LONDON (Alliance News) - Stocks in London opened higher Monday morning, with Randgold Resources one of the top gainers in the FTSE 100 after saying 2015 was "one of the best years in the company's history" despite experiencing a large drop in profit as it continued to battle the downturn in the market.
The gold miner, which traded up 2.9%, reported a USD260.8 million pretax profit in 2015, falling from USD353.0 million a year earlier, as revenue experienced slipped slightly USD1.00 billion from USD1.08 billion - but the miner is expecting a ramp up in production and lower cash costs during 2016.
Production and costs in the year were in line with expectations, as Randgold set a new production record of 1.2 million ounces, up 6% from 2014, whilst cash costs were down 3% year-on-year to USD679 per ounce. Sales were broadly in line with production.
However, gold prices were also much lower in 2015, averaging USD1,152 per ounce compared to USD1,264 per ounce in 2014.
Despite the fall in profit, Randgold upped its dividend for 2015 by 10% to 66.0 cents per share from 60.0 cents per share last year.
The strong results helped to push up the share price of fellow blue-chip gold miner Fresnillo, which traded up 1.8%.
The FTSE 100 traded up 0.4% at 5,872.23, the FTSE 250 was flat at 16,003.38 and the AIM All-Share was down 0.1% at 689.06.
In Europe, the French CAC 40 was down 0.2% and the German DAX 30 traded flat.
In Asia, the Nikkei 225 index in Tokyo ended up 1.1%. In China, the Shanghai stock market is closed for the entire week to celebrate Chinese New Year, while the Hong Kong market is closed until Thursday.
Elsewhere in London, broker changes were moving stocks in the FTSE 250. Poundland Group traded up 4.3%, making it the best performer in the FSTE 250. The discount retailer was upgraded by Deutsche Bank to Buy from Hold.
The bank also upgraded Carpetright, which was still untraded just after the open, up to Buy from Hold, and downgraded WH Smith, down 1.6%, to Hold from Buy.
John Wood Group, down 2.9%, and Amec Foster Wheeler, down 2.1%, were both amongst the worst mid-cap performers after the oil services companies were downgraded by Goldman Sachs and Nomura. Goldman Sachs added John Wood to its 'Conviction Sell List', while Nomura cut Amec to Neutral from Buy.
Imagination Technologies Group was the biggest faller in the FTSE All-Share, down 8.0%, after it detailed restructuring plans, including the sale of its consumer electronics business Pure, as it said Chief Executive Hossein Yassaie has stepped down with immediate effect.
Additionally, the chip designer said that it now expects to report a loss before interest and tax for its full year to end-April, as conditions in the semiconductor sector have "not improved" since its last update in December.
The company said that since it reported its first-half results in December, market conditions have not improved, and the slowdown in the semiconductor sector has continued, compounded by uncertainty over future trading prospects in China.
The downbeat tone of Imagination Technology's results weighted on larger-cap peer ARM Holdings, which was the worst performer in the FTSE 100, down 2.4%,.
Still ahead in the economic calendar, the eurozone Sentix Investor Confidence survey is at 0930 GMT and US labor market conditions index is at 1500 GMT.
By Neil Thakrar; neilthakrar@alliancenews.com; @NeilThakrar1
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Wood Group (J) (WG.)
Wh Smith (SMWH)
Fresnillo (FRES)