Broker Upgrades and Downgrades & Key UK Corporate Snapshots 17 July 2015

UK Broker Upgrades / Downgrades

 

 

Code Company Broker Recomm. From Recomm. To Price From Price To
Upgrades
ARM ARM Holdings Plc Investec Securities Hold Buy
CNA Centrica Plc HSBC Hold Buy
GKN GKN Plc RBC Capital Markets Underperform Sector Perform 320
HGG Henderson Group Plc Jefferies International Underperform Hold 247 261
MARS Marston’s Plc Nomura Neutral Neutral 143 152
TLW Tullow Oil Plc Canaccord Genuity Buy Buy 320 380
Downgrades
AFR Afren Plc Canaccord Genuity Sell Sell 2 1
AZN AstraZeneca Plc Exane BNP Paribas Outperform Outperform 5800 5500
BA. BAE Systems Plc Deutsche Bank Hold Hold 495 485
BARC Barclays Plc Investec Securities Hold Sell
BOR Borders & Southern Petroleum Plc Canaccord Genuity Hold Hold 6 5
FOGL Falkland Oil & Gas Ltd Canaccord Genuity Hold Hold 30 26
GENL Genel Energy Plc Canaccord Genuity Buy Buy 675 650
GKP Gulf Keystone Petroleum Ltd Canaccord Genuity Hold Hold 35 30
HFD Halfords Group Plc Stifel Buy Hold
JDW JD Wetherspoon Plc Nomura Neutral Reduce 796 796
MAB Mitchells & Butlers Plc Nomura Buy Buy 540 504
OCDO Ocado Group Plc UBS Buy Neutral
OPHR Ophir Energy Plc Canaccord Genuity Buy Buy 200 160
PMO Premier Oil Plc Canaccord Genuity Sell Sell 100 90
RTN Restaurant Group Plc Nomura Buy Neutral
STJ St James’s Place Plc Deutsche Bank Buy Buy 1050 1030
Initiate/Neutral/Unchanged
AAL Anglo American Plc Deutsche Bank Buy Buy 1425 1425
BDEV Barratt Developments Plc Deutsche Bank Buy Buy
BG. BG Group Plc Nomura Neutral Neutral 1230 1230
BG. BG Group Plc Jefferies International Buy Buy 1360 1360
BKG Berkeley Group Holdings Plc Deutsche Bank Hold Hold
BP. BP Plc Nomura Neutral Neutral 420 420
BP. BP Plc Jefferies International Buy Buy 480 480
BVS Bovis Homes Group Plc Deutsche Bank Buy Buy
BWY Bellway Plc Deutsche Bank Hold Hold
CRH CRH Plc Deutsche Bank Hold Hold
CRST Crest Nicholson Holdings Plc Deutsche Bank Hold Hold
DX. DX Group Plc Canaccord Genuity Buy Buy 110 110
EXPN Experian Plc Deutsche Bank Buy Buy 1300 1300
EXPN Experian Plc Nomura Buy Buy 1265 1265
FJET Fastjet Plc Liberum Capital Buy 275
FQM First Quantum Minerals Ltd Exane BNP Paribas Neutral Neutral 980 980
GNK Greene King Plc Nomura Neutral Neutral 838 838
PSN Persimmon Plc Deutsche Bank Hold Hold
RB. Reckitt Benckiser Group Plc Exane BNP Paribas Underperform Underperform 5400 5400
RDSA Royal Dutch Shell ‘A’ Jefferies International Hold Hold 2200 2200
RDSA Royal Dutch Shell ‘A’ Exane BNP Paribas Outperform Outperform 2290 2290
RDSB Royal Dutch Shell ‘B’ Nomura Buy Buy 2100 2100
RDW Redrow Plc Deutsche Bank Hold Hold
RIO Rio Tinto Plc Deutsche Bank Buy Buy 3600 3600
RTN Restaurant Group Plc Nomura Buy Buy 810 810
SHI SIG Plc Deutsche Bank Hold Hold
SPD Sports Direct International Plc Jefferies International Buy Buy 880 880
SSPG SSP Group Plc Nomura Buy Buy 298 298
TPK Travis Perkins Plc Deutsche Bank Hold Hold
TW. Taylor Wimpey Plc Deutsche Bank Buy Buy
ULVR Unilever Plc Exane BNP Paribas Outperform Outperform 3100 3100

