Vodafone Share News (VOD)

LONDON (Alliance News) - The following stocks are the leading risers and fallers within the main London indices midday Thursday.

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FTSE 100 - WINNERS

Vodafone, up 2.9%. The telecommunications company has confirmed its full-year guidance, expecting an adjusted operating profit of around GBP5.0 billion, as it saw group revenue decline 4.8% in the third quarter ended December 31, 2013. Whilst conditions remain challenging in Europe, Vodafone said it was continuing to offset this through on-going improvements to its operating model and cost efficiency.

Prudential, up 2.7%. Barclays has reaffirmed its Overweight recommendation for the company, saying that recent concerns about the Emerging Markets have been overdone. As a result, the bank expects the life insurer's earning growth to continue at a 12% compound annual growth rate over the next five years, buoyed by Asian growth and an increasingly cash generative US business.

Smith & Nephew, up 2.2%. The medical technology company raised its full-year dividend despite a decline in pretax profit, as the medical products firm saw revenue rise in the 2013 full year. The group announced a final dividend of 17.0 US cents, bring its full-year dividend to 27.4 cents, up 5.0% from 26.1 cents the previous year. Smith & Nephew achieved revenue of USD4.35 billion, up from USD4.14 billion in the previous year, but pretax profit was down at USD802 million from USD1.09 billion in the previous year.

EasyJet, up 1.4%. The low-cost airline said that it flew over 4 million passengers and improved its load factor in January, continuing its steady ascent after reporting strong first-quarter figures during the month. The airline flew 4,021,678 passengers during January, up 3.7% on the 3,878,640 passengers flown in January 2013. It also said that load factor during the month also increased, up 1% to 85.4%.

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FTSE 100 - LOSERS

AstraZeneca, down 2.3%. The pharmaceutical giant saw revenue and pretax profit decline in 2013, as it continued to be hit by the loss of exclusivity on several of its brands and increased competition from generics. The firm posted revenue of USD25.71 billion, down 8.1% from USD27.98 billion in the previous year. Pretax profit came in at USD3.27 billion, down 57% from USD7.65 billion in the previous year.

TUI Travel, down 1.9%. The travel operator said revenue for the group was flat in the first quarter, reporting revenues of GBP2.73 billion, compared with GBP2.72 billion the prior year. The company did, however, reduced its underlying operating losses by 6.9% for the period.

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FTSE 250 - WINNERS

Imagination Technologies Group, up 17%. The company has announced that it has extended a multi-year, multi-use agreement with the US's Apple Corp. Under the agreement Apple can use Imagination's range of current and future PowerVR graphics and video IP cores in its smartphones, tablets and other devices. Imagination will receive on-going license fees and royalty revenues on the shipment of systems-on-a-chip using its intellectual property in Apple's products.

Supergroup, up 6.6%. The clothing retailer reported another set of impressive trading results for the third quarter, with group sales rising significantly in the period, and said it is well placed to meet market expectations for the full year. Total group sales for the 13-week period to January 26 increased by 22% to GBP141.1 million, while in the year to date sales are up 22% to GBP333.2 million. Supergroup announced it is on track to reach forecasts for full-year pretax profit between GBP61.1 million and GBP65.9 million for the financial year ending April 26.

Beazley, up 5.8%. The speciality insurer reported a 25% increase in pretax profit for its recent financial year, amidst an especially strong underwriting performance and a quiet year for catastrophe losses, allowing it to declare a higher special dividend. Beazley said it made a USD313.3 million pretax profit for the full-year 2013, compared with USD251.2 million for the year prior. It also declared a full-year dividend of 8.8 pence, up from the previous year's 8.3 pence, while also increasing its special dividend to 16.1 pence from 8.4 pence.

Grainger, up 4.4%. The residential property business revealed that group sales more than doubled in the four months to January 31, and said it plans to take advantage of a much improved UK housing market. Group sales totalled GBP149.3 million during the period, compared with GBP64.4 million a year earlier, due to the one-off disposal of its home reversion portfolio for GBP88 million.

Investec, up 3.4%. The asset manager released a third quarter update that Numis Securities says is a little better than expected. Operating income is 1% ahead of last year, impairments decreased by 26%, costs increased by 2% and operating profit is 12% ahead of the previous year. The group is also looking to dispose of its UK mortgage provider business, Kensington, which would be positive, increasing Investec's return on equity employed, says Numis analyst James Hamilton.

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FTSE 250 - LOSERS

Enterprise Inns, down 3.2%. The group said its growth momentum had continued in the first quarter, with like-for-like net income rising 1% on the prior year. However, this was significantly below Numis' forecast of 1.5% and consensus estimates of 2%, said Numis analyst Douglas Jack.

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AIM - WINNERS

GCM Resources, up 33%. The resource exploration and development company's share price continues to rise, despite announcing on Wednesday that it knows of no other reason for its recent surge other than the possible finalisation of the government of Bangladesh's Coal Policy. The group said that press speculation in Bangladesh Wednesday said that the Bangladeshi government's decision is imminent. GCM jumped 73% on Wednesday.

JSJS Designs, up 17%. The consumer electronics company has launched a range of intelligent boiler and radiator controls that can be controlled by smart phones remotely. The products are seen as similar to those of Nest, a maker of intelligent thermostats acquired by Google for USD3.2 billion last month.

Coral Products, up 11%. The group said it has signed a number of new contracts for its containers and recycling boxes totalling worth GBP875,000. The company's food packaging subsidiary, Interpack, won four new contracts worth GBP725,000 from four new customers for ice cream containers and salad boxes. Coral has also signed a contract to supply Powys County Council in Wales with a number of recycling containers in a deal worth GBP150,000.

Rockhopper Exploration, up 8.9%. The oil and gas exploration company announced that it expects capital costs for Phase 1 of the Sea Lion development to reach USD5.2 billion. Rockhopper said capital expenditure to first oil is expected to be USD3.8 billion. Subsequent gross annual operating expenditure is expected to average USD260 million, including Floating Storage Unit rental and well interventions. Looking ahead, Rockhopper said that it expects Phase 1 of the Sea Lion Development to recover 293 mmbbl over 25 years.

Pittards, up 7.9%. The leather and luxury goods producer has appointed Godfrey Davis, the chairman and former chief executive of luxury goods company Mulberry Group PLC, as a non-executive director. The supplier of leather goods also said its underlying trading was generally in line with market expectations during 2013, although it was hit in the last quarter by the US dollar's decline against sterling.

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AIM - LOSERS

President Energy, off 19%. The company said after the market close on Wednesday that it is planning a fundraising by way of a placing in order to raise a minimum of USD40 million. It said it has the option to upsize the placing to USD50 million and has proposed an open offer to President's existing shareholders to raise an additional USD7 million.

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By James Kemp; jameskemp@alliancenews.com; @jamespkemp

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