29th Jul 2019 10:42
(Alliance News) - The following stocks are the leading risers and fallers within the main London indices on Monday.----------FTSE 100 - WINNERS----------Just Eat, up 25% at 794.60 pence. The online takeaway platform confirmed a preliminary agreement for a possible all-share merger with Dutch rival Takeaway.com. Under the possible deal, Just Eat shareholders would get 0.09744 of a Takeaway.com share for each Just Eat share held, which values Just Eat at 731p per share. This is a 15% premium to Just Eat's closing price on Friday last week in London. Just Eat shareholders would own 52.2% of the combined business, with the shareholders of Takeaway.com owning the rest. It would be led by Takeaway.com Chief Executive Jitse Groen, with Just Eat Chief Financial Officer Paul Harrison and Just Eat Chair Mike Evans taking up the same roles. The deal, the two said, would create one of the world's largest online food delivery programmes, with a combined 360 million orders worth EUR7.3 billion in 2018. The combined group would be domiciled in Amsterdam but would retain its premium listing in London. In Amsterdam, shares in Takeaway.com were up just 3.2%.----------London Stock Exchange Group, up 15%. Thomson Reuters confirmed talks to sell financial markets data provider Refinitiv Holdings to the stock exchange operator for a total enterprise value of USD27 billion. The Canadian media and information company said it and funds managed by US private equity Blackstone Group are in talks to sell Refinitiv to the parent company of London Stock Exchange in a all-stock deal. Refinitiv is currently 55% owned by funds managed by Blackstone and 45% by Thomson Reuters. If the deal with London Stock Exchange Group goes through, Thomson Reuters expects to own 15% stake in the stock market operator. London Stock Exchange Group had announced talks to buy Refinitiv on Saturday.----------Centrica, up 2.2%. HSBC raised the British Gas parent company to Hold from Reduce.----------FTSE 100 - LOSERS----------Hiscox, down 1.7%. The insurer's shares were down despite reporting a rise in profit in the first six months of the year amid an increase in gross premiums written and higher investment returns. In the half-year ended June 30, the insurer made a pretax profit of USD168.0 million, up 3.3% year-on-year from USD162.7 million, as gross premiums written increased by 5% to USD2.34 billion from USD2.23 billion. The company's investment return for the first six months was USD147.5 million, 4.8% on an annualised basis. Returns in the same period last year in comparison were just USD19.8 million, 0.7% on an annualised basis. Hiscox's retail business, again its biggest segment, increased gross premiums written by 3.6% to USD1.15 billion from USD1.11 billion with a combined ratio of 95%. Pretax profit for the company's retail department was USD137.7 million, up from USD100.0 million. The company said growth in its retail business was held back by its Hiscox UK unit having to adapt to new IT systems. ----------FTSE 250 - WINNERS----------Cranswick, up 6.5%. The pork products producer said exports to Asia have surged due to the African swine fever outbreak in the region, while it also has made a GBP44 million acquisition. The highly contagious and deadly fever have devastated livestock herd, sending meat prices rocketing in China. In the first half of 2019, the size of China's pig herd shrank by 15%. Pork prices in June surged 21% on the year before. This helped Cranswick's Asian export revenue come in "strongly" ahead year-on-year for the three months to June, the company reported, helping to lift group revenue for the quarter by 1.5% despite a strong comparative. Cranswick is making good progress on a new GBP75 million poultry processing facility in Suffolk, England, it said, with commissioning due towards the end of its year ending March. Elsewhere, Cranswick has bought London-based continental and Mediterranean food processor and supplier Katsouris Brothers for GBP43.5 million, funded entirely from existing debt facilities.----------Future, up 5.3%. The magazine publisher said it bought US-based digital media publisher SmartBrief for a price of up to USD65 million. Future said the initial payment of USD45 million will include a cash consideration of USD32.2 million funded from Future's existing debt facilities, with a further USD12.8 million to be satisfied through the issue to the vendors of SmartBrief of 1.0 million new Future shares. The agreement also includes a deferred consideration based on agreed financial targets achieved over the year to the end of July 2020, Future said, subject to a cap of USD20 million. Future said this acquisition enhances its proprietary technology stack through the addition of automated email marketing. The transaction is expected to be earnings enhancing in the current financial year, Future said, and in the first full year following completion. ----------FTSE 250 - LOSERS----------Sanne Group, down 30%. The fund administrator warned on full-year margins, despite revenue growth remaining solid. For the six months to June, Sanne sees an underlying operating margin of around 26%, below previous guidance. This has been hit by a "disappointing" lack of delivery of operating efficiencies, and some extra overhead spend. These are unlikely to be compensated for in the second half of the year, Sanne continued. As a result, the underlying operating margin for 2019 is set to be between 28% to 30%, below previous expectations, and underlying earnings per share will be below expectations. In 2018, underlying earnings per share was 24.1 pence, up 8.6% year-on-year, and the underlying operating profit margin was 31.1%, from 34.3%. ----------Sports Direct International, down 8.5%. The sportswear retailer's shares were down on Monday after it released much-delayed annual results after the market close Friday, and at the same time announced Chief Financial Officer Jon Kempster would be leaving. The results showed a 10% rise in annual revenue to GBP3.70 billion, with pretax profit almost tripling to GBP179.2 million. On an underlying basis, pretax profit rose 5.0% to GBP143.3 million. Profit, Sports Direct said, was boosted by better foreign exchange financial instruments, and the non-recurrence of a GBP85 million write-down on retailer Debenhams. UK Sports Retail, which makes up over half of all revenue, registered 0.3% revenue growth to GBP2.19 billion, with European Sports Retail up 5.9% to GBP599.8 million. Premium Lifestyle revenue climbed 26% to GBP204.8 million, Rest of World Retail climbed 12% to GBP215.9 million, and Wholesale & Licensing revenue fell 12% to GBP163.5 million. Department store House of Fraser contributed GBP330.6 million in revenue, with Sports Direct having rescued the store chain in August 2018 for GBP90 million in a prepack deal. ----------OTHER MAIN MARKET AND AIM - WINNERS----------Liontrust Asset Management, up 2.5%. The asset manager confirmed that it is in talks to buy rival Neptune Investment Management. The company was responding to a Sunday Times newspaper report, which said Neptune was worth about GBP25 million. Liontrust said there can be no certainty that the discussions will lead to any agreement concerning the possible acquisition of Neptune or as to the timing or terms of any such agreement. ----------
Related Shares:
LSE.LSNN.LCranswickJust EatCentricaFutureLiontrust Asset ManagementSports DirectHiscox