 

US Broker Upgrades / Downgrades

 

 

Code Company Broker Recomm. From Recomm. To Price From Price To
Upgrades
ARCX Arc Logistics Partners Stifel Hold Buy $20 $20
RAIL Freightcar America UBS Sell Neutral $24 $22
FTR Frontier Communications Jefferies Hold Buy
IGNMF Imagination Technologies Group Investec Hold Buy
INTC Intel Needham Hold Buy $37 $37
NFLX Netflix Rosenblatt Neutral Buy
NJR New Jersey Resources Argus Hold Buy $34 $34
OKS ONEOK Partners Oppenheimer Perform Outperform $40 $40
ORAN Orange Berenberg Hold Buy
PTEN Patterson-UTI Energy Morgan Stanley Equal weight Overweight
SJMHF SJM Holdings JP Morgan Neutral Overweight
SKFRY SKF Nomura Neutral Buy
STO Statoil ASA CitiGroup Neutral Buy
STKL SunOpta Scotia Howard Weil Sector Perform Sector Outperform
TM Toyota Motor Jefferies Hold Buy
VIAB Viacom CitiGroup Sell Neutral
VJET Voxeljet AG Piper Jaffray Neutral Overweight
WBA Walgreens Boot Alliance Credit Suisse Neutral Outperform $90 $110
WEC WEC Energy Group Robert W. Baird Neutral Outperform $50 $54
WERN Werner Enterprises Wells Fargo Market Perform Outperform
Downgrades
CNI Canadian National Railway Barclays Overweight Equal weight $67 $61
HCLP Hi-Crush Partners Jefferies Buy Hold
KSU Kansas City Southern Barclays Equal weight Underweight $112 $93
MPEL Melco Crown Entertainment JP Morgan Neutral Underweight
NSC Norfolk Southern Barclays Overweight Equal weight $96 $91
PAYX Paychex Goldman Sachs Buy Neutral
PSG Performance Sports Group BofA Merrill Lynch Buy Neutral
RYCEY Rolls-Royce Holding Berenberg Buy Hold
SKFRY SKF Societe Generale Buy Hold
SLFPF Standard Life PLC Berenberg Hold Sell
WD Walker & Dunlop Compass Point Buy Neutral $28 $30
WY Weyerhaeuser BofA Merrill Lynch Buy Neutral
Initiated
ACN Accenture Sun Trust Rbsn Humphrey Buy $115
ACET Aceto Craig Hallum Buy $30
ABCO The Advisory Board Company Canaccord Genuity Buy $66
ATHN athenahealth Canaccord Genuity Hold $125
BXLT Baxalta CitiGroup Buy $40
BGFV Big 5 Sporting Goods Imperial Capital Outperform $17
BSTC BioSpecifics Technologies MLV & Co Buy $76
BTT BlackRock Municipal Target Term Trust Stifel Buy
CJES C&J Energy Services CitiGroup Neutral $13
DHR Danaher RBC Capital Markets Sector Perform $93
DPLO Diplomat Pharmacy BofA Merrill Lynch Underperform
EXLS ExlService Holdings Barrington Research Outperform $43
ESRX Express Scripts Holding Mizuho Buy $98
FL Foot Locker B. Riley & Co. Neutral $71
FOXF Fox Factory Holding CL King Buy $19
HSTM HealthStream Canaccord Genuity Buy $37
NBR Nabors Industries CitiGroup Neutral
PPHM Peregrine Pharmaceuticals Noble Financial Buy $5
PINC Premier Canaccord Genuity Buy $43
PGND Press Ganey Holdings Canaccord Genuity Buy $32

