctrica Canchayllo SAC to Energías Renovables de los Andes SAC for USD6.8 million, plus USD7.5 million in assumed debt.
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AIM ALL-SHARE - LOSERS
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New World Oil & Gas, off 69%. Shares were restored to trading today, although the London Stock Exchange said it would continue to closely monitor the settlement situation in the company following its restoration to trading.
Atlas Development and Support Services, down 56%. The African-focused support services company said it expects to make a loss in the first half of 2015, and warned that the second half will be even tougher due to the faltering oil and gas industry.
Frontier Resources International, down 33%. The company said that it has raised GBP205,000 through the placing of 58.6 million new shares at a price of 0.35 pence. The funds will be used to provide working capital for the company as it continues to seek a farm-out of one or more of its projects in the Oman and Namibia.
Sula Iron and Gold, down 11%. The miner said it will drill an exploration target at the Ferensola gold project in Sierra Leone which is thought to contain up to 1.5 million ounces of gold in the hope of securing a maiden mineral resource estimate for the project.
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By Arvind Bhunjun; arvindbhunjun@alliancenews.com; @ArvindBhunjun
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