WHE.L Share News (WHE)

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
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ITV, up 2.7%. ITV's shares have spent June trading in tight ranges, and Liberum Capital believes that this should be used as a "buying opportunity". "While we like it for long-term, fundamental reasons, shorter-term advertising trends also provide a catalyst," says Liberum analyst Ian Whittaker. "In this context, the suggestions that advertising momentum is improving around the World Cup should help," he says.

AstraZeneca, up 1.1%. The pharmaceutical company said that it had signed a global licence agreement with AIM-listed biotechnology company Synairgen PLC for its SNG001 compound for the treatment of infections that exacerbate asthma. Under the terms of the deal, AstraZeneca will pay Synairgen an up-front free of USD7.25 million, with potential milestone payments of up to USD225 million possible. It will pay tiered royalties ranging from single-digits up to mid-teens on commercial sales of the product. AstraZeneca will also take up all future development costs of the product, and will begin a Phase IIa study of SNG001 in early 2015.

Imperial Tobacco Group. up 0.6%. The company is considering a deal to buy assets that are likely to be sold by US tobacco companies Reynolds American Inc and Lorillard Inc if they go ahead with a proposed merger, Reuters has reported Thursday, citing people familiar with the matter. The two US tobacco companies are in advanced talks about a deal and have discussed selling some brands to address antitrust concerns, the report said. The assets that potentially will be sold are expected to be significant, and the two companies might line up a buyer before finalising the merger.
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FTSE 100 - LOSERS
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Anglo American, down 3.3%, Rio Tinto, down 3%, BHP Billiton, down 1.5%, and Glencore, down 1.3%. Morgan Stanley’s metals and minerals commodity economist Joel Crane reduced his iron ore price assumptions for 2014-19. The long-term price for 2020 and beyond remains unchanged at USD99 per metric ton in real terms. Crane says the cuts reflect a faster and more pronounced mean reversion in the iron ore price in reaction to accelerating supply growth than he had anticipated. Morgan Stanley has downgraded Anglo American to Underweight from Equal Weight, lowering its price target to 1,360.00 pence from 1,530.00p. It has lowered BHP Billiton's price target to 2,200.00 pence from 2,140.00p, and Rio Tinto's 3,430.00 pence from 3,820.00p. Additionally, IG analyst David Madden says the World Bank's decision to cut its 2014 global growth target on Tuesday "has been a cue to sell FTSE mining stocks once again".
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FTSE 250 - WINNERS
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Premier Farnell, up 3.2%. The technology-products distributor's shares have jumped after the company said it will restructure its business for an estimated cost of GBP8 million to secure yearly cost savings of GBP6 million to GBP8 million. The company said the cost benefits will be minimal in the current financial year, with the full benefit anticipated for the 2016 financial year. The company also said it was continuing to trade in line with its forecast at the time of its interim management statement in May.

Halma, up 2.8%. The technology company upped its total dividend for the year to end-March and expressed confidence for further growth in the year ahead, as it saw pretax profit rise, boosted by strong revenue growth in the US, UK and mainland Europe. Halma posted a pretax profit of GBP138.7 million, up 15% from GBP120.1 million, as it saw revenue rise 9.3% to GBP676.5 million from GBP619.2 million. It proposed a total dividend of 11.17 pence, up 7.1% from 10.43p in the previous year.

Galliford Try, up 1.7%. Construction companies Balfour Beatty, Carillion, and Galliford Try said they have been selected as preferred bidders to finance, design build and operate the GBP745 million Aberdeen Western Peripheral Route/Balmedie to Tipperty road project. The three companies, which have formed a consortium called Connect Roads, will deliver the project for Transport Scotland in partnership with Aberdeen City and Aberdeenshire Councils. Balfour Beatty, Carillion and Galliford Try will invest up to GBP20 million each in the project and will split the construction revenue equally. Following the completion of construction in 2018, the route will be managed and maintained by Connect Roads for 30 years. Also in the FTSE 250, Balfour Beatty's shares are quoted up 0.9%, while Carillion's are down 0.2%.
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FTSE 250 - LOSERS
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Afren, down 2%. The oil and gas explorer has operations in the Kurdish-run provinces of Iraq, from where news flow has been unhelpful in recent days. The latest updates from state-run media in Iraq is that the army has retaken full control of the central city of Tikrit, a day after militant jihadists seized it.