 

Key UK Corporate Snapshots Today

AstraZeneca Plc (AZN.L) Announced that it has completed its agreement with Tillotts Pharma AG (Tillotts), part of the Zeria Group, for the divestment of global rights, outside the US, to Entocort (budesonide), a gastroenterology medicine for patients with mild to moderate Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis. Upon completion of the transaction, Tillotts paid it $215 million for the rights to sell and develop Entocort capsules and enema formulations outside the US.

Atlas Development & Support Services Limited (ADSS.L) Announced a trading update for the six month period to 30 June 2015 and an expansion in strategy. Results for the period to 30 June 2015 are expected to be released on or around 15 September 2015; turnover of US$11.0 million and pre-tax losses of US$2.5 million are expected. Cash at bank was US$6.1 million as of 30 June 2015. The Company has incurred non-recurring restructuring costs of approximately US$1.0 million in H1 2015 and additionally anticipates approximately US$1.8 million in H2 2015. Management are reducing their expectations for trading in H2 2015 and anticipate the Company making a loss for the 12 month period to 31 December 2015. The Company expects cash at bank at the year-end to be in the region of US$2.0-2.5 million. Good progress has been made in the generation of new business leads with the potential project pipeline now at in excess of US$500 million for work to be carried out in 2016 and 2017. One of the principal goals of the cost cutting programme has to been to retain sufficient capacity to meet the requirements of the pipeline of contracts. The Company anticipates being able to update shareholders in Q4 2015.

B&M European Value Retail S.A. (BME.L) Announced a trading update for the first quarter of its current financial year, relating to the 13 week period from 29 March to 27 June 2015. Group sales revenue for the 13 weeks ending 27 June 2015 increased by 25.3% (2014: 31.9%) on a constant currency basis. On an actual currency basis, total sales revenue increased by 24.4% (2014: 31.9%) to £456.6 million (2014: £367.0 million). Particularly favourable current market conditions and specific opportunities in the commercial property market mean that this financial year the UK business expects to open 80 net new stores. The company also have a strong pipeline of new stores for the following financial year. The company remains confident that future store expansion opportunities will allow it to increase market share in both the UK and Germany. The Group’s financial position remains sound and it is confident of at least meeting full year market consensus profit expectations.

BHP Billiton Plc (BLT.L) Announced that Sir John Buchanan ceased to be an independent non-executive Director of BHP Billiton Limited and the company with effect as of Monday, 13 July 2015.

British Land Co Plc (BLND.L) Announced that the company and Oxford Properties have signed a lease agreement with DRW Trading Group for the Leadenhall Building in the City of London. The building is now nearly 90% let or under offer with just five more floors still available.

CEB Resources Plc (CEB.L) Announced an update on the identification and evaluation of potential oil and gas asset acquisitions in Indonesia. Excellent progress being made in examining Indonesian oil and gas assets. As announced on 5 June 2015, the company and Corsair Petroleum (Singapore) Pte Ltd agreed to undertake due diligence on an initial two oil and gas concessions in Indonesia with a view to making an investment. Over the past 18 months Corsair has identified and screened over 60 opportunities, high graded 12, and is now well advanced with detailed technical and commercial evaluation of six potential asset acquisitions. A select team of industry and Indonesian veterans has been mobilised to Jakarta, which has over 250 years combined industry experience in over 35 countries, including over half a century in Indonesia. The company and Corsair have commenced due diligence enquiries on various assets. Work on six acquisition opportunities has thus far involved data room assessments and a number of site visits to locations across South Sumatra.

CloudTag Incorporation (CTAG.L) Announced that Mr John Wakely has been appointed to the Board of Directors as Finance Director with immediate effect and will be located at CloudTag’s office in Hamilton, Bermuda.

