WINNERS & LOSERS SUMMARY: Spire Healthcare Drops On Slashed Guidance

LONDON (Alliance News) - The following stocks are the leading risers and fallers within the main London indices on Friday.
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FTSE 100 - LOSERS
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ARM Holdings, down 1.7%. Liberum cut its estimates and price target on the chipmaker, saying the smartphone market is slowing sharply and the company remains a smartphone play.
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FTSE 250 - WINNERS
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SIG, up 3.0%. Liberum upgraded the building products company to Buy from Hold, saying it likes that the group is targeting gross margin recovery in the face of competition in Europe. Analyst Charlie Campbell cited three reasons to be positive on SIG's outlook, including a commitment to restoring margins, good momentum in its cost savings programme, and an improving outlook in key markets.
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FTSE 250 - LOSERS
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Spire Healthcare Group, down 13%. The private healthcare provider cut its revenue guidance for 2015 due to short-term challenges it expects to face in UK National Health Service activity in the second half, as it reported a rise in pretax profit and revenue for the first half. Spire now expects flat revenue in the second half of 2015, compared to previous guidance of low single-digit growth, due to a slowdown in the flow of cases from the NHS to the independent sector in recent weeks. On a pro-forma basis, adjusted for the company's capital restructuring and other exceptional items, the company posted a pretax profit of GBP37.5 million, up from GBP31.7 million a year before, as revenue rose to GBP449.8 million from GBP417.2 million a year earlier.

Fidelity China Special Situations, down 4.6%. The investment fund, which focuses on Chinese equities, was pulled lower as Chinese stocks plunged once again Friday. The Shanghai Composite Index lost 4.3%, the Shenzhen Component Index shed 5.4% and the ChiNext Index, tracking China's Nasdaq-style index of growth enterprises, dropped 6.7%. Markets were dragged lower by a weak Chinese manufacturing PMI reading. A preliminary survey from Caixin showed the PMI score fell to 47.1, which is down from 47.8 in July and missed expectations of a slight fall to 47.7. It also moves further beneath the line of 50 that separates expansion from contraction.
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AIM ALL-SHARE - WINNERS
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Marechale Capital, up 75%. The energy investment company said that a Kettering County Council committee will hold a meeting later this month to consider a planning application made over the proposed site of a project for Northfield UK Solar, a company in which it owns a 26% stake. Responding to an early rise in its share price, Marechale said: "Should the committee approve the application, Northfield will move onto the next stage of developing the project - including seeking to contract for the construction of the site."

CPPGroup, up 31%. The assistance products company said it expects its underlying operating profit to be "materially higher" in 2016 than previously expected, although its revenue will be "materially lower" following the closure of Airport Angel. CPP swung to a net profit of GBP17.1 million in the half, compared with a GBP2.7 million net loss in the prior-year period.

Azonto Petroleum, up 9.7%. The oil and gas company said that it has completed the sale of its indirect shareholding in Vioco Petroleum to Vitol E&P for USD4 million, and that its shares will cease trading on AIM on Friday. The sale of associated wellhead drilling equipment for an additional USD1.1 million has not yet completed and remains subject to satisfaction of certain conditions prior to November 7, the company said, adding that it may also receive a further USD2 million for the sale of shares in Vioco on the discovery of a hydrocarbon.
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AIM ALL-SHARE - LOSERS
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Kodal Minerals, down 28%. The miner said it has received the results of the drilling programme launched at the Grimeli copper and nickel project in Norway, with high-grade copper and zinc occurrences confirmed at the site. The company said the best copper grade seen in the drilling was 8.39%, while the best zinc grade was 6.98%. Chief Executive Luke Bryan said Grimeli looks a "very interesting early stage exploration project" and said the company is currently assessing approaches it has received in recent months to participate in new exploration projects in Norway.

TechFinancials, down 24%. The software developer said that it will not meet market expectations for profit and revenue in 2015 after its binary options business OptionFair didn't meet the expected rate of consumer conversion in the first half of the year. The company said that revenue in the six months ended June 30 rose slightly to USD7.3 million from USD7.2 million in the first half of 2014, adding that operating performance improved marginally on the comparable period. However, while Ebitda was positive, it was hit by an "increase in necessary research and development expenditure", the company said.

Rose Petroleum, down 15%. The oil and gas company said it has scaled back its drilling programme at the Mancos Formation in the Uinta Basin in Utah as it looks to keep the project economics solid amid a lower oil price environment. Rose had planned to start a six-well campaign at the Mancos site, but this has been scaled back to one permit initially, with the company saying it appears prudent to scale back plans until commodity prices start to recover. The company also said it is currently considering opportunities to add productive assets to its portfolio and has hired Jefferies International and Wellford Capital Markets to help it identify potential acquisitions.
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By Sam Unsted; samunsted@alliancenews.com; @SamUAtAlliance

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