WS Atkins, down 1.7%. The engineering and consulting company is a big faller despite reporting an increase in profit and revenue for its recent full year, following a strong performance in Asia Pacific and Europe. It posted pretax profit of GBP114.2 million for the year ended to end-March, up 17% from GBP98.0 million a year earlier, as revenue crept up to GBP1.75 billion from GBP1.71 billion a year earlier. The results were slightly ahead of expectations, says Liberum Capital analyst Joe Brent, who sees "no obvious reason" for the share price movement.
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AIM ALL-SHARE - WINNERS
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Tissue Regenix Group, up 24%. The company has announced the launch of its DermaPure wound-healing product in the US, and said it has expanded its distribution network in the US. The company's US partner, Community Tissue Services, will begin shipping the skin substitute to customers next week. Separately, Tissue Regenix has signed an exclusive government-supplier partnership with US-based healthcare provider TASSMA LLC for the distribution of DermaPure.

Proxama, up 9.9%. The mobile commerce, loyalty and payment services provider said it has partnered with PrePay Solutions to provide mobile contactless payment services to PrePay's customer base. It said the two companies are collaborating to enable PrePay Solutions' customers to make contactless payments via their mobile device. PrePay Solutions is a prepaid and technology services provider, jointly owned by Edenred SA and MasterCard Inc. Proxama said the partnership opens up new opportunities to capitalise on their existing customer bases.

Image Scan Holdings, up 9.1%. The x-ray screening systems company posted a narrowed pretax loss in the half year to end-March, as revenue was boosted by reduced overheads and strong sales of its security products. It posted a pretax loss of GBP59,000, narrowed from a GBP399,000 in the previous year, as it saw revenue rise to GBP1.7 million from GBP1.1 million, driven by strong sales of its security products. Following restructuring in May 2013, the company cut its overheads to GBP576,000 from GBP740,000, helping to boost profit. Image Scan Holdings said it had total confirmed orders to date of GBP2.3 million, having secured new orders of GBP1.1 million in the first half.

Hummingbird Resources, up 8.1%. The gold and silver mining company said it has entered into a deal with Gold Fields Ltd to acquire all of Gold Fields' mining and exploration interests in Mali for USD20 million in shares. It said the conditional sale and purchase agreement would give it the Yanfolila Project in Mali, which has a current mineral inventory of 1.8 million ounces of gold at 2.8 grams per tonne of gold. In return, the company said it would provide Gold Fields with USD20 million, through a share issuance at 56 pence per share, which would make Gold Fields its largest shareholder with 26.3% of the enlarged share capital of Hummingbird.
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AIM ALL-SHARE - LOSERS
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Max Petroleum, off 24%. The oil and gas company said its proved and probable reserves, which include new drilling results from 35 wells, have fallen significantly when compared to the previous year. It said the competent persons report estimated that the group had 9.5 million barrels of oil equivalent in proved and probable reserves with a post-tax net present value - discounted at 10% - of USD184 million at end-March. The number represents a decrease of 14% from 10.9 million barrels of oil equivalent at a net present value of USD184 million at the same point a year ago. However, the company said the number was an increase of 11% from 8.6 million barrels of oil equivalent with a net present value of USD140 million that was recorded on September 30, 2013.

Surface Transforms, down 21%. The company said that, whilst revenue in the full year that ended May 31 will be ahead of the previous year, it will miss market expectations and will widen its expected pretax loss for the year to end-May. The company said it expects to post revenue of GBP1.3 million, up 18% on the previous year. It blamed the shortfall in revenue on the under-performance of the company's original distributors Alcon Inc and Movit Products Ltd. However, it said it has since modified its sales distribution policy, recruited a European sales manager and appointed complementary distributors. Whilst this has helped to generate new sales, it is at a "slower rate" than the company originally expected. It will continue to appoint further distributors and pursue sales opportunities, particularly in Germany.

Wildhorse Energy, down 14%. The underground coal gasification and uranium development company said it will raise up to AUD1.4 million before costs in a rights issue, using the money to develop existing products and identify and evaluate new uranium and other resource projects. It said it is offering shareholders one share for every two shares that they currently hold, at AUD0.007 a share, meaning it could issue up to about 205 million new shares. The offer is non-renounceable, meaning the rights cannot be transferred or sold.
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By James Kemp; jameskemp@alliancenews.com; @jamespkemp

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