WINNERS & LOSERS SUMMARY: Vectura Slides On Asthma Treatment Failure

LONDON (Alliance News) - The following stocks are the leading risers and fallers within the main London indices on Monday.----------FTSE 100 - WINNERS----------John Wood Group, up 5.1%. HSBC raised the oilfield services company to Buy from Hold. ----------FTSE 100 - LOSERS----------Melrose Industries, down 4.5%. Sky News reported the industrial turnaround specialist is mulling its options after receiving some disappointing bids for its acquired business GKN's Powder Metallurgy unit. Melrose, which took control of GKN in April after an acrimonious hostile takeover bid, has previously said it was exploring strategic options for the unit. Sky said it has learnt Melrose executives are deciding whether to go ahead with an immediate auction of GKN Powder Metallurgy following initial bids last week valuing the unit at around GBP1.60 billion. Sky said this figure was beneath analyst forecasts that the unit would command a price tag of GBP2 billion, and this has raised questions over whether Melrose could halt the sale process. The news agency reported that sources said Apollo and PAI Partners were among the private equity firms which tabled offers last week.----------Rio Tinto, down 0.2%. The Anglo-Australian miner said it sold its majority stake in a uranium mine in Namibia for up to USD106.5 million to China National Uranium Corp as it continues to focus on its core assets. The miner has agreed to sell its 69% stake in Rossing Uranium Ltd - which owns the Rossing mine - for an initial USD6.5 million in cash on completion. A further USD100 million contingent consideration is payable following completion, linked to uranium spot prices over the next seven years. Rio also will receive a cash payment if China National Uranium sells the Zelda 20 mineral deposit during an unspecified restricted period after completion of the deal. The maximum consideration cap for the deal, however, will be USD106.5 million. The deal remains subject to regulatory approval in Namibia. The transaction is expected to complete in the first half of 2019.----------FTSE 250 - WINNERS----------Premier Oil, up 8.3%, Tullow Oil, up 4.7%, Petrofac, up 4.1%. The oil stocks were tracking spot oil prices higher quoted at USD60.04 a barrel from USD58.78 late Friday. "The rebound in oil prices ahead of next week's OPEC meeting and a possible production cut has helped boost oil and oilfield services providers," said CMC Markets analyst Michael Hewson. ----------OTHER MAIN MARKET AND AIM - WINNERS----------Anglesey Mining, up 53%. The miner said it stuck an agreement with QME Mining Technical Services on a project development and cooperation agreement around the Parys Mountain copper, zinc, lead, gold and silver project in Wales. QME will carry out a programme of design, engineering and optimisation studies related to Parys Mountain future development. The objective of the study is to determine an optimum development plan for the project, using all means of accessing both inferred and indicated resources. On the completion of the optimisation study, Anglesey will award QME contracts for the development of the decline and underground mine, including the rehabilitation of the shaft.----------Faroe Petroleum, up 25% at 152.00 pence. The North Sea-focused oil and gas firm faced a hostile takeover bid from major shareholder DNO, as the Norwegian firm made a GBP608 million offer directly to fellow investors. DNO - which already has a 28% stake in Faroe - made a 152 pence per share cash takeover offer, valuing Faroe at GBP607.9 million. The offer price represents at 45% premium to the 105 pence share price before its initial share purchase in April and 21% higher than Faroe's 125.8 pence share price at the close on Friday. In response to the takeover bid, Faroe Petroleum said the Norwegian firm did not engage with the company before announcing its offer, and Faroe's board now will meet with its advisers to consider the DNO offer. In the meantime, Faroe urged shareholders to take no action in relation to the DNO bid. ----------Intercede Group, up 21%. The authentication software firm said it is confident in returning to profit in its next financial year as it reported a significantly narrowed loss in the first half of its current 2019 financial year. Intercede said its pretax loss narrowed in the six months to the end of September to GBP823,000 from GBP3.3 million loss reported for the same period in 2017. Revenue rose by 14% to GBP4.2 million from GBP3.7 million, on increasing number of orders from both new and existing customers. Meanwhile, operating expenses reduced by 29% to GBP4.7 million, as the company initiated the cost-cutting review in the second half of its prior financial year.----------OTHER MAIN MARKET AND AIM - LOSERS----------Vectura Group, down 8.1%. The respiratory medicine maker's shares were lower after it reported failure of its VR475 phase three study. VR475 is a device consisting of budesonide delivered by Vectura's nebuliser inhalation system and is designed to treat patients with asthma. The results from the study indicated a trend in the reduction of the rate of clinically significant exacerbations among patients receiving either 1 milligram or 0.5 milligrams doses, taken twice daily during a 52-week period. However, the results did not reach statistical significance. The open label arm study - meaning with full transparency with the patient - using a conventional nebuliser, a drug delivery device, failed to reach statistical significance against the placebo. Financially, VR475 will be fully impaired for 2018, making a negative impact on Vectura's pretax line of GBP40 million. In 2017, Vectura reported a pretax loss of GBP102.2 million.----------