Utilitywise Share News (UTW)

LONDON (Alliance News) - The following stocks are the leading risers and fallers within the main London indices on Wednesday.
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FTSE 100 - WINNERS
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Randgold Resources, up 2.3%. Among only a handful of risers in the blue-chip index, Randgold was trading higher as investors flocked to the safe haven of gold amid concerns about slowing growth in the Chinese economy. The gold price was up 0.8% to USD1,117.49 per ounce late morning.
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FTSE 100 - LOSERS
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Glencore, down 5.2%, Burberry, down 3.5%. The miner and the luxury goods company were trading lower as companies in their respective sectors took a hit from the decision by China's central bank to devalue the yuan for the second consecutive day. Miners were taking a hit since China is the world's largest consumer of metals, while, for Burberry, China is a key sales market and a weaker yuan will reduce revenue translated into sterling.

Reckitt Benckiser, down 3.3%. The UK's competition regulator has found the consumer goods company's acquisition of the K-Y personal lubricants brand could lead to a lessening of competition in competition and will force Reckitt to licence the K-Y brand to a UK competitor for eight years. In order to remedy the issues the CMA has outlined, it said Reckitt will be required to licence the K-Y brand to a UK competitor for eight years, allowing enough time for it develop a new brand to rival the Durex range which could then gain access to supermarkets and pharmacies.

Unilever, down 4.0%, ARM Holdings, down 3.4%. The consumer goods group was hit after Goldman Sachs downgraded its rating on the company to Sell from Neutral and cut its price target to 2,560 pence from 2,820p. The chipmaker, meanwhile, was trading lower after Citigroup removed it from its Citi Focus List, though it kept a Buy rating on the stock intact.
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FTSE 250 - WINNERS
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Zoopla Property Group, up 3.9%. The online property portal said its UK estate agency membership returned to growth in the first four months of its current financial year and said the uSwitch price comparison business it acquired earlier in 2015 is trading well. Zoopla said it added 213 net new branches to its UK agency membership in the period from April 1 to July 31, returning to growth after having taken a hit from the launch of new challenger OnTheMarket.

Balfour Beatty, up 3.4%. The construction and support services company scrapped its interim dividend as it posted a substantially wider pretax loss for the first half of 2015 thanks to writedowns of onerous contracts in its UK construction arm, though it said it is working its way through its legacy problems and expects the majority of the problem contracts to be completed by the end of 2016. Balfour said its pretax loss for the six months to the end of June was GBP150 million, sharply wider than the GBP58 million loss it posted a year earlier. As a result of the drop in profit, the company said it won't pay an interim dividend, having paid 5.6 pence per share a year earlier.

Centamin, up 2.9%. The gold miner said its pretax profit rose in the first half of 2015, leading the company to increase its interim dividend by 11%. The company, which operates the Sukari gold mine in Egypt, reported a pretax profit of USD18.8 million in the second quarter of 2015, rising from USD11.3 million in the same period a year earlier, as revenue rose to USD124.2 million from USD102.6 million. "Centamin is pleased to have generated strong cash flows, allowing both increased dividend payments to shareholders and continued investment in exploration, despite the continued pressure on the gold price," said Chief Executive Andrew Pardy.
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FTSE 250 - LOSERS
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Lonmin, down 6.6%. The miner was downgraded to Hold from Buy by Panmure Gordon, as the broker said the company needs to start tackling its cost base given the current low metal price environment. Panmure analyst Alison Turner said the challenge for the company is that at current spot prices none of its shafts are cash flow generative after apportioning overheads and downstream processing costs.

Interserve, down 3.9%. The construction and support services company posted a rise in half-year profit on the back of robust revenue growth and a stronger order book at the end of the period, but said it expects its UK support services business to see margins squeezed by the UK's new National Living Wage. The company said its pretax profit for the six months to the end of June was GBP33.7 million, up 19% on the GBP28.3 million it posted a year earlier, as revenue increased by 16% to GBP1.60 billion from GBP1.37 billion. But the group said it expects the implementation of the National Living Wage to hit its support services business to the tune of GBP10 million to GBP15 million in 2016.

ICAP, down 6.1%. The interdealer broker's shares were sold after it was downgraded to Underweight from Equal Weight by Morgan Stanley.
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AIM ALL-SHARE - WINNERS
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Pure Wafer, up 16%. The company, which provides silicon wafer reclaim services to semiconductor companies, confirmed it will have a surplus of funds from the insurance settlement for the fire at its Swansea facility in December and said it has now sold off the site, as underlying trading remains in line with its expectations. The company is planning to return the surplus funds to shareholders and said the funds will translate to 140 pence to 145p per share. The stock trades at 147.67p.

Kibo Mining, up 12%. The miner said the Mbeya coal to power project in Tanzania will generate almost USD50.0 million in annual revenue and an annual profit of up to USD27.0 million after the company received the results from its mining pre-feasibility study. "We are delighted with the results from the mining pre-feasibility study, which have surpassed all expectations. Figures from the mining pre-feasibility study report confirm that the Mbeya coal mine (as the mining component of the Mbeya coal to power project) is a very robust project in every aspect," said Chief Executive Louis Coetzee.
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AIM ALL-SHARE - LOSERS
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Utilitywise, down 12%. The energy and water consultancy said it expects revenue for the last financial year to be "slightly ahead" of expectations and substantially up from the previous year as it announced its deputy chief executive has resigned from the company, though it warned its earnings will miss market expectations. While revenue will come in ahead, the company said ongoing investment in its marketing division, European sales trials and staff in the second half of the financial year will mean its earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation for the year will be "slightly below market expectations".

Active Energy Group, down 12%. The company, which makes wood fibre products for MDF manufacturing and biomass for energy power generation, said its full year results will miss market expectations after legislative changes in Ukraine damaged its margins and as delays at its Yuzhny Port facility will hit its production volumes going into the second half.
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By Sam Unsted; samunsted@alliancenews.com; @SamUAtAlliance

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