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Moneysupermarket, RHI Magnesita and Rank slow FTSE 250's advance

Last updated: 00:10 17 Aug 2018 AEST, First published: 18:44 16 Aug 2018 AEST

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The FTSE 250 was up 0.6% in mid-afternoon trading but among its constituents, there were some sizeable movements.

Moneysupermarket.com Group PLC (LON:MONY) was the big faller, down 5% at 284p, on reports that Amazon.com is thinking of muscling in on the UK insurance price comparison web site scene.

Half-year results from refractories operator RHI Magnesita (LON:RHIM) got the thumbs-down, with the shares off 4.4%.

“Continued strong demand from our end markets and price increases drove revenue growth, more than offsetting higher raw material input costs. Our integration plans developed ahead of our plan both in terms of speed of capture and total amount,” the company’s chief executive, Stefan Borgas, said.

Bingo halls and casinos operator Rank PLC (LON:RNK) slipped 2.6% lower to 171.4p after it merely hit downwardly revised expectations with its full-year results.

READ Rank Group sees second-half slowdown in UK digital growth​

Offsetting these falls were gains for On the Beach and Marshalls (see below), with the former up 15% at 473.5p and the latter up 13.8% at 480.6p.

Kaz Minerals PLC (LON:KAZ) climbed 3.8% to 568p after well-received interims that included increased copper production guidance for the full year.

Amazon.com casts a shadow over the price comparison web sites sector

Online retailer Amazon casts a shadow that would make Lord of the Rings super-baddie Sauron envious.

Reports today that Amazon is considering launching a UK insurance price comparison web site sent Moneysupermarket.com 4.2% lower.

READ Amazon.com said to be looking to launch UK insurance price comparison website

The online behemoth and tax avoidance expert has been sounding out some of Europe’s top insurance firms to see if they would contribute to the website, Reuters reported, citing three industry executives who held talks with Amazon about the possible venture.

Gocompare.com Group PLC (LON:GOCO) took the news a bit more phlegmatically than Moneysupermarket.com, shedding 1.6%.

Not much went right for Kingfisher PLC (LON:KGF), the retailer serving the DIY market, in the first quarter but the sun certainly came out in the second quarter.

“As with the wider UK economy, Kingfisher had a much improved second quarter as the travails of the ‘Beast from the East’ receded and were replaced by warmer weather,” said Richard Hunter, the head of markets at interactive investor.

“To some extent, the script at Kingfisher tends to write itself. Screwfix remains its main engine of growth, B&Q lags slightly, whilst by geography Poland remains positive and France under some pressure. The better news in this particular quarter is that B&Q’s performance rebounded from a poor opening to the year, with sales which outpaced both the first quarter and the previous year as consumers returned to buy products in weather-related categories. Elsewhere, work is ongoing towards improving gross margin whilst the transformation plan remains on track. From an investment perspective, the adequate dividend yield of 3.8% is underpinned by a supportive share buyback programme.” Hunter noted.

None of which was enough to persuade market makers to increase the price of the shares, which languish at 277.1p, down 3.9%.

Ashley House in rude health; Marshalls paving the way to a better second half

Ashley House Plc (LON:ASH), the health and care housing specialist, is not one of London’s sexier stocks but it clearly has its moments.

This morning, for instance, the shares were up 14.1% at 15.75p after a strong set of results for the year to the end of April.

Although revenues eased top £18.47mlon from £18.57mln the year before, profit before tax ballooned to £1.75mln from a modest £67,000.

Net debt was whittled down to £1.49mln from £2.55mln a year earlier and the group said its outlook had improved.

The group is focusing on building a broader pipeline of opportunities that are not so contingent upon Government policy and funding.

The recent heatwave in the UK has almost erased memories of the “Beast from the East” earlier this year but whatever the weather, it never seems to meet the Goldilocks criterion for Marshalls PLC (LON:MSLH), the paving stones maker.

Bad weather conditions in the first four months resulted in a reduction in sales of about £9mln but the company felt confident enough in its prospects to hike the interim dividend by 18%.

