4th Jan 2019 10:31
LONDON (Alliance News) - The following stocks are the leading risers and fallers within the main London indices on Friday.----------FTSE 100 - WINNERS----------Antofagasta, up 3.9%, Glencore, up 3.2%, Anglo American, up 2.9%, Rio Tinto up 2.2%. Blue-chip mining stocks rose on a report the Chinese services sector accelerated slightly. The Caixin services PMI reading increased slightly to 53.9 in December from 53.8 in November, providing some positive news about the Chinese economy after two negative readings on manufacturing earlier in the week had sent London miners lower. The Caixin composite PMI reading came in at 52.2 in the last month of 2018, up from 51.9 in November. The improved score was a result of higher activity levels across both sectors, with China's services companies registering continued growth and manufacturing expanding somewhat following "two months of stagnation". Despite Friday's rally, the FTSE 350 mining sector remains down 1.3% in the week so far. ----------Whitbread, up 1.6% at 4,659.00. Barclays upgraded the hospitality stock to an Overweight rating from Equal Weight, at a target price of 5,200p. On Thursday, Whitbread said it has secured proceeds of GBP3.9 billion from the completed sale of coffee-shop chain Costa to soft drinks firm Coca Cola and said it would start its share buyback programme to return some to shareholders.----------London Stock Exchange Group, up 1.5% at 4,131.00. Commerzbank upgraded the group to a Hold rating from Reduce, at a target price of 4,400p.----------FTSE 100 - LOSERS----------Diageo, down 0.5% at 2,727.00. Bernstein cut the alcohol drinks maker to an Underperform rating, from Market Perform, while reducing its price target to 2,420p from 2,500p.----------OTHER MAIN MARKET AND AIM - WINNERS----------LightwaveRF, up 16%. The home products developer reported revenue of GBP1.2 million for the three months to December-end, up sharply from GBP450,000 in the comparative year-ago period. Online sales increased more than six-times to GBP291,000 from GBP48,000 in the quarter, while telesales revenue jumped 46% to GBP229,000 from GBP156,600. Online sales in the Black Friday week - November 19 to November 26 - increased to GBP130,000 from GBP5,000 a year earlier, the company said, attributing the strong performance to improvements made in sales and marketing strategies.----------Glenveagh Properties, up 7.8%. The Irish homebuilder said it expects to report revenue of EUR84 million for the whole of 2018, having recorded only EUR1.3 million in revenue in the first half. The resulting total revenue of EUR85.3 million in 2018, compares to just EUR1.4 million in 2017. Gross margin for 2018 is expected to have been around 18%. The company completed 275 sales in 2018 as a whole at an average unit selling price of EUR287,000. This price was attributed to "strong performance" from Glenveagh's starter-home schemes. Glenveagh's guidance is for an average selling price of between EUR340,000 and EUR370,000 per unit in 2019.----------OTHER MAIN MARKET AND AIM - LOSERS----------Gear4music Holdings, down 49%. The musical equipment firm's shares plunged after warning that earnings for its current financial year would be lowered compared to the year before. "Further sales growth in excess of expectations was constrained by our York distribution centre, which reached maximum capacity during the peak trading period between Black Friday and Christmas. Whilst there was an improvement in margins in the period compared to the first half of financial 2019, these capacity constraints prevented further sales growth compensating for the lower gross margins and, as a result, the board now expects financial 2019 earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortisation to be slightly below financial 2018 levels." In its financial year ended February 2018, Gear4music posted Ebitda of GBP3.5 million, down 4% year-on-year. ----------Circassia Pharmaceuticals, down 9.1%. The respiratory-focused pharmaceuticals firm said it expects revenue to be in the GBP48 million to GBP52 million for 2018. Although this reflects growth from GBP46.3 million in 2017, first half revenue of GBP28.4 million implies a weaker performance in the second half, with revenue to do be between around GBP19.6 million and GBP23.6 million. The drop in second-half revenue was attributed to higher Tudorza rebates in federal channels in the 2018. The fall was also attributed to a delay in the recognition of revenue in China, where Circassia is establishing a new local subsidiary and supply chain.----------
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