VLS.L Share News (VLS)

LONDON (Alliance News) - The following stocks are the leading risers and fallers within the main London indices on Thursday.
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FTSE 100 - WINNERS
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Tesco, up 1.5%. The retailer said it has reached an agreement to settle a class action commenced in New York on behalf of the holders of the company's American Depositary Receipts. The class action was against Tesco and some of its former directors for alleged breaches of US federal securities laws in connection with its overstatement of commercial income in September 2014. The settlement agreement means Tesco will have to pay USD12 million to settle the class action with no admission of liability and, if confirmed by a federal court in New York, will settle one of two claims before US courts arising from the scandal.
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FTSE 100 - LOSERS
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BHP Billiton, down 2.8%. The Anglo-Australian miner moved to quell speculation the waste which was released by the tailings dam burst at the Samarco mine in Brazil was toxic. A probe conducted by the United Nations has claimed the waste from the mine spill is toxic and said the steps taken by BHP and Vale to prevent harm were not sufficient. BHP responded that the tailings released into the Rio Doce were comprised of clay and silt material from the washing and processing of earth containing iron ore, which is naturally abundant in the local area. It added that, based on available data, the tailings are chemically-stable. Additionally Thursday, JPMorgan cut its rating on the stock to Underweight from Neutral and slash its price target to 750 pence from 1,300p. SocGen cut its price target for BHP to 915p from 1,050p. BHP shares were trading at 830.00p Thursday.
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FTSE 250 - WINNERS
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OneSavings Bank, up 3.8%. Investec upgraded its rating on the lender to Buy from Hold. OneSavings shares fell 7.3% on Wednesday after UK Chancellor George Osborne announced a new stamp duty on buy-to-let properties, against which OneSavings lends. Investec said the changes in the Autumn Statement has had no impact on its earnings forecast for OneSavings and, following recent share price falls, it sees good value in the company.

Marston's, up 2.8%. The pub company and brewer said it swung to a profit in its recently-ended financial year as revenue grew amid new pub openings and the recently-integrated Thwaites beer business, part of a three-year transformation plan. Marston's said it made a pretax profit of GBP31.3 million in the year ended October 3, after suffering a GBP59.2 million pretax loss the year before, as revenue rose to GBP878.6 million from GBP815.3 million. Marston's will pay a total dividend of 7.0p, up 4.5% on the prior year.
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FTSE 250 - LOSERS
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Paypoint, down 9.0%. The payment services company reported a considerable drop in first-half pretax profit, as the company booked a GBP18.2 million goodwill impairment charge in relation to the online payments business it is seeking to sell. Pretax profit plunged to GBP3.2 million in the six months ended September 30, compared with GBP22.5 million in the corresponding half the prior year. Paypoint lifted its interim dividend to 14.2 pence per share from 12.4p said the increase "anticipates double digit growth in the dividend for the year as a whole and reflects our confidence in the business and its long term prospects".
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MAIN MARKET AND AIM - WINNERS
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Coal of Africa, up 12%. The coal miner said it has struck a deal valued at around AUD126.4 million to reverse into Australia-listed Universal Coal. The company said the deal will provide Coal of Africa with immediate coal production and cash flow along with a diversified production, development and exploration base, along with expected synergies with its existing business. Under the terms of the offer, Universal Coal shareholders will get AUD0.20 in cash and one new Coal of Africa share for each of their existing shares. The deal values Universal Coal at around AUD126.4 million and represents a 35% premium to Universal Coal's closing price on October 30, the day prior to the talks being entered into.

Velocys, up 11%. The gas-to-liquid technology company said it has seen improvements in its operations in the past 18 months, which have raised capacity at its plant and improved the economics of the business. Velocys said the work done at its plant resulted in an increase in capacity in excess of 50%, without any change to the commercial catalyst formulation or reactor design. The progress made in its operations has provided evidence high-value liquid hydrocarbon products can be maintained while achieving the higher productivity gains, Velocys said.

Sinclair IS Pharma, up 7.7%. The pharmaceutical company said it has struck a deal to sell its non-aesthetics business to Alliance Pharma for GBP132.0 million in cash, as its loss for the year to the end of June widened. The company will change its name to Sinclair Pharma PLC. Under the deal, Alliance Pharma will acquire 27 products, materially increasing the scale of its business. Alliance Pharma will cover the consideration for the acquisition through a fully-underwritten share placing to raise GBP78.5 million and with GBP54.2 million to be drawn down through new loans. The placing will comprise the issue of 191.4 million shares in Alliance Pharma at 41.00 pence per share, a 20% discount to its closing price on Wednesday. Alliance Pharma shares were down 9.8%.
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MAIN MARKET AND AIM - LOSERS
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EKF Diagnostics Holdings, down 49%. The healthcare company warned on its pretax profit for 2015 after undertaking a review of the business. EKF said the review found that it should achieve full-year revenue of around GBP32 million, but that pretax profit will be hurt by a "number of items". These include an impairment of the molecular division following a potential divestment or closure of the business, a write-off of specific debtors, and costs associated with the closure of the Separation Technology Inc site in Sanford, Florida.
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By Sam Unsted; samunsted@alliancenews.com; @SamUAtAlliance

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