UK Winners & Losers: Verdes Management Shares Soar, Airlines Dive

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

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FTSE 100 - Winners

Tate & Lyle shares are up 1.7% after Berenberg issued a positive note on the company about the purchasing plans of beverage companies.

Vodafone shares are up 0.5% after it confirmed that it had won the support of over 75% of Kabel Deutschland's shareholders, meaning that its takeover of the German cable comapany will go ahead. The exact details of the deal will be announced on Monday.

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FTSE 100 - Losers

EasyJet, down 2%, and International Consolidated Airlines, down 1.3%, are both suffering after Aer Lingus followed Ryanair Holdings in issuing a profit warning, citing a fall in bookings during July and August and fierce competition that is forcing down fares. It said it was now expecting that operating profit excluding exceptional items will be about EUR60 million in 2013, down from its previous forecast of being broadly in line with the EUR69.1 million it made in 2012.

Morrison, down 1.9%. The supermarket chain is one of the biggest losers on the FTSE 100 as it retraces some of its gains made yesterday. Jefferies Thursday reiterated a target price of 310 pence, suggesting that there was not much further for the price to go in the short term, which looks to be the case as the stock has been in decline since breaching the target early Thursday.

BP, down 0.7%, Royal Dutch Shell, down 0.6%, and BG Group, down 1.3%, are in decline as oil and gas producers make up some of the biggest fallers on the blue-chip index as investors await direction regarding US military action in Syria.

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FTSE 250 - Winners

Imagination Technologies Group, up 7.4% leads the winners on the FTSE 250 after it said it has signed a further multi-year license agreement with partner MediaTek Inc for the supply of multiple core processors from Imagination's PowerVR Series6 'Rogue' graphics architecture family and beyond.

Barratt Developments, up 2.4%. Liberum Capital have upgraded the housing developer to Buy from Hold, raising the price target to 374p from 358p. The company has strong momentum, with sales up 29% for the period of July to mid- September, according to the brokerage. Market conditions, and the government's "Help to Buy Scheme" look set to see an estimated 18% return on capital employed by 2016.

Sports Direct International is up 4.6% as the sports and general clothing retailer, which will soon move into the FTSE 100 blue-chip index, continues to see share price advance following its strong earnings report Wednesday.

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FTSE 250 - Losers

Kentz Corp. is a big loser, down 2.4%, after Germany's M+W Group said it won't make an offer for Kentz Corporation, meaning that takeover interest in the UK engineering and construction business is now over after another suitor, AMEC PLC, also walked away on Thursday.

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AIM - Winners

Verdes Management shares, up 110%, have soared after trading in the stock was restored when it appointed a new nominated adviser and broker. Verdes Friday said it had appointed SPARK Advisory Partners Ltd as its nominated adviser and SI Capital as its broker with immediate effect.

Blavod Wines and Spirits, up 25%. Having announced a widening of losses at the beginning of the month, Blavod's share price fell sharply. However, the company Friday said gross profits from the growing contribution that its own brands are making to its earnings rose 58% in the five months to the end of August, while it cut operating costs by 13% and financing costs by 59% and won a deal with Tesco to stock a revamped gin brand in almost three times as many stores.

The Weather Lottery shares are up 15% after it announced that it had acquired Isle of Man-based Sormelle Limited for a total value of GBP422,364. The company also said that it is proposing to change the company name to Boxhill Technologies PLC, as its said it better reflects the company's diversified activities within the software, lottery, gaming and leisure sectors.

Petroneft Resources, up 9.2%. The oil and gas exploration and development company said it is positive on results of a maintenance programme at its Arbuzovskoye well in Russia. The company announced that the maintenance programme has brought improved production to its Arbuzovskoye site, and the company expects the improvement to expand across its producing wells in the coming months.

NetDimensions shares, up 6.4%, have been buoyed by the news that the company has secured a USD5 million finance facility with Silicon Valley Bank. The software-investment holding company said that it now has the financial facilities to provide headroom of around USD14 million to pursue its business plan and increase investment. It will use this funding for acquisitions.

Patagonia Gold, up 6%. The company said it narrowed pretax losses to USD 8.8 million from USD 12.4 million in its first half as it lowered exploration costs and focused on its already owned mines.

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AIM - Losers

Redhall Group, down 24%. The company warned that second-half trading is expected to be below management expectations, with profits below market consensus due to activity levels and margins in its nuclear segment and problems in its engineering segment.The engineering firm said since it published its interim results, it has experienced slower-than-anticipated order intake on two new framework contracts that it had been awarded within the nuclear segment.

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By James Kemp; jameskemp@alliancenews.com

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