LONDON (Alliance News) - The following stocks are the leading risers and fallers within the main London indices on Wednesday.
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FTSE 100 - WINNERS
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Persimmon, up 5.9%, Taylor Wimpey, up 4.6%, Barratt Developments, up 4.0%, Berkeley Group Holdings, up 4.0%. Blue-chip housebuilders were among the best performers in the FTSE 100 early Wednesday amid reports the Autumn Statement due a midday will include substantial new pledges on building new homes in Britain. UK Chancellor George Osborne is set to announce plans to build 400,000 new homes in the UK when he delivers the Autumn Statement later on Wednesday, which he will proclaim as the biggest housebuilding programme in the country since the 1970s. The pledge on new homes will be accompanied by a switch in public housing subsidies to support buying, rather than renting. A GBP6.9 billion programme will see the government back a range of schemes to help people buy their own homes.
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FTSE 100 - LOSERS
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Anglo American, down 6.3%. The Anglo-South African miner was hit by a downgrade by HSBC, which cut its rating on the company to Reduce from Hold and slashed its price target to 410 pence from 770p. Anglo shares were trading at 421.65p. Goldman Sachs also cut its price target on Anglo to 430p from 450p, keeping its Sell rating on the stock.
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FTSE 250 - WINNERS
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Thomas Cook Group, up 8.6%. The travel operator said current trading is encouraging, as it reported a swing to a profit in its recently-ended financial year, with strong demand for some of its holidays offsetting disruption caused by the terrorist attack in Tunisia in June. Thomas Cook said it made a pretax profit in the year ended September 30 of GBP50 million, having suffered a GBP114 million pretax loss the year before. Revenue fell to GBP7.83 billion from GBP8.58 billion, although it grew on a like-for-like basis. Thomas Cook will pay a dividend in early financial 2017 based on its profit for the full year.
RPC Group, up 3.9%. The plastics company declared an 18% improvement to its interim dividend following a rise in pretax profit in the first half, driven by much higher revenue derived from organic growth and acquisitions. The company, which makes a range of plastic containers and packaging products, said its pretax profit for the six months to the end of September was GBP40.5 million, up from GBP34.9 million a year earlier. RPC said it will pay an interim dividend of 5.2 pence per share, up from the 4.4p it paid out a year earlier.
Crest Nicholson Holdings, up 4.9%, Bellway, up 4.3%, Bovis Homes Group, up 4.3%. Mid-cap housebuilders were benefiting from the same suggestions of extra housebuilding to come in the Autumn Statement at 1230 GMT which was lifting blue-chip rivals.
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FTSE 250 - LOSERS
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Indivior, down 2.6%. The drug company said late Tuesday that the US Food and Drug Administration has not to approved its new drug application for naloxone nasal spray for the treatment of opioid overdose. The FDA's response letter was focused on clinical pharmacology that found that early stage uptake of naloxone nasal spray did not fully meet the FDA's threshold. Indivior said it is evaluating the FDA's comments to determine its next steps to address the FDA's findings.
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MAIN MARKET AND AIM - WINNERS
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Graphene NanoChem, up 18%. The graphene products company said it has inked a three-year agreement with Temasek Growth for the production of bleached deodorised palm oil at its Lahad Datu Plant in Sabah, Malaysia. The agreement will commence in the first quarter of 2016, and is expected to generate revenue of around GBP500,000 during its first year, with a planned production ramp up in the second and third year. Elsewhere, Graphene NanoChem said it has been progressing talks with its financiers on the restructuring of its debt facilities, and in the meantime has continued to implement "prudent measures" to conserve its cash. The company said it continues to evaluate "all options" with the aim of raising additional funds.
Herencia Resources, up 8.9%. The miner said it has secured further high-grade copper results from the Montenegro mine at the Pastizal project in Chile. Herencia said the high-grade results have confirmed the extensive nature of the mineralisation at the project and the latest sampling work result in zones of wide high-grade mineralisation being found. To date, grades of up to 2.8% copper have been achieved from surface sampling, with grades of up to 5.9% from underground sampling. The project is immediately adjacent to Herencia's existing Picachos project and Herencia said a formal option agreement to acquire the Pastizal site from its current owner is expected to be finalised very soon.
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MAIN MARKET AND AIM - LOSERS
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Weatherly International, down 27%. The copper cathode miner said its largest shareholder and lender has agreed to defer a loan instalment repayment, as its Tschudi mine in Namibia is not generating enough operating cash to service its debt facility. The company said that it produced 1,361 tonnes of copper cathode at Tschudi in October, at a costs of USD4,361. It expects to achieve nameplate production levels of 1,400 tonnes of copper cathode by the end of the quarter, in line with its previous announcements, and expects costs to be lower as a result of this. However, it warned that in light of the current copper price being at a six year low, the Tschudi mine is not "making sufficient operating cash for the service of its debt facility".
SeaEnergy, down 23%. The offshore energy services company said it expects a "significant loss" for 2015, hit by sustained low oil prices, and said it expects to complete its exit from ship management by the end of the year. The company expects a recovery in its core R2S business into 2016, and having reviewed a number of options to address a shortfall in working capital, said it has agreed a working capital funding package under which it can draw up to GBP1.0 million over the next year. SeaEnergy now expects revenue for 2015 to be between GBP2.6 million and GBP2.8 million, down from GBP7.3 million in 2014, as a result of the weakness in the oil price leading to a reduction in oil company operating budgets.
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By Sam Unsted; samunsted@alliancenews.com; @SamUAtAlliance
Copyright 2015 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.
8 Aug 2014 06:56
