(Alliance News) - The following stocks are the leading risers and fallers within the main London indices on Friday.
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FTSE 100 - WINNERS
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Croda International, up 1.7%. Citigroup raised the speciality chemicals firm to Buy from Neutral.
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FTSE 100 - LOSERS
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Sage, down 10%. The accounting software firm posted a rise in profit for financial 2020 despite a slight reduction in revenue as it forecast an improvement in its earnings for the year ahead. For its financial year ended September 30, Sage reported pretax profit of GBP310 million, up 17% from GBP266 million recorded the year prior. Organic recurring revenue rose 8.5% to GBP1.59 billion. Looking to the new financial year, Sage said it expects organic recurring revenue growth to be around 3% to 5%, weighted towards the second half. The Newcastle-upon-Tyne-based company said Sage Business Cloud adoption and growth will remain its "key objective" this coming financial year and beyond, adding it intends to increase its investment in sales and marketing and product development. This is expected to result in a planned reduction in organic operating margin of up to three percentage points. "Declining organic operating profit margins have cast a shadow over its latest results and the guidance is for further margin contraction as it invests more in the business," said AJ Bell investment director Russ Mould.
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Smurfit Kappa, down 3.2%. The Irish paper and packaging firm said it had priced its non-pre-emptive share placing at EUR34.00 per share, raising gross proceeds of around EUR660 million. Smurfit announced the placing plans on Thursday and said at the time it intended to raise around EUR650 million, with Credit Suisse, Davy and BNP Paribas acting as joint global co-ordinators and joint bookrunners. The placing shares represent around 8.1% of Smurfit's issues share capital before the placing and the placing price represents an approximately 5.8% discount to the closing price on Thursday.
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FTSE 250 - LOSERS
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Helios Towers, down 12%. Citigroup Global Markets said Millicom Holding, a subsidiary of Millicom International Cellular has sold a 5.2% stake in Helios Towers. On Thursday, Citigroup said Millicom intended to sell around 48 million shares in the telecommunications infrastructure company through an accelerated bookbuild process in which Citigroup and JP Morgan Cazenove would act as joint global coordinators and bookrunners. On Friday, it confirmed that Millicom sold 52 million Helios Towers shares at 155 pence each for a total of GBP80.6 million. Following completion of the placing, Millicom will hold around 76.5 million Helios shares, representing a 7.6% stake. Helios Towers will not receive any proceeds from the placing which was of existing shares.
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OTHER MAIN MARKET AND AIM - WINNERS
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Block Energy, up 31%. The exploration and production company focused on Georgia announced changes to the acquisition of Schlumberger Rustaveli Co, set for completion on Monday. Block Energy said that, on completion, it will take 29,000 barrels of crude oil inventory. "The oil inventory is a welcome boost to Block's balance sheet and will support the company in its integration of the assets and incremental production, into the Block portfolio," Block Energy said. Additionally, Schlumberger is to enter into a transition services agreement with Block Energy, to assist with the handover. In March, Block Energy announced the acquisition of two blocks from Schlumberger, Blocks XI and Block IX, which are in the production and exploration phases, respectively. Block Energy said it will issue Schlumberger options giving the Texas-based firm the right to acquire 120 million Block Energy shares at a nil exercise price, which would give it a 23% stake.
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Webis, up 22%. The gaming firm said its advanced deposit wagering business WatchandWager.com has secured a license renewal from the California Horse Racing Board. Webis said the two-year license approval for 2021 and 2022 allows WatchandWager to continue to accept online pari-mutuel wagers from residents of California on its range of global content. Webis said the renewal not only allows it access to the biggest population in the US, but also gives it the the potential of offering sports betting to residents of California when the state legislature passes it into law. Webis added WatchandWager executives have also renewed, or are in the process of license renewals in the US states of Colorado, Kentucky, Minnesota, New York, North Dakota, and Washington.
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Telit Communications, up 17%. U-blox Holding said it has submitted a 250 pence per share takeover offer for Telit. The Swiss-listed semiconductor manufacturer said while it has not yet received a reply from the London-based internet-of-things company, it believes a combination of the two companies has a "strong strategic rationale and could result in substantial synergies for both organisations". Back in 2018, the Sunday Times reported that U-blox was considering a GBP150.0 million offer for Telit's automotive business. Separately, earlier in November this year, Telit confirmed Dbay Advisors and Lantronix made preliminary approaches for the firm. The Lantronix proposal was considered by the board of Telit, together with its financial adviser, Rothschild & Co, and rejected. However, at the time, Telit said it remained in discussions with Lantronix to explore a possible transaction which could be in shareholders' interests, adding that the consideration for any offer, if made, was likely to be Lantronix shares.
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By Lucy Heming; lucyheming@alliancenews.com
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