Bad weather conditions in the first four months resulted in a reduction in sales of about £9mln.

Pre-tax profit rose 12% to £32.5mln and operating margins edged up to 13.7% from 13.6% on the back of cost savings made under its 2020 Strategy.

The shares were up 11.3% in lunchtime trading.

READ Marshalls shares jump as it hikes interim dividend and reports strong revenue growth

Blockchain buzzword magic may be wearing off

Remember the days when simply changing the company name to include the word “blockchain” was guaranteed to get investors salivating?

Those days may have passed judging by Online Blockchain PLC’s (LON:OBC) tumble this morning after it announced it was paying US$100,000 for a 35% interest in Encryptid Gaming, a crypto gaming software development start-up company.

Online Blockchain, formerly known as On-line PLC, said its subscription is payable over a period of time based on development milestones being achieved by Encryptid.

The shares were down 4.5p (in real money) at 40p following the4 news.

Green & Smart Holdings PLC (LON:GSH) returned from suspension sharply lower after finally publishing its results for the year to the end of September 2017, with the half-year results for the period to the end of March thrown in for good measure.

The renewable energy company based in Malaysia had an emergency fund-raising about a month ago, raising roughly £3.2mln through the issue of shares at around 6.19p.

On return from suspension, the shares fell to 4.25p, having been suspended at 6.625p.

Abzena bows out while On the Beach goes upmarket

Mergers & acquisitions (M&A) news was behind two of the big movers early doors on Thursday.

Abzena plc (LON:ABZA) shot up 142% to 14.5p after agreeing to be taken over by, WCAS, the world’s largest healthcare-focused private equity house in a deal worth £34.4mln.

READ Abzena set to bow out after agreeing£34mln deal with leading private equity house

Online travel agent On the Beach Group PLC (LON:OTB) was on the buying end of its M&A deal, agreeing to buy luxury holiday operator Classic Collection Holidays Limited for £20mln.

On the Beach, which specialises in beach holidays to Europe, said it believes the acquisition will be earnings enhancing in the first full year of ownership.

Following the completion of the acquisition, the group plans to expand Class Collection’s range of luxury holiday packages and to launch an online booking portal exclusively for travel agents called Classic Online.

READ On the Beach buys luxury holiday firm Classic Collection Holidays for £20mln

Other Proactive news headlines:

Microbiome skincare company SkinBioTherapeutics PLC (LON:SBTX) said it has successfully managed to scale-up production with no detrimental impact on the effectiveness of its technology.

Shanta Gold Limited (LON:SHG) hailed the success of its cost-cutting programme as it swung into profit at the half-year stage.

Eland Oil & Gas PLC (LON:ELA) told investors that the new Opuama-10 well, in Nigeria, is now complete and is set to be handed over to the production team imminently. Opuama-10 will shortly been tested for initial production rates, though Eland highlighted that it is expected to yield 4,000 to 6,000 barrels of oil per day, in line with expectations. It would bring field production to between 28,000 and 30,000 bopd.

Canadian Overseas Petroleum Limited (LON:COPL) (CVE:XOP) has informed investors of a dispute between its 50% owned Nigerian joint venture company  ShoreCan and partner Essar. The company, in a stock market statement, said the disagreement concerns certain aspects of a document that governs the relationship between ShoreCan and Essar.

MySQUAR Limited (LON:MYSQ) has soft launched its cross-border transfer (remittance) service, the first offering on its mobile money platform.

BigDish Plc (LON:DISH) has acquired Looloo, a web and app-based restaurant and travel discovery business focused on the Philippine market.

VR Education Holdings Plc (LON:VRE) will launch its Titanic VR experience on PC, Oculus Rift, HTC Vive and Windows Mixed Reality at 2pm today.

Kibo Energy PLC (LON:KIBO) has said its recent application to secure water permits for the Mbeya Coal to Power Project has been provisionally approved by the Lake Rukwa Water Basin Board.

