UK WINNERS & LOSERS: Next Shares Fall On "Surprising" Guidance Cut

LONDON (Alliance News) - The following stocks are amongst the biggest risers and fallers within the main London indices midday Thursday.
-------
FTSE 100 LOSERS
-------
Next, down 3.9%. The British fashion retailer reported a sixth consecutive year of annual pretax profit growth, as sales increased in its stores and particularly online, but it cut its sales guidance for the current year as it predicted slower growth in international sales due to the issues in Russia and Ukraine and due to tough overall comparative figures. Investec analyst Alistair Davis said the full year figures were in line with expectations, but "the surprise is in the outlook for the year ahead, with guidance cut by 2%, and management highlighting weaker collections vs. the prior year." Next shares had hit an all-time high on Wednesday at 2,879.00p.
-------
FTSE 250 WINNERS
-------
Acacia Mining, up 5% at 246.5 pence. HSBC has raised the miner to Overweight from Neutral, with its price target at 340p.

Ophir energy, up 3.4%. The Africa-focused oil and gas company said it swung to a pretax profit in 2014, bolstered by a USD671.7 million gain after the sale of its interest in three blocks in Tanzania. Ophir Energy said it made a USD288.5 million pretax profit in 2014, compared with a USD280.5 million pretax loss in the prior year.

Crest Nicholson Holdings, up 3%. The housebuilder said it has seen a strong start to the spring selling season since it published in January its results for the year to the end of October and is confident of meeting its targets for the year. Crest Nicholson Chairman William Rucker said cumulative reservations in the financial year to date are at 766 units across 44 outlets for the company, representing an open market sales rate per outlet of 0.92, compared with a 0.84 per week sales rate for the comparable period a year earlier.
-------
FTSE 250 LOSERS
-------
Ted Baker, down 3.1% at 2,730,41p. Shares in the fashion retailer are down even though it reported further growth in profit and sales in its last financial year, and said it plans to open more stores in the year ahead. Pretax profit grew 25.3% to GBP48.8 million in the year ended January 31, from GBP38.9 million a year earlier, as revenue grew 20.4% to GBP387.6 million, from GBP321.9 million. It raised its total dividend for the year to 40.3 pence per share from 33.7p. Cantor analyst Freddie George says "the stock, which has risen by over 30% in the last six months, is highly rated and is likely to see some profit taking and a period of consolidation." Ted Baker shares hit an all-time high at 2,879.00p on Wednesday ahead of the results and initially set at a new high of 2,909.48 Thursday before dropping.

Ladbrokes, down 2% at 111.25p. HSBC has downgraded the bookmaker to Underweight from Neutral, cutting its price target to 100p from 115p.

Premier Farnell, down 1.8%. The electronics components distributor reported lower profit for its recently-ended financial year, hit by restructuring costs and investments in its product offering, while revenue was hit by the strength of sterling. Premier Farnell posted a pretax profit of GBP69.1 million for the year to February 1, down from GBP74.8 million a year earlier, as revenue declined to GBP960.1 million from GBP968.0 million and its operating margin declined 40 basis points to 9.2%. It kept its final dividend at 6.0 pence a share, meaning the full year dividend was also flat on the year at 10.4p.

Greggs, down 1.6% at 1,004.1p. Berenberg has initiated the bakery chain at Sell with a 820p price target, saying it believes there are risks in the recovery story of Greggs, which are not being captured in the stock price. "With the stock responding well to the improvement in business performance, we feel the current valuation does not adequately factor in the potential risks ahead," said Berenberg analyst Sam England. The analyst highlights the competition from supermarkets, particularly from the convenience store formats as one of the risks Greggs faces.
-------
AIM ALL-SHARE WINNERS
-------
Zamano, up 13%. The mobile device applications and services provider posted a rise in pretax profit for 2014, and indicated it would be exploring acquisitions opportunities in the coming year. Zamano reported a pretax profit of EUR2.2 million in 2014, up from EUR1.9 million in 2013, on a rise in revenue to EUR19.9 million from EUR16.0 million. It noted that its positive performance had led to an improvement in its net cash position, leaving it with net cash at the end of the year of EUR4.6 million, up from EUR2.1 million at the end of 2013.

Amur Minerals Corporation, up 10%. The miner said a conceptual pit study carried out at the Kun-Manie nickel-copper-sulphide project in Russia has identified a potential 70% increase to the target inferred resources at the site. Amur said the conceptual study indicated successful in-fill drilling at Kun-Manie could increase the inferred resource estimate by up to 70% to a total of 67 million tonnes, at an average 0.59% nickel and 0.18% copper.
-------
AIM ALL-SHARE LOSERS
-------
Patagonia Gold, off 13%. The mining exploration company said the pre-feasibility study conducted on the Cap-Oeste heap leach project in Argentina indicates that the project is not currently economically viable. Patagonia said the initial results from the studies being carried out at the site using the heap-leach process indicate that additional oxide resources will be required to make the project economically robust at current gold and silver prices. The company said it is working to establish these further resources through its exploration programme.

By Daniel Ruiz; danielruiz@alliancenews.com

Copyright 2015 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.