UK WINNERS & LOSERS: AstraZeneca Leads Risers; BG Group Falls

LONDON (Alliance News) - The following stocks are the leading risers and fallers within the main London indices midday Monday.
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FTSE 100 - WINNERS
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AstraZeneca, up 15%. US drugs giant Pfizer Inc has confirmed that it has now twice approached British peer AstraZeneca with a takeover proposal, and is considering its options after being rebuffed both times. Pfizer said it first approached AstraZeneca with a cash and shares offer that valued the British company's shares at GBP46.61, or USD76.62, each on January 5. It said discussions about the approach were limited and ended on January 14. The US company then contacted AstraZeneca again on Saturday in the hope the sides could come up with a takeover proposal that both companies would put to their shareholders, but AstraZeneca again declined to engage with Pfizer, the US company said. Also lifting sentiment, Societe Generale has raised AstraZeneca to Hold from Sell, lifting its price target by 33% to 4,661.00 pence from 3,126.00p.

Shire, up 1.5%, Smith & Nephew, up 0.8%, and GlaxoSmithKline, up 0.7%. The pharmaceutical and health care equipment companies are being boosted by the ongoing merger and acquisition speculation surrounding AstraZeneca. Furthermore, Glaxo said that, in conjunction with the Medicines for Malaria Venture, it will be beginning a phase III programme to evaluate tafenoquine for the treatment and relapse prevention of Plasmodium vivax malaria.
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FTSE 100 - LOSERS
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BG Group, down 1.7%. The major oil and gas company said its chief executive has resigned with immediate effect and has warned that operations in Egypt remains challenging. The company said CEO Chris Finalyson had stepped down for personal reasons, and that Non-Executive Chairman Andrew Gould has appointed as interim executive chairman until a replacement has been found. In a separate note, ahead of its first quarter results on Thursday, BG said that Egypt remains challenging with volumes in the first quarter declining 35% from from the fourth quarter of 2013 to 66 thousand barrels of oil equivalent per day. The firm said its 2014 production guidance remains unchanged at 590 to 630 kboed, although production is now expected to be at the lower end of that range given the issues in Egypt. It also warned that the deterioration in Egypt will similarly impact 2015 production.

Reckitt Benckiser Group, down 1.3%. US pharmaceutical company Merck & Co. Inc is in final discussions to sell its consumer healthcare unit, according to media reports. UK-based consumer goods firm Reckitt and German conglomerate Bayer AG each offered approximately USD14 billion for the unit, the reports said. Swiss drug giant Novartis AG and the US consumer goods company Procter & Gamble Co are said to have interest as well.
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FTSE 250 - WINNERS
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Al Noor Hospitals Group, up 1.5%. The Abu Dhabi private healthcare provider expressed confidence in meeting expectations for the full year 2014, as it saw revenue rise in the first quarter to end-March. It posted revenue of USD111.6 million in the quarter, up from USD89.5 million in the previous year. The company said it had a headcount of 502 revenue-generating physicians at the end of the quarter, up from 470 at the end of 2013, boosted by four additions from its acquisition of the Gulf International Cancer Center. It said it remained confident of meeting its goal to hire a total of 70 to 80 additional physicians during 2014.

Hikma Pharmaceuticals, up 1.2%. Hikma is another pharmaceutical company benefiting from the merger and acquisition speculation and activity in the pharma sector.

Drax Group, up 1%. The electrical power generation company share's have risen on the back of some positive broker rating revisions. Citigroup has upgraded the group to Buy from Neutral, with a slightly reduced price target of 750.00 pence, down from 800.00p, while Societe Generale has lifted it to Hold from Sell, with a price target of 680.00p, down from 710.00p.
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FTSE 250 - LOSERS
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Fidessa Group, down 2.8%. The financial trading systems company is among the heaviest fallers in the mid-cap index despite saying that it expects to report modest growth in constant currency terms in 2014, as the recovery in its markets is continuing. Numis Securities believes that adverse currency movements will pull this back to a "flat overall performance", but still thinks that there is still good upside potential in the shares. However, in a statement, the company warned that the recovery remains uneven and many of its customers are still not able to make investment decisions with confidence. It also expects to book some of the customer attrition it saw in 2013, this year, due to its recurring revenue model. However, it is seeing an improvement overall.

