8th Aug 2019 10:37
(Alliance News) - The following stocks are the leading risers and fallers within the main London indices on Thursday.----------FTSE 100 - WINNERS----------Hargreaves Lansdown, up 7.0%. The fund supermarket reported a rise in assets under administration in a "very challenging" financial year. Hargreaves ended the financial year with GBP99.3 billion in total assets under administration, 8.4% ahead of the GBP91.6 billion reported at the same point last year. Hargreaves said assets under administration at one point topped GBP100 billion during the financial year, marking the first time the company has hit the figure. The financial services firm's net new business inflows slowed to GBP7.3 billion compared to GBP7.6 billion the year before. Market movements added GBP400 million to total assets. During the year, Hargreaves added 133,000 clients, taking its total to a record 1.2 million.----------FTSE 100 - LOSERS----------BT Group, down 5.6%. Shares in the telecommunications firm went ex-dividend on Thursday, meaning new buyers no longer qualify for the latest payout.----------Coca-Cola HBC, down 1.6%. The soft drinks bottler posted a drop in profit in the first half of its year due to increased debt, as well as restructuring and acquisitions, which pushed up costs and expenses. The Coca-Cola drinks bottler's pretax profit for the six months ended June 28 was EUR260.8 million, down 10% from EUR290.1 million the year before. Operating expenses rose 5.1% to EUR955.1 million, pushed up by acquisition and restructuring costs, with total restructuring costs multiplying to EUR30.2 million from EUR4.0 million. Moreover, finance costs rose sharply to EUR32.8 million from EUR19.1 million, which the bottler said was "mainly due to the higher level of gross debt and the adoption of IFRS 16 on leases". IFRS 16 is a new accounting standard. Revenue was EUR3.35 billion, rising 3.7% from the year before.----------FTSE 250 - WINNERS----------Funding Circle Holdings, up 5.1%. The small business lending platform reported a widened interim loss on higher marketing and staff costs and reiterated its concern about high risk lending. In the six months to June 30, Funding Circle's pretax loss widened to GBP30.8 million from GBP27.1 million the year before. The company's revenue jumped 29% to GBP81.4 million from GBP63.0 million. The rise in revenue was offset, however, by the 25% rise in operating expenses to GBP112.7 million. Marketing and new staff costs increased 43% and 19%, respectively. Funding Circle's loans under management ended the half at at GBP3.54 billion, 37% higher from the GBP2.58 billion seen at the same point a year ago. The platform's loan originations increased 14% in the first half to GBP1.19 billion. The company said its loan performance across its platform remains in line with expectations.----------FTSE 250 - LOSERS----------TI Fluid Systems, down 8.3%. The automotive fluid storage and delivery systems manufacturer said a challenging light-vehicle production environment, notably in China, and cost increases in Europe resulted in a sharp drop in first half earnings. The company also said it expects 2019 revenue to be lower than the prior year and its adjusted earnings before interest and taxes margin to be in-line with the year before, albeit slightly weaker than the 10.1% recorded in the first six months of the year. For the six months to June-end, the company recorded pretax profit of EUR93.4 million, down 25% from EUR124.0 million in the year ago period, on a revenue of EUR1.71 billion and EUR1.77 billion, respectively. In the six months, global light vehicle production volumes declined 6.7% year-on-year in all markets and reached 45.2 million vehicles.----------Hastings Group, down 7.1%. The insurer reported a sharp drop in profit due to changes in the discount rate applicable for personal injury damage awards but saw a rise in gross premiums. In the six months to June 30, the car and home insurer's pretax profit halved to GBP46.1 million from GBP86.8 million the year before. Hastings blamed the sharp decline in profit on claims inflation running ahead of earned premium inflation, combined with legislative changes which increased underwriting levies. Hasting's gross written premiums edged 2.8% higher to GBP499.2 million from GBP485.6 million. The insurer's net earned premiums, however, slipped 1.6% to GBP215.6 million. Net revenue slipped 1.6% to GBP370.3 million from GBP376.3 million.----------Cineworld, down 4.6%. The cinema chain operator said it expects trading for the full year to be in line with expectations despite a "softer" first half revenue performance due to timings of major film releases. Group revenue rose 15% to USD2.15 billion from USD1.86 billion in the six months to June 30, but fell 11% on a pro-forma basis to USD2.15 billion from USD2.42 billion. The pro-forma figure reflects what the company's performance would have been if the Regal Entertainment Group reverse acquisition was consolidated for the whole of the first half of 2018. Cineworld recorded a 13% drop in first half pretax profit to USD139.7 million from USD160.2 million. On a pro-forma basis, admissions fell by 14% to USD136.0 million from USD158.8 million. The non-pro-forma admissions figure for the first half of 2018 was USD123.0 million.----------Bellway, down 3.0%. The housebuilder said it expects profit for its recently ended financial year to be in line with market estimates, while it also anticipated a rise in revenue. In the year ended July 31, revenue is expected to rise by over 8% to GBP3.20 billion following the property developer's "successful delivery" of its growth strategy. The company expects a pretax profit of GBP644.0 million, in line with market forecasts, which would be 0.5% higher than the GBP641.1 million it achieved in financial 2018. Bellway said the trading environment was favourable, with low-interest rates and the government's help to buy scheme ensuring "strong underlying demand for good quality new homes". Looking ahead, the company said the forward order book, which comprises of 4,878 homes at a total value of GBP1.22 billion, will ensure further growth in financial 2020. ----------OTHER MAIN MARKET AND AIM - WINNERS----------Kerry Group, up 3.3%. The Irish foods firm updated its annual earnings guidance as first half profit and revenue rose on a strong performance from its core Taste & Nutrition business. Kerry reported a pretax profit of EUR272.4 million, up 5.3% from EUR258.7 million the year before. Trading profit, which is operating profit before asset amortisation and non-trading items, rose by 13% to EUR382.9 million from EUR340.0 million, with a higher trading margin of 10.7% compared to 10.5% the year before. This was mainly on double-digit growth in revenue, rising by 11% to EUR3.57 billion from EUR3.23 billion the prior year, reflecting volume growth of 3.3%, contribution from acquisitions of 4.7% and a favourable currency impact of 2.7%. Looking ahead, Kerry has updated its guidance for 2019, now expecting growth in adjusted earnings per share of 7% to 9% in constant currency, compared to its previous guidance of 6% to 10%.----------