10th May 2019 10:41
LONDON (Alliance News) - The following stocks are the leading risers and fallers within the main London indices on Friday.----------FTSE 100 - WINNERS----------International Consolidated Airlines Group, up 3.5%. The British Airways parent reported a significant drop in profit during the first quarter of the year, hampered by the later timing of Easter this year and higher fuel costs. For the three months to March 31, IAG posted pretax profit of EUR86 million, down 90% from the previous year's EUR885 million. Revenue in the quarter rose 5.9% to EUR5.31 billion from EUR5.02 billion a year prior, with Passenger revenue up 5.2%, Cargo down 0.4% and Other revenue up 20%. Looking ahead, IAG said it expects 2019 operating profit to be in line with 2018, when considered in terms of current fuel prices and exchange rates. Last year, IAG's operating profit was EUR3.68 billion. "A lot of the bad stuff in today's update from British Airways-owner International Consolidated Airlines would have been widely expected by the market. This explains why the shares have taken off despite a big year-on-year fall in first quarter profit," AJ Bell's Russ Mould noted. ----------FTSE 100 - LOSERS----------British Land, down 2.6%. The commercial property company was downgraded to Underweight from Equal Weight by Barclays. ----------AstraZeneca, down 1.0%. The drugmaker late Thursday said pooled analyses of phase three trials of roxadustat showed the anaemia drug only outperformed in patients who were new to dialysis in terms of cardiovascular safety. The company is working with FibroGen to develop roxadustat, which is intended to treat anaemia in patients with chronic kidney disease. The most recent analyses concerned three different groups: patients who were not dependent on dialysis, patients who had just begun dialysis, and stable dialysis groups. The drug met its cardiovascular safety endpoints in all three groups. The analyses looked at major adverse cardiovascular events, or MACE, which evaluates all-cause mortality, stroke, and myocardial infarction. The analyses also looked at MACE in addition to heart failure requiring hospitalisation and unstable angina requiring hospitalisation, known as MACE plus. The MACE and MACE plus outcomes in non dialysis-dependent patients showed no clinically-meaningful difference compared to placebo, which was also true in dialysis-dependent patients.----------Auto Trader, down 0.8%. Citigroup cut the online car marketplace to Neutral from Buy. ----------FTSE 250 - LOSERS----------Brewin Dolphin, down 3.5% at 309.40 pence. The wealth manager is to carry out a fundraising following a series of acquisitions, it said, including a new one in Ireland. Brewin has bought the Irish wealth management unit of Anglo-South African bank Investec for around EUR44 million. The firm, which confirmed mid-April it was in talks with Investec, said this builds on its plan to expand Irish operations, creating a "top three" wealth management business in the republic. The Investec business has offices in Dublin and Cork, with funds under management of EUR2.9 billion as of the end of March. Following the Investec deal, Brewin plans raise approximately GBP60 million at a price of 305 pence a share. Liberum Capital and RBC Europe are acting as joint bookrunners for the placing. The 305p placing price is a 5.0% discount to Brewin's closing price of 321p on Thursday in London. Investec shares were up 3.0%.----------OTHER MAIN MARKET AND AIM - WINNERS----------Premier Technical Services Group, up 13%. The specialist services firm said sales remained "robust" and contract renewal rates high in the first three months of 2019. The company, which provides fall-arrest equipment services, lightning protection and electrical testing, also said it has secured several significant three- to five-year contracts across all divisions with new and existing customers since the start of 2019. Major contracts secured in the first quarter include a fire solutions contract for London Underground, fixed wire testing for carmaker BMW, and replacement fall arrest equipment for grocer WM Morrisons Supermarkets.----------Andrew Sykes Group, up 11%. The heating and air-conditioning firm held its full year dividend after profit and revenue grew amid a "successful" performance despite awareness of challenges facing the business. In 2018, pretax profit widened 21% to GBP21.0 million from GBP17.3 million the year prior. This was after revenue rose 10% to GBP78.6 million from GBP71.3 million the year before. Andrew Sykes Chair Jacques-Gaston Murray explained the firm had seen the "successful performance in the first half of the year continued into the second half." Andrew Sykes proposed a 11.9 pence per share dividend, unchanged on the year prior. For the full year, the dividend also remained unchanged at 23.80p.----------