22nd May 2018 10:41
LONDON (Alliance News) - The following stocks are the leading risers and fallers within the main London indices on Tuesday.----------FTSE 100 - WINNERS----------Melrose Industries, up 1.0%. JPMorgan added the industrial turnaround specialist to its European Best Equity Ideas list.----------FTSE 100 - LOSERS----------Marks & Spencer, down 1.8%. The food, clothing and homewares retailer said t will close over 100 stores by 2022, almost 10% of its current total, as part of the previously announced UK store estate reshaping programme. The UK bellwether retailer also said that it will scale back its food store opening programme and will now open 15 fewer stores than planned for 2019 financial year. The company plans to close 14 Clothing & Home stores in the current financial year ending March 31, 2019, as part of the store estate transformation plan.----------National Grid, down 0.8%. UK energy regulator Ofgem said it has launched an investigation into National Grid Electricity Transmission's demand forecasting for the UK electricity market. NGET is the system operator for the electricity transmission network in England, Scotland and Wales, and is owned by National Grid. "It ensures that supply and demand are balanced in real-time and provides demand forecasts to the UK electricity market. These help electricity suppliers to make efficient operational and investment decisions," said Ofgem. The investigation will examine whether NGET breached rules relating to its duty to operate the system in an "economic and efficient manner". This includes, but is not limited to, producing and publishing appropriate forecasts of demand. ----------Royal Mail, down 0.7%. JPMorgan downgraded the postal operator to Neutral from Overweight. ----------FTSE 250 - WINNERS----------Greencore, up 11%. The sandwich maker said exceptional charges relating to closure of a US production facility resulted in a pretax loss for the first half of its 2018 financial year. Greencore recorded a pretax loss of GBP18.1 million for the first half compared with pretax profit of GBP11.7 million in the year ago period, on a revenue of GBP1.24 billion and GBP1.01 billion, respectively. Profit, before tax and exceptional items, totalled GBP35.0 million versus GBP34.6 million. Exceptional items, including costs related to closure of a production site in the US state of Rhode Island, totalled GBP53.1 million versus GBP22.9 million a year ago. The company's UK & Ireland unit recorded 7% growth in first half revenue to GBP734.9 million. Adjusted operating profit rose marginally to GBP47.1 million from GBP46.8 million.----------Cranswick, up 6.5%. The pork and poultry products producer reported "record levels" of revenue and a 14% rise in annual pretax profit. For the financial year ended March, the company's revenue increased 18% to GBP1.46 billion from GBP1.24 billion year-on-year, although this figure includes an extra week in 2018. Like-for-like revenue was up 13%. The company said the increase in revenue was driven by "robust growth" across all product categories and a 30% increase in export sales. The group reported pretax profit of GBP88.0 million, a 14% increase on the previous year at GBP77.5 million. Cranswick lifted the full-year dividend by 22% to 53.7p versus 44.1p for 2017 achieving the "28th consecutive year of dividend growth", the Cranswick said.----------FTSE 250 - LOSERS----------Inmarsat, down 11%. Iridium Communications said on Monday the International Maritime Organization's Maritime Safety Committee has recognised that it meets the criteria needed to provide Global Maritime Distress and Safety System services. Inmarsat had been the only provider of GMDSS-approved satellite communication services. Nasdaq-listed Iridium formally began the process to become a recognised GMDSS mobile satellite service provider in 2013. Iridium said it plans to begin providing GMDSS services in early 2020.----------Halfords Group, down 11%. The bicycle and car parts retailer posted a rise in revenue but a dip in profit for its recently-ended financial year, with underlying profit to be steady in the year ahead. Revenue rose 3.7% in the year to March 31, coming in at GBP1.14 billion, up 2.0% on a like-for-like basis. Retail sales were up 2.3% like-for-like. Pretax profit slipped to GBP67.1 million from GBP71.4 million. Underlying pretax profit fell 5.0% to GBP71.6 million from GBP75.4 million. Looking ahead, the retailer said it anticipates the UK motoring market will remain "robust", with good growth prospects for the cycling market. However, Halfords said it does not expect prices to rise in cycling this year. "Yesterday the share price hit a 17-month high, so traders clearly had high hopes for today's update. Halfords stated that next-year's profits will be largely unchanged from this year's, and this prompted traders to exit their long positions," said CMC Markets analyst David Madden. ----------Pets At Home, down 6.9%. The pet products retailer reported a rise in annual revenue though profit tumbled, as it looked ahead to the second year of its transformation plan. The company said like-for-like revenue rose 5.5% in the financial year to March 29, as reported sales rose 7.8% to GBP898.9 million. Merchandise revenue rose 6.8% to GBP765.4 million, while Services & Other rose 14% to GBP133.5 million. The gross margin slipped to 51.7% from 54.2%, as pretax profit tumbled 17% to GBP79.6 million from GBP95.4 million. The year ahead will be the second of the company's three-year financial transition back to "sustainable profit growth".----------UDG Healthcare, down 6.5%. The healthcare company reported a rise in revenue in the first half of its 2018 financial year, but profit plunged on goodwill impairment. The Dublin-based company reported revenue covering the six months to the end of March totalling USD675.3 million, up 17% from USD578.9 million reported for the same period the year before. On a constant currency basis, revenue rose 11%. UDG Healthcare's largest unit Ashfield delivered revenue of USD372.3 million, up 29% from USD289.0 reported the prior year. Meanwhile, Sharp division's revenue fell by 7.0% to USD142.5 million from USD152.7 million year-on-year, partly offset by a revenue increase in Acquilant division, which rose by 17% to USD53.9 million from USD46.3 million.----------Related Shares:
InmarsatNational GridCranswickMarks & SpencerMelroseHalfordsRMG.LGreencoreUDG.LPets at home