UK WINNERS AND LOSERS: BT Hit By Cost, Pension Plan Concerns

LONDON (Alliance News) -
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FTSE 100 WINNERS
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Fresnillo, up 4.0%, Randgold Resources, up 2.3%, Anglo American, up 1.8%. The miners' shares have risen on the back of an increase in the price of gold. The precious metal is currently quoted at USD1,263.50 an ounce.

Dixons Carphone, up 1.8%. Exane BNP has raised the group's price target to 520 pence from 510p, keeping its rating to Outperform.

Centrica, up 0.9%. UBS has raised the company's rating to Neutral from Sell, cutting its price target to 275p from 280p.

WPP, up 0.8%. Barclays has raised the Media buying giant price target to 1650p from 1500p, keeping its rating at Overweight.
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FTSE 100 LOSERS
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BT Group, down 2.2%. The company reported a strong increase in third-quarter pretax profit that beat analysts' expectations, but saw its shares drop as it agreed a 16-year recovery plan to plug its pension scheme deficit, including pumping in GBP2.0 billion over the next three years. The telecommunications company, which is in talks to acquire the UK's largest mobile network EE, said it is making good progress on due diligence, but declined to give any further updates on the takeover. It also declined to give details on its bidding stance for the upcoming Premier League football TV rights, other than to say it is determined not to overpay. That left questions over its future cost base.

Diageo, down 2%. The drinks group has emerged among a group of blue-chip companies interested in taking over the headline sponsorship of the English Premier League at the end of next season, Sky News reported on Thursday. It has emerged as a potential bidder for the sponsorship deal, thought to be worth more than GBP150 million, alongside incumbent sponsor Barclays PLC, Sky said. Shares in the company were among the biggest risers in FTSE 100 on Thursday, even though it reported that first-half sales came in slightly lower than analysts' expectations for flat organic net sales, as sales improved in its second quarter.

Royal Dutch Shell, down 1.3%. HSBC has cut its Shell A price target to 2,200p from 2,300p, changing its rating to Neutral from Overweight, while cutting its Shell B price target to 2,300p from 2,360p. Investec has also cut the oil major's price target to 2,100p from 2,250p. The cuts come in the wake of Shell's announcement Thursday that it will slash spending in response to falling oil prices.
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FTSE 250 WINNERS
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Afren, up 20%. Shares in the company have moved sharply higher as investors await the deadline for SEPLAT Petroleum Development Co's decision over a potential merger, which is expected at 1700 GMT Friday. The rise comes after a period of sustained weakness for the oil and gas explorer. Its shares are down by approximately 20% since the end of last week, and around 88% since the beginning of 2015.

Petrofac, up 4.1%. JP Morgan has initiated coverage of the company with an 851p price target and an Overweight rating.

WH Smith, up 1.6%. Exane BNP has raised the group's price target to 1,500p from 1,250p, keeping its rating at Outperform.

Britvic, up 1.0%. Goldman added the Fruit Shoot and Pepsi Max maker to its Conviction Buy List from previous Buy rating, with its target price at 820p.
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FTSE 250 LOSERS
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Cobham, down 3.6%. Berenberg has cut its price target on the company to 317p, from 325p, keeping its rating at Hold.

Nostrum Oil & Gas, down 1.4%. The company said KazStroyService Global BV has transferred its Nostrum shares into two affiliate companies, one of which has signed a deal to continue its relationship agreement with Nostrum. KazStroyService transferred 48.3 million shares to Mayfair Investments BV, a company indirectly owned by the three main shareholders of KazStroyService, and 1.7 million shares to its other shareholder.
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AIM ALL-SHARE WINNERS
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Weatherly International, up 87%. The miner said that progress at its Tschudi copper mining project in Namibia is ahead of schedule, with first copper forecast to be produced in February 2015. The company said over 80,000 tonnes of ore has been stacked at Tschudi, and its first seven cells are being irrigated with sulphuric acid.

UK Oil & Gas Investments, up 16%. The group said it has signed an alliance and consulting services agreement with US company NUTECH Energy Alliance Ltd in order to maximise the potential value of the Horse Hill license areas in the UK. NUTECH is an oil service provider specialising in reservoir evaluation and optimisation and will assess the reservoir parameters at the Horse Hill development, including the amount of oil in place and rock mechanical properties, said UK Oil.

ASOS, up 15%. Exane BNP has raised the online fashion retailer's rating to Outperform from Neutral, and price target to 4,000p from 2,600p.

Aurora Russia, up 13%. The company said Friday it has sold its 24.3% shareholding in Russian DIY retailer Superstroy through an intermediate company, Grindelia Holdings Ltd, for GBP680,000. Aurora said that due to the "current circumstances" in the region, and specifically at Superstroy, it will require substantial restructuring to return the retailer to profitability. As a result, it believes the proceeds it achieved were "as good as the company could realistically expect to obtain".
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AIM ALL-SHARE LOSERS
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Ashley House, down 30%. The company said that its likely to post a pretax loss for its full year, after it reported a widened pretax loss for its first half due to significant investment made into establishing its Extra Care fund and ongoing challenges in its healthcare business. It also expects to post a full-year pretax loss as a result of the newly established fund being incorporated into its business as a subsidiary.

Rambler Metals & Minning, off 30%. The company said it has implemented a revised plan for the Ming copper-gold mine in order to cut costs and said it has faced further issues in the dilution of ore production stopes at the site. In response to the problems, the group has implementing cost-cutting measures, including laying off employees, along with the suspension of all non-critical spending plans. It said the review of the costs at the site is ongoing.

Red Leopard Holdings, down 22.6%. The group reported further problems at the Idora Mine in the US state of Idaho. Red Leopard said rock falls have been discovered further inside the tunnel, hindering access to the ore body and therefore preventing any sampling activity.

By Daniel Ruiz; danielruiz@alliancenews.com

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