ValiRx Share News (VAL)

LONDON (Alliance News) - The following stocks are the leading risers and fallers within the main London indices midday Monday.
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FTSE 100 - WINNERS
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HSBC Holdings, up 2.7%. The banking group has reported a decrease in first half profit that was a little worse than analysts had expected. HSBC said it made a USD12.34 billion pretax profit in the first half, compared with GBP14.07 billion in the previous year, and coming in a little light of the USD12.46 billion consensus analyst estimate. A group of 15 analysts polled by the bank had forecast on average a USD12.46 billion pretax profit in the first half. Still, "this was a good performance in the face of further margin contraction, additional conduct provisions and lower Asia growth rates," said Mike Trippitt, an analyst at Numis Securities. Lloyds Banking Group, up 1.4%, Royal Bank of Scotland Group, up 1.1%, and Barclays, up 0.8%, are also among the leading gainers in the blue-chip index.

Intertek Group, up 1.4%. The quality-testing company has reported lower profit for the first half of the year as the strength of sterling hit revenue earned abroad, but it predicted organic revenue growth in the second half of the year and beyond. The company reported a pretax profit of GBP119.8 million for the six months to the end of June, down from GBP127.9 million a year earlier, as revenue declined to GBP1.02 billion from GBP1.08 billion. Revenue would have increased 2.9% at constant exchange rates, thanks to acquisitions, with organic revenue at constant rates down 0.5%. It said sterling's strength knocked GBP89 million off its revenue. Intertek raised its interim dividend to 16.0 pence from 15.0p, as the restructuring also helped lift cash flow from operations by 20% to GBP148.2 million.
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FTSE 100 - LOSERS
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Schroders, down 0.9%. The asset manager has continued to fall, having ended the day among the biggest losers in the blue-chip index on Thursday and Friday. Shares in Schroders fell sharply at the end of last week, even though the company reported that its first-half pretax profit increased to GBP233.9 million from GBP221.7 million, and it hiked its dividend payout by 50%. However, while the dividend rise was a positive surprise, analysts were less impressed by the outlook on asset flows. Group net inflows were GBP4.8 billion in the first half, which looks light when compared to Liberum Capital's full year forecast for GBP14.4 billion. Additionally, Societe Generale has cut its price target on the company to 2,620 pence from 2,800p.
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FTSE 250 - WINNERS
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Keller Group, up 4.7%. The engineering contractor has reported a 21% increase in pretax profit for the first half, despite tough market conditions in Canada, a market it has targeted over the last 18 months. It posted pretax profit of GBP32.5 million for the six months to end-June, up from GBP26.8 million a year earlier, as revenue rose 22% to GBP788.2 million from GBP644.6 million. The company increased its interim dividend 5% to 8.4 pence from 8.0 pence a year earlier.

Alent, up 1.4%. The company said its pretax profit increased in its first half, and it proposed to pay out a GBP42 million special dividend, as a reduction in revenue was offset by lower costs and expenses. It said its pretax profit increased 3.7% to GBP41.8 million for the six months to end-June, from GBP40.3 million in the previous year. However, it said revenue fell 9.5% to GBP315.9 million from GBP348.8 million due to foreign exchange headwinds and the pass-through effects of lower silver and gold prices in its assembly materials and surface chemistries businesses.

Esure Group, 0.7%. The group, which owns the Sheila's Wheels brand, said its pretax profit edged up by 0.4% in the first half amid intense competition in the group's motor and home markets, while it complemented an increase in its interim dividend with the declaration of a special dividend. It raised its interim dividend to 3.6 pence from 2.5p, and also said it will pay a 1.5p per share special dividend, increasing the total to 5.1p. It said it made a GBP57.1 million pretax profit in the six months ended June 30, compared with GBP56.9 million in the corresponding period last year. Total income increased by 1.4% to GBP286.2 million, as earned premiums, net of reinsurance, increased to GBP245.5 million from GBP240.2 million.
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FTSE 250 - LOSERS
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Telecity Group, down 4.6%. The data-centre provider's shares have fallen sharply, even though the company posted a rise in revenue and pretax profit in its first half on the back of strong demand in the European data-centre market. It said revenue rose 9.3% to GBP174.1 million, from GBP159.3 million a year earlier, with adjusted earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation up 11% to GBP81.6 million against GBP73.8m in 2013. On the back of the results, the company lifted its dividend by 29% to 4.5 pence from 3.5 pence a year ago. However, the company said churn levels - meaning cancellations and new sales - were elevated in the first half. It said the first-half churn is likely to hit earnings in the second half, but it expects its order book to improve in the medium term.

