SSE Share News (SSE)

(Alliance News) - The following stocks are the leading risers and fallers within the main London indices on Monday.----------FTSE 100 - WINNERS----------SSE, up 0.7%. The power utility is in discussions with Ovo Group over the possible sale of its struggling energy services business. In May, SSE announced plans to offload its energy services segment after more than half a million households switched to a new supplier in the year ending March 2019. The Big Six company vowed to sell or float its energy services arm - which has around 5.7 million customer accounts - by the second half of 2020. SSE announced on Saturday that Ovo Energy is a potential buyer. If it goes ahead, the sale would turn Ovo into one of the UK's largest energy suppliers overnight having been founded just 10 years ago. SSE said in a statement: "These discussions are continuing, however no final decisions have been taken and no agreements regarding the terms of any transaction have been entered into."----------FTSE 100 - LOSERS----------Fresnillo, down 1.1%. The Mexican gold miner was tracking spot gold prices lower quoted at USD1,492.34 an ounce Monday, down from USD1.500.67 late Friday. Gold rose above the USD1,500 mark for the first time in six years last week amid heightened US-China trade tensions. ----------FTSE 250 - WINNERS----------Tullow Oil, up 17%. The oil and gas company announced a "high value" oil discovery by the Jethro-1 well, drilled in the Orinduik licence, offshore Guyana. Tullow Oil owns 60% of Orinduik, while Eco Atlantic Oil & Gas owns 15% of the block, and France's Total making up the rest. The well encountered 55 metres of net oil pay, after the well was drilled to a total depth of 4,400 metres in 1,350 metres of water. Evaluation of logging data has confirmed that Jethro-1 is the first oil discovery on the licence, comprising high-quality oil bearing sandstone reservoirs, dating from the Lower Tertiary age, Tullow said. The discovery has de-risked all other tertiary age prospects on the licence, particularly the Upper Tertiary Joe prospect, which will start drilling later in August, Tullow said. Eco Atlantic Oil shares nearly doubled in value, as it also announced a "significant" oil discovery off the shore of Guyana. ----------Beazley, up 1.0%. UBS raised the insurer to Buy from Neutral. ----------FTSE 250 - LOSERS----------UDG Healthcare, down 2.2%. RBC Capital cut the healthcare services provider to Sector Perform from Outperform. ----------OTHER MAIN MARKET AND AIM - WINNERS----------Ironveld, up 45%. The vanadium and titanium miner said it has entered confidentiality agreements with several parties concerning the sale of part or all of its mining assets. In early July, Ironveld said it was considering the sale of the project, located on the Northern Limb of the Bushveld complex in Limpopo as part of a strategic review. The company has rights to 56.4 million tonnes of magnetite ore, and the project contains 1.4 billion pounds of vanadium, 27 million tonnes of high purity iron, and 8.3 million tonnes of titanium. Ironveld said it is currently providing interested parties with more information on its current assets, as well as access to the company's management and advisers.----------Hardide, up 15%. The surface coating technology firm said it is to work on Airbus SE's A330 aircraft. The company's Hardide-A coating technology has been selected as the replacement for hard chrome plating on the compression flap pads of the passenger plane. The company said the product has been developed specifically for the aerospace industry. At the start of July, the firm won a number of "major" new component coating orders from an unnamed US oil and gas firm, worth USD850,000. No financial details of the Airbus contract were provided. ----------OTHER MAIN MARKET AND AIM - LOSERS----------M&C Saatchi, down 24%, The advertising company revealed "misapplication of accounting policies" at UK subsidiaries, resulting plans for a one-off exceptional charge of GBP4.9 million to 2019 results. M&C Saatchi has decided to take a GBP4.9 million one-off exceptional charge in 2019 related to the accounting errors and has additionally set aside GBP1.5 million for further potential issues identified during an independent review. On the trading front, M&C Saatchi said it expects a year-on-year fall in 2019 interim pretax profit due to a unusually strong comparative period. However, the company expects trading in the second half to be strong. In the six months to June 30, 2018, the company recorded pretax profit of GBP10.9 million. The company remains confident of meeting expectations of operating profit for 2019, excluding exceptional charges. These will include GBP1.4 million related to an office refurbishment in addition to the GBP4.9 million for the accounting issues. In 2018, adjusted operating profit totalled GBP30.3 million.----------Thomas Cook Group, down 15%. The cash-strapped travel operator said it is in talks to raise an additional GBP150 million on top of the previously announced GBP750 million, as part of a capital injection agreement with the company's largest shareholder Fosun Tourism Group, its core lending banks, and noteholders. Thomas Cook said shareholders will be "significantly diluted" by the funding plans, which involve the conversion of debt to equity. Thomas Cook said talks with noteholders, representing around 50% of 2022 and 2023 senior notes, included an additional GBP150 million cash injection. The company also said it has made significant progress towards finalising the key terms of the GBP750 million recapitalisation agreement with Fosun, core lending banks, and noteholders. The additional GBP150 million will provide further liquidity headroom through the coming 2019-20 winter trading period - a low-cash time of year for travel operators - and ensure the business can continue to invest, Thomas Cook said.----------