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Aldermore Group jumps as South Africa's FirstRand Ltd confirms its £1.08bn bid

Last updated: 14:50 13 Oct 2017 BST, First published: 09:24 13 Oct 2017 BST

Mining truck

Aldermore Group PLC (LON:ALD) jumped nearly 18% higher to 301.7p in late afternoon trading after South African financial services company FirstRand Ltd on Friday confirmed its £1.08bn bid for the UK challenger bank

Earlier, Aldermore said it had received a 313p per share takeover offer from FirstRand but pointed out that its announcement had been made without the bidder’ s consent.

The two companies remain in talks regarding the possible offer, with FirstRand having until November 10 to make a firm offer for Aldermore in accordance with UK takeover rules.

Meanwhile, Altona (LON:ANR) bounced 50% higher to 0.22p after it said it has conditionally raised £210,000 before expenses through a placing of 420,000,000 new ordinary shares at an issue price of 0.05p each to shore up its balance sheet.

The group said the net proceeds of the placing “are expected to provide sufficient funding to meet Altona’s immediate corporate costs”.

Qinfu Zhang, Altona’s executive chairman commented: “The Company faces a difficult working capital situation and, after exhausting all usual funding channels, we believe these new investors represent the best opportunity for the future of Altona.”

12.30pm: Miners good gainers on reassuring Chinese trade data

Miners were good gainers on FTSE 100 index in early afternoon trading following reassuring Chinese trade data released overnight which saw imports surge by 18.7% in September from a year ago, faster than the expected growth of 15.0%.

In addition, Deutsche Bank issued a note raising price targets on selected mining stocks, including Anglo American PLC (LON:AAL), up 0.6% at 1,451.5p, BHP Billiton plc (LON:BLT), ahead 1% at 1,389.5p, and Rio Tinto PLC (LON:RIO) up 1.5% at 3,634p.

Among the small cap resources stocks, Anglo Asian Mining Plc (LON:AAZ) jumped 9.5% higher to 34.5p after it announced a 19% rise in gold production thanks to the opening of mining at the Ugur open pit in September.

The AIM-listed firm said gold production amounted to 14,468 ounces for the third quarter to September 30, while copper production totalled 550 tonnes and silver totalled 40,288 ounces.

And gold recovery specialist Goldplat PLC (LON:GDP) took on 2.2% at 5.88p after it updated on positive exploration progress from Ashanti Gold Corp on the former's Anumso gold project in Ghana.

The AIM-listed group said Ashanti has the right to earn up to 75% of Goldplat's interest in the site by spending US$3mln on exploration.

10.30am: JKX Oil & Gas PLC drops as production lower in September

JKX Oil & Gas PLC (LON:JKX) was the market’s top faller in mid-morning trading, dropping over 10% to 12.5p after the oil firm said production edged lower month-on-month in September, contributing to a 15% drop in annualised output in the first nine months of 2017.

The FTSE fledging company – which produces gas as well as condensate from operations spread across Ukraine, Russia and Hungary – said total output in September averaged 8,590 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boepd), 6.1% lower than August.

That took production for the first nine months of the year to an average of 8,645 boepd, lower than a year earlier when output averaged 10,155 boepd.

READ: GKN issues profit warning after two legal claims and challenges at US aerospace arm

The biggest FTSE 100 faller this morning was aerospace and automotive engineer GKN PLC (LON:GKN), which shed 7.3% at 327.1p after it warned that full year profits will be just “slightly” higher than in the previous year after “disappointing” trading at its US aerospace arm and costs resulting from two legal claims.

The company expects a one-off charge of £40mln from two “significant external claims” related to its GKN Aerospace business and GKN Driveline division.

But on the up, former blue chip sub-prime lender Provident Financial Group (LON:PFG) jumped 15% higher to 910.5p after it said it had implemented a recovery plan for its troubled home credit business, helping relieve investors in the stock which has plummeted around 70% this year.

And emerging markets fund managers Ashmore group PLC (LON:ASHM) and hedge fund firm Man Group PLC (LON:EMG) both found gains after painting an encouraging picture for the active management industry, up 7.8% at 380.8p and 3.2% at 185.7p respectively.

9.20am: Broker comment knocks TalkTalk, Renewi, Stagecoach

TalkTalk PLC (LON:TALK) was the top FTSE 250 faller in early morning trading, dropping 6% to 204.9p as broker Barclays Capital cut its stance on the telecoms and broadband provider to ‘equal-weight’ from ‘overweight’ despite raising its target price to 215p from 185p.

In a note to clients, the BarCap analysts said they see no upside to their new price target on current forecasts and also do not expect the group’s upcoming first half results to indicate any significant change in earnings trajectory.

Broker comment also weighed on another mid cap stock, with waster products group Renewi PLC (LON:RWI) - formed in February from the merger of UK company Shanks Group and Dutch company Van Gansewinkel Groep – shedding 5% to 98.85p after Credit Suisse cut its stance to ‘neutral’ from ‘outperform’.

Again the Swiss bank has raised its target price for Renewi  to 105p from 100p after increasing its earnings estimates, but this suggests less than 1% upside to the current share price, hence the rating downgrade.

And transport operator Stagecoach PLC (LON:SCG) was also a FTSE 250 faller, down 0.8% to 160.5p as JPMorgan Cazenove reduced its target price to 131p from 149p and reiterated an ‘underweight’ rating on the stock.

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Gold recovery specialist Goldplat PLC (LON:GDP) updated on positive exploration progress from Ashanti Gold Corp on the former's Anumso gold project in Ghana. Ashanti has the right to earn up to 75% of Goldplat's interest in the site by spending US$3mln on exploration.

Anglo Asian Mining PLC (LON:AAZ) has announced a 19% rise in gold production thanks to the opening of mining at the Ugur open pit in September. Gold production amounted to 14,468 ounces for the third quarter, ended September 30, while copper production totalled 550 tonnes and silver totalled 40,288 ounces.

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