UK WINNERS & LOSERS: WPP Leads FTSE 100 On Results And Dividend

LONDON (Alliance News) - The following stocks are the leading risers and fallers within the main London indices mid-morning Tuesday.
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FTSE 100 WINNERS
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WPP, up 1.6%. The media buying giant reported that it is likely to achieve its targeted dividend pay-out ratio of 45% in 2014, a year ahead of schedule, as it saw pretax profit rise in the half-year to the end of June. The company proposed an interim dividend of 11.62 pence, up from 10.56 pence in the previous year while pretax profit rose to GBP491.1 million, up from GBP427.1 million in the previous year. WPP's shares are up 1.6%. Revenue rose 2.7% to GBP5.47 billion from GBP5.33 billion as the strength of sterling continued to hamper results but holding currency constant revenues increased by 11.

British Land Co, up 0.7%. The company said that it has agreed to let two new units amounting to 36,000 square feet at Wheatley Retail Park in Doncaster to Next PLC and Marks & Spencer Group PLC's Simply Food. Next is to upsize into a 23,518 square foot unit with a full cover mezzanine floor, on a 15-year lease, whilst Marks & Spencer Simply Food will open its first store at the park, taking a 12,502 square foot unit, the company said.
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FTSE 100 LOSERS
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Antofagasta, down 3%. The miner is the biggest faller on the blue-chip index after it reported a first-half fall in pretax profit and revenue as market conditions remained challenging and it was hit by the declining price of copper, despite production coming in ahead of expectations. In its results for the six months to June 30, 2014 the miner said pretax profit fell 13% to USD850.7 million from USD981.0 million last year. Revenue declined 4.2% to USD2.66 billion from USD2.78 billion in the first-half of 2013, said the company, after copper prices fell by 2.2% as prices "trended downwards during the period, as well as lower gold sales and realised prices."

Petrofac, down 1.7%. The oil services company posted a sharp drop in net profit on the back of decreased revenue in the first half, though the group reiterated its year is weighted to the second half and said its engineering, construction, operations and maintenance (ECOM) business posted record order intake in the period. The company said net profit for the six months to June 30 was USD136 million, sharply down from the USD243 million posted a year earlier. That came on the back of a fall in revenue in the period to USD2.5 billion from USD2.8 billion last year. The group said it remains on track to deliver net profit of USD580-600 million for the full year, in line with previous guidance.
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FTSE 250 WINNERS
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Synthomer, up 2.8%. The company had its stock rating raised by Deutsche Bank to Buy from Hold with a price target of 260 pence up from 225p.
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FTSE 250 LOSERS
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Regus, down 6.9%. The workplace provider tops the fallers in the mid-chip index, after it said a strong pound hit its reported profit in the first half of the year, taking the shine off strong revenue growth in the period on the back of network expansion and strong returns. The company declared an interim dividend of 1.25 pence, a 14% increase on last year, which it said reflects "strong underlying performance and prospects". Regus posted a flat pretax profit of GBP31.0 million for the six months to June 30, the same level as the GBP31.1 million reported in the first half of last year. Whilst flat on a reported basis, it said profit was up 23% at constant exchange rates, driven by strong revenue growth and a "tight grip on costs". First-half revenue increased to GBP804.7 million, compared with GBP744.7 million in 2013, up 8.5% at actual exchange rates, and almost 17% on a constant currency basis, boosted by strong customer demand.

Telecity Group, down 6%. The carrier-neutral data centre provider said Chief Executive Officer Michael Tobin will step down from the role October 31, 2014, following a handover period. The company said it will commence an immediate search for a successor, with Chairman John Hughes assuming executive responsibilities until a new CEO is appointed. Following his departure form the company, Tobin will remain a significant shareholder in the business.

Cable & Wireless Communications, down 1.7%. The company said that its subsidiary Cable & Wireless Panamá SA has agreed to acquire Panama-based Grupo Sonitel SA for USD36 million, with an additional consideration of up to USD5 million. Cable and Wireless Panama is jointly owned by Cable & Wireless, and the government of Panama, which each having a 49% stake, with the remainder held by a trust on behalf of its employees. Grupo Sonitel operates IT and telecom service provider SSA Sistemas, and IT and services provider Sonset. Not included in the transaction is the company's IT hardware reseller Logistica, and a small number of other non-core companies.
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AIM ALL-SHARE WINNERS
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Circle Oil, up 25%. The oil and gas explorer said good light oil shows had been found at its El Mediouni-1 well in Tunisia. It reported very good light oil shows were found in the Lower Birsa carbonate primary target at the EM-1 well site, as well as in the Upper Ketatna carbonates secondary target, both located in the Mahdia Permit, offshore Tunisia. The company said the strong hydrocarbon indications at the Birsa and Ketatna targets confirm the existence of working petroleum at the site. Circle Oil said internal estimates for the likely recoverable prospective resources discovered by the EMD-1 well are about 100 millions of barrels of oil. However, Circle Oil said the hole conditions at the site became untenable quickly following the discovery, meaning it was not able to conduct a full log evaluation of the hydrocarbon column in the EM-1 well before suspending it.

Coal Of Africa, up 18%. The thermal and coking coal developer said it would raise GBP38.2 million via a private placement at a huge premium to its quoted share price. The company said it would raise GBP38.2 million with the issue of up to 695 million shares at an issue price of 5.5 pence per share, double its closing mid-market price on Friday.

By Neil Thakrar; neilthakrar@alliancenews.com

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