WINNERS & LOSERS: Sirius Minerals Spikes Upon Yorkshire Mine Approval

LONDON (Alliance News) - The following stocks are amongst the biggest risers and fallers within the main London indices midday Wednesday.
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FTSE 250 WINNERS
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Serco Group, up 10%. The outsourcer said trading in the first half of 2015 has been slightly better than anticipated, though it maintained its expectations for the full year and still forecasts a fall in revenue and flat trading profit in the half-year period. It said it expects revenue in the first half to the end of June to be at least GBP1.7 billion, down from GBP2 billion a year earlier and trading profit in the first half to be no less than GBP45 million, flat year-on-year, including the benefit of the company utilising Onerous Contract Provisions, which it booked in its 2014 results.

Betfair Group, up 4.0%. Morgan Stanley raises its price target for the gaming company to 3,000.00 pence from 2,030.00p, reiterating its Overweight rating. The stock currently trades at 2,501.73p.

AA, up 2.5%. The company said it has struck a deal with TVS Automobile Solutions Ltd to create a roadside assistance joint venture in India. AA will take a 49% stake in the joint venture in return for a GBP4 million investment. The joint venture will give it access to TVS's network and will allow it to leverage its existing relationships with car manufacturers in the Indian market.
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FTSE 250 LOSERS
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Stagecoach Group, down 1.2%. RBC Capital Markets has cut the transport operator to Sector Perform from Outperform.
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AIM ALL-SHARE WINNERS
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Sirius Minerals, up 56%. The North York Moors National Park Authority late Tuesday gave the green light for Sirius Minerals to build the world's largest potash mine in the Yorkshire park near Whitby. Sirius Minerals shares resumed trading Wednesday after the Park Authority held a special committee meeting Tuesday to deliberate on Sirius's application to build a potash mine under the North York Moors National Park, which has now been approved.

Kennedy Venture, up 43%. The company said it has completed a long-term offtake deal between its African Tantalum subsidiary and a leading electronic components manufacturer. The unnamed manufacturer has agreed to take the full production from the African Tantalum Tantalite Valley Mine in Namibia, with prices in line with current market levels, Kennedy said.

Central Rand Gold, up 11%. The South Africa-based gold exploration and production company posted a widened pretax loss for 2014, and said it "eagerly" awaits the completion of the final negotiations for the sale of its Dutch subsidiary. The company has a range of assets, all in South Africa, that are held in its Central Rand Gold (Netherlands Antilles) subsidiary. Central Rand Gold said it saw strong interest in the potential purchase of this subsidiary from Asian based investors.

Monitise, up 7.9%. The payments services company said it has sealed a joint venture agreement with Spanish bank Banco Santander to launch a financial technology venture builder later this year. The venture will be designed to invest in, build and scale financial technology businesses.
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AIM ALL-SHARE LOSERS
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LightwaveRF, off 22%. The company revealed that "constrained" revenue is holding back the company's financial performance for the full financial year, and is now expected to be similar to that of last year. The company said that while it continues to make progress with customer relationships and its sales proposition, the developments and modifications it has having to make to enhance product capability is holding back revenue in the short term.

Independent Oil & Gas, down 16%. The company said it will issue new shares to raise some short term funding whilst it finalises long term funding talks, which are "progressing well", as it reiterated it aims to have secured the financing before the middle of August.

Ortac Resources, down 15%. The company said it has raised GBP600,000 via a share placing. Ortac placed 705.9 million shares at 0.085 pence per share. It currently trades at 0.0853p.

Oilex, down 10%. The company said it has requested a halt to trading in its Australian shares pending the outcome of a proposed capital raising.
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By Neil Thakrar; neilthakrar@alliancenews.com; @NeilThakrar1

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