WPP Share News (WPP)

LONDON (Alliance News) - The following stocks are the leading risers and fallers within the main London indices on Friday.
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FTSE 100 - WINNERS
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easyJet, 3.6%. The budget carrier reported year-on-year growth in passenger numbers in February, but a slight slip in its load factor. The low-cost airline said its passenger numbers increased by 9.8% in February to 4.9 million from 4.5 million, but its load factor decreased by 0.4 percentage point to 90.5% from 90.9%.

Gold miners Randgold Resources, up 3.2%, and Fresnillo, up 1.6%. Gold rallied Friday to USD1,272.60 per ounce from USD1,257.30 at the London equities close Thursday.
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FTSE 100 - LOSERS
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Schroders, down 3.4%. Citigroup cut the asset manager to Neutral from Buy, following its 2015 results and announcement Thursday that Michael Dobson will move to chairman from chief executive, something discouraged by the UK Corporate Governance Code

WPP Group, down 1.9%. The advertising and marketing group said its pretax profit rose in 2015 despite a currency drag on its revenue, but it said that while 2016 had started well, the general sense of optimism in the industry for the coming year looks misplaced. Pretax profit for the year to the end of December was GBP1.49 billion, up 2.8% year-on-year from GBP1.45 billion. Pretax profit would have increased 7.3% in constant currencies. WPP said 2016 started well, with like-for-like revenue growth of 4.2%, ahead of budget. However, the group said the general optimism in the advertising industry for 2016 does appear misplaced, with general client behaviour not reflecting this amid "tepid" global GDP growth, weak inflation and a consequent lack of pricing power. Investec said WPP figures "look fine". However, the broker said it kept its Hold stance on the company "given the macro uncertainty".

London Stock Exchange Group, down 1.2%. The LSE reported higher annual operating profit, as merger talks with Deutsche Boerse continue. Adjusted operating profit rose by 27% to GBP709.6 million in 2015, as total revenue increased by 72% to GBP2.38 billion. Adjusted basic earnings per share from continuing operations increased to 103.4 pence in 2015 from 100.5p in 2014, which was about 3.0% below Numis's forecast of 107.1p. However, adjusted earnings per share including Russell Investment Management, which was sold in the second half of 2015, rose by 25% to 129.4p, versus Numis's forecast of 129.0p and consensus expectations of 124.5p. "We continue to favour LSE’s strong market position, favourable growth drivers and diversified revenue base, but until we gain further details on how a deal could be structured, we maintain our Hold recommendation due to concerns a deal may yet fall through." Numis said.
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FTSE 250 - WINNERS
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Kennedy Wilson Europe Real Estate, up 3.4%. The Europe-focused property investor said it has been notified by the European Public Real Estate Association that it will be added to the FTSE EPRA/NAREIT Global Real Estate Index Series as of March 21. This comes after it "successfully satisfied the required eligibility criteria" during the Index's March 2016 Quarterly Review. "Our inclusion in the EPRA index is further recognition of the progress made by the company and will benefit all shareholders," Chief Executive Mary Ricks said.
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FTSE 250 - LOSERS
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Cineworld Group, down 5.0%. The multiplex chain was initiated at Sell by Swiss bank UBS. "We are cautious on both the remaining roll-out potential and the structural growth opportunity in Cineworld," UBS analyst Heidi Richardson said.

Cobham, down 1.9%. JPMorgan cut the aerospace group to Neutral from Overweight.

William Hill, down 1.6%. UBS double downgraded the bookmaker to Sell from Buy.
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MAIN MARKET AND AIM - WINNERS
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Amur Minerals, up 25%. The miner said it has signed a non-binding heads of agreement with the Russian government's Far East & Baikal Region Development Fund. The agreement allows the pair to collaborate on funding of the flagship Kun-Manie nickel sulphide project located in the far east of Russia, expanding the funding scope from Amur's existing mandate for fundraising from potential partners in Russia, China and India.

Solgold, up 11%. The miner said that Hole 16 at its Cascabel project in Ecuador continues to intersect intense copper and gold mineralisation to a current depth of 1,217 metres. The company said a Hole 16 assay received from 516 metres to 764 metres showed 216 metres at 0.94 % copper and 1.26 grams per tonne of gold from 548 metres open at depth. That included 60 metres at 2.01% copper and 3.41 grams per tonne of gold from 704 metres.
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MAIN MARKET AND AIM - LOSERS
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SeaEnergy, down 56%. The offshore energy services company said it is in discussions to sell its R2S Visual Asset Management business, as its cash position is becoming constrained by the impact on SeaEnergy of the decline in the oil and gas industry. The offshore energy services business said it was looking into a disposal of its software business and, if this does not go ahead, it will need additional funding to be able to continue to trade beyond May. It is currently generating a loss.

LGO Energy, down 15%. The oil and gas company said it has reached an agreement with lender BNP Paribas on a revision of its schedule of repayments, and its March payment will now be reduced to USD100,000. LGO said, after this, the remaining outstanding balance will be recovered over the following 18 months. In November, LGO Energy said its pre-paid swap agreement with BNP Paribas had been terminated at a value of USD10.8 million, including all future interest and fees. At the time, LGO Energy entered into a schedule of repayments with BNP Paribas of a reduced rate of USD75,000 a month until the end of February, but this had been set to rise to higher than the new agreed rate.
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By Arvind Bhunjun; arvindbhunjun@alliancenews.com; @ArvindBhunjun

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