WPP Share News (WPP)

LONDON (Alliance News) - The following stocks are amongst the biggest risers and fallers within the main London indices midday Thursday.
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FTSE 100 WINNERS
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United Utilities Group, up 2.1% at 993.62 pence, and Severn Trent, up 1.3% at 2,178p. Citigroup raised its price target for both water companies, lifting United Utilities price target to 950 pence from 900p, retaining its Neutral stance, and also lifting Severn Trent's to 2,070p from 1,850p, keeping a Neutral recommendation.

Tesco, up 1.1%. The supermarket giant has taken back some of the 5.2% drop it suffered on Wednesday when it said it swung to a big loss in its last financial year, after booking a staggering GBP7.0 billion of impairments, writedowns and restructuring charges, as it tried to put a difficult year behind it and get back on track in a revamp that new Chief Executive Dave Lewis admitted is going to take a long time.
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FTSE 100 LOSERS
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Glencore, down 3.3%, Old Mutual, down 3.3% and Legal & General Group, down 3.6%. The three stocks are down after going ex-dividend, meaning new buyers no longer qualify for the latest dividend payouts.

WPP, down 1.1%. The buying-media giant maintained its guidance for the full year as the stronger dollar helped boost revenues in its first quarter, although it said growth slowed after January, and it highlighted continued caution amongst its clients. WPP said its revenue rose 8.3% in sterling in the quarter, boosted by the weakness of sterling against the US dollar although this was partly offset by the strength of sterling against the euro, and at constant currency revenue growth was 7.4%.
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FTSE 250 WINNERS
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Pace, up 33%. The set-top TV box maker said it had made a good start to its new financial year, in line with its expectations, following its agreement late Wednesday to be acquired by US broadband media technology company Arris Group for GBP1.4 billion in cash and shares. Under the terms of the deal, shareholders of Pace will receive GBP1.325 in cash and 0.1455 of a Arris share for each Pace share, making a total consideration of GBP4.265 per share, a 28% premium to Pace's closing price on Tuesday.

Premier Farnell, up 4.0% at 193.9p. Credit Suisse upgraded the electronics components distributor to Outperform from Neutral, lifting its price target to 210p from 160p.
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FTSE 250 LOSERS
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Senior, down 5.9%. The technology components and systems manufacturer's shares are down even though it said trading in the year to date has been broadly in line with its expectations and it is on track to hit full-year profit estimates as some short-term challenges were offset by beneficial foreign exchange movements.

William Hill, down 3.6%. The bookmaker reported a drop in operating profit in the first quarter of 2015 during what the company said has been a slow start to the year, following its largest-ever loss-making week in sports betting in January. It reported a 19% decline in operating profit to GBP16 million in the quarter ended March 31, which it said was hit by a GBP20 million cost from the point of consumption tax and an increased rate of Machines Games Duty.
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AIM ALL-SHARE WINNERS
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Trakm8 Holdings, up 23%. The telematics and data provider said it expects its revenue for the recently-ended financial year to nearly double and said its annualised recurring revenue also surged higher, and it also expects its results for the current financial year to be ahead of its expectations.

Urals Energy Public Company, up 20%. The Russia-focused oil and gas explorer released a statement prior to the company's extraordinary general meeting claiming the company is currently undervalued. "The board of Urals Energy believes that the company's current share price range does not fairly represent the value of the company," said the company in a statement. It believes it warrants a higher value after resolving litigation issues in Russia earlier this month. Urals is debt free, and said it continues to consider a number of potential acquisition opportunities.

Xeros Technology Group, up 12%. The polymer bead cleaning system developer said it signed up 61 new forward channel partners at its Clean Show 2015 event in Atlanta, part of its effort to build a sales and bead servicing network across the US. The addition of the new partners will back Xeros' plans to commercialize its commercial laundry products in the North American market, the company said.
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AIM ALL-SHARE LOSERS
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Trap Oil Group, down 48%. The UK-focused oil and gas company's shares fell after it said it risks becoming insolvent if it does not secure further funding, as its sole producing asset is currently loss-making and eating away at the company's cash balance. Its revenue plummeted in 2014 and its loss substantially widened due to numerous problems with the Athena field throughout the year.

By Daniel Ruiz; danielruiz@alliancenews.com

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