WINNERS & LOSERS SUMMARY: Investors Warm To Centrica Results

LONDON (Alliance News) - The following stocks are the leading risers and fallers within the main London indices on Thursday.
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FTSE 100 - WINNERS
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Centrica, up 3.7%. The gas distributor and producer reported full-year results that significantly beat expectations, as the drag on earnings from its upstream unit was not as bad as expected. Centrica reported a 4% fall in net earnings to GBP863.0 million in 2015 from GBP903.0 million in 2014, but the figure was significantly higher than analyst expectations of GBP733.0 million. Adjusted operating cashflow, which Centrica said would be a "major focus" back in December, came in ahead of Centrica's guidance at GBP2.25 billion, which was also up 2% from GBP2.20 billion last year. Revenue for 2015 fell 5% to GBP28.00 billion. The dividend for the year will be 12.0 pence per share, down from 13.5 pence in 2014.

BAE Systems, up 1.3%. The defence contractor said recovering global defence budgets should result in higher earnings in 2016, even though pretax profit was given a one-off boost in 2015 by aircraft deliveries to Saudi Arabia. Pretax profit rose to GBP1.09 billion in 2015 from GBP882.0 million in 2014, helped by a rise in revenue to GBP17.90 billion from GBP16.64 billion and lower impairment and amortisation charges. BAE said it will pay a final dividend of 12.5 pence per share, taking its total dividend to 20.9p, up 2.0% year-on-year from the 20.5p it paid in 2014.
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FTSE 100 - LOSERS
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Royal Dutch Shell 'A' shares, down 2.5%, 'B' shares, down 2.2%, GlaxoSmithKline, down 0.6%, and AstraZeneca, down 1.3%. The stocks went ex-dividend meaning new buyers no longer qualify for dividend payouts.

Hammerson, down 1.2%. The property developer was downgraded to Neutral from Overweight by JPMorgan.
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FTSE 250 - WINNERS
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Go-Ahead Group, up 5.0%. The transport company said its first-half results met its expectations and affirmed its outlook for the full year as it saw solid performances in its bus and rail divisions. Pretax profit for the half-year to December 26 was GBP52.1 million, up from GBP44.7 million a year earlier, helped by a big rise in profit from its rail division. Go-Ahead will pay an interim dividend of 28.33 pence per share, up from 26.60p a year earlier. Shore Capital upgraded the stock to Buy from Hold. The broker noted the company's shares have fallen by 16% year-to-date, giving them an attractive set of multiple and yield metrics.

Indivior up 2.6%. The pharmaceutical group said pretax profit about halved in 2015 as it was hit by a lower average market share and higher rebates in the US, leaving it expecting a fall in revenue in 2016. Indivior said its pretax profit for the year to the end of December was USD285.0 million, down from USD561.0 million a year earlier. Net revenue fell to USD1.01 billion in 2015 from USD1.12 billion in 2014, down 9.0%, and the profit line was hit further by higher operating costs for Indivior as a standalone company, having been spun-out of consumer goods giant Reckitt Benckiser in 2014. Indivior will pay a final dividend of 9.5 cents per share, taking its total dividend to 12.7 cents.
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FTSE 250 - LOSERS
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Tullow Oil, down 5.6%. The oil and gas company said it has implemented extra "operational procedures" on the floating production, storage and offloading vessel serving the Jubilee field offshore Ghana after identifying an potential issue in the turret area. Tullow said an inspection of the turret area of the FPSO was carried out by SOFEC, the original manufacturer of the turret, which identified "a potential issue" with the turret bearing.

PZ Cussons, down 1.2%. The soaps and toiletries maker's stock went ex-dividend.
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MAIN MARKET AND AIM - WINNERS
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Amerisur Resources, up 17%. The oil and gas company said its shareholders are set to benefit "tremendously" from its pipeline project which ultimately aims to connect the Platanillo field in Colombia with the oil pipeline system in Ecuador, named Oleoducto Binacional Amerisur. Amerisur said it has secured all the necessary approvals to begin drilling and installing a pipeline under a river as part of the project to connect the Colombian oilfield with the oil pipeline system in Ecuador.

Providence Resources, up 16%. The oil and gas company said it is continuing discussions with potential partners on the Barryroe oilfield offshore Ireland and contemplating how to best conduct future drilling operations on the site. Providence holds an 80% stake and operates the offshore field, with fellow London-listed firm Lansdowne Oil & Gas holding the other 20%. Providence said it is still holding talks with third parties about bringing in another partner to the asset, and said it is also considering a proposal from an alliance of its contractors about implementing a "risk-sharing model" to the future drilling programme. Lansdowne Oil shares were up 15%.

Victoria Oil & Gas, up 12%. The oil and gas company said it has expanded its operations in Cameroon after it purchased a 75% stake in the Matanda licence from a subsidiary of commodity giant Glencore. Glencore Exploration Cameroon has agreed to sell its 75% stake in the production sharing contract covering the 1,235 square kilometre Matanda block to Victoria Oil for an undisclosed amount. Glencore shares were down 0.6%.
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MAIN MARKET AND AIM - LOSERS
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North Midland Construction, down 4.6%. The civil engineering and building contractor said profit for the year will be significantly below its expectations after the resolution of legacy contracts proved weaker than expected. The company said it has now concluded the resolution of a series of legacy contracts, with only one left to conclude, but the settlement figures it had expected have not been achieved, resulting in total additional losses of GBP3.1 million. Solid trading means the group expects to post a profit for 2015, but this will be significantly below its previous expectations.
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By Arvind Bhunjun; arvindbhunjun@alliancenews.com; @ArvindBhunjun

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