Vodafone Share News (VOD)

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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Sage Group, up 4.0%. The software and IT services company said it remains on track to meet its financial targets for its current financial year, as revenue rose 6.5% in the first half. It is targeting 6% organic revenue growth and 28% operating margin in the year as a whole. In the half year to end-March, the company posted a pretax profit of GBP172.6 million, up from GBP170.9 million a year before, as revenue rose to GBP699.2 million from GBP656.5 million. Sage proposed an interim dividend of 4.45 pence, up from 4.12 pence a year before.

Imperial Tobacco Group, up 2.4%. The maker of brands including Davidoff, Gauloises and L&B reported lower operating profit for the first half of its financial year as total tobacco volume declined, partly due to reduced sales in Iraq, but its results improved excluding the impact of a stock optimisation programme it undertook last year, partly thanks to price increases and growth for its key brands. It raised its interim dividend to 42.8p, from 38.8p.

GKN, up 1.2%. The aerospace engineer said sales rose 1% in the first quarter of 2015, as a benefit from the strengthening of the US dollar against sterling was largely offset by disposals, and its trading margin was also up thanks to the exchange rate movement boost. It said its main markets performed in line with expectations in the three months to end-March, with its automotive business continuing to outperform, its aerospace unit meeting the company's hopes, while its Land Systems business continued to face challenging agricultural markets in North America.

Legal & General Group, up 1.2%. The life insurance and investments group said its first-quarter cash generation increased, driven by growth in its stock of assets. Legal & General said that net cash generation was GBP326 million in the three months ended March 31, compared with GBP301 million in the corresponding quarter of the prior year. It said its cash generation also was supported by higher dividends from Legal & General America.

HSBC Holdings, up 1.3%. The banking group said it has struck a deal to sell its UK probate services business to Simplify Channel for an undisclosed amount. HSBC will sell the HSBC Trust Co (UK) business, a subsidiary of its HSBC Bank unit, to probate services firm Simplify, with up to 73 employees in the unit to move to Simplify as part of the deal. HSBC expects the deal to complete in the fourth quarter of 2015.

Vodafone Group, up 1.1%. Exane BNP upgraded the mobile communications company to Outperform from Neutral, lifting its price target to 270 pence from 220p. Jefferies also raised Vodafone's price target to 226p from 218, keeping its Hold rating.

Direct Line Insurance Group, up 1.0%. The home and motor insurer said it is in a good position to meet the goals it has set for 2015, even as the insurer reported lower gross written premium for the first quarter. It said gross written premium for its continuing operations fell to GBP746.5 million in the three months ended March 31, compared with GBP753.3 million in the corresponding quarter of the prior year. "We have made a good start to 2015 with a stable trading performance in competitive markets and good momentum on the delivery of our strategic priorities," Chief Executive Paul Geddes said in a statement.
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FTSE 100 LOSERS
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J Sainsbury, down 3.8%. The supermarket chain swung to a pretax loss in the year to March 14, as it joined bigger rival Tesco PLC in reporting huge property writedowns due to its curtailed expansion plans and as it invested in price cuts as the sector continued to respond to the challenge of the German discounters. It reported a pretax loss of GBP72 million for the year ended March 14, compared with a pretax profit of GBP898 million the year before.

CRH, down 1.3%. Shares in the Irish building materials company are down even though it predicted strong growth in operating earnings in the first half of 2015 and further growth in the second half, even when its expected acquisition of business from Lafarge and Holcim are excluded, as it got off to a "satisfactory" start to the year.
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FTSE 250 WINNERS
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Supergroup, up 7.4%. The retailer reported growth in sales for the fourth quarter of its financial year and in the full year as a whole and said it expects its underlying profit for the year to meet previous guidance. It reported revenue for the 15 weeks to April 25 of GBP134.8 million, up from GBP113.8 million in the same period the year before, while revenue for the full financial year grew 12.5% to GBP484.7 million from GBP430.9 million.

JD Wetherspoon, up 4.2%. The pub chain said its like-for like sales in the 13 weeks to April 26 increased by 1.7%, while total sales were up by 5.8%, but its operating margin fell to 7.5%, compared with 8.0% in the corresponding period of the prior year. It expects its operating margin to be in the region of 7.3% to 7.7% for the full-year ending in July. Investec says the like-for-like sales growth and operating margin beat its expectations.

James Fisher & Sons, up 1.5%. The maritime engineering company said it has struck a deal to acquire Cornwall-based Mojo Maritime for GBP3.2 million in cash initially, with a further GBP0.3 million due based on Mojo Maritime meeting earnings targets. Mojo Maritime is a Falmouth-based company which provides consultancy and design services to the offshore renewable energy sector.
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FTSE 250 LOSERS
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Greene King, down 2.7%. N+1 Singer downgraded the pub operator price target to Hold from Buy, cutting its price target to 798p from 848p.
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AIM ALL-SHARE WINNERS
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Xrtract Resources, up 16%. The energy holding company said concentrate gold grades at the Chepica mine in Chile have been increased ten-fold following the start of surface mining at the site, with revenue set to increase significantly in May thanks to sales of the concentrate. It said gold concentrate grades at the site have been increased to more than 400 grams per tonne, from 40 grams per tonne previously, with copper and silver values both remaining stable.

By Daniel Ruiz; danielruiz@alliancenews.com

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