6th Nov 2018 10:43
LONDON (Alliance News) - The following stocks are the leading risers and fallers within the main London indices on Tuesday.----------FTSE 100 - WINNERS----------Associated British Foods, up 2.5%. The Primark clothing chain owner and sugar producer hiked its dividend by 10% as a strong performance from Primark offset a drop in its Sugar business. AB Foods Retail unit, comprising of low-cost fashion chain Primark, "delivered its most significant profit growth in recent years", with adjusted operating profit up 15% to GBP843 million from GBP735 million and revenue up 6.1% to GBP7.48 billion from GBP7.05 billion. AB Foods Sugar unit recorded a 51% drop in adjusted profit to GBP123 million from GBP249 million. Revenue fell 15% to GBP1.73 billion from GBP2.03 billion. The company lifted its full-year dividend to 45 pence per share after proposing a 33.3p final payout for the year. ----------Centrica, up 1.5%. Shares in the British Gas parent were up after the UK energy regulator set its final energy price cap at GBP1,137 per year for a typical dual-fuel customer paying by direct debit, following an initial consultation back in September. The Office of Gas & Electricity Markets said the energy price cap, which is effective from January 1, will remove around GBP1 billion of overcharging from consumers' bills. If the price cap was with immediate effect, around 11 million households would have been protected by the cap. Customers on default tariffs will save around GBP76 on average and GBP120 on the most expensive tariffs due to the price cap, the regulator added. The price cap level will be updated in April and October every year to reflect the latest estimated costs of supplying electricity and gas, including wholesale energy costs.----------DS Smith, up 1.4%. The recycled packaging firm said it has traded in line with expectations in the first half of its financial year as industry and business trends remained consistent with the prior quarter. The company expects adjusted operating profit and the return on sales for the six months to the end of October to be "materially ahead" of the year before. Adjusted operating profit in the prior year was GBP251 million, while return on sales was at 9.0%. The improved performance has been attributed to the recovery of increased input costs earlier in the year and volume growth in the group's Fast Moving Consumer Goods business.----------Randgold Resources, up 1.3%. The gold miner reported rise in third-quarter profit on the back of stable gold production and a quarter-on-quarter reduction in costs. The company, which is in the process of merging with Canadian peer Barrick Gold, recorded profit of USD73.2 million for the quarter ended September 30, up from USD60.2 million in the year ago period, on a revenue of USD243.6 million and USD298.0 million, respectively. The 22% rise in profit also was attributed to increase in the share of profits from joint ventures and decrease in depreciation and other charges.----------FTSE 100 - LOSERS----------Wm Morrison Supermarkets, down 5.5%. The supermarket chain said sales growth slowed on a quarter-on-quarter basis in the third quarter due to the absence of favourable warm weather and the football World Cup, both of which benefited the second quarter. The grocer's like-for-like sales, excluding fuel, rose 5.6% for 13 weeks to November 4, with retail rising 1.3% and wholesale 4.3%. Same-store sales, excluding fuel, were up 6.3% in the second quarter of the current financial year and were up 3.6% in the first quarter. Same-store sales had grown by 2.5% in the third quarter of financial 2018. Total sales for the recent third quarter were up 6.0%, excluding fuel, and up 6.4% including fuel.----------FTSE 250 - WINNERS----------IWG, up 9.0%. The office space provider said it saw growth in revenue for the third quarter of its financial year, with strong performances outside of the UK. For the three months to the end of September, the company formerly known as Regus reported revenue at GBP637.9 million, up 10% at constant currency from GBP585.7 million the year before, through a 13% open centre revenue growth. In particular, there was high single digit growth in mature revenue from the America and EMEA regions, leading to group mature revenue rising by 3.9% at constant currency to GBP565.1 million from GBP549.8 million. For the nine months to September, group revenue rose by 8.1% to GBP1.84 billion from GBP1.76 billion the year before, due to an improvement in IWG's pre-2016 estate and the continued development of new additions.----------Weir Group, up 6.0%. The engineer said its orders increased in the third quarter of 2018, boosted by its acquisition of US-based surface mining company ESCO Corp. In the three months to September, including the ESCO acquisition, orders were up 40% in the third quarter at constant currency, which compares to a 16% increase in the second 2018 quarter. Also at constant currency, Weir's orders from continuing operations were up 16% on a like-for-like basis. This compares to a 14% like-for-like increase in the second quarter. Like-for-like includes neither the ESCO acquisition in July nor Weir's acquisition of KOP in 2017. Like-for-like aftermarket orders from continuing operations grew by 15% and original equipment was up 20% like-for-like.----------Synthomer, up 2.8%. The speciality chemicals company said its Europe & North America division recorded "solid" third quarter and Asia & Rest of World division continued to grow in line with expectations, as the company reorganises its structure into three divisions. Synthomer said it will be reorganising from January 2019, "in order to accelerate sales growth". Synthomer will create three new business groups: Performance Elastomers, Functional Solutions and Specialities. In the third quarter, the company said its Europe & North America division's sales volumes were "slightly lower" than the comparative period a year before. Synthomer did say, however, that its unit margins were "slightly above" the previous year, reflecting further investment and increased efficiencies across the division.----------FTSE 250 - LOSERS----------William Hill, down 2.5%. The bookmaker warned of a decline in annual profit as it reported revenue for the 17 weeks since June 27 was down 4% on a year before. William Hill said it expects financial 2018 operating profit to come in between GBP225 million and GBP245 million. A year ago, adjusted operating profit was GBP291.3 million. Furthermore, William Hill said it expects its profit to reduce by GBP20 million in 2018 and by a further GBP25 million in 2019, due to "adverse regulatory and tax changes" including the increase in Remote Gaming Duty to 21% that was announced in the UK government budget last week. In financial 2017, adjusted pretax profit came in at GBP245.9 million while, on a statutory basis, William Hill reported a pretax loss of GBP74.6 million. ----------OTHER MAIN MARKET AND AIM - WINNERS----------Pebble Beach Systems Group, up 21%. The software company said it secured two new orders worth GBP2 million, which will lead to "improved profitability". Pebble Beach received an order worth GBP1.0 million from an unnamed "large" European commercial broadcaster for its traditional automation and playout technology. The project is to be commissioned this month to be ready for an on air date in early 2019. Furthermore, the firm secured another GBP1.0 million order from an unnamed European broadcast service provider, for a new "state of the art, IP-based facility" in Zurich. The contract is expected to be finalised in November, and the new facility is scheduled to open in the autumn of 2019.----------OTHER MAIN MARKET AND AIM - LOSERS----------Proteome Sciences, down 11%. The drug development company said it expects an operating loss "similar to 2017" in 2018, as the firm's overall performance remains behind plan. In 2017, the group reported an operating loss of GBP1.8 million and a pretax loss of GBP2.1 million on revenue of GBP3.4 million. Proteome added that its full-year service revenue is "likely be in line with the previous year", reflecting the time taken to execute orders. However, the company reported "stronger" recognised revenue from services during the third quarter, with "early evidence of a characteristically stronger fourth quarter" suggesting that the value of committed work orders in 2018 should more than double 2017.----------
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IWGPebble BeachWMH.LSmith (DS)SynthomerCentricaRandgold ResourcesProteomeWeir GroupMRW.LAB Foods