21st May 2018 10:54
LONDON (Alliance News) - The following stocks are the leading risers and fallers within the main London indices on Monday.----------FTSE 100 - WINNERS----------Marks & Spencer, up 2.3%. Shares in the food, clothing and homewares retailer were higher ahead of its annual results on Wednesday. M&S said on Monday it appointed Katie Bickerstaffe and Pip McCrostie in the role of non-executive directors. The two will be formally appointed to the board following the company's annual general meeting on July 10. Bickerstaffe has experience in retail transformation, having worked in a variety of functions in leading UK retailers, M&S said, and will help in the first phase of its transformation programme. McCrostie, who worked in finance for accountants Ernst & Young, will bring financial and analytical skills, it said.----------AstraZeneca, up 2.0%. The pharmaceutical company said the US Food & Drug Administration approved its hyperkalaemia drug Lokelma. Lokelma, formerly known as ZS-9, is used to treat adults with hyperkalaemia, a condition characterised by elevated potassium levels in the blood, associated with cardiovascular, renal and metabolic diseases. The FDA approval follows three double-blind, placebo controlled trials and two open label clinical trials providing data to support the efficacy of the drug.----------FTSE 100 - LOSERS----------Randgold Resources, down 0.2%. The gold miner was tracking spot gold prices lower quoted at USD1,284.50 an ounce compared to USD1,291.72 at the London equities close Friday. Gold prices were lower as the dollar firmed and investors shunned safe haven assets as trade tensions between the US and China eased. ----------OTHER MAIN MARKET AND AIM - WINNERS----------Ryanair Holdings, up 3.5%. The Irish budget airline reported that revenue in its recent financial year increased on the back of lower fares and traffic growth, despite September's "rostering management failure". Ryanair's revenue reached EUR7.15 billion, a 7.7% increase year-on-year from EUR6.64 billion in 2017. For the financial year ended March, Ryanair said pretax profit rose 10% to EUR1.61 billion, up from EUR1.47 billion the prior year. The company said this was due to lower fares increasing passenger traffic by 9%. In the past year, Ryanair lowered fares by 3% with the average flight cost at EUR39.4, it said. Chief Executive Officer Michael O'Leary confidently declared that "no other EU airline can compete with Ryanair prices". However, the company declared its outlook as "on the pessimistic side of cautious" for 2019----------Related Shares:
RYA.LAstrazenecaMarks & SpencerRandgold Resources