SSE Share News (SSE)

LONDON (Alliance News) - The following stocks are the leading risers and fallers within the main London indices on Thursday.----------FTSE 100 - WINNERS----------SSE, up 0.1%. The energy provider noted that the UK Competition & Markets Authority found no competition concerns related to the proposed merger between SSE Energy Services and Npower Group, the UK retail business of Germany's Innogy. ----------FTSE 100 - LOSERS----------Rio Tinto, down 1.6%, BHP Billiton, down 1.7%, Glencore, down 1.8%, Anglo American, down 1.9%. Mining stocks were down following a decline in copper prices.----------Vodafone Group, down 1.6%. Merrill Lynch cut its rating for the telecommunications firm to Neutral from Buy. Vodafone announced a AUD15 billion merger between its joint venture Vodafone Hutchinson Australia and internet service provider TPG Telecom. The deal is expected to be completed next year and is subject to approval from regulators, including the Australian watchdog.----------FTSE 250 - WINNERS----------Hunting, up 11%. The energy services provider reinstated dividend payments as it reported a swing to profit in the first half of the year as a result of improved drilling activity in the US. Hunting swung to a pretax profit from operations of USD38.0 million in the first half of 2018, from a loss of USD25.5 million the year before. Revenue grew by 39% to USD442.8 million from USD318.1 million, with a strong performance from its Hunting Titan business in the US. Hunting declared a per share interim dividend of 4.0 cents, having made no interim payout in 2017. "Given the interim financial results reported today and the more stable outlook, the board is pleased to be re-instating dividend distributions to shareholders," said Hunting Chief Executive Jim Johnson.----------WH Smith, up 0.7%. The books and stationery retailer said it expects its performance for the year to the end of August to be in line with expectations. The Travel business performed strongly on all channels with new store openings, while cost savings and margin improvements were delivered in the High Street business. ----------Bellway, up 1.4%. Deutsche Bank raised its rating for the property developer to Buy from Hold, and raised its target price to 3,745 pence from 3,716p. Bellway's share price currently stands at 2,931.00 pence. ----------FTSE 250 - LOSERS----------Hays, down 4.8%. The recruiter expressed uncertainty for its UK market due to economic instability, despite reporting positive results for its recently ended financial year. Hays posted pretax profit of GBP238.5 million, up from GBP204.6 million a year ago. The sharp profit hike was on the back of a "record" net fees increase of 12% to GBP1.07 billion from GBP954.6 million, as turnover rose 13% to GBP5.75 billion from GBP5.08 billion a year ago. Hays declared an 18% increase in its final dividend to 3.81 pence per share from 3.22p. Meanwhile, it proposed a special dividend of 5.00p per share, 18% higher year-on-year from 4.25p. This mean that the recruiter lifted its total payout by 18% to 8.81p from 7.47p.----------Intu Properties, down 3.7%. Morgan Stanley downgraded its rating for the real estate investment trust to Underweight from Equal-Weight, reducing its target price to 150 pence from 190. Intu's share price currently stands at 154.90 pence.----------OTHER MAIN MARKET AND AIM - WINNERS----------Anglo African Agriculture, up 68%. The agriculture investment company said it signed a memorandum of understanding to provide a 24 month loan to fund the growth of Kenya-based port and logistics firm Comarco Group.----------Metminco, up 48%. The exploration group reported its highest gold grades drilled to date from the Tesorito prospect in Colombia. Results from the drill hole TS-DH-07 includes 64 metres at 1.67 grams per tonne of gold from 144 metres, within 253.1 metres at 1.01 grams per tonne of gold from 2.9 metres.----------Challenger Acquisitions, up 33%. The leisure and entertainment-focused company said it has signed an agreement for the last holder of the May 2015 convertible notes to transfer GBP95,000 of these notes to another holder and transfer the remaining GBP544,556 of notes back to the company. Challenger will cancel the notes received, recording a gain on the deal.----------OTHER MAIN MARKET AND AIM - LOSERS----------Crawshaw, down 47%. The meat products company said group sales for the six months to the end of July dipped to GBP21.6 million from GBP22.1 million the year, with like-for-like sales showing a decline of 13% due to rising shop rents and high business rates, along with increased competition and lower footfall. Crawshaw expects an underlying operating loss for the year ending January 31, 2019 at GBP3 million, widened from GBP2.0 million. Sales are expected to remain flat at GBP44.6 million. ----------Xaar, down 33%. The industrial printing firm said it expects revenue to be GBP35 million in the six months to the end of June, down 20% from the GBP44 million reported the year prior, with GBP9.8 million to come from one-off royalties. Looking forward, underlying trading since the end of June has been, and will continue to be, below the levels expected in Xaar's late-June trading update, it said.----------Orosur Mining, down 16%. The gold producer sunk to a pretax loss of USD27.2 million for the year to the end of May from a profit of USD2.4 million. Revenue fell to USD37.1 million from USD44.2 million as gold production for the period dropped to 27,586 ounces from 35,371 ounces. In addition, due to the grade mined and processed at the San Gregorio mine in Uruguay, operations at the mine is expected to cease by the first quarter of Orosur's 2019 financial year.----------