Versarien Share News (VRS)

LONDON (Alliance News) - The following stocks are the leading risers and fallers within the main London indices on Tuesday.
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FTSE 100 - WINNERS
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Admiral, up 2.6%, RSA Insurance, up 1%. A report from roadside assistance company AA found car and home insurance premiums are set to rise due to an upcoming increase in the UK's insurance premium tax. AA said it thinks premiums may rise due to the decision by the UK government to increase the standard rate of insurance premium tax to 9.5% from 6%.

Fresnillo, up 2.5%, Antofagasta, up 1.1%, Randgold Resources, up 1.1%. Miners are trading higher as the gold price recovers some of the decline seen on Monday and over the weekend, when it was driven lower by heightened expectations for an interest rate hike in the US and UK and by the disclosure of lower-than-expected gold reserves held by China.

SABMiller, up 0.8%. The brewing and drinks company has been upgraded to Buy from Neutral by Nomura and has had its target price raised to 4,000 pence from 3,000 pence by the Japanese bank. Nomura thinks the new management team coming in at the company will drive its top-line growth and it expects margins to improve.
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FTSE 100 - LOSERS
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Royal Mail, down 0.3%. The postal service operator said its group revenue was flat in the first quarter of its current financial year, with a good performance in its parcels and logistics businesses but weaker revenue from its letters business. Royal Mail said its outlook remains unchanged for the full year and said its performance will be weighted to the second half, with a dependence on the important Christmas trading period.
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FTSE 250 - WINNERS
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AO World, up 9.4%. The online domestic appliances retailer said it is on track with its long-term strategic process as it continues to build brand awareness and plans to expand its services in Europe. It said that sales continue to "build satisfactorily" in Germany. In the UK, AO World said revenue grew 6.5% in the three months to June 30, with orders up 13.9%, while AO.com experienced revenue growth of 11.2%. It said it had a strong start to trading in July and is encouraged by the indications of growth in housing transactions and disposable income in the broader market.

Croda International, up 3.5%. The specialty chemicals company said its pretax profit rose in the first half of 2015 on the back of better revenue across its operations, prompting it to hike its interim payout. Croda said its pretax profit for the six months to June 30 was GBP135.6 million, up from GBP125.1 million a year earlier. Croda said it will pay an interim dividend of 31.0 pence per share, up from 29.5 pence per share a year earlier.

IP Group, up 1.3%. The intellectual property company said its Oxford Nanopore Technologies portfolio company has raised GBP70 million in a new financing round. IP Group's undiluted stake of 19.9% in Oxford Nanopore is now valued at GBP192.9 million, representing an unrealised fair value gain for IP Group on its investment of GBP50.3 million. IP invested another GBP13.9 million in Oxford Nanopore in the latest funding round.
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FTSE 250 - LOSERS
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IG Group, down 6.4%. The spread-betting and contracts-for-difference company said it is seeking a new chief executive as Tim Howkins is set to retire after nearly nine years in the role and 16 at the group as a whole. IG said Howkins is to step down at its annual meeting of shareholders in October. Peter Hetherington, currently the group's chief operating officer, has put himself forward to replace Howkins and will take the top job on an interim basis until a permanent successor is confirmed. Separately, the group said it made a GBP169.5 million pretax profit in the year ended May 31, compared with GBP194.9 million in the prior year. The company maintained its dividend at 28.15 pence per share.

Victrex, down 2.3%. The specialty chemicals company said its trading in the third quarter was solid, against tough comparables from the year before, as it also said it has struck a deal to buy US-based polymer gears manufacturer Kleiss Gears for USD6 million in cash. The company said its trading in the three months to the end of June was solid, with revenue broadly flat year-on-year at GBP64.5 million, against GBP64.2 million. For the full-year, Victrex said it still expects to meet its expectations, despite challenges from the oil and gas industry, weakness in its Invibio medical business and currency translation issues.

PZ Cussons, down 2%. The personal healthcare products company reported a drop in profit in its recently-ended financial year, although this was in line with its own and market expectations, as it continues to be hit by currency headwinds. The company posted a 32% drop in pretax profit in the year ended May 31 to GBP84.0 million from GBP123.7 million the year before. Revenue slipped to GBP819.1 million from GBP861.4 million. PZ Cussons will pay a total dividend of 8.00 pence, up 3.1% on the 7.76p paid the prior year.

SSP Group, down 1%. The company, which operates concessions at airports and train stations, said revenue fell in the third quarter of its financial year due to the strength of sterling against other European currencies, but trading was consistent with its expectations. SSP said total group revenue fell 0.1% in the period from April 1 to June 30, but would have grown 4.1% and 3.2% on a like-for-like basis had exchange rates remained constant.
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AIM ALL-SHARE - WINNERS
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Versarien, up 13%. The advanced engineering materials company posted a widened pretax loss for its recently ended financial year as higher costs offset strong growth in revenue, but expressed optimism for its current year. The company reported a pretax loss of GBP866,000 for the year to end-March, widened from a pretax loss of GBP653,000 a year before, as a rise in revenue to GBP5.0 million from GBP3.0 million was offset by a rise in operating expenses and exceptional costs of GBP307,000.

ValiRx, up 13%. The life sciences company provided a positive update on the ongoing phase I/II dose escalation clinical trial of its cancer drug VAL201. The company said that over the last month the trial has continued to demonstrate safety and tolerability and no significant adverse effects have been recorded. The next dose escalation has been approved as a result of safety and tolerability data, which ValiRx said "may prove sufficient to show anti-tumour activity."

Amino Technologies, up 7.9%. The company, which provides software and technology for television over the internet applications, said it has agreed to acquire broadcast television and connected home services provider Entone for a total of USD73.0 million, as its pretax profit for its first half doubled from the previous year. For the half year to end-May the company posted a pretax profit of GBP3.6 million, doubled from GBP1.8 million the year before, as revenue rose to GBP17.9 million from GBP16.4 million.
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AIM ALL-SHARE - LOSERS
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Nasstar, down 13%. The cloud computing services company said that while its first half trading in 2015 was in line with its expectations, it now expects to miss its forecasts for the full year due to a series of challenges set to hit the business in the second half. Among those challenges, a key client is consolidated its IT services in the second half and the group is set to lose licensing revenue from another client.
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By Sam Unsted; samunsted@alliancenews.com; @SamUAtAlliance

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