Virgin Money Holdings Share News (VM.)

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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CRH, up 2.0%. The Irish building materials company said it continues to expect its 2016 earnings to be well ahead of the prior year, despite growth slowing in the Americas region. CRH said total sales grew 6.0% year-on-year in the nine months to the end of September, though growth slowed to 2.0% in the third quarter from 8.0% in the first half. Whilst CRH experienced sales growth of 1.0% in its Americas region in the third quarter, this had slowed from 13% in the first half, which CRH said had benefited from favourable weather.
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FTSE 100 - LOSERS
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Royal Mail, down 4.8%. The postal service operator said its full-year performance will depend on a good performance over the Christmas holidays, as it reported lower profit but higher revenue for the first half of its financial year. Royal Mail said its made a pretax profit of GBP110.0 million in the half-year to the end of September, down from GBP116.0 million a year earlier, as the group continues its restructuring programme to cut costs and boost efficiencies. Operating profit, before those costs, was still lower, down to GBP206.0 million from GBP208.0 million. Royal Mail declared an interim dividend of 7.40 pence, up from 7.00p a year prior.
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FTSE 250 - WINNERS
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Hill & Smith Holdings, up 5.0%. The infrastructure products and galvanising services company said it anticipates hitting the top end of expectations for 2016. The group said revenue in the four months to the end of October grew 15% year-on-year to GBP185.0 million from GBP160.8 million, driven in part by benefits from the weak pound against other major currencies and by acquisitions made by the company. Hill & Smith said the roads and utilities-focused parts of its Infrastructure business have performed well, while volumes in Galvanising were higher.

Investec, up 4.3%. The Anglo-South African bank and asset manager said a rise in its income for the first half of its financial year showed the diversified strength of its business, despite a much smaller profit rise. Investec reported a statutory operating profit of GBP281.4 million for the six months to September 30, up by 0.7% from GBP279.4 million for the same period the prior financial year. Investec's Asset Management division increased operating profit by 17% year-on-year, and the Wealth & Investment arm's operating profit rose by 14%, but the Specialist Banking division operating profit decreased by 7.1%. Investec declared an interim dividend of 10.0 pence per ordinary share, up from 9.5p in 2015.

Safestore Holdings, up 4.2%. The self-storage space provider said it expects its earnings per share to be at the top end of the consensus range, after revenue for its fourth quarter was up 18% year-on-year. Safestore said revenue for the three month period ended October 31 was GBP32.8 million, up from GBP27.7 million in the same period the prior year. On a like-for-like basis, revenue was up 11% for the same period. For the full year, revenue was up 10% to GBP115.4 million from GBP104.8 million.
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FTSE 250 - LOSERS
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Virgin Money Holdings, down 5.6%. Bank of America Merrill Lynch said WL Ross has sold its remaining shareholding in the lender, some 53.6 million shares. The sale was increased from a planned disposal of 27 million shares due to "strong demand", said Bank of America Merrill Lynch, and represents approximately 12% of Virgin Money's issued share capital. The final offer price was set a 320 pence per share, resulting in gross proceeds of GBP171.5 million. Bank of America Merrill Lynch and Goldman Sachs International acted as joint bookrunners in connection with the placing.

Great Portland Estates, down 2.7%. The London-focused property developer said it expects a further weakening of London's commercial property market and subdued activity after its valuation declined in its first half. Great Portland said its EPRA net asset value per share fell 4.0% in the six months ended September 30 to 813.00 pence, which Great Portland said was largely due to the like-for-like reduction in the value of the property portfolio. The company said it expects "London's commercial property markets to weaken further during this period of heightened uncertainty and likely subdued market activity, with the benefits of lower bond yields and weaker sterling offset by reduced rental growth prospects in a potentially more inflationary environment".
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MAIN MARKET AND AIM - WINNERS
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Creston, up 31%. The marketing communications firm aid it has agreed to a GBP75.8 million takeover offer from by a vehicle controlled by investment firm DBAY Advisors. DBAY, an Isle of Man-based private equity firm, will acquire Creston for 126.42 pence per share, comprising 125.00p in cash, plus the 1.42p interim dividend Creston declared for the first half of its financial year. The offer is a 35% premium to Creston's closing price on Wednesday. The takeover was announced as Creston said it made a GBP3.8 million pretax profit in the half-year to the end of September, nearly quadruple the GBP1.1 million reported a year prior, mainly due to a one-off restructuring charged booked the year before not recurring. Stripping that out, pretax profit was up 13% to GBP4.5 million from GBP4.0 million, driven up by cost cuts made in the business.

Keras Resources, up 8.5%. The Australia-focused gold miner said it has started an initial drilling campaign on the Klondyke gold project in the Pilbara region of Western Australia. The initial drilling programme is designed to confirm targets for a further programme of drilling in early 2017, and Keras said there is significant upside potential to the existing estimates for Klondyke. Keras added it continues to assess potential opportunities to grow its portfolio in the Pilbara region.

Scisys, up 7.4%. The software firm, which makes products for the space, defence, government and media sectors, said it expects to outperform market consensus in 2016 following robust trading in the second half. Scisys said it has been helped by new contract wins, improved efficiency on existing contracts, and a boost from the weak pound and its exposure to euro-denominated revenue. Scisys now expects its adjusted operating profit, before one-offs, will outpace current market consensus.
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MAIN MARKET AND AIM - LOSERS
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Ottoman Fund, down 42%. The fund, which invests in Turkish real estate, resumed trading after publishing its delayed interim results for the half to February 29 following a series of legal disputes and government investigations. Ottoman reported that at February 29 its net assets were GBP5.2 million, or 3.9p a share. That valuation puts the value of its claims against its former chief financial officer, recently indicted for aggravated theft over his actions at the company, and a loan made to the Turkish legal entity Mandalina, at nil. "The nil carrying value for Mandalina and the money that was unlawfully taken reflects difficulties in determining a proper accounting value for both assets. It does not imply any view on the part of the board that these assets are worthless," said Chairman John Chapman.

NAHL Group, down 14%. The firm, which runs the National Accident Helpline personal injury claims business, said the contents of the UK government's consultation on restricting compensation for whiplash claims were in line with its expectations, but admitted it is trialing alternative business structures in response. The UK Ministry of Justice on Thursday published the results of a consultation on the rise in whiplash claims, proposing that compensation claims be either banned or capped at GBP425. Other suggested reforms included requiring medical reports from an accredited expert for the payment of compensation and introducing a tariff system for injuries more serious than whiplash.
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By Sam Unsted; samunsted@alliancenews.com; @SamUAtAlliance

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