Amur Minerals Corporation (LON:AMC) said the 2018 drill programme at its wholly owned Kun-Manie nickel copper sulphide project  in the Far East of Russia is well advanced. Robin Young, CEO of Amur Minerals, commented: "With our drill programme being over 80% complete and having experienced no down time at the rigs, work is swiftly advancing toward completion of our three key objectives in this year's drill effort.”

Capital Drilling Ltd (LON:CAPD) today reported what it described as “another strong half yearly result”, with the company pleased with both financial performance and the execution of its strategy. The Africa-focused drilling contractor to the mining sector delivered US$54.5mln of revenue, down 4.6% against the 2017 comparative, as a result of lower fleet utilisation amid a relocation of assets to West Africa.

Anglo Pacific Group PLC (LON:APF) (TSX:APY) has acquired a 4.25% stake in Labrador Iron Ore Royalty Corp (TSX:LIF) (LIORC) for an investment cost of C$65.5mln.

Ariana Resources plc (LON:AAU) has reported a jump in quarter-on-quarter (QoQ) gold production at the Kiziltepe mine in Turkey, part of its Red Rabbit joint venture with Proccea Construction Co.

Aminex plc (LON:AEX) has announced that Keith Phair, currently its senior non-executive director will become the company’s interim chairman with effect from 31 August 2018. The oil explorer announced on 12 July 2018 that the company’s founder Brian Hall will step down as its chairman with effect from that same date.

Savannah Resources Plc (LON:SAV) has said the Portuguese Directorate General for Energy and Geology (DGEG) has rejected six of a total of nine exploration licence applications in northern Portugal made by Savannah's subsidiary, Slipstream Resources Portugal LDA.  In a statement released after the market close on Wednesday, the AIM quoted resource development company pointed out that the applications were pending at the time that Savannah acquired its shareholding in Slipstream in May 2017.

Falcon Oil & Gas Ltd (LON:FOG, CVE:FO) and partner Origin Energy have agreed to accelerate exploration activity for the Beetaloo shale project. Together they now deem the Stage 1 campaign to be complete, essentially meaning that in light of the 2014 successes – drilling three vertical wells and one horizontal, fracture stimulated well – that it is now appropriate to move ahead.

Peter Addison, the non-executive chairman of Stratex International plc (LON:STI), has announced his retirement from the company while Chris Worcester, an independent non-executive director, is also bowing out.

The infrastructure upgrade programme at Range Resources Limited’s (LON:RRL) Beach Marcelle oil field onshore Trinidad is underway. In a stock exchange announcement, the junior oiler also confirmed the details of the two wells to be drilled at the project later this year.

IronRidge Resources Limited (LON:IRR) has uncovered what it describes as large, coherent gold targets on its project in Chad after a successful trenching programme. The highlights from Dorothe prospect included four metres at almost 19 grams per tonne of the precious metal, including a two-metre section at 36 grams.

Horizonte Minerals Plc (LON:HZM TSX:HZM) has provided an update on progress at its flagship Araguaia nickel project in Brazil. The AIM-listed miner said that the final results of a 43-101 feasibility study for the project were being prepared and are planned to be announced to the market in October 2018, while a final estimate for capital expenditure on the project was being prepared for internal review.

Pan African Resources plc (LON:PAF) has announced the first gold pour at its Elikhulu tailings retreatment plant in South Africa.

Sativa Investments PLC (AQSE:SATI), the UK's first medicinal cannabis investment vehicle, has appointed Jonathan Peter Wearing as an independent non-executive director and Angus Jeremy Kerr as a non-executive director of the company. The group also said Noel Lyons, its independent non-executive director, has resigned from the company.

Australian Strategic Materials signs US$600 million LoI

Rowena Smith, CEO and managing director of Australian Strategic Materials Ltd (ASX:ASM, OTC:ASMMF), joins Jonathan Jackson in the Proactive studio to discuss the company’ s Dubbo Project, in Central West New South Wales. This project aims to extract and process critical minerals and rare earth...

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