UK WINNERS & LOSERS: Shell And William Hill Lead FTSE 100 Fallers

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

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FTSE 100 - WINNERS

Aviva, up 1.5%. The insurer has revealed that it has entered into a 50-50 joint venture with Indonesia’s largest publicly listed company PT Astra International Tbk to create a life insurer - Astra Aviva Life - in Indonesia.

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FTSE 100 - LOSERS

William Hill, down 2.6%. The company has warned that football results had gone badly against it in the second week of this year, taking some of the sheen off otherwise strong trading results. The bookmaker warned that it recorded a GBP13 million loss in week two of 2014 after an unusually high number of odds-on favourites won their matches. It said it can't be sure it will make up the loss.

Royal Dutch Shell, down 1.7%. The oil major has issued a profit warning, saying that its fourth quarter results are expected to be significantly lower than recent levels of profitability. The company said it had been hit by a range of issues including weak industry conditions in downstream oil products, higher exploration expenses and lower upstream volumes. It said it now expects its fourth quarter current cost of supplies earnings to be about USD2.2 billion, down from USD7.3 billion a year earlier, and the full-year 2013 figure to be about USD16.8 billion, down from USD27.2 billion.

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FTSE 250 - WINNERS

Home Retail Group, up 2.4%. The company continues to perform well after closing higher Thursday when it reported strong sales growth for the 18 weeks to January 4. Alongside this, UBS has Friday upped the company's price target to 230.00 pence from 215.00p, saying that it now expects the firm's full-year pretax profit guidance is likely to come in at the top-end of expectations.

Evraz, up 1.5%. The Russian Steel maker said production of crude steel and steel products increased slightly in 2013 after production was flat in the fourth quarter. In its latest production company, Evraz said production of crude steel rose 1% in the whole of 2013, and production of steel products was up 2%, after output of both stayed flat in the fourth quarter compared with a year earlier.

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FTSE 250 - LOSERS

FirstGroup, down 2.2%. The travel operator said that it had traded in line with its expectations in its fiscal third quarter, with good performances in its UK rail and bus operations and its US greyhound and First Transit units offsetting a slowdown in its US First Student business. However, the company's slow rate of margin improvement at First Student should be viewed as disappointing, even if overall trading for FirstGroup remains in line with expectations, says Liberum Capital.

Spectris, down 0.9%. Although the company said it was pleased with its fourth-quarter performance, it said it expects to report an adjusted operating profit of GBP214.7 million, declined from GBP216.9 million in the previous year. Margin is also expected to be lower at 17.9%, down from 18.4%.

CSR, down 0.9%. Liberum Capital has downgraded its rating on the telecommunications company to Hold from Buy, maintaining its 700p price target. Having carved out a dominant market position, competition will inevitably increase from here, says the brokerage.

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AIM - WINNERS

Brainjuicer Group, up 15%. The online market researcher said its revenue increased 17% to over GBP24 million for the full year, reflecting "encouraging" trading during the second half. As a consequence, pretax profit for the year will be approximately GBP3.5 million compared with GBP1.5 million in 2012, substantially beating the current market expectation.

Leni Gas & Oil, up 13%. The company said its application for a Certificate of Environmental Compliance for its planned drilling campaign of 30 new wells at the Goudron Field has been approved by authorities in Trinidad and Tobago.

Enegi Oil, up 6%. The oil and gas company has extended Period I of Exploration License EL1116, in Newfoundland, by 12 months.

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AIM - LOSERS

Edenville Energy, off 40%. The African coal exploration and development company said it has completed a placing of more than 1.4 million shares, raising gross proceeds of GBP1 million. The placing will allow the company to accelerate the development and strategic partnership plans for its Rukwa coal-to-power project, a proposed 100 mega watt plus power station.

Alecto Minerals, down 12%. The group has announced that it has raised GBP1.5 million before expenses through a placing of 100 million new shares to fund the advancement of its main Kossanto Gold Project in Western Mali.

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

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