UK WINNERS & LOSERS: Jefferies Hammers Housebuilders With Downgrades

LONDON (Alliance News) - The following stocks are amongst the biggest risers and fallers within the main London indices midday Friday.
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FTSE 100 WINNERS
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Friends Life Group, up 1.6%, Aviva, up 1.6%, and Admiral Group, up 1.0%. The insurers have high equity exposure and following two days of strong gains in equity markets in the UK, Europe and the US, their portfolio values will have increased.
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FTSE 100 LOSERS
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Taylor Wimpey, down 4.9%, Barratt Developments, down 4.3%, and Persimmon, down 4.0%. The housebuilders are down following downgrades from Jefferies. Taylor Wimpey was cut to Hold from Buy, Barratt was cut to Underperform from Buy, and Persimmon was downgraded to Underperform from Hold.

Old Mutual, down 1.3%. The investment, savings, insurance and banking group said it is buying a 23.3% stake in Kenya-based UAP Holdings Ltd, an East and Central African financial services company, for KES8.88 billion, or about USD97.6 million, part of its strategy to expand in Africa.
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FTSE 250 WINNERS
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Catlin Group, up 4.5%. New York-listed XL Group and Catlin Group said they've agreed the terms of a GBP2.79 billion deal that will see XL acquire its re-insurance peer. According to a joint-statement, Catlin shareholders are set to receive 388 pence and 0.130 new XL shares, plus an expected 2014 final dividend of 22 pence in cash to be paid by Catlin. This values Catlin at about 715.3 pence per share. Catlin currently trades at 690.5p.

Henderson Group, up 4.1%. JP Morgan has raised the investment manager to Overweight from Neutral, with a price target increase to 245.00 pence from 222.00p. The stock currently trades at 222.20p.

Restaurant Group, up 2.6%. The company said it full-year results will show "material growth" in both earnings and cash flow, boosted by revenue growth and new restaurant openings. Restaurant Group said revenue grew by 9.6% in the financial year ended December 28, 2014. Like-for-like sales rose 2.8% over the year, while the restaurant group ended the year strong, with like-for-like sales growth of 5% over the two-week Christmas trading period to January 4.
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FTSE 250 LOSERS
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Laird, down 5.9%. The electronics company said it is confident that its expectations for the financial year 2014 remain on track. "Execution of our strategy has delivered further good progress through the year, and we remain encouraged by the outlook for Laird," Chief Executive David Lockwood said in a trading update. Liberum said Laird is likely being held back by weakness at major customer Samsung.

Bellway, down 3.8%, Countrywide, down 3.7%, Rightmove, down 3.6%, Berkeley Group Holdings, down 3.4%, Redrow, down 3.0%, Bovis Homes Group, down 2.9%, and Crest Nicholson Holdings, down 2.8%. The property companies and housebuilders are trading lower following downgrades from Jefferies. The broker cut Bellway, Bovis, Countrywide and Crest Nicholson to Hold from Buy. Rightmove and Berkeley were both moved to Underperform from Hold.

Ashmore Group, down 3.7%. JP Morgan cut the company to Underweight from Neutral, with a price target cut to 270.00p from 295.00p. The stock currently trades at 264.60p.
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AIM ALL-SHARE WINNERS
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Fastjet, up 15%. The African low-cost airline said its Zambian arm has received confirmation from the country's Civil Aviation Authority that it has completed the first phase of its application for an air operating certificate. Fastjet said the completion of the first phase is a key step towards launching its service in Zambia. The next stage will allow Zambian authorities to assess Fastjet Zambia's planned company structure, examine its aircraft and approve its operational plan.
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AIM ALL-SHARE LOSERS
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ServicePower, off 8.2%. The software and services company said that it expects to swing to a net loss for 2014, as a result of lower revenue due to a delay in enterprise licence purchases and the company's shift away from a license sales dependent business model. It expects to post a net loss of GBP900,000, compared with a profit of GBP200,000 a year before, on revenue of GBP12.7 million, down from GBP14 million.
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By Neil Thakrar; neilthakrar@alliancenews.com

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