5th Apr 2019 10:38
LONDON (Alliance News) - The following stocks are the leading risers and fallers within the main London indices on Friday.----------FTSE 100 - LOSERS----------Berkeley Group, down 1.3%, Barratt Developments, down 1.0%, Persimmon, down 0.9%. The housebuilders were lower after data from Halifax showed monthly house prices fell in March. House prices in the three months to March were 3.2% higher compared to the same period a year ago. On a monthly basis, however, house prices fell 1.6% in March. The average house price in the UK is now GBP233,181, Halifax said. "These conflicting challenges, when combined with the ongoing uncertainty around Brexit, have had an impact across the country but most notably in London, meaning that we continue to expect subdued price growth for the time being," said Halifax Managing Director Russell Galley.----------FTSE 250 - WINNERS----------ContourGlobal, up 4.8%. The power plant operator declared a dividend above company guidance as it reported a surge in annual revenue. For 2018, revenue grew by 23% to USD1.25 billion from USD1.02 billion in 2017. However, pretax profit for 2018 was USD27.8 million, down 32% from USD40.6 million the year before, due to higher depreciation and amortisation costs as well as finance expenses. Adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation however increased by 19% to USD610 million from USD513 million in 2017, due to growth on acquisitions of CSP Spain and CHP Mexico and gains from the sale of minority solar assets in Italy and Slovakia. ContourGlobal declared a final dividend of 9.4 cents per share, leading to a total payout of 13.4 cents, or USD90 million in total. The total dividend is above the group's initial guidance of USD80 million. Looking ahead, ContourGlobal has guided adjusted Ebitda for 2019 to be in the range of USD720 million to USD770 million and dividends to increase by 10% per year.----------Woodford Patient Capital Trust, up 2.2%. The trust reported an increase in its net asset value, as the largest companies in its portfolio achieved commercialisation phase. The FTSE 250 investment trust's net asset value per share rose 6.9% to 97.61 pence on December 31 from 91.33p a year prior. Woodford's total net assets were up the same 6.9% to GBP807.2 million from GBP755.3 million. Among the best performing companies in the trust's portfolio, Autolus was the star performer after completing a stock market listing on Nasdaq. Other companies such as Proton Partners, the UK's first high-energy proton beam therapy provider, entered the commercialisation phase in 2018, the company added. ----------AVEVA, up 1.5%. The engineering and industrial software group said that it will acquire software assets of partner MaxGrip for an undisclosed sum. Netherlands-based MaxGrip develops asset performance management software and provides consultancy services to businesses managing capital-intensive assets. AVEVA said MaxGrip will expand the company's asset performance management product offering by providing asset strategy optimisation and maintenance solutions software for risk-based maintenance.----------FTSE 250 - LOSERS----------Funding Circle Holdings, down 7.5%. Shares in the small business lender were lower after Funding Circle SME Income Fund said that some shareholders had indicated they want the fund to stop investing and be wound up in an "orderly and expeditious fashion". Funding Circle SME plans to hold an extraordinary general meeting in the future where shareholders will vote on whether to wind down the company, which would lead to its assets being realised and not reinvested. Funding Circle SME said the decision followed consultation with around two-thirds of its shareholders. In response to the announcement, Funding Circle Holdings said that Funding Circle SME had become a "declining part of its overall funding mix", as the group started to expand its range of funding sources and become more international in nature. Shares in Funding Circle SME were up 0.2%.----------Stagecoach Group, down 5.5%. Jefferies downgraded the transport operator to Underperform from Hold. ----------OTHER MAIN MARKET AND AIM - WINNERS----------Tricorn Group, up 19%. The pipes manufacturer said it expects an increase in annual profit and revenue on the back of new business wins in the transportation division. Adjusted pretax profit for the year to the end of March is anticipated to rise by 30% from GBP827,000 reported for the year before. Revenue is expected to grew by 2.5% from GBP22.2 million the prior year, due to business growth in the transportation division, and a strong performance from Tricorn's joint venture in China. The company said business growth in the transportation unit have more than offset reduced revenue in the energy division, which was as a result of significantly lower demand from the power generation rental sector.----------OTHER MAIN MARKET AND AIM - LOSERS----------Motorpoint Group, down 7.0%. The car dealer said it expects to record growth in revenue and underlying pretax profit for 2019 financial year despite a slower second half. Motorpoint intends to report annual revenue growth of more than 6% for the year ended March 31. Growth was weakest in Motorpoint's second half but it does expect to see its market share increase in its current financial year ended 2020. In terms of outlook, Motorpoint expressed caution due to the "continued volatile political environment and consumer uncertainty" and anticipates an approximately GBP2 million non-cash profit headwind in its 2020 financial year compared to financial 2019. Nonetheless, revenue and underlying profit are expected to continue to grow in financial 2020. The company has exchanged contracts on what is expected to be is 13 retail site once it opens in the second half of the 2019 calendar year.----------Matomy Media, down 27%. The marketing technology company said it had received a USD36 million cash offer to sell its majority stake in Team Internet to its minority partner in the technology firm. Matomy - which owns a 90% stake in Team Internet - received the offer from Rainmaker Investments, which owns the remaining 10% stake in Team Internet. Part of the consideration would be used to repay in full with interest some convertible notes worth ILS101 million, about USD28 million. In 2018, Matomy generated a pretax loss of USD3.3 million on revenue of USD88.7 million.----------ProPhotonix, down 10%. The LED lighting manufacturer sunk to an annual loss as 2018 proved to be a challenging year. For 2018, ProPhotonix posted a pretax loss of USD1.3 million compared to a USD1.6 million profit in 2017. This was due to revenue falling 8% to USD16.4 million from USD17.7 million amid delays in the launch of a customer's new product affecting sales. Research & development costs rose to USD1.0 million from USD763,000 and selling, general & administrative expenses increased to USD6.3 million from USD6.0 million which also impacted profitability. "2018 has been a challenging year for the company with setbacks in revenue, gross profit, and net income," Chief Executive Tim Losik said. ----------