4th Aug 2015 09:19
LONDON (Alliance News) - The following stocks are the leading risers and fallers within the main London indices on Tuesday.
----------
FTSE 100 - WINNERS
----------
Smiths Group, up 6.3%. US activist hedge fund ValueAct has emerged as a shareholder in the engineering company, just days after it was revealed the fund had become the largest shareholder in Rolls-Royce Holdings, the Financial Times reported. ValueAct's holding in Smiths, which makes products including airport scanners and medical devices, is below the 5% threshold required for disclosure to the London Stock Exchange, the FT said.
Meggitt, up 5.2%. The aerospace engineering company said its pretax profit jumped in the first half of 2015 as revenue increased, though the company's order intake was weaker in the period. It said its pretax profit for the half to the end of June was up to GBP115.8 million from GBP98.2 million, driven by a 10% rise in revenue in the half to GBP793.7 million from GBP718.9 million. Order intake for Meggitt, however, fell by 1% in the half to GBP775.3 million from GBP782.7 million. Meggitt said it would pay an interim dividend of 4.60 pence per share, up from 4.25p a year earlier, on the back of the rise in pretax profit.
Direct Line Insurance Group, up 2.0%. The motor and home insurer improved its guidance for a key measure of underwriting profitability in 2015, as it recorded higher-than-expected reserve releases from prior years in the first half and reported improved profit figures. The company said it expects its combined operating ratio for 2015 to be in the range of 92% to 94%, an improvement on the previous guidance of 94% to 96%, assuming a "normal annual level" of home claims from major weather events of about GBP80 million. Pretax profit from continuing operations increased to GBP315.0 million in the half, compared with GBP211.7 million in the prior year period.
Royal Bank of Scotland Group, up 0.8% at 340.4 pence. The UK government has sold a 5.4% stake in RBS for GBP2.08 billion, taking the milestone first step on the way to returning the bank to full private ownership six years after its GBP45.5 billion bailout during the global financial crisis. HM Treasury has sold 630 million ordinary shares at 330 pence each, leaving it with an overall 72.9% stake in RBS. It said late on Monday it had expected to sell about 600 million ordinary shares.
----------
FTSE 100 - LOSERS
----------
Travis Perkins, down 2.7%. The builders' merchant and home improvement retailer hiked its interim dividend by 20% to 14.75 pence per share on the back of a rise in profit driven by stronger revenue and robust like-for-like sales growth. It said its pretax profit for the six months to the end of June was GBP158.6 million, up from GBP153.7 million a year earlier. However, Davy Securities reiterates its Neutral stance on the shares, saying the company's first-half came in weaker than it expected. "Given the good gains the stock has enjoyed year to date and its current rating, we expect it to fall back post results," Davy analyst adds.
Standard Life, down 3.0%. The Edinburgh-based investments and savings company said it expects a lower contribution to its results for 2015 from annuity new business in the wake of changes to UK pensions rules that mean retirees are no longer required to purchase them. It said it expects annuity new business to fall by about GBP10 million to GBP15 million in 2015. The contribution from asset liability management is to fall by about GBP30 million to GBP40 million, Standard Life said.
----------
FTSE 250 - WINNERS
----------
Rotork, up 4.3%. The company said its pretax profit and revenue both declined in the first half as the group continues to suffer the effects of the downturn in the oil and gas industry. At the same time, it said it has struck a deal to acquire a unit of fellow UK-listed engineer Spirax-Sarco Engineering. Rotork will pay EUR9.7 million in cash to Spirax-Sarco for M&M, to be funded from existing facilities, and will integrate the business into its Instruments division. In order to sweeten the pill for investors, Rotork also said it has increased its interim dividend payout by 1.6% to 1.95 pence per share.
Just Eat, up 1.9%. The online takeaway company reported growth in profit in the first half of 2015 and said it expects revenue for the full year to be higher than originally anticipated due to additional orders delivered by extra investment. It said pretax profit in the six months ended June 30 was GBP14.0 million from GBP8.6 million in the first half of 2014, as revenue rose to GBP107.8 million from GBP69.8 million. Just Eat said that it increased the number of active users, takeaway restaurants and orders in the first half as it continued investment into the business.
----------
FTSE 250 - LOSERS
----------
Foxtons Group, down 2.9%. Barclays retains an Underweight stance on the company, saying that ahead of "the important month of September, we believe that the company’s post-Election recovery is likely to be patchy, particularly for Estate Agency". The bank names a lack of available stock in the market as one of the reasons, as well as that "the ‘normal’ level of annual transactions in the capital is likely to have fallen over time: we stay longer; we move less; we dig more basements". Barclays also believes there is some pressure on fees.
----------
AIM ALL-SHARE - WINNERS
----------
Xtract Resources, up 4.8%. The company said it has intersected a second high-grade gold reef system at the Chepica mine in Chile. Xtract said the discovery follows another it made in mid-July and development work is now underway on the second system. The new systems will increase the flexibility of the operations at Chepica, the company said.
Optimal Payments, up 8.1%. The company said it has received "change of control" approval from the UK regulator for its reverse takeover of payments rival Skrill. The news means that Optimal Payments now expects the deal to complete on August 10. The UK's Financial Conduct Authority had been expected to make a decision no later than August 11. Optimal, which will seek to leave AIM for the London Main Market once the deal completes, previously had expected a decision on the GBP1.1 billion acquisition by Thursday last week.
----------
AIM ALL-SHARE - LOSERS
----------
Armour Group, off 26%. Shares in the investing company are set to be suspended after the company said it has failed to implement its investing policy in time to meet AIM listing rules, Armour said. It said its shares will be suspended from trading on Wednesday after it was unable to complete an acquisition or reverse takeover within 12 months of setting out its investing policy. Should it be unable to seal a deal in the next six months, its shares will be cancelled from AIM. The company said it continues to pursue potential investment opportunities.
----------
By Daniel Ruiz; [email protected]
Copyright 2015 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.
Related Shares:
XtractDirect LineJust EatRBS.LFoxtonsTravis PerkinsSmiths GroupRotorkMGGT.LRolls-RoyceOPAY.LSL..L