29th Aug 2018 10:40
LONDON (Alliance News) - The following stocks are the leading risers and fallers within the main London indices on Wednesday.----------FTSE 100 - WINNERS----------Centrica, up 2.3% and United Utilities, up 1.9%. Citigroup upgraded the utility stocks to Buy from Neutral. ----------Micro Focus International, up 2.2%. The software firm announced a new share buyback programme. Micro Focus did not say how much the overall buyback would be worth, but it is to return USD200 million to shareholders in the first tranche, running from Wednesday until October 24 with Citigroup in charge. The company also said shareholders have approved its sale of its open-source software business SUSE to Marcel Bidco for USD2.54 billion. ----------GVC Holdings, up 1.5%. Morgan Stanley started coverage on the online betting group with an Overweight rating.----------CRH, up 1.3%. The Irish building materials firm said it has started the second phase of its previously announced EUR1 billion share buyback. CRH will start buying shares worth up to EUR350 million immediately, with the second tranche ending by November 19 at the latest. ----------FTSE 250 - WINNERS----------James Fisher & Sons, up 3.0%. The marine services provider expressed a positive outlook for the future growth as its profit rose 26% in the first half of 2018. The company said pretax profit grew in the six months to the end of June to GBP21.5 million from GBP17.1 million reported for the same period a year earlier, as revenue rose by 12% to GBP260.5 million from GBP232.5 million. On a constant currency basis, revenue increased by 14%. James Fisher upped its interim dividend by 10% to 10.3 pence per share from 9.4p paid the year before. ----------Diploma, up 2.9%. The medical devices, hydraulic seals and specialised wiring manufacturer said it remains on track to deliver full-year results in line with expectations, but believes that a change of chief executive officer is "in the best interests of the company". The company said Richard Ingram has stepped down from his role as CEO with immediate effect. The company has already started a process to identify a successor. Meanwhile, Non-Executive Chairman John Nicholas will take over from Ingram as interim executive chairman until a permanent new CEO is appointed. Diploma also said it continued to trade robustly in the second half of 2018. As a result, for the year to the end of September, the company expects to report revenue growth of 7%, as the negative impact from currency movements has eased during the period and is expected to be around 3%.----------Intu Properties, up 1.9%. Berenberg started coverage on the shopping mall operator with a Buy rating. ----------OTHER MAIN MARKET AND AIM - WINNERS----------Jaywing, up 14%. The public relations firm said it has won more than GBP2 million worth of new business. The first contract win is with customer relationship brand SugarCRM, which will see Jaywing provide digital marketing, public relations, and brand and creative services. Secondly, Jaywing has been chosen by consumer delivery firm Hermes as its lead marketing agency for a two-year period, to manage Hermes's entire account. Turning to existing customers, challenger bank First Direct has re-appointed Jaywing as its PR agency.----------OTHER MAIN MARKET AND AIM - LOSERS----------Johnston Press, down 21%. The regional newspaper publisher said revenue slumped on advertising declines in what it called a "resilient" performance despite debt and market challenges. For the six months ended June, the publisher swung to a pretax profit of GBP6.2 million from a loss of GBP10.2 million a year prior. This was despite revenue falling 10% to GBP93.0 million from GBP103.3 million the year before. "There are two sets of issues affecting Johnston Press," Chief Executive Officer David King said. "The first is the group's historical debts, including its pension obligations, which continue to weigh on our balance sheet. The second is the tough market conditions affecting the performance of our newspapers and websites." Johnston did not propose an interim dividend "due to restrictions in the bonds terms and the group having insufficient distributable reserves".----------