DCC Plc (DCC.L) Announced, in its interim management statement for the period ended 30 June 2015, that the overall group operating profit was in line with budget, whereas a strong growth across the DCC Energy, DCC Healthcare and DCC Environmental was offsetted by a weaker performance from DCC Technology. It remains ambitious to continue the growth and development of its business. DCC Energy traded ahead of budget and well ahead of the prior year, benefitting in particular from a strong performance from its LPG activities. DCC Energy completed the acquisition of the assets that comprise the Esso Express unmanned retail petrol station network and the Esso Motorway concessions in France. Trading in DCC Technology was behind its budget and the previous year.Operating profit in DCC Healthcare grew strongly and in line with expectations, benefitting from a strong performance in DCC Vital. DCC Environmental traded in line with budget and better than the last year’s performance. The company expects to announce its interim results for the six months to 30 September 2015 on Tuesday 10 November 2015.

Electra Private Equity Plc (ELTA.L) Announced, in its quarterly update for the period 30 June 2015, that market price of its share stood at 3175.0p, reflecting a total return of 2% since 31 March 2015 against 4% for the Morningstar Private Equity Index and -2.0% for the FTSE All-Share Index. Total return over the share price was 20% over the year to 30 June 2015, compared to 18% for the Morningstar Private Equity Index and 3% for the FTSE All-Share Index. The company invested total of £30 million out of which £26 million has been realised. Liquid resources of the company stood at £101 million, following the repayment of the bank facility in March.

Evraz Plc (EVR.L) Announced, in its operational results for the second quarter of 2015, that consolidated crude steel output reached 3.4 million tonnes in Q2 2015, down 14% QoQ as a result of deconsolidation of EVRAZ Highveld Steel and Vanadium (EHSV) as well as repair and maintenance works at Russian steel mills. Production of steel products, net of re-rolled volumes, went down by 14% QoQ as a result of the above-mentioned two factors as well as softer demand for tubular goods in North America. The share of finished steel products within consolidated volumes grew to 65% in Q2 2015 from 61% in Q1 2015 due to lower production of semi-finished products in Russia resulting from shutdowns of billet casters for maintenance and a better demand for construction and railway products in Russia. Production volumes of railway products rose driven by increased orders by Russian Railways and other CIS customers and continued demand from Class 1 railroads in the USA. Consolidated raw coking coal output and production of coking coal concentrate declined by 30% and 8% respectively QoQ due to lower output of both the Raspadskaya coal company and Yuzhkuzbassugol as a result of scheduled longwall moves and adjustment of production plans in response to weak market conditions. Meanwhile, production of tubular goods in North America declined as lower energy exploration activity, de-stocking at distributors, and usual spring break-up negatively affected OCTG demand.

Fulcrum Utility Services Ltd (FCRM.L) Announced that it has been awarded a £3.95 million project to install a 13 kilometre pipeline to link Scotland’s main gas network to the Speyside distilleries, Tamdhu, Dalmunach, Cardhu and Knockando. The new pipeline will deliver approximately 4,700 cubic metres of gas every hour to the four major Scottish distilleries.

HICL Infrastructure Company Ld (HICL.L) Announced the proposed acquisition of a 99.9% interest in the Royal Canadian Mounted Police ‘E’ Division Headquarters P3 Project (“RCMP”) in Surrey, British Columbia, Canada (the “Project”) for consideration of approximately CAD53 million.

