UK WINNERS & LOSERS: Premier Oil Leads FTSE 350 Risers As CEO Resigns

LONDON (Alliance News) - The following stocks are the leading risers and fallers within the main London indices midday Tuesday.

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FTSE 100 - WINNERS

BG Group, up 1.1%. After initially seeing its share price fall, BG is now amongst the biggest blue-chip risers. The oil and gas giant said pretax profit fell 39% in the year ended December 31, 2013 to USD3.89 billion from USD6.35 billion in the previous year. However, this was as expected. In a recent warning based on the lower production volumes, the company had said it expects a total 2013 earnings, after impairments, to be down roughly 33% at roughly USD2.2 billion. Tuesday it reported these at USD2.45 billion, 10% better than its prior forecast. The company said its long-term strategy remains unchanged, and it expects to be free cash flow to be positive in 2015.

Anglo American, up 1.1%. The company's share price has been lifted after the Wall Street Journal reported that South Africa's Mining Minister has announced that platinum miner strikes in the country are under control.

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FTSE 100 - LOSERS

ARM Holdings, down 4.3%. Despite its 2013 fourth quarter results coming in broadly in line with expectations, the semiconductor and software company's processor royalties in the period were unexpectedly weak. Although ARM reported that it shipped in 2.9 billion units in the fourth quarter, which was 5% ahead of Liberum Capital's estimates, royalties per unit delivered declined sharply to 4.5 US cents in the quarter, well below the broker's forecast of 4.9 cents.

BP, down 1.6%. Although the oil and gas giant said revenues and pretax profit rose in its full-year 2013, it posted significant falls in both in the fourth quarter. BP reported that its pretax profit was down 58% at USD1.58 billion in the fourth quarter, down from USD3.77 billion in the corresponding period in the previous year. Revenues slipped 4.7% in the period, falling to USD95.10 billion from USD99.81 billion. Looking ahead, BP said it anticipates underlying production in 2014 to be higher than 2013. However, it reported that total production is expected to be lower, reflecting both divestments and a reduction of around 140,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day due to the expiry in January of its Abu Dhabi onshore concession.

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FTSE 250 - WINNERS

Premier Oil, up 8.2%. The UK-based exploration and production company's Chief Executive Officer, Simon Lockett, has notified the board of his intention to step down. The news has been taken very positively, despite production having increased by 56% since 2004 under Lockett's leadership.

Victrex, up 7.7%. The polymer products company said that its performance during the first quarter was in line with its expectations, with the second quarter off to a good start due to a "much stronger" January. Victrex said its sales volume in January was in excess of 330 tonnes, well ahead of the softer comparative in the prior year.

TalkTalk Telecom Group, up 1.4%. The telecommunications company said it is on track to meet its full-year guidance for 2014, as it saw revenues rise in the third quarter ended December 30, 2013. Revenues grew 5.1% to GBP436 million from GBP415 million in the previous year. The company said it expects its revenues for the full-year 2014 to grow by at least 3%, and reiterated its commitment to grow its full-year dividend by a minimum of 15%, with a similar rate in subsequent years.

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FTSE 250 - LOSERS

African Barrick Gold, down 5.7%. The major gold mining company has completed the transfer of the Tulawaka gold mine and certain exploration licences to STAMICO, the Tanzanian state mining company. African Barrick Gold said STAMICO will now take ownership and management of the rehabilitation fund established as part of the closure plan for the mine in return for the assumption of liability over closure and rehabilitation for the site. As a result, the company has transferred the balance of the rehabilitation fund to STAMICO, less the transaction consideration and other closing adjustments, which is a total of USD11.6 million.

Electrocomponents, down 4.6%. The electronics distributor said it has seen underling sales growth of around 2% in the four months to the end of January. This included North American sales growth of 3%, Asian growth of 2%, and a decline in UK sales of around 2%. The group's performance pretty much mirrors Premier Farnell, says Shore Capital, making the sluggish Asian growth disappointing, given Premier's strong performance there, says Shore Capital analyst Robin Speakman. Shore Capital reiterate a preference for Premier Farnell, awaiting stronger recovery metrics from Electrocomponents.

Ocado Group, down 4.2%. The online-only supermarket reported another loss for the financial year ended December 1, 2013, as the group continued to invest heavily in the business, hindering its chance of breaking even. Analysts had been forecasting the group to break even in 2013 or come close to making its first statutory profit. Instead, Ocado's losses widened significantly, having reported a pretax loss of GBP12.5 million, compared with a pretax loss of only GBP0.6 million a year earlier. Ocado also announced the departure of Jason Gissing, the co-founder of Ocado, who will be retiring at the next annual general meeting in May.

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AIM - WINNERS

Transense Technologies, up 11%. The technology company narrowed its pretax loss as it saw revenue more than double in the half-year ended December 31, 2013. The company posted its maiden EBITDA profit of GBP20,000, up from a loss of GBP910,000 in the previous year.

Quindell, up 10%. The software, consultancy and technology company said it had over GBP200 million of new business fully contracted, which it expects will boost technology revenues ahead of expectations for 2014. It also confirmed that it had given formal notice to exercise its option to acquire over 75% of Himex, which is a software developer. Quindell said it also has made an offer to take a direct holding in some associated and related entities to Himex.

GoldBridges Global Resources, up 5.4%. The gold mining and development company said gold production during its fourth quarter more than doubled in comparison to the previous year at its wholly-owned Sekisovskoye mine. GoldBridges said 8,836 ounces of gold was produced at the Sekisovskoye mine in the period, up 53% on the same quarter last year. On a full-year basis, the results were similarly encouraging, with GoldBridges producing 30,670 ounces of gold, up 37% on last years' production and 12% above its production guidance for 2013.

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AIM - LOSERS

Tangiers Petroleum, off 19%. The oil and gas exploration company announced that Eve Howell has resigned as executive chairman, citing a loss of support from major shareholders. The company also in a separate statement that it has dispatched a bidder's statement and target statement to Jacka Resources Ltd, as part of its takeover bid for the company. Trading on AIM has now been been suspended pending the appointment of new directors.

Mobile Streams, down 16%. The mobile phone content retailer has announced that Gaston Cerf, Chief Financial Officer, has resigned from the company and the board of directors, effective immediately. The company said interviews have already been arranged with potential candidates for the position.

Coms, off 12%. Shares in the cloud-based telephone company dropped sharply after it said it was "not aware of any specific reason" for the recent rise of its share price, but confirmed that it was in advanced discussions over a potential acquisition for which it would need to raise funds.

RapidCloud International, down 12%. The company's share price has plunged despite it announcing that it will meet its full-year expectations for the full-year 2013. RapidCloud also said it expects to launch its next software product RapidCRM in the first quarter of 2014, and said that it had already won its first customer for the product in Thailand.

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By James Kemp; jameskemp@alliancenews.com; @jamespkemp

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