LONDON (Alliance News) - The following stocks are the leading risers and fallers within the main London indices on Friday.
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FTSE 100 - WINNERS
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Tesco, up 5.2%. The supermarket was boosted by Barclays upgrading its rating on the group to Overweight from Equal Weight, though it cut its target price to 190 pence from 225p. Tesco shares were trading at 146.5p. Barclays said the recent underperformance in Tesco's share price has left its valuation looking attractive, despite the numerous challenges facing the UK's food retail market. It also reckons Tesco's upcoming trading statement, due next week, will be "less worrisome" than markets anticipate.
GKN, up 5.0%. The aerospace and automotive engineer received a double upgrade from Bank of America Merrill Lynch, which hiked its rating on the company to Buy from Underperform.
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FTSE 100 - LOSERS
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Intu Properties, down 0.5%. The UK shopping centre owner was downgraded to Sell from Hold by Societe Generale as part of a wide-ranging note by the French bank on whether the bull run for the UK property sector has reached a tipping point. SocGen said that while valuations may look attractive at first glance in the UK property sector, it thinks the cyclical downturn in the market will start this year and carry though to 2018, by which point returns in the sector will turn negative. Intu also was hit by a downgrade by Exane BNP Paribas, which cut its rating on the stock to Underperform from Neutral.
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FTSE 250 - WINNERS
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Vectura Group, up 5.3%. The pharmaceutical company said it has completed a clinical trial for VR315 in the US, its generic therapy for asthma, and provided an update on one of its other developments. On VR506, another asthma treatment programme the company is working on in the US, Vectura has received an initial payment of USD4.0 million and a further USD8.0 million could be received once further development milestones are hit, and the company will also receive a royalty once sales start.
B&M European Value Retail, up 5.1%. The discount retailer was boosted by a note from Investec, which said the recent weakness in its share price presented a buying opportunity for shareholders. Though slowing like-for-like sales for B&M and the likelihood its Christmas will have proven difficult does not help its case, Investec said sentiment should start to improve in the 2017 financial year through a recovery in like-for-like sales growth, an update on its roll-out in Germany, and confirmation of the appropriate capital structure of the group, given B&M's strong cash generation record and the potential for capital returns.
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FTSE 250 - LOSERS
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PayPoint, down 0.8%. The payments company said it has agreed to sell its online payment businesses, comprising of PayPoint.net and Metacharge, to FTSE 100-listed outsourcer Capita for GBP14 million. "In line with our strategy, we are pleased to have agreed the sale of our Online Payment businesses. We announced our intention to sell our Mobile and Online businesses at our full year results last May, in order to focus on multi-channel payments where we have retail networks, to concentrate on our best prospects for future growth," said Chief Executive Dominic Taylor in a statement.
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MAIN MARKET AND AIM - WINNERS
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REACT Energy, up 23%. The company said it has secured a EUR750,000 loan facility to continue its development of biomass gasification projects in the UK, awarding the loan provider's subsidiary a contract in return. The EUR750,000 unsecured facility is being provided by EBIOSS Energy AD, and whilst not formally part of the deal, REACT has awarded exclusivity to one of EBIOSS' subsidiaries to supply gasification technology as part of any engineering, procurement and construction contracts for its UK projects.
Sopheon, up 17%. The software provider said its full-year earnings will be ahead of current market expectations as the positive shift in momentum of the business continued in the second half of the year. Sopheon said full-year revenue was set to "comfortably" hit expectations whilst pretax profit and earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation are set to come in higher than forecast. The news confirms the company's outlook reported back in August, when it said it was on the "right path" moving forward despite reporting a fall in revenue as a result of fewer licence orders in the first half of 2015.
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MAIN MARKET AND AIM - LOSERS
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Games Workshop Group, down 11%. The company, which makes Warhammer miniatures, said its pretax profit came in flat for the first half but said trading over the Christmas period missed its expectations, leading it to caution profit for the full year is likely to fall. The company said its sales in December were lower across the business and, as a result, pretax profit for the full year is unlikely to exceed GBP16.0 million, compared to the GBP16.6 million it posted a year earlier. For the first half to November 29, Games Workship said its pretax profit was flat at GBP6.3 million, as revenue dipped slightly to GBP55.3 million from GBP56.5 million. Due to the sluggish first half and its caution on the second, the company slashed its interim dividend to 20.00 pence per share from 36.00p a year earlier.
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By Sam Unsted; samunsted@alliancenews.com; @SamUAtAlliance
Copyright 2016 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.
21 Feb 2024 17:45
IN BRIEF: Sopheon shares cancelled as Wellspring takeover effective
Sopheon PLC - Minnesota-based enterprise software and services company - Updates on its acquisition by IOps Buyer Inc, a subsidiary of Wellspring Worldwide Inc, itself a portfolio company of funds managed and/or advised by Atlanta, Georgia-based private equity firm Resurgens Technology Partners. Said on Tuesday that the scheme of arrangement was now effective, and that its entire share capital is now owned by IOps. Shares were suspended on Tuesday in London.
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