Sophos Group Share News (SOPH)

LONDON (Alliance News) - The following stocks are the leading risers and fallers within the main London indices on Tuesday.
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FTSE 100 - WINNERS
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Legal & General Group, up 3.4%. The life insurer and investment manager published details of its annuity bond portfolio ahead of its earnings for 2015, following inquiries from sell-side analysts and investors. The group said the bond portfolio backing its annuity business amounted to GBP39.0 billion at the end of 2015, versus GBP40.7 billion at the end of 2014. Within its retirement arm, 4.4% of the bond portfolio was rated AAA, the top rating. About 28% of the portfolio was rated AA, around 33% at A and 31% at BBB. Bonds rated BB or below made up 3.2% of the portfolio.

Supermarkets - Tesco, up 2.6%. Tesco came in second place, with sales falling 1.6% to GBP7.76 billion from GBP7.89 billion in the latest figures released by Kantar Worldpanel. Fraser McKevitt, head of retail and consumer insight at Kantar Worldpanel said was the best figure the retailer has posted since September last year. J Sainsbury, up 1.3% after being the only one of the UK big four supermarkets to achieve sales growth as sales increased for the sixth period in a row.
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FTSE 100 - LOSERS
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Miners - Antofagasta, down 6.3%. Goldman Sachs downgraded the mining stock to Sell from Neutral. Anglo American, down 4.3%, BHP Billiton, down 3.0%, Rio Tinto, down 3.6%, were also hit by price target cuts by Goldman.

Randgold Resources, down 0.6%, giving up some of the gains made on Monday, when the stock rose strongly after the company said 2015 was "one of the best years in the company's history" despite experiencing a large drop in profit as it continued to battle the downturn in the precious metals market. Following the rally, brokers have cut recommendations on the stock, with UBS downgrading it to Neutral from Buy, HSBC cutting it to Hold from Buy and Deutsche Bank reducing it to Hold from Buy.

TUI Group, down 2.6%. The tourism company reported a narrower first-quarter underlying loss before interest, tax and amortisation, though it reported a sharp decline in demand for summer bookings to Turkey.

Berkeley Group, down 0.8%. Hedge fund managers have been taking short positions against the housebuilder, The Financial Times reported on Monday. The stock is seen as a "proxy" for new high-end London property, the report said, amid signs Asian and Russian buyers are deserting the market. Odey Asset Management, BlueMountain Capital Management and Anchorage Capital took short positions against the Berkeley, the newspaper said, worth 2.2% of its share capital. The report cited data disclosed to the UK Financial Conduct Authority.
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FTSE 250 - LOSERS
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Sophos, down 8.3%. The security software and hardware developer saw higher billings and revenue in the third quarter of its financial year. Like-for-like billings in the three months to December 31 grew 17% year-on-year to USD141.3 million from USD127.7 million. On a reported basis, the increase was 11%. It said it achieved growth across all major regions and product categories, but that reported billings were hit by significant currency headwinds including the weakening of the euro and sterling against the US dollar.

ICAP, down 3.2%. The interdealer broker said revenue from continuing businesses for its third quarter ended December 31 was 5% lower than the corresponding period the prior year. ICAP said market conditions have been tough, with low appetite for risk amid continuing deleveraging among its investment banking clients. Chief Executive Michael Spencer welcomed the US Federal Reserve's rate hike in December, though he noted that there is "some way to go" before a return to normal market conditions.

Allied Minds, down 4.3%. The science and technology development and commercialization company said revenue fell in 2015, primarily due to a shortfall at RF Biocidics, which develops and commercialises technology that helps disinfect and disinfest pests and pathogens from agricultural food and non-food commodities. Revenue amounted to USD3.2 million in 2015, down from USD7.7 million in 2014, primarily due to revenue shortfall at RF Biocidics, which "following initial regulatory approval now requires certification for each individual installation and is subsequently delaying revenue".
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MAIN MARKET AND AIM - WINNERS
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ValiRx, up 18%. The life science company said its Phase l/ll clinical trial of VAL201 has shown a high degree of safety. The company said the compound is "well tolerated up to a putative therapeutic dose". No drug related significant adverse events were reported.

RWS Holdings, up 9.9%. The intellectual property support services provider said it achieved its twelfth successive year of growth in sales, underlying profit and dividends since its stock market flotation in 2003. RWS said trading in the first three months of the current financial year was "significantly ahead" of the board's expectations, reflecting an "excellent quarter" for the patent translation and filing division.

Cyan Holdings, up 5.6%. The wireless monitoring and control products developer said it had secured an order with telecommunications contractor Micromodje for its smart meters to be fitted into street traffic cameras in Iran, worth GBP67,000. Cyan said an order for 2,000 units of smart meters had been placed by Micromodje. It said it will receive an upfront payment of GBP50,000 for the order, which is for the supply of Cyan's CyLec Advanced Metering Infrastructure technology, software installation services and an annual software maintenance agreement.
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MAIN MARKET AND AIM - LOSERS
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Cambian Group, down 39%. The specialist behavioral health services provider warned on its earnings for 2015, saying it now expects earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation to be lower than previously guided. The company said adjusted Ebitda for 2015 will be approximately GBP46 million, having indicated in October that it would be no less than GBP49 million. Since issuing its guidance in October, the company's revenue and wages have been broadly in line with expectations, but that due to weaknesses in its cost management processes, it took longer to identify and manage down other costs. The company said it won't pay a final dividend for the year.

Motive Television, down 44%. The independent television company said Bergen Global Opportunity Fund LP will convert GBP60,190 of existing debt into equity. The company said it has allotted 1.20 billion shares to the fund at GBP0.00005 per share. The company will have 4.04 billion shares in issue afterwards. Bergen has agreed to "certain, substantial, limitations" on its ability to dispose of the shares following a conversion of the convertible securities.

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By Arvind Bhunjun; arvindbhunjun@alliancenews.com; @ArvindBhunjun

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