Homeserve Plc (HSV.L) Announced, in its trading update for the period 1 April to 17 July 2015, that the company is trading in line with the board’s expectations and it expects to deliver good growth in 2016. The company will continue investing for customer growth across its International businesses and majority of its marketing activities will be done in the second half. Its UK business performed well as planned with continued good retention and marketing performance and had 2.1 million customers at the end of the period. In the USA, it continues to build prospect pipeline and expect a good customer growth with a stable retention performance. At the end of June 2015, the company had 2.1 million customers. In France, retention remained strong and sales activity with its new partner, Lyonnaise des Eaux, performed as expected. The company intends to increase its marketing investment in the remaining of the first half of the year. The company expects to pay a special dividend of 30.0p per ordinary share on 24 July 2015 subject to shareholder’s approval in the AGM. It will be accompanied by a consolidation of the company’s ordinary issued share capital replacing every 14 ordinary shares with 13 new ordinary shares, reducing the number of ordinary shares in issue by approximately 7%.The company will announce its interim results to 30 September 2015 on 17 November 2015.

Kalimantan Gold Corporation Limited (KLG.L) Announced that the initial program of metallurgical characterization tests being undertaken to assess the potential for using heap leach processing technology to produce copper metal from its Beruang Kanan Main (“BKM”) deposit in Central Kalimantan, Indonesia, has generated promising initial results. Approximately 25% of global copper supply is produced using the heap leach, solvent extraction and electrowinning (“SX-EW”) process and the opportunity to apply this extensively proven technology to produce copper metal in Indonesia is particularly relevant given in-country processing of ores is a high priority for the Government. To oversee the design and execution of the technical work program, the company has engaged the services of expert metallurgical consultant, Graeme Miller (Miller Metallurgical Services Pty Ltd, Brisbane, Australia). Graeme has been at the forefront of copper heap leaching, solvent extraction and electrowinning (“SX-EW”) studies, design and operation for over 20 years and is a renowned leader in the field. Meanwhile, PT Intertek Utama Services, in Jakarta, Indonesia are conducting the test-work for the initial phase of metallurgical testing. Current metallurgical leaching and physical tests have been designed to evaluate whether the heap leach SX-EW process is a suitable processing route for BK Main ore. Programs comprising sequential analysis, column leach, agitated leach and bottle roll tests are aimed at providing process design criteria suitable for input into the scoping study scheduled for Q4, 2015. Two metallurgical samples were prepared using split HQ sized diamond drill core (6.4 cm), each composited from three individual holes drilled into the northern and southern part of the deposit

Legendary Invest Plc (LEG.L) Announced that its investee company, Virtualstock, has entered into a contract with a leading NHS Teaching Hospital Trust to deliver cost saving efficiencies within its supply chain. Legendary has a 7.0% stake in Virtualstock.

Magnolia Petroleum Plc (MAGP.L) Announced that its 94% owned and operated Shimanek #2 vertical well in Oklahoma commenced drilling on 16 July 2015. Shimanek #2 will be drilled to a total depth (‘TD’) of 5,300 feet targeting multiple conventional payzones, including the Mississippi Lime/Chat, Redfork Sand and the Lower Skinner. The total drill time is expected to be eight to 10 days and an update will be made once TD has been reached. COO, Rita Whittington said, “With an estimated US$8 per barrel operating cost, the economics of drilling the Shimanek#2 well remain highly attractive. Thanks to having a 94% interest, this Magnolia operated well has the potential to materially increase our proven reserves which, as at 1 January 2015, were independently estimated at 985 Mbbls of oil and 2,905 MMcf of gas. I look forward to providing further updates on our progress as we deliver on our strategy to prove up the reserves on our portfolio of US onshore leases, and in the process generate significant value for our shareholders.”

Marks & Spencer Group Plc (MKS.L) Announced that John Dixon, Executive Director, General Merchandise will step down from the board with immediate effect to pursue career opportunities outside the company. He will leave the company on a date to be agreed. Steve Rowe will take up the position for General Merchandise and Andy Adcock, currently Trading Director, Food, will be the Director of Food, who will report to Marc Bolland on an interim basis.

Minds + Machines Group Limited (MMX.L) Announced that further to the announcement in June, David Weill and Guy Elliott have today re-joined the board and been appointed as Non-Executive Directors with immediate effect. Both David and Guy are founding directors of the business.