Ophir Energy, down 1.5%, and Premier Oil, down 1.4%. The companies' shares are lower after Ophir said that its proposals to merge businesses with Premier Oil had been rejected and said that it is not longer considering making an offer for Premier Oil. Meanwhile, Premier Oil said it has discovered oil offshore Indonesia at Kuda Laut in the Tuna Block, as well as a gas discovery in the Kadanwari block onshore Pakistan.
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AIM ALL-SHARE - WINNERS
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GW Pharmaceuticals, up 13%. The group said that its compound Sativex had been granted a Fast Track designation by the US Food and Drug Administration, for the treatment of pain in patients with advanced cancer. The treatment is for patients whose pain is not adequately handled by therapy with opioids, such as morphine. It is currently in Phase 3 clinical trials. The designation is intended to speed up the drug's development, review and potential approval.

TXO, up 11%. The investment company focused on oil waste handling said it hopes to become cash flow positive in 2014, as it announced that one of its investments had won a significant new contract. It said that a subsidiary of The Grand Bahama Group Limited, in which TXO has a 35.67% stake, has entered into a significant commercial contract to clean up used oils from three storage ponds at an oil storage and transhipment terminal in the Bahamas. The Grand Bahama Group unit will be using technology and valves provided by TXO's other two investments. TXO currently has stakes in The Grand Bahama Group, Oil Recovery Services and Oil Tech Royalties Inc. TXO expects that GBG, ORS and OTR will generate revenue and profit this year, and therefore hopes that it will become cash flow positive during 2014.

SimiGon, up 9.2%. The simulation and training technology company reported strong growth in revenue and profits in 2013, driven by big new contracts and expansion into new geographies, and a maiden dividend. It posted a net profit of USD896,000 for the year, up from USD708,000 in 2012, as revenues rose to USD8.2 million, from USD6.8 million. It said it would pay its first dividend, of 0.543 cents a share, for 2013.

Tristel, up 9.1%. The manufacturer of infection prevention, contamination control and hygiene products said it has seen a strong start to the second half of the year across the business and is now confident that its pretax profit for the year will beat current market expectations. It said that positive trading momentum has continued throughout the year, which it expects to continue, and as a result is now confident of reporting a pretax profit for the year ending June 30, of no less than GBP1.5 million. This compares with an adjusted pretax profit of GBP0.4 million the prior year, adjusted for non-recurring items of GBP2.2 million.

Bullabulling Gold, up 9.1%. The Australia-focused gold mining company said it has expanded its metallurgical test-work programme to evaluate new opportunities in order to enhance gold recovery and reduce its operating costs at the Bullabulling Gold Project, as further testwork proves positive.

Sound Oil, up 8.1%. The oil and gas company has signed non-binding heads of terms with Niche Group, whereby Niche will acquire from Sound a 27.5% interest in a gas-prone permit area in Po Valley, northern Italy. Sound Oil said that under the terms of the deal investment firm Niche will acquire the stake in its onshore Carita licence in exchange for paying all the costs of a second well to address the southern part of the structure, scheduled for later this year. The second well is expected to cost EUR6 million, including testing, completion and applicable taxes. Sound Oil will continue to hold a 72.5% stake in the licence following the farm-out.

Crawshaw Group, up 7.4%. The meat retailer reported strong growth in profits and revenue in its last financial year, as it previously flagged, and also said its like-for-like sales growth had accelerated in the first 12 weeks of the current year. It posted a pretax profit of GBP984,789 for the 12 months to January 31, up from GBP250,864 a year earlier as revenue grew to GBP21.0 million, from GBP18.8 million. Strong trading has continued into the new year. The company said like-for-like sales were up 19% in the first 12 weeks of the current financial year, compared with the 11% growth it recorded for the whole of fiscal 2014 and the 1% growth in the first 12 weeks of that year. Its gross margin also remains strong, it added. Furthermore, Crawshaw opened a new store in Sheffield in March, taking the total number of stores to 21, with a further two stores expected this year.
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AIM ALL-SHARE - LOSERS
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Sierra Rutile, off 14%. The titanium feedstock minerals has announced the cessation of discussions with parties potentially interested in making an offer for the company. The company had said last November that it had entered talks with parties that could lead to a takeover offer being made, but it has now decided that none of the proposals that were made were high enough.
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By James Kemp; jameskemp@alliancenews.com; @jamespkemp

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