WINNERS & LOSERS SUMMARY: McCormick Goes Cold On Premier Foods

LONDON (Alliance News) - The following stocks are the leading risers and fallers within the main London indices on Wednesday.
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FTSE 100 - WINNERS
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Anglo American, up 7.4%, Rio Tinto, up 5.3%, BHP Billiton, up 5.1%, Antofagasta, up 4.3%, Glencore, up 3.9%. China's exports climbed at the fastest pace in a year in March, while imports fell at a slower pace. Data from the General Administration of Customs showed exports grew 11.5% year-over-year in March, exceeding economists' expectations for a 10.0% rise and reversed February's 25.4% decline. Imports dropped 7.6% in March from a year ago, slower than the 10.1% decrease expected by economists and a 13.8% fall in February. "The pickup in exports was likely supported by the devaluation of the yuan at the start of the year which made Chinese goods relatively cheaper than domestic options abroad... The stabilisation of China’s imports should be positive for FTSE-listed mining companies," said CMC Markets analyst Jasper Lawler.
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FTSE 100 - LOSERS
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Tesco, down 3.4%. The supermarket chain revealed a return to profit in its recently-ended financial year, following a devastating year before which saw it book a huge pretax loss. Tesco said it made a pretax profit in the year ended February 27 of GBP162.0 million, having suffered a GBP6.33 billion pretax loss the year before, when it booked a staggering GBP6.69 billion of impairments, writedowns and restructuring charges after admitting it had overstated profits in recent years by booking revenue too early. These charges did not repeat in financial 2016, helping Tesco to return to profit once again, but the GBP162.0 million statutory pretax figure was considerably below the analyst consensus estimate of GBP447.0 million.
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FTSE 250 - WINNERS
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Halfords Group, up 7.0%. The bicycle and car parts retailer said its performance improved in the fourth quarter, leaving total revenue higher and demonstrating an improvement in the performance of its cycling business. Halfords said total revenue for the 11 weeks to April 1 rose 3.2%, leaving total revenue up 1.7% for the 52 weeks to the same date. Like-for-like revenue grew 2.6% in the fourth quarter and by 1.5% for the full year, it said. Trading on a like-for-like basis improved for the retail portion of its business in the fourth quarter, with like-for-like sales up 3.1% and full-year like-for-like sales up 1.3%.
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FTSE 250 - LOSERS
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WH Smith, down 4.1%. The books, stationary and magazines retailer said its pretax profit grew in the first half of its financial year as a continued strong performance for its travel division pushed revenue higher. WH Smith said pretax profit for the half year to the end of February rose 11% year-on-year to GBP80.0 million from GBP72.0 million. Trading profit for the travel business, which covers WH Smith branches in airports and train stations, rose 9.0%, while trading profit for its high street branches increased 6.0%.

Dunelm Group, down 3.4% at 921.00 pence. The furniture and homewares retailer said Deputy Chairman Will Adderley sold more shares in the company than originally planned, but reiterated he is "fully committed" to his role at the retailer. Dunelm said Adderley sold 8.0 million shares at a price of 915.0 pence each, implying a total value of around GBP73.2 million for the 4.0% stake. On Tuesday, Dunelm advised that Adderley was set to only sell 6.0 million shares, or a 3.0% stake in the company. Following the transaction, Adderley remains interested in 55.3 million shares, leaving him with a 27.4% stake in Dunelm. The entire Adderley family continues to control 51.2% of the company.
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MAIN MARKET AND AIM - WINNERS
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Alecto Minerals, up 47%. The miner said it signed an agreement for the proposed construction and financing of mining operations at its Matala gold project in Zambia. The company, which is working with Yantai Xinhai Machinery Co and PenMin on construction and financing, said the move is in line with its aim of producing gold from the project as soon as possible. The agreement with Xinhai and PenMin follows positive results from a feasibility study of the gold project. PenMin delivered the feasibility study, which demonstrated "positive economics" for a 400,000 tonnes per annum oxide and transitional open-pit operation with a mine life of about four years and eight months at USD1,200 per ounce of gold.

Koovs, up 17% at 31.50p. The Indian online fashion retailer said it will raise GBP20 million and a potential further GBP10 million through the issue of a total of 120 million shares at 25 pence each. Koovs said it has received firm indications of interest in GBP20 million worth of shares. The group said the net proceeds will be used to fund its strategic plan, primarily invested in marketing, and to increase its holding in Koovs Marketing Consulting Private through the acquisition of shares in Koovs India.

De La Rue, up 11%. The banknote printer said it expects to report full-year underlying operating profit ahead of previous expectations, driven mainly by "strong operational outperformance" on contracts within its currency business. De La Rue said it expects to report an underlying operating profit of about GBP62 million in the year ended March 26, which is lower than the GBP69.5 million reported in the corresponding period to March 28, 2015. Full-year revenue has been "broadly in line" with expectations, the company said.

Gulf Keystone Petroleum, up 9.1%. The oil and gas company said a USD15.0 million gross payment has been received from the Kurdistan Regional Government in Iraq for Shaikan crude oil exports in March. Gulf Keystone said the payment comprises its monthly contractual revenue under the production sharing contract for Shaikan, plus payments the company is owed from past deliveries and to cover previous costs Gulf Keystone had incurred. Following the new payment, Gulf Keystone said its current cash position is USD69.5 million.
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MAIN MARKET AND AIM - LOSERS
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Premier Foods, down 26%. US spices and flavourings company McCormick & Co said it has decided not to make an offer for the UK food company after deciding it would not be able to make a bid which would secure approval from the Premier Foods board. McCormick had tabled a 65.00p per share offer for Premier Foods at the end of March after Premier Foods had rejected two other offers. Premier then faced pressure from shareholders to enter into talks with McCormick and relented after the higher offer had been made. Premier said last week the talks with McCormick had been "constructive", but on Wednesday McCormick said it would not be making an offer for Premier.
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By Arvind Bhunjun; arvindbhunjun@alliancenews.com; @ArvindBhunjun

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