Motif Bio Plc (MTFB.L) Announced that the US Food & Drug Administration (FDA) has designated iclaprim, a broad-spectrum antibiotic designed to be effective against multi-drug resistant bacteria, as a Qualified Infectious Diseases Product (QIDP) for hospital acquired bacterial pneumonia (HABP). The company requested QIDP designation for Iclaprim for two serious and life threatening infections, HABP and acute bacterial skin and skin structure infections (ABSSSI). QIDP designation has been confirmed for HABP and an additional administrative step has been requested by FDA in order to confirm QIDP designation also for ABSSSI.

Providence Resources Plc (PVR.L) Announced, in its technical update, that the company has continued its evaluation of the newly acquired Polarcus MC3D seismic reflection data. The most recent evaluation has focused on the pre-Cretaceous section within FEL 2/14 which has confirmed the presence of a large, ultra-deep north-south orientated pre-Cretaceous structure (‘Diablo Ridge’) that had been evident on the previous 2D long offset seismic reflection profiles. These new data provide a significant uplift in the detailed imaging of the ridge which exhibits c. 120 km2 of TWTT closure at Base Cretaceous level with the crest of the ridge estimated to lie at c. 6,000 m BML. Similar to the nearby Dunquin Ridge in FEL 3/04, the Diablo Ridge has also previously been interpreted to be of volcanic origin however, these new data clearly demonstrate the ridge to be a large rotated fault block with an internal reflectivity that is consistent with a Mesozoic sedimentary section. Notably, the crest of the Diablo Ridge exhibits a marked fluid escape feature which appears to be vertically connected with the overlying “Drombeg” and “Druid” prospects.

Sula Iron & Gold Plc (SULA.L) Announced that a JORC compliant Exploration Target has been defined for the primary gold target in the company’s flagship Ferensola Project after the assimilation of all historical exploration data and after receiving the assay results from a recent programme of independent check sampling. SRK Consulting (UK) Ltd (SRK) has defined an Exploration Target for the Ferensola Project with a tonnage range of between 5 and 7 million tonnes at a grade range of between 4 and 8 grammes per tonne which equates to between 0.8 and 1.5 million ounces Au. The Exploration Target has been restricted to a 2 km strike length segment of a regional fold belt that has a potential overall strike length in excess of 10 km, and which has additional mineralisation potential to that included in the Exploration Target area.

SuperGroup Plc (SGP.L) Announced that it has allotted and issued 39,635 ordinary shares of 5.0p each (‘Ordinary Shares’) in the capital of the company to Komet und Helden GmbH (KUH), the second and final issue of consideration shares due to KUH, which follows the buy-out of the German agency and franchise agreement in October 2013. Application has been made to the UK Listing Authority for the Ordinary Shares being issued to be admitted to the Official List and application has been made to the London Stock Exchange for such Ordinary Shares to be admitted to trading on its main market for listed securities. It is expected that the admission will become effective and that dealings will commence in the Ordinary Shares on 21 July 2015. Following admission of these shares, the company will have a total of 81,028,722 Ordinary Shares in issue.

TomCo Energy Plc (TOM.L) Announced that further to the statement made by the company on 5 February 2015, the Utah Division of Water Quality (DWQ) has issued the company with a Ground Water Discharge Permit (GWDP) and a Construction Permit (CP). After successfully securing its Large Mining Operation permit from the Utah Division of Oil, Gas & Mining in February 2015, the company has now received all necessary major permits from the various Utah State departments to take the company’s Holliday Block into development and production. Additionally, the company also announced that Sir Nicholas Bonsor and Paul Rankine have today resigned as directors of the company with immediate effect. Paul will continue to act as a technical consultant to the company on expiry of his notice period. In addition, Andrew Jones and Simon Corney have today joined the board as Non-Executive Chairman and Non-Executive Director respectively.

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