SOLO.L Share News (SOLO)

LONDON (Alliance News) - The following stocks are amongst the biggest risers and fallers within the main London indices midday Friday.
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FTSE 100 WINNERS
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Lloyds Banking Group, up 0.7%. Lloyds, which still owns 50% of TSB Banking Group, is seeing a boost after TSB reported a solid set of third quarter results. TSB said it made GBP33.1 million pretax profit in the third quarter, up from GBP25.7 million in the previous three months. There was no consensus expectations for the quarterly results, but Jefferies says it would categorise the numbers as "fine". FTSE 250-listed TSB shares are up 1.4%.
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FTSE 100 LOSERS
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Pearson, down 2.7%. The publishing group said Chief Financial Officer Robin Freestone will step down by the end of 2015 to explore other interests, as it eked out a 1% rise in sales in the first nine months of the year at constant currency rates. The company said it was retaining its full year guidance for adjusted earnings per share to come in between 62 pence and 67 pence in 2014, even though sales in the first nine months of the year were down 6% excluding Penguin and Mergermarket at actual exchange rates, due to the strength of the pound against the US dollar and emerging market currencies. Numis analyst Gareth Davies said that Freestone has been a strong CFO for the group and will be a loss.

BT Group, down 2.4%. The telecommunications company is the worst performing stock in the FTSE 100 after being downgraded to Underweight from Equal-weight by analysts at Morgan Stanley.

Tesco, down 1.8%. The troubled supermarket group got a negative note from JP Morgan Friday, which cut its price target on the stock to 145p from 165p, while reiterating an underweight rating. The pessimistic note comes after Tesco Thursday confirmed the error in its first half accounts was bigger than initially thought.
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FTSE 250 WINNERS
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Spectris, up 5.8%. The electronics group is the best performer on the mid-cap index despite saying its full year results will be a little below consensus. The instrumentation and controls company said sales in its third quarter to end-September fell 5%, as growth contributed by acquisitions of 2% was offset by the strength of sterling, which had a negative effect of 7%. Jefferies says that a heavy share price fall in recent months had priced in an even worse outcome, and the actual result was better than feared.

Pets At Home, up 2.9%. The pet retailer said like-for-like sales growth hit 4.2% both in the second quarter and in the first half to October 9, with strong performances from its Advanced Nutrition, Health & Hygiene and VIP Club units. It also said it had seen continued sales growth in its veterinary practices and from its Groom Rooms.

TSB Banking Group, up 1.1%. The bank said it made GBP33.1 million pretax profit in the third quarter, up from GBP25.7 million in the previous three months.
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FTSE 250 LOSERS
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Hikma Pharmaceuticals, down 5.5%. The drug maker said it received a warning letter from the US Food and Drug Administration related to a March inspection of its manufacturing facility in Portugal conducted, although it stressed it does not believe this will impact its financial guidance for the full year. In the letter, the FDA raised issues related to investigations and environmental monitoring at the the facility, Hikma said.

Balfour Beatty, down 2.4%. Berenberg has cut its price target on the infrastructure and construction group to 250p from 290p. The bank also reiterated a Buy rating, saying that the recent profit warning was a significant setback, but the legacy projects of 2012 and 2013 pose much less risk to the 2015 numbers.

Talk Talk, down 2.0%. The telecommunications group was downgraded by Nomura to Neutral from Buy, with a price target cut to 300p from 330p. Talk Talk closed Thursday at 291.50p. The Japanese bank says that risks are mounting over the groups earnings, with competition in the sector rising.
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AIM ALL-SHARE WINNERS
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Active Energy Group, up 16%. The biomass supplier said it had completed the forestry sampling programme at its new Canadian joint venture site, and has started marketing the first round of permits. In July, the biomass supplier had entered a joint venture with three indigenous aboriginal Canadian groups to exclusively commercialise mature forestry assets in Alberta, Western Canada. It has a 45% equity interest in the joint venture, called KAQUO Forestry & Natural Resources Development Corporation.

John Lewis of Hungerford, up 8.2%. The kitchen installer has seen a positive share price move despite saying that it expects to report a lower operating profit for its last financial year, as investments in new showrooms and costs relating to its unprofitable Wilmslow concession more than offset sales growth. It expects to report a rise in sales to GBP7.4 million for the year to August 31, lifted by better trading performance and contributions from its new Chiswick showroom and new bedroom range. It added that positive trading momentum has continued into the first quarter.

Sterling Energy, up 7.0%. The exploration group's shares have risen despite saying it swung to a net loss in the third quarter, as oil production dropped and costs increased in its Chinguetti oil field in Mauritania. Its loss after tax was USD373,000 in the three months to end-September, compared with a profit of USD2.7 million a year earlier. Revenue fell to USD4.2 million, from USD5.3 million.
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AIM ALL SHARE LOSERS
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Alba Mineral Resources, down 29%; Stellar Resources, down 24%; Doriemus, down 23%; Solo Oil, down 16%; UK Oil & Gas Investments, down 27%; Regency Mines, down 16%. The oil companies behind the Horse Hill project in the Weald Basin in the UK saw significant falls in their share prices early Friday, despite announcing they have made a conventional oil discovery at the Horse Hill-1 well. The oil was discovered at depth of 1,791 feet true vertical depth and a preliminary estimate suggests there is 3.1 million barrels with the possibility of a further 16.8 million barrels of oil in a separate sand lower down in the Portland basin, yet this has not been tested yet. Further analysis is underway to establish the recoverable volume of oil that has been discovered, the companies said.

Atlantis Resources, down 11%. The renewable energy company said it raised GBP5.0 million in a discounted share placing, money it will use to fund its contribution to the MeyGen project, repay a GBP0.8 million loan, pay fees associated with the seabed lease at the Fundy Ocean Research Centre for Energy in Canada, and for working capital. The company said it placed 12.5 million new shares at 40 pence each. Atlantis Resources shares closed down 3.3% at 46.44 pence on Thursday.

By Jon Darby; jondarby@alliancenews.com; @jondarby100

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