4th Apr 2019 10:53
LONDON (Alliance News) - The following stocks are the leading risers and fallers within the main London indices on Thursday.---------FTSE 100 - LOSERS----------Direct Line, down 7.5%, Lloyds Banking Group, down 3.5%, DS Smith, down 3.0%, Pearson, down 2.0%. The stocks went ex-dividend meaning new buyers no longer qualify for the latest dividend payout.----------Micro Focus International, down 2.9%. The enterprise software company was downgraded to Sell from Neutral by Citigroup. ----------FTSE 250 - WINNERS----------UDG Healthcare, up 3.2%. Barclays upgraded the healthcare provider to Overweight from Equal Weight. ----------Electrocomponents, up 2.2%. The electronics and industrial products distributor said it remains on track to deliver a rise in annual adjusted pretax profit in line with expectations, based on solid revenue growth. The company reported like-for-like revenue growth of 8% for the financial year to the end of March, following a strong performance in all regions. The fourth quarter alone saw the same 8% like-for-like growth. Like-for-like revenue in Europe, Middle East & Africa and the Americas regions grew by 9% in the full financial year, while the Asia Pacific saw an increase of 6%. In the fourth quarter alone, revenue growth in similar terms was 10% in EMEA, 6% in the Americas, and 3% in Asia-Pacific. Electrocomponents said it has continued to outperform underlying market growth and expects a stable gross margin in its base business for the year.----------Entertainment One, up 2.1%. The film and TV production company said its annual performance was in line with expectations as it guided for earnings increase on the back of a "solid performance". In the Family & Brands division, the company said it expects to report revenue and adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation for the year ended March, up by more than 25% on last year's revenue of GBP138.6 million and adjusted Ebitda of GBP82.3 million. In the Film, Television & Music division, Entertainment One reported "strong momentum" during the year. In television, the company produced and delivered over 1,000 half hours of content over 20% higher than last year. In Music, the company expects revenue and underlying Ebitda growth of more than 20% compared to the previous year's revenue of GBP49.4 million and Ebitda of GBP6.2 million.----------HomeServe, up 2.0%. The home emergency cover provider said adjusted pretax profit for 2019 financial year will be at the upper end of market expectations due to a solid performance in the financial year. Market estimates for adjusted pretax profit for the year to the end of March is in the range of GBP159.5 million to GBP161.7 million, HomeServe said. In 2018 financial, the company recorded adjusted pretax profit of GBP141.7 million. In its Membership business, Homeserve saw a mixed performance, with customers in North America rising to 4.0 million customers from 3.6 million the prior year, and French customer numbers remaining flat at 1.1 million. Within HomeServe's online trades marketplace Home Experts, home repair review site Checkatrade revenue increased by 30% with strong growth in trades recruitment. There was also a rise in the number of web visits. ----------FTSE 250 - LOSERS----------Saga, down 33%. The over-50s insurance and travel company slashed its dividend after it warned on falling earnings in new financial year and swinging to a substantial loss. For the year ended January 31, Saga posted a GBP134.6 million pretax loss compared with pretax profit of GBP180.9 million a year ago, after a goodwill impairment of GBP310 million. The swing to a loss at the pretax level was mainly due to an asset impairment amounting to GBP315.9 million, which the company did not incur last year. The impairment relates to Saga re-assessing the carrying value of goodwill in its Insurance operations. Saga cut its total dividend by 56% to 4.0 pence per share from 9.0p paid to shareholders last year. This was after proposing a final payout of 1.0p down from 6.0p a year ago. Saga said it is launching a "fundamental" strategy revamp which will see it change its approach in the insurance business to address "increasing challenges" in its markets.TP ICAP, down 4.6%, Stagecoach Group, down 3.9%, ConvaTec, down 3.3%. The stocks went ex-dividend.----------OTHER MAIN MARKET AND AIM - WINNERS----------Billing Services Group, up 15%. The IT service management company said it will pay a special dividend of USD1.3 million, or 0.0078 US cents per share. The company intends to pay the dividend on April 30 to shareholders on the register at April 12. ----------Proton Power Systems, up 11%. The fuel cells producer said it has received a confirmed order worth EUR4.1 million for 15 hydrogen-powered fuel cells from German electric buses distributor ebe Europa. The order is as a result of the first tender under the Europe-funded JIVE project, which will see 290 buses deployed within the next two years. The fuel cells have 60 kilowatts of generating capacity, with the ultimate customers being the German city councils of Frankfurt, Mainz, Muenster and Wiesbaden. The cells are expected to be delivered within the next 12 months.----------OTHER MAIN MARKET AND AIM - LOSERS----------Mothercare, down 7.5%. The mother and baby products retailer reported a decline in UK like-for-like sales, but said it expects annual performance in line with previous guidance. Mothercare expects total sales to reduce by 15% during the year, after a 14% drop in the fourth quarter to March 30. Same store sales in the company's core UK market are expected to reduce 11% in the year, after an 8.8% fall in the last quarter. Total UK annual sales in the country are seen 15% lower after the same fall in the last 12 weeks. During the fourth quarter, Mothercare closed 40 stores in the UK completing its store closure programme ahead of schedule. The UK store estate has now been reduced to 80 from 137 a year ago. Looking ahead, Mothercare expects market conditions in the UK and some international geographies to "remain challenging".----------
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