2nd May 2019 10:47
LONDON (Alliance News) - The following stocks are the leading risers and fallers within the main London indices on Thursday.----------FTSE 100 - WINNERS----------Coca-Cola HBC, up 3.5%. The soft drinks bottler said it will return EUR730 million via a special dividend of EUR2.00 per share, as it reported growth in revenue and volumes for the first quarter of 2019. The company said it remains on track to deliver currency-neutral revenue growth above its internal targeted range and step up in margins for the full year due to good start to the year. For the first quarter, Coca-Cola HBC recorded 4.4% year-on-year rise in net sales reported revenue, with currency neutral revenue rising 4.7% year-on-year. The growth was mainly attributed to growth in developing and emerging markets, which delivered 6.5% and 6.9% currency neutral revenue growth, respectively. Established markets contributed 1.5% to forex-neutral revenue growth.----------Smith & Nephew, up 2.5%. The medical devices maker said revenue growth for 2019 would be at the higher end of its guidance, as underlying revenue growth was ahead in the first quarter of the year. On a reported basis, the medical device maker's revenue was flat at USD1.20 billion for the three months to March 31 but revenue was up 4.4% on an underlying basis. Given the recent underlying performance, the medical device maker has updated its guidance and is now "increasingly confident" that its underlying revenue growth for 2019 will be in the upper half of its 2.5% to 3.5% guidance range. Smith & Nephew expects its reported revenue growth rate to be in the 2.9% to 3.9% range, including an expected loss of 40 basis points from foreign exchange and acquisitions. The company's expected trading profit margin is still expected to be in the range of 22.8% to 23.2%. The tax rate on trading results for 2019 is likely to be in the 19% to 21% range.----------Royal Dutch Shell 'A' and Shell 'B', up 2.4%. The oil major reported a decline in quarterly earnings, but significant growth in Integrated Gas helped it beat the market's expectations. Shell increased current cost of supply earnings, its preferred profit metric, in the Integrated Gas segment by 17% to USD2.80 billion for the three months to March, on the back of higher liquefied natural gas and gas prices, helping offset lower production and sales volumes. Consensus had been for Integrated Gas - primarily Shell's BG Group acquisition - CCS earnings of USD2.07 billion. Production within Integrated Gas fell 12% to 851,000 barrels of oil equivalent a day. Shell also launched the next tranche of its share buyback programme, returning up to USD2.75 billion until July 29. Shell will pay a first quarter dividend of 47 US cents per share, in line with the year before.----------FTSE 100 - LOSERS----------Paddy Power Betfair, down 4.7%. The bookmaker said strong growth in the US market led to 17% year-on-year rise in first quarter revenue and the company remains on track to meet full year profit expectations. In the three months to March 31, the bookie reported total revenue of GBP478 million, 17% higher than the GBP408 million reported the year before. However, the group said its UK online sports betting business was affected by "unfavourable results" in sporting events in the UK and Ireland. Online sport revenue slipped 6% to GBP152 million. Moreover, sport revenue was hurt by February horse racing, which was temporarily suspended in the UK due to an outbreak of equine flu. ----------BHP Group, down 1.5%. The Anglo-Australian miner was downgraded to Neutral from Buy by Citigroup.----------FTSE 250 - WINNERS----------Howden Joinery Group, up 1.6%. The kitchen supplier and joinery product manufacturer its UK business saw an increase in revenue in the 16 weeks to April 20. Howden Joinery UK said its total revenue increased 5.7%, and by 3.9% on a same-depot basis, compared to the corresponding period a year earlier. The company said the sales growth was driven by an increase in prices in January. Howeden Joinery trades from 702 depots in the UK, with 8 new depots opened in 2019 so far. The company plans to open about 40 depots during 2019, which includes 5 openings in Northern Ireland.----------Restaurant Group, up 1.3%. The restaurant operator said it has appointed Andy Hornby as chief executive officer, with his starting date to be reveal in due course. Restaurant Group owns dining brands such as Frankie & Benny's, Chiquito, Garfunkel's and Asian food chain Wagamama. He will be replacing Andy McCue, who will step down after three years in the role. McCue's departure was announced in February, under "extenuating personal circumstances". Hornby will be joining from FTSE 250 sports betting firm GVC Holdings, where he is co-chief operating officer. Hornby has been part of GVC since its acquisition of Ladbrokes Coral in March 2018. GVC shares were down 1.8%. ----------FTSE 250 - LOSERS----------Metro Bank, down 12%. The challenger bank said Wednesday after the London market close that its pretax profit halved in the first quarter of 2019 due to a new accounting method and interest expense. The bank also said it is planning an approximately GBP350 million equity raise in the second quarter to support growth. Metro Bank posted a pretax profit of GBP4.3 million for the three months to March 31, halving from its GBP8.6 million profit in the same quarter of 2018. Pretax profit in the final quarter of 2018 totaled GBP6.1 million. The profit drop was partly attributed to a GBP2.0 million hit from the adoption of IFRS 16 in January, an accounting standard that "recognises an interest charge on the lease liability which is partly offset by a reduction in lease expenses".----------