Senior, down 2.6%. The manufacturing company has reported a pretax profit of GBP45.1 million for the six months ended June 30, up from GBP37.1 million a year earlier, as revenue crept up to GBP400.4 million from GBP399.3 million. The company also said that Chief Executive Mark Rollins intends to retire during the first half of 2015. Recruitment for his successor has commenced. The results are broadly in line with with analyst expectations and are likely to leave full-year expectations unchanged. However, the retirement of CEO Rollins has come as a disappointment.
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AIM ALL-SHARE - WINNERS
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Max Petroleum, up 27%. The oil and gas company said it has raised GBP37.1 million through a cash subscription by AGR Energy Ltd No.1, which gives the investor a 51% majority of the enlarged share capital of the company. It said AGR conditionally subscribed for 2.3 million shares at a price of 1.64 pence per share, which is a premium of 34% to its closing middle market price of 1.225 pence on August 1. The news comes after the company announced a strategic review in late July, which it said could result in a merger, the sale of the business, a farm-down, or a disposal of its assets.

VariRx, up 18%. The company said its request to run clinical trials for its VAL201 cancer treatment has been accepted by the UK's licensing authority. In a statement, ValiRx said it had won authorisation to begin a Phase 1/2 dose escalation study to "assess the safety and tolerability" of the drug in patients suffering from advanced or metastatic prostate cancer and other advanced solid tumours.

ProPhotonix, up 13%. Machine tools and laser-marking company The 600 Group said it has acquired a 26.3% stake in ProPhotonix, financing the deal with a share issue. The deal comes just months after 600 Group told Alliance News that it would look to bolster the business through acquisitions. 600 Group said the deal would make it the biggest shareholder in the US's Prophotonix, a Salem, New Hampshire-based LED systems manufacturer. As part of the financing for the deal, 600 Group will issue 4,925,621 shares, representing 5.5% of its issued share capital.

Kennedy Ventures, up 12%. The company has bought a 75% stake in African Tantalum (Pty) Ltd (Aftan) for GBP0.7 million in cash and shares, a company that has a conditional deal to buy a majority stake in a tantalite mine in Namibia. Aftan has a conditional deal with Magnum Mining and Exploration Ltd to acquire 60% of the Tantalite Valley project in Namibia, a mine which it is intended will be brought back into production of tantalite, used in the production of tantalum, a platinum substitute, within six months of completion of Kennedy's purchase of the majority stake in Aftan. Kennedy Ventures, currently classified as an investing company under AIM rules, said it will pay GBP0.2 million of the purchase price by issuing 4.5 million of its shares to the sellers, a group of private investors, at 4.9 pence a share. The rest will be paid through a loan of GBP0.4 million. Kennedy Ventures' shares are quoted at 5.33 pence.

Rare Earth Minerals, up 8.7%. The exploration and development resources company said it has received initial positive results from sampling for rare-earth elements at its Greenland exploration licences. It said initial assay results have started to be received, and four of the ten samples exceeded 2,000 parts per million in total rare earth oxides, with the highest at 2,887 parts per million. The sampling studies followed up exploration of a site identified by SRK Exploration Services Ltd in the northern part of its 2012 to 2015 exploration licence at the site.

MoPowered Group, up 7.4%. The mobile commerce company said it had secured contracts from the building supplies, tools and DIY sectors in the past few months. It said it had won contracts from Jewson, the sustainable timber and building materials supplier, along with specialist merchants Tooled Up and e-TradeCounter. MoPowered did not provide financial details of the contracts, but said Tooled Up and e-TradeCounter were using its mid-market MoPowered Professional solution.
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AIM ALL-SHARE - LOSERS
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Tangiers Petroleum, off 70%. The oil and gas explorer confirmed the TAO-1 exploration well in the Tarfaya offshore block in Morocco has been unsuccessful and said it would plug and abandon the well, sending its shares spiralling lower in morning dealings. Tangiers suspended its shares last Thursday last week pending the final results from the TAO-1 project, having said earlier in the week that it failed to find hydrocarbons at the site and at the Assaka second target in the well.

Quindell, down 13%. The company has run into trouble over one of its largest contracts, a joint venture with RAC to place telematics devices in cars, the Financial Times has reported, citing people familiar with the project. The IT outsourcing services provider is facing a disagreement with RAC over Connected Car Solutions, a joint venture created in April under which the pair aim to install more than 2 million black boxes at a rate of 50,000 per month, the FT said. But installation of the devices is yet to start and talks about restructuring the project have stalled, according to the people familiar with the matter.
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By Neil Thakrar; neilthakrar@alliancenews.com

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