South African Property Opportunities Share News (SAPO)

LONDON (Alliance News) - The following stocks are the leading risers and fallers within the main London indices on Thursday.----------FTSE 100 - WINNERS----------Wm Morrison Supermarkets, up 2.7%. Bernstein raised the grocer to Outperform from Market Perform.Mediclinic International, up 1.8%. The private healthcare operator said chief executive designate, Ronnie van der Merwe, will begin his new role as CEO in June, whilst it also announced the departure of two non-executive directors, Nandi Mandela and Robert Leu.----------FTSE 100 - LOSERS----------Compass, down 3.1%. The caterer was lower after a weak set of half-year results from French peer Sodexo. Organic revenue growth of 1.7% for the first half of its financial year and and underlying operating margin of 6.1% were both below expectations, the company said. Sodexo said it expects revenue decline in North America and a slower than anticipated conversion of pipeline opportunities into new contract wins will weigh on top line growth and margins in the second half. "Investors clearly worry that Sodexo's pain is representative of the catering market as a whole, therefore Compass is at risk," said AJ Bell investment director Russ Mould.Shire, down 2.0%. The drugmaker was giving up some of Wednesday's gains, when it closed up 14% on news Japanese pharmaceutical firm Takeda Pharmaceutical confirmed it is "considering making an approach" for London-listed firm.----------FTSE 250 - WINNERS----------IP Group, up 8.6%. The intellectual property swung to a GBP53.4 million pretax profit for 2017 from a GBP14.8 million loss the year prior. IP Group reported an increase in the fair value of its portfolio to GBP1.1 billion from GBP614.0 million in 2016. It had assets of GBP1.5 billion as at the end of December, up from GBP768.7 million assets it had the year before. "Overall, the underlying performance of the group's enlarged portfolio was strong with a number of key milestones attained. The integration of Touchstone Innovations with IP Group is proceeding to plan and we are confident for the year ahead and beyond," IP Chief Executive Officer Alan Aubrey said.----------FTSE 250 - LOSERS----------Provident Financial, down 2.0%. The subprime lender was cut to Sell from Hold by Berenberg.----------OTHER MAIN MARKET AND AIM - WINNERS----------C4X Discovery, shares more than doubling to 115.00p from Wednesday's close of 56.50p. FTSE 250-listed Indivior said its subsidiary Indivior UK and C4X Discovery have entered into a license agreement, whereby Indivior UK has obtained "exclusive global rights" to develop and commercialize C4X's oral orexin-1 receptor antagonist program. Under the terms of the agreement, Indivior UK will make an upfront payment to C4X of USD10 million with potential milestone payments to C4X that could total USD284 million "over time", if all development, regulatory and commercial goals are achieved. Indivior was down 0.1%.CMC Markets, up 8.6%. The online trading platform said its "strong" performance in the year to date was maintained in its final quarter ending Saturday as its Australian partnership continues to progress. CMC expects net operating income to be "significantly" higher than the prior year after a strong second half performance. In financial 2017, CMC reported net operating income of GBP160.8 million alongside a pretax profit of GBP48.5 million. "The proportion of high value clients has increased," CMC said in a statement, "driving a significant improvement in revenue per client compared to the prior year. Overall, active client numbers are slightly below the previous year although the final quarter has seen an increase from the prior year."----------OTHER MAIN MARKET AND AIM - LOSERS----------South African Property Opportunities, down 90%. The company said it intends to propose the winding-up of the company shortly after the unsuccessful attempt to sell its Brakpan asset. The firm said it had contracted to sell the Brakpan asset - as part of its strategy to sell its remaining assets - for ZAR11 million, or GBP650,000. However, the company attempted to enforce this contract without success. As South African Property now considers that it is "no longer practicable" to operate in the hope of generating meaningful proceeds from a disposal of the Brakpan Asset, the board will shortly place proposals before shareholders for a voluntary winding-up, the appointment of a liquidator and the cancellation of its shares on AIM.----------