2nd Apr 2019 10:44
LONDON (Alliance News) - The following stocks are the leading risers and fallers within the main London indices on Tuesday.----------FTSE 100 - WINNERS----------Hargreaves Lansdown, up 1.5%. Citigroup raised the fund supermarket to Neural from Sell.----------Diageo, up 1.1%. Barclays started coverage on the distiller with an Overweight rating. ----------FTSE 100 - LOSERS----------Rolls-Royce, down 1.7%. Singapore Airlines confirmed it had grounded two of its Boeing 787-10 due to issues with their Rolls-Royce Trent 1000 TEN engines, the Straits Times reported. The flag carrier grounded two of its nine Boeing 787-10 which were fitted with the Trent 1000 TEN. The Trent 1000 TEN is an improved version of the FTSE 100-listed jet engine maker's Trent 1000 engine which has had issued with premature blade cracking. Strait Times reported that sources from the airline had confirmed that preliminary checks had shown the same cracked blade issue on the TEN as its older sibling. Singapore Airlines confirmed it had completed its checks on all its Boeing 787-10 aircraft and just need to check the engine of a Scoot 787-9 aircraft.----------J Sainbury, down 1.4%. Shares in the supermarket chain were lower following the release of the latest Kantar grocery market survey data. In the 12-weeks to the end of March, Walmart Inc-owned Asda increased sales by a miniscule 0.1% in the period but dislodged Sainsbury's from the second step of the podium, reaching the title of second biggest UK supermarket by market share, with 15.4%. Sainsbury's, now the third biggest UK supermarket, saw sales drop 1.8% as it lost 0.5 of a point from its market share, down to 15.3%. The UK's biggest supermarket, Tesco saw sales up 0.5%, however its market share declined 0.2 percentage point to 27.4%. Tesco shares were up 0.2%. ----------AstraZeneca, down 1.0%. UBS downgraded the Anglo-Swedish drugmaker to Sell from Neutral, on the premise that the FTSE 100 constituent will struggle to generate cash in the near-term. ----------BHP Group, down 0.9%. The Anglo-Australian miner said it will be reviewing its 2019 production guidance following disruption caused by Cyclone Veronica in Australia. The storm has not caused any major damage at Port Hedland in Western Australia, BHP said, but flooding has hampered the movement of trains. As a result, Port Hedland, part of BHP's iron ore arm, is operating at a reduced rate and will continue to do so until later in April. BHP said an early estimate of the impact will see 2019 production fall by around 6 million to 8 million tonnes, and it is also reviewing unit cost guidance. A further update will be provided after further work is carried out, it said. BHP's current guidance for Western Australian Iron Ore, of which Port Hedland is part, is 273 million to 283 million tonnes of iron ore in the financial year ending in June. ----------FTSE 250 - WINNERS----------Ashmore Group, up 4.0%. Bank of America Merrill Lynch raised the emerging markets-focused asset manager to Buy from Neutral.----------Wizz Air Holdings, up 3.8%. The central and eastern Europe-focused airline reported further traffic growth in March, as it said it expects its annual profit to come in towards the top of its guidance. Wizz Air said it expects its annual net profit for the year ended March to come in towards the upper half of its guidance range of between EUR270 million and EUR300 million. A year ago, Wizz Air's net profit amounted to EUR275 million. For the month of March, Wizz Air reported a 9.9% rise in passenger numbers to 2.7 million, while the increase was even greater, up 17% to 34.6 million, on a rolling 12 months basis. The company increased its capacity - the number of available seats - by 6.9% in March to 2.9 million and by 15% in the past 12 month to 37.3 million.----------OTHER MAIN MARKET AND AIM - WINNERS----------Sabien Technology Group, up 50%. The boiler energy efficiency technology company said it has been awarded a contract by a major government department worth GBP846,375. The company said the deal is for the deployment of its M2G boiler optimisation technology across parts of its Estate. "This is a key contract award for Sabien and is another illustration of the success we can achieve in the public sector," said Chief Executive Alan O'Brien. Sabien Tech said this contract win brings total orders to-date for the financial year to the end of June to GBP1.1 million, more than doubled from GBP478,709 a year prior.----------Intercede Group, up 40%. The digital identity software specialist said it expects to report a return to profitability in its most recently ended financial year following a major contract win with the US government. Intercede said it expects to report revenue for the year that ended on Sunday in excess of GBP10.0 million, which is ahead of market expectations and 10% higher than the prior financial year. This growth reflects the impact of follow-on orders from existing customers plus new contract wins via partners in the US, Europe and Asia, Intercede said. The company highlighted that on Friday last week it secured a US government order, worth USD4.3 million, including software licenses and annual support & maintenance. Intercede expects USD2.1 million of revenue to be recognised in its recently ended financial year.----------OTHER MAIN MARKET AND AIM - LOSERS----------Ryanair Holdings, down 2.5%. HSBC downgraded the Irish carrier to Hold from Buy. In addition, Ryanair said March passenger numbers rose 9.0% to 10.9 million. On a rolling annual basis Ryanair's traffic was also up 9.0% to 142.1 million. The airline's load factor stood at 96% both in March and over the 12-month rolling period. Furthermore, Ryanair said its pilots based in Portugal voted in favour of a collective labour agreement governing pay and conditions for the next four years. The agreement was negotiated between the airline and the Portuguese pilot union, SPAC, and covers all of Ryanair's directly employed pilots in Portugal.----------Bonmarche Holdings, down 23% at 13.86p. Spectre Holdings announced a mandatory cash offer for the women's clothing retailer valuing the company at GBP5.7 million. Spectre, a Dubai-registered company 100% owned by Edinburgh Woollen Mill owner Philip Day, was required to make the bid after acquiring 26.2 million shares and building a majority 52.4% stake in the retailer. The offer, which is wholly unconditional, is priced at 11.445 pence per share, a 34% discount to Bonmarche's GBP8.7 million market value Monday's close. The final price on full acceptance of the offer would be GBP2.7 million. After buying the retailer, Spectre intends to cancel its listing from the London Stock Exchange. In response, Bonmarche advised its shareholders to take no action following Day's offer. "Taking the business private and out of the City spotlight would theoretically help the retailer to focus on a recovery plan and not have its every move scrutinised by investors. However, shareholders aren't getting a good deal from the takeover so they would lose out should Day be successful in revitalising the business," said AJ Bell's Russ Mould. ----------
Related Shares:
Wizz AirRYA.LAstrazenecaHargreaves LansdownAshmoreIntercedeSainsbury'sRolls-RoyceBON.LSabien Tech.