(Alliance News) - The following stocks are the leading risers and fallers within the main London indices on Wednesday.
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FTSE 100 - WINNERS
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Fresnillo, up 2.4%. The Mexican gold miner was tracking the price of the precious metal higher, quoted at USD1,824.28 Wednesday morning from USD1,811.03 late Tuesday.
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FTSE 100 - LOSERS
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J Sainsbury, down 3.9% and Wm Morrison Supermarkets, down 1.8%. Rival supermarket chain Tesco, down 1.6%, said it will repay GBP585 million of business rates relief received from the UK government as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. "The decision by Tesco to pay back business rates relief represents a significant U-turn and will crank up the pressure on its supermarket rivals to follow suit," said AJ Bell's Russ Mould.
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FTSE 250 - WINNERS
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G4S, up 7.7% at 246.53 pence. Garda World Security declared an increased and final cash offer of 235 pence per share for G4S, valuing the London-listed security services firm at GBP3.68 billion. G4S, in its own statement on Wednesday, said it is currently evaluating the revised offer and advised shareholders to take no action in the meantime. In September, the board of the FTSE 250-listed firm rejected Montreal-based GardaWorld's cash offer, saying it undervalued the company. However, in October, GardaWorld directly approached G4S shareholders with that same GBP3 billion offer. And in November, the directors of G4S rejected a GBP3.25 billion bid from Allied Universal, again stating that it undervalued the business. The "at least" 210p per share bid did, however, give Allied Universal the edge over Canadian rival GardaWorld, whose bid had been 190p. G4S on Wednesday said it continues to be in discussions with Allied Universal, though noted tat there can be no certainty that any firm offer will be made.
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FTSE 250 - LOSERS
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IWG, down 6.9%. The office workspace provider announced the launch of an offering of approximately GBP300 million in bonds. The convertible bonds due 2027 will be issued by wholly owned subsidiary IWG Group Holdings Sarl and will carry a coupon of between 0.50% and 1.25% per annum, payable semi-annually in arrears in equal instalments. The initial conversion price is expected to be set at a premium of between 35% and 40% above the volume weighted average price of an IWG share on the London Stock Exchange between launch and pricing of the offering Wednesday.
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OTHER MAIN MARKET AND AIM - WINNERS
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Concepta, up 36%. The healthcare company and fertility tracking firm has launched a Covid-19 genomic testing kit, and the myLotus pregnancy test maker also outlined plans for a name change. Concepta launched a DNA testing service under the MyHealthChecked brand, in the wake of Concepta's acquisition of Genome Store, announced in November. Concepta parted with an initial GBP280,000 to buy the home-use genetic testing company, plus a deferred consideration of up to GBP240,000. The company said the test will be a "COVID-19 lab-based PCR test". "The MyHealthChecked Covid-19 testing service will use the Clarigene SARS-CoV-2 test supplied by Yourgene Health PLC and the PrimeStore MTM sample collection device supplied by EKF Diagnostic Holdings," Concepta added. "The MyHealthChecked testing service allows samples to be quickly and conveniently taken at home using simple nasal collection swabs which are then sent via free postage for processing using established laboratory-based DNA and RNA detection methods." In changes that will take effect in "due course" Concepta said its name will change to MyHealthChecked.
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Ethernity Networks, up 26%. The Israel-based networking and security solutions provider reported continued momentum in the second half of its financial year with its eyes set on further marketing of its 5G products. Ethernity said revenue for 2020, based on both signed contracts and customer forecasts received from existing licensing contracts is expected to be in line with market expectations. Market expectations are set at USD2.0 million, up from last year's reported USD1.3 million. With regards to the 5G business, Ethernity Networks has continued to test and develop its product both with original equipment manufacturers and end-users including national telecoms operators. The initial testing phases have "progressed well", the company said.
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Osirium Technologies, up 17%. The cybersecurity firm said it has won a significant contract for its privileged access management technology with a "major" UK telephone, broadband and mobile services provider. The unnamed new customer has purchased an initial 36 month term enterprise license for the British cloud-based cybersecurity software vendor's PAM platform, which will include the privileged access management, privileged task management and privileged session management modules, as well as consultancy and training from Osirium Professional Services. Additionally, Osirium said its PAM platform has been selected in a competitive bid against a range of other PAM vendors as part of a sales initiative led jointly by Osirium and Infradata, which is a provider of cyber security and cloud networking solutions and services, and is an approved Osirium reseller partner. Looking ahead, Osirium now anticipates bookings being ahead of current market expectations for trading in the year to December 31.
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By Lucy Heming;Â lucyheming@alliancenews.com
Copyright 2020 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.
IWG (IWG)
Osirium Tech (OSI)
Tesco (TSCO)
Fresnillo (FRES)
Sainsbury's (SBRY)
Ethernity Net (ENET)