FTSE Movers: Aggreko rises on Tepco deal; French sale lifts Vodafone

Aggreko (AGGK.L) rose on Monday after the group won a contract to provide emergency power in Japan, while Vodafone (VOD.L) gained after the telecoms group agreed to sell its stake in SFR, the French mobile phone operator.

Aggreko

Shares in Aggreko climbed 47p to £16.41, topping the FTSE 100 leader board, as the temporary power provider approached its record high, set last year, of £16.85.

The firm announced that the troubled Tokyo Electric Power Company planned to award Aggreko a contract for the rental of 200 MW of emergency power, subject to talks, in the wake of Japan’s devastating earthquake and tsunami.

‘In view of the challenges facing the Japanese power supply, Aggreko has undertaken to start mobilisation of the equipment immediately,’ the group said in a statement.

Caroline de La Soujeole, analyst at Seymour Pierce, said the deal underlined the company's attractions. ‘Aggreko enjoys a market leading position and has the global scale and flexibility to respond quickly to emergency needs,’ she added, reiterating a ‘buy’ recommendation for the stock with a £17.75 target price.

Vodafone rises

Vodafone climbed 3p to £1.82 after saying it would sell its entire 44% shareholding in SFR to Vivendi, the French mobile phone group, for a €7.95bn (£7.02 billion). Vodafone will also receive a final dividend from SFR of €200 million (£176 million) on completion of the transaction.

The group is a popular holding in UK funds, including Ben Whitmore’s Jupiter UK Special Situations and James Harries’ Newton Global Higher Income.

Miners gain

Miners gained after Asian shares rose to their highest in nearly three years on the back of Friday’s better-than-expected US jobs report. Fresnillo (FRES.L) was 44p higher at £16.09, Kazakhmys (KAZ.L) advanced 30p to £14.38 and Eurasian Natural Resources (ENRC.L) added 19p to £6.76.

Rio Tinto (RIO.L) gained 56p to £44.75 after the Financial Times reported that Chinalco , the Chinese aluminum group, had no plans to reduce its stake in the Australian miner. The gains also came after the group raised its stake in takeover target Riversdale Mining to 43.1%.

Analysts at Evolution Securities pointed out, meanwhile, that since higher oil prices and increased taxes were taking money out of consumers’ pockets, corporate spending remained the key determinant of global metals demand.

‘With low interest rates we believe that this will remain strong and so expect that industrial confidence will remain upbeat – albeit that the near-term influences of a late Easter and May-day holidays could lead to a dip in demand as manufacturers start to manage their stocks,’ they said in a research note.

BP edges up

BP (BP.L) rose 5p to £4.75 after the oil major agreed to sell ARCO Aluminum, a firm that makes the aluminium sheet used in drinks cans, to a group of Japanese companies for £421 million.