UK WINNERS & LOSERS: Wolseley Hit By Nordic Writedown

LONDON (Alliance News) - The following stocks are amongst the biggest risers and fallers within the main London indices midday Tuesday.
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FTSE 100 WINNERS
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International Consolidated Airlines Group, up 2.3%. Morgan Stanley has raised its price target for the parent company of British Airways and Spanish airlines Iberia and Vueling to EUR9.15 from EUR7.50.
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FTSE 100 LOSERS
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Wolseley, down 2.4%. The building materials company said its pretax profit fell by two-thirds in the first half of the financial year, as it booked a large impairment due to challenging market conditions in the Nordic region, but its closely-watched trading profit rose on the back of a strong performance in the US, by far its biggest market.

Centrica, down 1.4% at 255.2 pence. Deutsche Bank has downgraded the energy company to Sell from Hold, cutting its price target to 225p from 280p, warning that UK power utilities face risks from the May General Election.

Kingfisher, down 1.1%. The home improvement company said it has noted the suspension of shares in Mr Bricolage, the French DIY retail chain, and said it has been made aware of reservations held by the board and a major shareholder over its acquisition of the company. Kingfisher said both the board of Mr Bricolage and the ANPF, a major shareholder in Mr Bricolage, have reservations in relation to the acquisition of the company, though Kingfisher said it has not yet received any clarification of their position.
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FTSE 250 WINNERS
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International Personal Finance, up 5.2% at 492.9p. Berenberg has upgraded the home credit business provider to Buy from Hold, lifting its price target to 600p from 525p.

Renishaw, up 2.8% at 2,589p. Credit Suisse has raised its price target for the engineering company to 2,370p from 2,160p, keeping its Neutral rating.

Betfair Group, up 2.6% at 2,231p. Barclays has lifted the online betting company's price target to 2,500 from 1,626, reiterating its Overweight recommendation. The bank says it sees multiple levers of growth and it believes the investment thesis is far from over. The increase in the price target also reflects a rally in the stock, which has doubled in the past six months and has more than doubled in the past 52 weeks.
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FTSE 250 LOSERS
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Spire Healthcare Group, down 4.4% at 373.03p. The shares in the independent hospital group are down even though it proposed a maiden final dividend of 1.8 pence and guided mid-to-high single-digit revenue growth for 2015, as it posted a narrowed pretax loss for 2014 on strong revenue growth in its first results since listing on the London Stock Exchange last July. Spire posted a pretax loss of GBP7.0 million in 2014, from a pretax loss of GBP51.9 million in 2013, as a rise in revenue to GBP856.0 million from GBP764.5 million helped offset GBP54.0 million in exceptional costs primarily relating to its listing and GBP85.9 million in finance costs including interest on loans and bank facilities. Meanwhile, Numis downgraded Spire Healthcare to Hold from Buy, cutting its price target to 390p from 400p, as it expects a slowdown in Spire's medical insurance revenue and due to the stock's strong recent share price performance.
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AIM ALL-SHARE WINNERS
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Inspired Energy, up 19%. The energy procurement consultancy reported a big rise in pretax profit and revenue for 2014 on the back of massive growth in its small and medium-sized enterprise division, and it raised its dividend to 0.18 pence per share, from 0.12 pence a year earlier. The company said pretax profit for the year was GBP3 million, up from GBP1.8 million a year earlier. Revenue increased to GBP10.8 million from GBP7.6 million in the year, boosted by its SME division, where revenue more than doubled over the year, and strong growth in its corporate division.

Pinnacle Technology Group, up 15%. The company said it has entered into a partnership with O2, the UK mobile arm of Spanish telecoms company Telefonica SA, under which it will provide O2's mobile, digital and accredited public sector services to Pinnacle's client base. Pinnacle said the deal comes on top of an existing agreement between the two, whereby Pinnacle offers a range of flexible tariffs and contracts from O2.

Augean, up 15%. The waste management company said its pretax profit and revenue both rose in 2014, and it hiked its dividend by nearly half to 0.50 pence from 0.35 pence a year earlier. Augean said its pretax profit for 2014 was GBP5.4 million, up 22% on the GBP4.4 million posted a year earlier. Revenue increased to GBP55 million, up 26% year-on-year from GBP43.5 million last year, with profit and revenue growth seen all five of its divisions, comprising its Energy & Construction, Radioactive Waste Services, Industry & Infrastructure, Integrated Services and North Sea Services units.

GETECH Group, up 12%. The company, which provides data, studies and surveys to the oil and gas and mining exploration sectors, reported higher pretax profit and revenue for the first half of its financial year and said it has struck a deal to buy upstream oil and gas consultancy ERCL. GETECH said its pretax profit for the six months to the end of January was GBP707,000, compared with GBP233,000 a year earlier. Revenue increased to GBP3.6 million from GBP3.1 million, though the company said "inertia" within the oil and gas market meant a slowdown in major sales in the half, which was offset by strong demand for consultancy work. The company proposed a small hike to its interim dividend to 0.46 pence per share from 0.44 a year earlier.

Fusionex International, up 9.9%. The software provider said it has secured a further contract for its GIANT platform via a Smart Government Initiative in Asia. Fusionex, which did not name the client, said the initiative focuses on immigration and cross border control and said the GIANT system will help authorities to analyse data and find insights and patterns to enable improvements in the management of the service.
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AIM ALL-SHARE LOSERS
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eServGlobal, down 10%. The AIM-listed shares in the emerging markets mobile financial services provider are down after shareholders rejected its remuneration report at an Annual General Meeting in Sydney and the company said it's trading in line with its expectations so far in the current financial year. eServGlobal said it counted 34.1 million proxy votes for the remuneration report and nearly 67 million against. The news comes after the company's former Chief Executive and Managing Director Paolo Montessori stepped down with immediate effect on March 2, with Chief Operating Officer Stephen Blundell assuming executive responsibility for the company while the board looks for a successor for the CEO role.

By Daniel Ruiz; danielruiz@alliancenews.com

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