Wishbone Share News (WSBN)

LONDON (Alliance News) - The following stocks are the leading risers and fallers within the main London indices on Monday.----------FTSE 100 - WINNERS----------Aviva, up 2.1%, RSA Insurance, up 1.0%. German insurance giant Allianz is on the hunt for a large scale acquisition, with the large cap insurers identified as possible targets, The Sunday Times reported. According to the newspaper, Allianz Chief Executive Officer Oliver Bate is looking to deploy some of Allianz's growing cash pile having missed out on Bermudan reinsurer XL Group in March. ----------Associated British Foods, up 1.0%. The Primark clothing chain owner was raised to Outperform from Sector Perform by RBC Capital. ----------Rio Tinto, up 0.9%. The Anglo-Australian miner said it has made progress in its Pilbara operations, with the launching of a new drilling programme for the year. This week, Rio Tinto is conducting an investor site visit to Pilbara in north west Australia. The operations there consist of 16 iron ore mines and a 1,700 kilometre rail network. Speaking to investors and analysts in Perth ahead of the site visit, Iron Ore division Chief Executive Chris Salisbury said Rio Tinto expects rail and mine capacity to be in line with nameplate port capacity by the end of 2019, amid plans to optimise Pilbara's current rail system. Rio Tinto has scheduled a new drilling programme for 2018, with 700 kilometres of drilling planning on hubs near existing mines an exploration on new leases.----------FTSE 250 - WINNERS----------Cobham, up 6.1%. Morgan Stanley raised the defence contractor to Overweight from Equal Weight. ----------Indivior, up 5.3%. The pharmaceutical group said it received a temporary restraining order from the US New Jersey District Court for rival Dr Reddy's Laboratories to cease the launch activities of a generic alternative to Indivior's opioid-addiction drug. The restraining order will remain in place pending a hearing on a preliminary injunction motion filed by Indivior on Friday, due to unresolved patent litigation with Dr Reddy's. Last week, the US Food & Drug Administration approved a version of Suboxone Film produced by Dr Reddy's, which could lead to a fall of Indivior's sales. Suboxone Film sales account for around 80% of Indivior's revenue. On Friday, Indivior said it believed its Suboxone film medication could see a "rapid and material loss of market share" following the FDA decision. Indivior shares closed down 27% on Friday. ----------FTSE 250 - LOSERS----------Virgin Money down 2.1% at 347.40 pence. Midcap lender CYBG said it has reached an agreement with Virgin Money for an all-share takeover, which values the latter at GBP1.70 billion. The owner of Clydesdale & Yorskhire Bank said the merger with its fellow mid-cap lender will see shareholders receive 1.2125 new CYBG shares for each Virgin share, valuing each Virgin Money share at 371 pence. The offer values all of Virgin Money at GBP1.70 billion, giving the combined firm a value of about GBP4.40 billion. The offer price represents a 19% premium to the closing price of 312p per Virgin Money share on May 4, the last business day prior to the start of the CYBG offer. Virgin shares closed at 355p on Friday. "A muted reaction to the merger reflected disappointment that it wasn't sweetened by any cash (remember, cash is king in M&A), as well as the limited improvement on the original offer," said Accendo Markets analyst Artjom Hatsaturjants. CYBG was down 1.2%. ----------OTHER MAIN MARKET AND AIM - WINNERS----------Venture Life, up 8.8%. The healthcare products maker said it will see increased distribution of its UltraDEX bad breath elimination product range within UK pharmacy chain Boots UK. The listing of UltraDEX products with Boots in the UK will rise by 46% from July onwards and Boots will also launch the newly developed products UltraDEX One GO and UltraDEX Fresh Breath Essential Kit. UltraDEX One GO delivers mouthwash in the form of single use sachets and the Fresh breath Essential Kit consists of four different UltraDEX products in one package. As a result of the increased distribution, there will be 3,686 points of distribution for UltraDEX in Boots stores starting from July.----------OTHER MAIN MARKET AND AIM - LOSERS----------Wishbone Gold, down 11%. The gold miner said its 2017 loss narrowed marginally despite revenue almost doubling as African operations continue to expand. In 2017, pretax loss narrowed to USD913,037 from USD958,120 the year prior. This was after sales doubled to USD8.2 million from USD4.3 million the year before. Gross profit increased to USD83,884 from USD20,426 the year before. Profit performance was helped by a fall in administrative expenses to USD884,602 from USD944,865 the year prior. This was offset, however, by USD31,730 in foreign exchange losses in 2017 from none prior and a more than doubling of finance costs to USD79,001 from USD33,311 the year before.----------