WINNERS & LOSERS SUMMARY: Report Of Imminent Bid Sends SABMiller Up

LONDON (Alliance News) - The following stocks are the leading risers and fallers within the main London indices on Monday.
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FTSE 100 - WINNERS
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SABMiller, up 3.8%. The Anglo-South African brewer was trading higher following a report in The Sunday Times that Anheuser-Busch InBev may make a bid for SABMiller this week. SABMiller first confirmed on September 16 that it had been approached by Belgian-American AB InBev about a possible takeover, and, in accordance with the UK Takeover Code, AB InBev now has until October 14 to make a firm offer. The Sunday Times report said the potential bid could value SABMiller at around GBP70 billion. Societe Generale upgraded SABMiller to Buy from Hold, saying it is convinced that AB InBev "is serious and will bid for SABMiller, and that SABMiller will sucumb".
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FTSE 100 - LOSERS
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Glencore, down 16%. Shares in the multi-commodity miner and trader have set yet another record low, at 78.62 pence, adding to recent losses. AIM-listed Horizonte Minerals said Monday it has agreed to buy Glencore's Araguaia nickel project in Brazil to enlarge its existing nearby project. Horizonte will pay USD2.0 million once the deal is completed, which will be satisfied through the issuance of 2.0 million shares, and the total acquisition cost is USD8.0 million.
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Vodafone, down 3.7%. The telecommunications and mobile operator said its talks with US cable company Liberty Global have been terminated. Vodafone had confirmed talks with Liberty Global in early June over a potential exchange of some assets between the two. Earlier this month Bloomberg reported that Liberty Global's owner John Malone indicated that a deal between his company and Vodafone looked unlikely, saying that there had not yet been a structure proposed for a deal that he would take to his shareholders.
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FTSE 250 - WINNERS
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Ultra Electronics Holdings, up 2.1%. JPMorgan Cazenove has upgraded its rating on the company to Overweight from Neutral.
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FTSE 250 - LOSERS
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Just Retirement Group, down 7.1%. The retirement products company late on Friday unveiled the pricing of its share placing, launched in combination with one from Partnership Assurance Group to back the merger of the two companies. Just Retirement issued its tranche of shares at 159 pence per share, a substantial discount to its closing price of 175.90 pence on Friday. Partnership Assurance shares are up 0.4%.
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MAIN MARKET AND AIM - WINNERS
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Aquatic Foods Group, up 23%. The Chinese marine foods and seafood processor said it has secured a USD15.4 million one-year sales deal with Yihe International. Yihe, a seafood wholesaler and processor, which supplies premium seafood products to the US market, will take 11 separate seafood products from Aquatic over the course of the year contract. It marks a big step up in value from the previous deals between the two, under which Aquatic has delivered about CNY6.2 million in products a year. The new deal is worth CNY99.0 million.

Teathers Financial, up 17%. The AIM-listed investing company said it has launched its crowd equity application. Teathers said "The Teathers App" will allow private investors to invest in listed companies using the mobile app. It has been launched in tandem with broker Shard Capital Partners LLP and has been released via the iTunes, Google Play and Android platforms.

Vmoto, up 14%. The Chinese scooter manufacturer said it has signed a new supply deal with US telematics company Saturna Green Systems. Under the deal, Saturna will conduct initial trials and after testing and financing, it intends to acquire a minimum of 32,000 units of Vmoto's E-Max electric scooters fitted with its telematics monitoring technology. Vmoto said the deal has a number of potential benefits for both companies, including the expansion of its products and Saturna's technology in the North American and European markets.
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MAIN MARKET AND AIM - LOSERS
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eServGlobal, down 24%. The payments company issued a warning on its full-year results due to contract delays and said its cash is set to be squeezed further by a planned capital raising by its HomeSend joint venture, leading it to outline early plans to raise new funding. eServGlobal said that there is an increased risk that its revenue and earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation will be below market expectations for the full year to the end of October. Combined with cost overruns it has faced from long-running legacy projects, the company said its Ebitda is likely to take a hit should the higher margin deals it is currently working on not close before the financial year ends.

Pennant International, down 18%. The logistics company swung to a first half loss due to lower revenue and a challenging trading environment, and added that the outcome for the full year will be dependent on contracts being signed. Pennant said its pretax loss for the six months to the end of June was GBP750,000, compared to a GBP1.2 million profit a year earlier, as revenue in the half plunged to GBP5.7 million from GBP9.6 million due to delayed contract awards. Pennant said its outlook for the full year will depend on the timing of the approximately GBP15.0 million in contracts currently out for tender falling this year, which will mean its results for 2015 will be in line or will miss market expectations significantly.

Speedy Hire, down 14%. The tool equipment and plant hire company issued a profit warning, saying the resolution of its legacy issues is taking longer than anticipated and adding that the actions taken to cut costs in the business will flow through in the second half. Speedy said that due to issues in dealing with legacy issues in the business and with its core hire revenue in the UK and Ireland set to be around 10% lower year-on-year, the company said its results will be heavily weighted to the second half and will be materially below current market expectations.
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By Sam Unsted; samunsted@alliancenews.com; @SamUAtAlliance

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