Interserve Share News (IRV)

LONDON (Alliance News) - The following stocks are amongst the biggest risers and fallers within the main London indices midday Thursday.
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FTSE 100 WINNERS
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Standard Chartered, up 2%. Peter Sands is to make his long anticipated exit as chief executive of the emerging markets bank this summer, with the company appointing Bill Winters, the former co-chief executive of JPMorgan Chase & Co's investment bank, to succeed him.

Rio Tinto, up 1.6% at 3,219 pence, BHP Billiton, up 1.4% at 660p, and Anglo American, up 2% at 1,249p. SocGen has raised the miners' price target. The broker lifted Rio Tinto's to 4,000 pence from 3,550p, keeping its rating at Buy, and BHP Billiton's to 1,700p from 1,550p, reiterating its Hold recommendation. Late Wednesday, SocGen raised Anglo American's price target to 1,540p from 1,385p, keeping its Buy rating.
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FTSE 100 LOSERS
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Capita, down 2.5%. The shares of the outsourcing company are among the worst performers in the blue-chip index even though it reported a strong increase in profit and revenue for 2014, driven by new contract wins and acquisitions, and said it had got off to an "excellent start in 2015, with new contract wins almost double the level they were this time last year. Capita raised its total dividend for the year by 10% to 29.2 pence, from 26.5p in 2013. Its shares had hit a five-month high immediately after the open, but then fell.

RSA Insurance Group, down 2.8%. The insurer is down even though it swung to pretax profit in its last financial year and resumed dividend payments, which had been put on hold as part of a broad restructuring aimed at getting the insurer back on track. RSA, which was hit by an accounting scandal in its Ireland operations in 2013, said it made a GBP60 million pretax profit in 2014, compared with a GBP203 million pretax loss in the prior year. RSA said it will pay a 2 pence final dividend. Deutsche Bank says the outlook statement and the dividend are disappointing, and therefore, the bank thinks consensus needs to come lower.

Royal Bank Of Scotland Group, down 2.8%. The bank revealed a GBP3.47 billion attributable loss in 2014 as it counted the cost of billions of pounds' worth of writedowns, restructuring, litigation and conduct. The figures are a significant improvement on the GBP9.0 billion attributable loss reported in the prior year though. The group swung to an operating profit of GBP3.50 billion in 2014, compared with an operating loss of GBP7.50 billion in 2013, aided by impairment releases in its Ulster Bank and RBS Capital Resolution.
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FTSE 250 WINNERS
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Domino's Pizza Group, up 7.7%. The pizza delivery company reported a strong profit and revenue performance in its last financial year, driven by its UK business and successful meal-deal bundles. It also raised its dividend by more than 10% and gave a confident outlook for the year ahead.

RPS Group, up 5.9%. The energy consultancy reported a rise in 2014 pretax profit to GBP46.3 million, up from GBP43.6 million in 2013, on the back of higher revenue and fee income and it hiked its total dividend to 8.47 pence per share from 7.36p. It predicted further growth in 2015.

Interserve, up 5.6%. The support services and construction company is doing well even thought its long-standing non-executive chairman Norman Blackwell is set to stand down before the company's 2016 annual general meeting, and it reported a lower pretax profit for 2014 due to transaction and integration costs for recent acquisitions. Interserve raised its final dividend to 15.5 pence, from 14.7p, meaning the total dividend for the year was 23.0p, up from 21.5p in 2013.

Ladbrokes, up 4.2%. The bookmaker reported a hefty drop in its pretax profit for 2014, as shop closure costs and impairment charges more than offset revenue growth during the year, but the company said it is confident in its business outlook for 2015 as it plans to expand internationally, close more betting shops, improve its online offer, and bolster its competitive position.

Howden Joinery Group, up 4%. The kitchens and joinery products company reported higher pretax profit of GBP188.8 million for the 52 weeks to December 27, up from GBP135 million a year earlier, on the back of strong revenue growth, and it hiked its dividend and launched a GBP70 million share buyback.

Countrywide, up 3.4%. The estate agency said its 2014 pretax profit was GBP102.4 million, up 63% from GBP62.9 million in 2013, on the back of higher revenue from its lettings and estate agency businesses. It raised its dividend for the year to 10 pence per share, up from 6 pence last year, on the back of the results.
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FTSE 250 LOSERS
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AO World, down 2.1%. JP Morgan has cut the domestic appliances retailer's rating to Neutral from Overweight, and its price target to 250p from 400p. Its shares dropped 32% Wednesday, after it issued a profit warning for its 2015 financial year owing to weaker-than-expected fourth quarter trading in its UK business.

Colt Group, down 1.6%. The company said its performance in 2014 "did not deliver what we set out to achieve", as it swung to a pretax loss mostly due to restructuring costs, but said it is starting 2015 with "reasonable momentum and focused organisation." The group posted a pretax loss of EUR23.1 million, compared with a pretax profit of EUR42.4 million in 2013, as revenue declined to EUR1.50 billion from EUR1.58 billion and it posted exceptional costs of EUR46.1 million.
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AIM ALL-SHARE WINNERS
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Lighthouse Group, up 11%. The financial advisory group reported strong growth in operating earnings due mainly to cost cutting, confirmed its return to paying a dividend after a two-year hiatus, and gave a positive outlook thanks partly to workplace pension rule changes. The company reported a GBP0.6 million pretax profit for 2014 compared with a loss of GBP1.6 million in 2013, despite a drop in revenue to GBP46.8 million, from GBP47.9 million.

Wentworth Resources, up 10%. The East Africa-focused oil and gas company said it swung back to a profit as it reversed a previous impairment ahead of the start of production and free cash flow in 2015. The group reported a net profit of USD15.3 million, or USD0.10 a share, for 2014, compared with a loss of USD10.0 million, or USD0.11 a share, in 2013. That was down to the USD23.8 million reversal of assets in its Mnazi Bay Concession that it had previously impaired.

Redde, up 8.8%. The company, which provides accident management and legal services, said it more than doubled its profit in the first half of the year, on the back of strong revenue growth, prompting a near 20% increase in its interim dividend. The group reported a pretax profit of GBP11.0 million for the six months to end-December 2014, more than double the GBP4.8 million profit it reported for the first half of the year before, as revenue increased 32% to GBP122.0 million, from GBP92.3 million.
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AIM ALL-SHARE LOSERS
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Digital Barriers, down 20%. The surveillance technology firm warned it will post a wider-than-expected loss for the year to end-March 2015 after two contract awards were delayed, although it still expects to post a narrowed loss compared with the GBP12.0 million pretax loss it posted in the previous year.
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By Daniel Ruiz; danielruiz@alliancenews.com

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