UK WINNERS & LOSERS: Engineers Meggitt, GKN Struggle After Profit Falls

LONDON (Alliance News) - The following stocks are amongst the biggest risers and fallers within the main London indices midday Tuesday.
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FTSE 100 WINNERS
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BHP Billiton, up 3.8%. The world's largest miner said its net profit almost halved in the first half of its financial year as lower commodity prices more than offset substantial productivity gains across the company's portfolio. The company joined peers in the sector in slashing its capital and exploration expenditure, but also declared a 5% increase in its interim dividend.

Mondi, up 1.7%. The South Africa-based paper and packaging company reported higher profits for 2014, driven largely by cost-cutting and other measures aimed at boosting margins, and said it is confident of "making further progress" in 2015 thanks to the investments it has been making in the business.
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FTSE 100 LOSERS
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Meggitt, down 3.3%. The engineer of components for the aerospace, defence and energy markets reported lower profits for 2014, hit by a range of factors including adverse exchange rates, disposals, research and development spending and higher sales of less-profitable products, but it said it had returned to organic revenue growth in the second half of the year and its order book has increased.

Persimmon, down 3.2%. The homebuilder reported a big rise in profit for 2014 driven by higher home sales at higher average prices, and said 2015 had got off to a solid start. The group expects a slight slowdown in the market around May's General Election, but said the improving UK economy and increased mortgage lender support for the Help to Buy scheme would drive the market for 2015 as a whole. However, analysts said that while Persimmon's full-year performance was good, the performance was already more than priced into the shares.

GKN, down 3% at 377.8p. The engineer of components for the aerospace and auto markets reported a lower pretax profit for 2014, hit by a lower valuation of its foreign exchange contracts in its accounts, although profit rose excluding this thanks largely to a lack of restructuring charges that weighed on its 2013 results. Numis has cut the company's rating to Hold from Add, retaining its price target at 400p.

Vodafone Group, down 2.8%. Traders say Merrill Lynch has cut its stock recommendation to Underperform from Neutral.
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FTSE 250 WINNERS
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Just Retirement Group, up 15.5%. The provider of specialist annuity products said it is well placed to compete and has new products to roll out when new rules governing savings and pensions come into force in April, even as it reported a fall in operating profit in the first six months of its financial year. Chief Executive Rodney Cook also said that the annuity provider, majority owned by private equity firm Permira, would participate in industry consolidation if it improves shareholder value.

Genus, up 6.6%. The animal genetics company said it is on course to perform ahead of its original expectations for fiscal 2015, although it expects to see slow growth in its second half, as it posted a rise in pretax profit for the first half. In the half year to end-December, Genus posted a pretax profit of GBP28.6 million, up from GBP22.0 million a year before, on a 9% rise in revenue to GBP198.5 million from GBP181.7 million.

NMC Health, up 1.9%. The private healthcare provider announced a deal to buy a 86.4% stake in Barcelona-based fertility treatment clinic Clinica Eugin for EUR143 million, as it posted a rise in pretax profit for 2014. Pretax profit rose to USD77.5 million, from USD69.1 million in 2013, as revenue rose to USD643.9 million from USD550.9 million.
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AIM ALL-SHARE WINNERS
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Crawshaw Group, up 11%. The meat retailer said it would beat market expectations for its recently-ended financial year, helped by higher revenue and a better-than-expected improvement in cash margins as customers spent more on each shop. The group said like-for-like sales were up 5% in the financial year that ended January 31, building on the 11% growth it reported in the previous year.

Bowleven, up 9.5%. The oil and gas explorer said the President of Cameroon's approval for the company's proposed deal to sell a stake in its Etinde project to LUKOIL and NewAge was formalised. On June 24, Bowleven said it had reached a deal for LUKOIL to acquire a 30% stake in the Etinde project, and for NewAge to increase its stake from 20% to 30%, in return for a combined total consideration of USD250 million.
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AIM ALL-SHARE LOSERS
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Sefton Resources, down 40%. The oil exploration and production company focused on California and Kansas in the US said it has raised GBP900,000 in a share placing and has issued shares to cover payment to an employee of a former subsidiary, as it added it has entered talks on the sale of its TEG MidContinent Inc and TEG Transmission LLC businesses. The group also has issued 4.9 million shares to cover a USD9,972 payment due to a former employee of its TEG USA Inc subsidiary.

Wentworth Resources, down 13%. The East Africa-focused oil and gas company said it has plugged and abandoned the Kifaru-1 well at the Rovuma concession in Mozambique. Wentworth said the well encountered all targeted zones in the miocene, oligocene and eocene formations at the prospect but failed to find an economic reservoir.

LGO Energy, down 11%. The oil and gas company said it has raised GBP4.3 million in a discounted share placing. The proceeds from the placing are to be used to provide working capital in order to meet the liquidity requirements of one of its lenders, to back the development of its Trinidad and Spain assets and to back any further investments, the company said.
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By Daniel Ruiz; danielruiz@alliancenews.com

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