ValiRx Share News (VAL)

LONDON (Alliance News) - The following stocks are amongst the biggest risers and fallers within the main London indices midday Wednesday.
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FTSE 100 WINNERS
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ARM Holdings, up 4.2%. The chip designer raised its dividend as it posted an increase in profit for 2014, boosted by strong licence revenue growth and improved royalty revenue growth in its fourth quarter, and said it expects to meet market expectations for dollar revenues in 2015.

Reckitt Benckiser Group, up 3.3%. The consumer goods group's fourth-quarter net revenue growth beat market expectations, and the group announced further cost-cutting initiatives and plans to bolster its share-buyback programme in 2015.

BT Group, up 2.5%. The company secured 42 English Premier League football games a season, up from its current 38 games for a cost of GBP320 million per year. BT won a live Saturday evening game each week during the Premier League season, which will allow the company to "build on its current Saturday programming and appeal to an even larger audience, having secured the prime evening TV viewing slot," it said in a statement.

United Utilities, up 1.7%. The utility company has been raised to Neutral from Underweight by HSBC, which also raised its price target on the stock to 1,000.00 pence from 860.00p. The company currently trades at 976.51p.
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FTSE 100 LOSERS
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Sky, down 3.6%. The broadcaster secured five of the seven Premier League packages available, equating to 126 live games per season from a total 168 matches, for a cost of GBP1.32 billion per year, representing an 83% increase from the cost of its existing contract. "BT's opposing price reaction to Sky says it all with BT in the ascendance. BT keeps the pressure up on Sky, securing only marginally more games than before but continually moving forward with their 'quad-play' plans," says William Nicholls, a dealer at London Capital Group.

Tullow Oil, down 2.9%. The oil exploration and production company suspended its final dividend for 2014. It swung to a pretax loss after booking significant impairment charges, combined with falling production and revenue in the year.

Schroders, down 1.2%. The asset manager has been cut to Underweight from Overweight by HSBC.
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FTSE 250 WINNERS
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Telecity Group, up 14%. The data centre operator has agreed to take over European data centre services provider Interxion Holding NV in an all-share merger. It also posted a lower profit for 2014 due to exceptional costs mostly relating to its Turkish business but said it will begin a GBP400 million share buy-back programme over three years.

Redrow, up 11%. The housebuilder doubled its interim dividend, as it reported its pretax profit also nearly doubled on the back of higher revenue and a rise in sales in the first half.

Dunelm Group, up 5.0%. The homewares retailer delivered a higher first-half profit, driven by a 14% increase in revenue, helped by new store openings and strong growth online. However, the group cautioned that it expects benefits of top-line growth in the remainder of the financial year to be largely offset by higher operating costs, saying it expects to return to stronger profit growth next year.

Vedanta Resources, up 2.2%. The company has been raised to Equal-Weight from Underweight by Morgan Stanley.
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FTSE 250 LOSERS
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Indivior, down 6.3%. The pharmaceutical firm, which was spun-off by Reckitt Benckiser Group, posted a lower pretax profit for 2014 due to generic competition in the US and price cuts in Europe hitting its revenue in the US and exceptional costs relating to the de-merger.

Lonmin, down 5.7%. Glencore said it will divest from its 23.9% stake in platinum miner Lonmin during the first half of 2015 by distributing Lonmin shares to Glencore shareholders.

Poundland Group, down 5.5%. US private equity firm Warburg Pincus sold a larger-than-expected stake in retailer Poundland Group, sending shares in the company lower.

Thomas Cook Group, down 4.9%. The travel operator said it cut its first quarter operating loss by more than 40% on the year before, as it continued to cut out costs across the business, but cited pricing and competitive pressures, and tough trading in continental Europe. The group said tough trading conditions, particularly in Continental Europe have hit prices, partially offsetting the positive effects of further cost savings and the benefits of lower fuel costs.

Electrocomponents, down 4.8%. The electronics company said it had seen sales growth ramp up in the four months to end-January, up 5% compared to growth of 3% in its first half. It said there was one less trading day in the period compared to the previous year, and as a result it expects its pretax profit for the year to be hit by around GBP2 million due to the fewer trading days.

Cobham, down 2.5%. The engineering company said it will book a charge in its 2014 results related to its air-to-air refuelling development programmes and said the same problems have resulted in contract delays. It said it will recognise a GBP15 million one-off pretax provision in its underlying results for the year to the end of December.
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AIM ALL-SHARE WINNERS
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DP Poland, up 62%. The company, which sub-franchises Domino's Pizza stores in Poland, reported a jump in sales and profit in the year to the end of December. It said its system sales in the year to the end of December rose 35% to PLN20.4 million from PLN15.1 million a year earlier.

Tertiary Minerals, up 13%. The company posted positive results for the phase three drilling programme at the MB fluorspar project in Nevada. Drilling at Holes 14TMBRC030, 14TMBRC032 and 14TMBRC033 all encountered fluorspar intersections and demonstration continuity of the mineralisation to the west of the central area of the prospect.

Red24, up 13%. The crisis assistance company said it expects to beat expectations for the full year on the back of new business wins and a busy third quarter.

ValiRx, up 10%. The life sciences company said it has been handed patent approval from the European Patent Office for a biomarker testing process. The patent covers the means for diagnosing and monitoring of patients using biomarker testing for B-cell lymphomas and its prognostic outcome, ValiRx said.

Styles & Wood Group, up 8.6%. The property services company said its full-year trading was in line with expectations on the back of a rise in revenue in the second half. The group said the rise in revenue seen in the second half of the year to the end of December has continued into 2015, with increasing activity levels and confidence in its core markets.
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AIM ALL-SHARE LOSERS
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Trap Oil Group, off 57%. The company said it has relinquished its interest in one license in the UK North Sea at a cost of USD5.8 million and said it is incurring a significant loss on another field due to the low oil price environment.

Tangent Communications, down 28%. The marketing platforms and services provider said that it now expects to post an underlying operating profit of GBP1.2 million for the year to end-February, down from the previous year, and said it does not expect to propose a final dividend.
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By Neil Thakrar; neilthakrar@alliancenews.com; @NeilThakrar1

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