WPP Share News (WPP)

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

Old Mutual, up 0.5%. The group has agreed to sell Skandia Germany and Skandia Austria to a Cinven and Hannover Re acquisition vehicle for EUR220 million in cash, as its wealth division continues to simplify its operations in Europe and focus on core growth markets. The transaction is subject to regulatory approvals and other customary conditions and is expected to complete by the end of the third-quarter of 2014. Proceeds will be retained for general corporate purposes.

Rolls-Royce, up 0.4%. The British engineering group's shares are higher on the news that it has been selected to provide engines for All Nippon Airways. The contract to provide Trent 1000 engines for 25 Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft is worth USD1.1 billion.

WPP, up 0.3%. The media buying giant said it will acquire a majority stake in Indian social media agency Social Wavelength via its wholly-owned operating company JWT. The acquisition is WPP's fourth this week.

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FTSE 100 - LOSERS

Babcock, down 6.1%. Shares in the engineering support services company have fallen after it said it has agreed to buy helicopter firm Avincis Group for GBP920 million from Investindustrial and Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. The company said it will fund the deal with a fully-underwritten GBP1.10 billion rights issue. Shares under the 5 for 13 rights issue are priced at 790 pence, which represents a 42% discount to Wednesday's closing price. Shares in Babcock are currently quoted at 1,308.00 pence.

Tullow Oil, down 3.3%. The oil and gas company has failed to find commercial levels of oil at the Emong-1 exploration well and the Etuko-2 well, both on-shore in Kenya. It said that the Emong-1 exploration well in Block 13T was drilled to a final depth of 1,394 metres to test a structure directly across the main basin bounding fault at the block but encountered poorly developed oil bearing reservoir sands. It also said that Etuko-2 well was drilled to 650 metres and the well flowed water with certain oil shows.

SSE, down 2.4%. Shares in the company are firmly lower following a proposal from the energy regulator that the sector be investigated by the Competition and Markets Authority. Ofgem said growing profits, coupled with price hikes, have intensified public distrust of suppliers and highlight the need for a market investigation "to clear the air", with the investigation expected to reassure consumers and complement Ofgem's reforms for a simpler, clearer and fairer energy market. Centrica's British Gas arm is another target the investigation into the Big Six suppliers, but its shares are only off 0.3%.

Rio Tinto, down 1.8%, Glencore Xstrata, down 1.8%, and Anglo American, down 1.7%. The mining companies, also of which operate mines in Australia, are falling after Glencore said it is planning to suspend operations at its Ravensworth underground coal mine in Australia, due to poor coal prices. A spokesman from Glencore said it was no longer financially viable to operate the mine due to lower coal prices, high production costs, the strength of the Australian dollar, and geological problems in future mining areas.

Royal Bank of Scotland Group, down 1.6%. The bank's shares have fallen sharply after the US Federal Reserve rejected the capital plans of five large banks - including RBS Citizens - following its latest stress test after the UK stock market close on Wednesday. The Fed said that the Royal Bank of Scotland's US unit had significant deficiencies in their capital planning processes, including "inadequate governance and weak internal controls around the processes." The US arm of HSBC Holdings also had its capital plan rejected by the Fed, but is down only 0.7%.

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FTSE 250 - WINNERS

Thomas Cook Group, up 1.7%. The travel operator has reported that its winter trading was satisfactory despite the number of bookings hit by the continued political unrest in Egypt. It also said that, excluding Egypt, it achieved higher average selling prices and bookings, and gross margin were supported by improved yield management and cost efficiencies in the business. Furthermore, customer booking for its Summer 2014 programme have shown an improving trend, with around 50% of holidays already sold.

International Public Partnerships, up 1.1%. The infrastructure investment company's shares have risen despite the firm reporting a fall in pretax profit to GBP56.1 million from GBP68.4 million. Positively, the firm said its net asset value grew 8.6% to GBP935.4 million from GBP861.0 million, while its net asset value per share rose to 123.0 pence from 121.0 pence a year earlier. It also raised its 2013 full-year dividend to 6.15 pence, up from 6.0 pence and said it targeting a minimum target dividend for 2014 of 6.30 pence and 6.45 pence per share in 2015.

