UK WINNERS & LOSERS: Tobacco Companies Drop On Rival's Warning

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

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FTSE 100 - WINNERS

Johnson Matthey is up 2.9%. The company said its pretax profit jumped 12% to GBP202.1 million for the six months ended September 30 from GBP180.1 million the previous year. The company said its sales increased 31% to GBP6.41 billion from GBP4.89 billion. Johnson Matthey's emission control technologies division achieved a sales increase of 13%, benefiting from growth in sales across all regions, particularly in Europe for heavy-duty diesel vehicle catalysts, ahead of tighter environmental rules on European trucks which come into force from January 1, 2014.

International Consolidated Airlines Group climbs 1.6%. The company's British Airways plans to launch services to more Asian cities as the carrier chases growth in one of the world's fastest-growing aviation markets, made possible by the arrival of new long-haul aircraft to its fleet, the Wall Street Journal reported Thursday quoting BA Commercial Director Andrew Crawley. The British flag carrier is taking delivery of a new fleet of Boeing 787 and Airbus A380 jets, designed to operate long intercontinental flights, ideal for the Asian market.

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FTSE 100 - LOSERS

Imperial Tobacco Group is down 3.3%, and British American Tobacco is down 2%, after American cigarette and tobacco giant, Philip Morris International, warned Wednesday that international cigarette industry volume in 2014 could decline by 2%-3% overall, by 7%-8% in the EU Region and by 9%-11% in Russia.

Antofagasta, off 2.1%. UBS has downgraded Antofagasta to Neutral from Buy citing headwinds on copper pricing and unit costs. With commodity strategists at the bank expecting supply to outstrip demand in the near term, UBS expects copper prices to fall 12% year-on-year in 2014, and remain depressed until 2017. UBS also has concerns that the company has not done more to cut costs into 2014. UBS has lowered its price target on Antofagasta to 870p, from 965p.

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FTSE 250 - WINNERS

QinetiQ Group jumps 7.4% despite reporting lower profits and revenues for the first half of its current financial year, hit by the slowdown in US defence spending. The company said its services unit was stabilising in the US after recent restructuring and was seeing a pickup in orders in Europe, Middle East and Africa as well as growing elsewhere internationally. As a consequence, the company said it is maintaining its guidance for the full-year and raised its interim dividend to 1.4 pence, from 1.1p.

Telecom Plus, up 5.6%, continues to rise after it said Wednesday that it had boosted its energy market credentials with two acquisitions and 20-year supply agreement with Npower, while also reporting higher pretax profits in its first half.

Close Brothers Group, up 2.1%. The specialist finance company said that its banking division had made a strong start to the year, with the loan book increasing to GBP4.8 million from GBP4.6 billion over the three months to October 31. Assets under management increased to GBP9.3 billion from GBP9.1 billion over the three months, after positive market movements and net inflows, while the securities division also improved in the first quarter. Close Brothers said that it is optimistic on its full-year outcome.

Kentz Corporation, up 1.9%, has been awarded a five-year engineering framework agreement for the SAMREF refinery in Saudi Arabia. The company said it would provide general engineering services as part of the contract at the major crude oil refinery, a joint venture owned site between Saudi Aramco and Mobil Yanbu Refining Company Inc., a subsidiary of EXXON Mobil Corporation. Kentz did not provide financial details of the deal

Paypoint is up 1.9%. The company said it made a GBP21.3 million pretax profit in the 26 weeks ended September 30, compared with a GBP18.3 million pretax profit in the 27 weeks to September 30 in 2012. Although the company was clear that its results benefited from pushing certain expenses into the second-half, gross profits increased by 9.8% to GBP46.0 million as a result of a marginal increase in revenue and a drop in the cost of sales.

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FTSE 250 - LOSERS

Intermediate Capital Group is off 3.4%. Despite reporting a GBP155.3 million pretax profit for the six months to September 30, compared with GBP39.6 million pretax profit for the corresponding period the year prior, this fell short of Numis's GBP167 million forecast. Alongside this, both funds under management and the group's balance sheet were lower than expected, while impairment was GBP36 million worse than expected.

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AIM - WINNERS

Oracle Coalfields jumps 32% after it signed a memorandum of understanding with Chinese power group SEPCO Electric Power Construction Corp. for the development of a 600 megawatt coal-fired power plant. The deal is for an initial period of six months, during which a technical feasibility study and an environmental impact study will be prepared relating to the development of a coal-fired power plant. Oracle said the study will include plans to finance up to 70% of the debt for the power plant and provide significant equity funding in Oracle's subsidiary, Sindh Carbon Energy Limited, to secure a significant minority shareholding.

Paragon Resources, up 20% after it raised GBP60,000 via a drawdown on its equity financing facility with Darwin Strategic Limited. The company said it raised the cash by way of the issue of 10.0 million ordinary shares to Darwin, under the terms of its EFF agreement.

OPG Power Ventures is up 15% after its pretax profit tripled in its first half as the company ramped up operations in India ahead of schedule. Pretax profit rose to GBP7.6 million for the six months ended September 30 from GBP2.5 million the previous year. The company said its sales almost tripled to GBP47.7 million from GBP17.8 million during the period. Additionally, the company said that if it wasn't for a 25% depreciation in the average rupee/sterling exchange rate, the company would have achieved a significantly higher revenue figure.

Intercede Group climbs 13%. The identity and credential management software company said it swung to a profit in the first half of the year as revenues jumped 32%, and said it was confident the performance will continue after it signed several major new contracts during the period. The company reported a pretax profit of GBP256,000 for the six months to end-September, compared with a loss of GBP185,000 a year earlier, as revenues grew to GBP4.6 million, from GBP3.5 million. It said it had signed six new contracts in the half, and another contract since the period ended. All the deals are expected to contribute revenues in the current financial year.

Ubisense Group climbs 12% after it received a EUR700,000 order to deploy a fourth Smart Factory System to a European automotive manufacturer. Ubisense did not disclose the name of the European automotive manufacturer.

DQ Entertainment, up 12%, has won a low multi-million dollar revenue contract to help produce animation series "Miles From Tomorrowland". DQ has been pulled in by Wild Canary USA, which is producing the space adventure series.

Red Rock Resources is up 10%. The company said that, at its upcoming general meeting on December 2, shareholders will be asked to allow directors to issue GBP445,000 worth of shares. Once the issuance is complete, the company can proceed with its planned purchase of 8.0 million shares in Jupiter Mines Ltd., and will provide the company flexibility in its funding.

Porta Communications, up 7.2%, said that trading in October had been "extremely buoyant", and early indicators for the rest of the year were positive. The company said that that expected trading levels in the fourth quarter should be sufficient to offset losses incurred in the third quarter, leaving its second half with a positive EBITDA.

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AIM - LOSERS

Plant Impact falls 21%. The plant science company warned that its results over the 16 months to the end of July were materially behind current market expectations due to poor growing conditions in Europe, although its financial performance is significantly improved year-on-year in the last three months after it launched new products in the southern hemisphere. The company said it will publish more details later Thursday.

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

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