Virgin Money Holdings Share News (VM.)

LONDON (Alliance News) - The following stocks are the leading risers and fallers within the main London indices on Monday.
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FTSE 100 - WINNERS
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Fresnillo, up 7.5% and Randgold Resources, up 7.0%. The gold miners were gaining again on the higher gold price, quoted at USD1,325.65 an ounce, compared to USD1,317.55 at the London equities close Friday. Goldman Sachs also upgraded Fresnillo to Neutral from Sell. Randgold was raised to Buy from Neutral by Goldman and to Buy from Hold by Panmure Gordon.

Diageo, up 3.5%. The distiller was upgraded to Hold from Sell by SocGen.
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FTSE 100 - LOSERS
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EasyJet, down 17%. The low cost carrier said pretax profit in its fiscal third quarter will be lower year-on-year following flight cancellations and the Egyptair tragedy and said the UK's vote to leave the European Union will hit revenue per seat in the second half of the year. The low-cost airline said it has experienced 1,061 cancellations so far in the third quarter to the end of June, due to a significant number of disruptive events including air traffic control strikes in France, runway and congestion issues at Gatwick airport and severe weather conditions. Those incidents hit third-quarter pretax profit by around GBP28 million year-on-year, easyJet said, while also reducing revenue per seat by around 1.6 percentage points. In addition, the Brexit decision will contribute to further economic and consumer uncertainty this summer, easyJet said, leading to an expected mid-single digit fall in revenue per seat at constant currency in the second half of the financial year, year-on-year.

Taylor Wimpey, down 12%, Barratt Developments, down 11%, Persimmon, 10%, Berkeley Group Holdings, down 9.4%. The housebuilders were continuing losses from Friday after the Brexit vote. The FTSE 350 Household Goods & Home Construction Index, which includes the largest London-listed housebuilders, was down 2.2%, having closed down 10% on Friday. Michael van Dulken, head of research at Accendo Markets said: "Weekend political upheaval from both sides and a leadership vacuum has done little to calm investor nerves about the near-term future, with the most sensitive stocks to the Leave vote - banks, property, airlines - getting another drubbing which has in some cases wiped out the recoveries seen on Friday from knee-jerk Brexit lows."

Travis Perkins, down 11%. The builder's merchant was cut to Underperform from Buy by Merrill Lynch, according to traders.

Royal Bank of Scotland Group, down 13%. The bank was cut to Neutral from Outperform by Exane BNP, to Sell from Hold by SocGen, and to Underweight from Equal Weight by Barclays.

Barclays, down 9.6%. The bank was downgraded to Neutral from Outperform by Exane BNP, to Underperform from Buy by Jefferies, and to Neutral from Overweight by JPMorgan.

International Consolidated Airlines Group, down 8.8%. The British Airways, Aer Lingus and Iberia parent company was downgraded to Neutral from Buy by Goldman Sachs following its profit warning on Friday.
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FTSE 250 - WINNERS
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UBM, up 10%. The media and events group said its share consolidation plan is effective from Monday following the sale of its PR Newswire business earlier this month. UBM had announced the sale of the business in late 2015 to Cision, a PR software company owned by Chicago-based private equity house GTCR Canyon Holdings, for total cash proceeds of GBP490.0 million. UBM has returned GBP245.0 million of the proceeds to shareholders via a special dividend, and its associated share consolidation of eight shares for nine is effective from Monday with the new shares issued for trading.

Acacia Mining, up 10%, Centamin, up 6.5%. The mid-cap gold miners miners were raised to Buy from Hold by Panmure and also were benefiting from the higher gold price.

Drax Group, up 3.5%. The biomass power plant operator was upgraded to Hold from Sell by Deutsche Bank.
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FTSE 250 - LOSERS
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Foxtons Group, down 24%. The London-focused estate agent said the UK's decision to leave the EU will add to the already-uncertain conditions in the London residential property market. Foxtons said it is too early to accurately predict what impact Brexit will have on London property sales, but it said the upturn it had been anticipating in the second half is now unlikely to materialise. As a result, revenue and adjusted earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation will be "significantly lower" year-on-year in 2016, as challenging conditions continue through the remainder of the year.

Virgin Money Holdings, down 19%, Shawbrook Group, down 17%, OneSavings Bank, down 16%. The mid-cap financial stocks also continued to suffer from the Leave vote. The FTSE 350 banking index was down 5.4%, having closed down 9.8% on Friday.

Morgan Advanced Materials, down 15%. The ceramic materials manufacturer was cut to Neutral from Buy by Citigroup.

Balfour Beatty, down 11%. the construction and infrastructure group was downgraded to Neutral from Buy by Citi.
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MAIN MARKET AND AIM - WINNERS
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Surgical Innovations Group, up 10%. The surgical equipment maker said revenue in the first half of 2016 is expected to be 10% higher than the previous year, adding its new product ranges are still expected to be launched later this year. Speaking ahead of the company's annual general meeting later Monday in Leeds, Executive Chairman Nigel Rogers said the rise in revenue has been driven by strong demand from customers based in the US and should lead to an improved gross margin - which should exceed 25% of revenue. Surgical is expecting its inventory to have reduced by at least GBP500,000 during the first half, in line with management expectations, and the company is expecting to deliver further strong cash flows and "significantly reduced net debt" by the end of 2016.
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MAIN MARKET AND AIM - LOSERS
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Biome Technologies, down 31%. The bioplastics and radio frequency technology business said that, although its financial performance is expected to improve during 2016, its results will fail to meet board expectations after revenue came in lower than expected during the first half of the year. The group said revenue in the first half came in at GBP2.2 million, only a touch higher than the GBP2.1 million generated in 2015 and below the company's target for the period. This shortfall is due to a reduced demand for already commercialised products in the Bioplastics Division and some slippage of the Stanelco RF's division's order pipeline into the second half, Biome Technologies said.

Allergy Therapeutics, down 14%. The allergy vaccine specialist said the results of its Phase II dose-ranging study for the US GrassMATAMPL clinical development programme did not determine a recommended dose for the Phase III trial. GrassMATAMPL is an ultra-short-course subcutaneous allergen-specific immunotherapy, administered prior to the grass pollen season. The company said a further dose range finding study will be implemented prior to proceeding into the planned pivotal Phase III study. The next dose-range finding study is planned to start in 2017, and Allergy Therapeutics will await the outcome of an End of Phase II meeting with the US Food & Drug Administration later in 2016 before progressing into Phase III.
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By Arvind Bhunjun; arvindbhunjun@alliancenews.com; @ArvindBhunjun

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