WINNERS & LOSERS: Kingfisher Leads FTSE 100 After Acquisition Setback

LONDON (Alliance News) - The following stocks are amongst the biggest risers and fallers within the main London indices midday Monday.
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FTSE 100 WINNERS
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Kingfisher, up 3.2%. The owner of B&Q and Screwfix said its deal to acquire Mr Bricolage will not proceed amid opposition from a shareholder and the board of the French company to the terms of the deal. Kingfisher entered into a deal in July last year to acquire Mr Bricolage for EUR275 million but it warned last week it may be under threat after ANPF, which holds a 41.9% stake in the business, and Mr Bricolage's board had reservations about the deal. Kingfisher said the deadline for gaining anti-trust clearance for the deal in France was March 31 and, as a result of the opposition to the deal from ANPF and the Mr Bricolage board, that deadline is no longer viable.

WPP, up 1.2% at 1,558.64 pence. UBS has lifted the advertising agency price target to 1,700p from 1,500p, reiterating its Buy rating.

Rolls-Royce Holdings, up 1.2%. The jet engine and power turbine company said Air China has selected the British company's Trent 1000 engines and its aftercare support to power 15 new Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner aircraft, building on a relationship the two companies already have and adding to Rolls-Royce's USD1 billion order book.
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FTSE 100 LOSERS
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CRH, down 1.3%. Eurocement Holding, a key shareholder in Holcim, plans to vote against the Swiss cement maker's merger with Lafarge unless the financial terms of the deal are altered, the Wall Street Journal said Sunday, quoting a person familiar with matter. Eurocement is the second-largest shareholder in Holcim with a 10.82% stake. CRH will acquire a large set of assets from the merged companies.

Wm Morrison Supermarkets, down 1.2% at 196.2p. Goldman Sachs has downgraded the supermarkets chain to Hold from Buy, cutting its price target to 205p from 207p.
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FTSE 250 LOSERS
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Al-Noor Hospitals Group, down 3.6%. The Abu Dhabi-based healthcare provider shares are down even though it said Monday its pretax profit rose to USD83.9 million from USD61.5 million in 2013, with revenue increasing 23% to USD449.1 million from USD365 million. The group raised its final dividend to 9 pence per share for 2014 to 12.7 pence per share, up 32% year-on-year. However, Numis has downgraded Al Noor Hospitals Group to Hold from Add as the shares have performed well in the run up to the results, but also saying that the consensus for the Abu Dhabi-based healthcare provider's margins is too high.
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AIM ALL-SHARE WINNERS
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Venn Life Sciences Holdings, up 10%. The company said it has signed contracts worth a total of EUR4.1 million with an unnamed US biotechnology company. Venn Life said the deals are an extension of an existing contract, which has now doubled in size, along with the award of a new clinical trial valued at EUR2.7 million.

Northcote Energy, up 7.6%. The US onshore-focused oil & gas company said it has entered into an agreement with Mexican oilfield and environmental services company Gaia Ecologica, under which the pair will work together on securing new contracts in the country, including oil field services, environmental remediation, waste water treatment to oil and gas development concessions and production sharing agreements. Profits from the joint ventures will be split 51% to Northcote and 49% to Gaia.
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AIM ALL-SHARE LOSERS
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Quadrise Fuels International, down 19%. The technology provider to the oil and gas industry said its pretax loss in the first half of the financial year widened after it was hit by increased costs and a share option charge, and admitted it has been "frustrating" that it did not progress more of its projects in 2014. The company reported a pretax loss of GBP2.2 million compared with a GBP1.8 million loss a year earlier. The loss widened as production and development costs rose to GBP552,000 from GBP342,000 and after it was hit by a GBP1.1 million share option charge.

Cloudbuy, down 11%. The cloud e-commerce company said its pretax loss widened significantly in 2014 on the back of investments made in its Asia Pacific expansion and due to lower revenue hit by sluggishness in its key markets. CloudBuy said its pretax loss for the year was GBP4.6 million, significantly wider than the GBP936,417 loss it posted a year earlier. The loss was driven by a combination of lower revenue, down to GBP2.1 million from GBP3 million, and by higher administrative expenses related to its expansion and subsequent headcount expansion in Asia Pacific.

By Daniel Ruiz; danielruiz@alliancenews.com

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