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FTSE 250 - LOSERS

Afren, down 3.7%. The company's shares have slumped after it reported that, while revenue grew 5% for the full-year, pretax profit fell sharply due to impairment charges and joint-venture losses. Despite saying that revenue rose to USD1.64 billion in 2013, up from the USD1.57 billion recorded in 2012, pretax profit declined to USD318 million from USD569 million.

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AIM - WINNERS

Mediterranean Oil & Gas, up 31%. The firm has jumped after AIM All-Share-listed Leni Gas & Oil said its fraudulent misrepresentation action against the company has not been upheld. The dispute dates back to July 31, 2012, when Leni Gas & Oil sold 10% of its interest in a Malta prospect license to Mediterranean Gas & Oil. Leni Gas & Oil argues that Mediterranean misled it regarding the potential sale in July 2012.

eServGlobal, up 9.5%. The firm has announced that its fund-transfer service business, HomeServe, with BICS, will connect MoneyGram and BICS to enable fund transfers across the world. The HomeSend International Money Transfer Hub is a remittance tool which enables person-to-person fund transfers and is a strategic business partnership between BICS and eServGlobal. Global money transfer and payment services firm, MoneyGram, has signed a worldwide deal with BICS to connect to the hub, which will allow its customers in more than 200 countries to remit funds to mobile accounts of HomeSend hub members.

WYG, up 8.8%. The firm said it expects its pretax profit for the financial year that ends March 31 to be about 10% above current expectations, as revenues increased slightly but operating margins improved considerably as it won more profitable work. It also said it would resume paying a dividend this year and will provide further details in June.

Powerflute OYJ, up 7.4%. Numis Securities has initiated the company with a Buy recommendation and 37.00 pence price target, saying that the company enjoys a niche business manufacturing SC-fluting paper used in packaging and transportation. It also says that the company's floatation on AIM in 2007 was undertaken so the firm could become an acquisitions vehicle for package companies/assets that are viewed by their owners as non-core.

Eckoh, up 6.7%. The company said its secure payments unit has has won three new payments contract, two of which are with FTSE 100 companies. While Eckoh did not disclose the financial terms of the deals, it said that they are expected to go live in the first half of the new financial year.

Sunrise Resources, up 6.5%. The mining company is higher after announcing that drilling is due to start at its Cue Diamond project in Western Australia. It said it had signed a drill contract for the Cue project and drilling is expected to start or around April 1. The programme will aim to evaluate the diamond content of the Soapy Bore kimberlite, and test other targets including a source for diamondiferous kimberlite float at Target 5.

ReNeuron Group, up 5.4%. The group has received final regulatory and ethical approvals to begin two new clinical trials using its CTXcyro stem cell product. It will begin a Phase II clinical trial of its ReN001 investigational therapy in stroke disability, and a Phase I clinical trial of its ReN009 therapy in critical limb ischaemia, a condition which restricts blood supply to tissues. The regulatory approvals allow the company to deploy the CTXcryo stem cells in clinical development earlier than planned, it said.

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AIM - LOSERS

Strategic Natural Resources, off 45%. The natural resources developer said it has received notice from London Commodity Brokers asking for the company to be wound up. It said lawyers from the London Commodity Brokers filed a winding up petition on Wednesday, claiming an amount of USD1.15 million regarding contractual arrangements with Strategic Natural Resources. Strategic Natural said the contractual arrangements are alleged to have been put in place in the Trasteel off-take agreement announced in April 2011. It said it disputes the claims and has been in discussions with the London Commodity Brokers concerning the amount due and settlement terms.

Photonstar LED Group, down 20%. The group's shares have plummeted despite posing a narrowed pretax loss in 2013 and saying that it had been trading in line with expectations in the first quarter of 2014, ahead of the previous year.

Iofina, down 13%. The iodine producer's shares have dropped after it said it had completed its latest extraction plant, but will delay building any new facilities until it has undertaken a review that will aim to improve construction methods and reduce build costs. It said it has now completed the fifth of its extraction plants based on its wellhead extraction IoSorb technology and the sixth is expected to be completed in the second quarter of this year. However, the sixth plant will be the last to be built until the company has conducted a review.

Xcite Energy, down 12%. The company's shares have fallen significantly despite the firm reporting that it swung to a profit in 2013, stemmed its cash outflows, and will select its preferred partners for its undeveloped oil field in the North Sea this year.

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

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