23rd Oct 2018 11:00
LONDON (Alliance News) - The following stocks are the leading risers and fallers within the main London indices on Tuesday.----------FTSE 100 - WINNERS----------Fresnillo, up 3.8%, Randgold Resources, up 1.4%. The gold miners were tracking spot gold prices higher quoted at USD1,235.40 an ounce compared to USD1,221.20 at the London equities close Monday. Deemed a safe haven asset, gold often rises during times of market turmoil. "The continuing tension between the US and Saudi Arabia and the lacklustre picture of the global economic growth is behind the current move," said ThinkMarkets analyst Naeem Aslam. Midcap peer Centamin was up 2.4%. ----------Bunzl, up 0.5%. The distribution and outsourcing group said it will acquire Brazilian personal protection equipment distributor Volk do Brasil, and is trading in line with expectations. Bunzl did not disclose the value of the acquisition but did note that Volk do Brasil is forecast to achieve revenue of BRL200 million, around GBP41 million. Bunzl also said its own performance thus far has been consistent with its August expectations. Revenue for its third quarter grew 7% on year at constant exchange rates due to organic growth of roughly 4% and a further acquisition impact of approximately 3%, net of disposals.----------FTSE 100 - LOSERS----------St James's Place, down 4.5%. The wealth manager reported year-on-year rise in third quarter funds under management due to increased investment returns and continued fund inflows. The company said funds under management stood at GBP100.59 billion at September 30, up from GBP85.69 billion a year ago. The rise in assets was also attributed to strong retention of client funds, which stood at 96%. Third quarter net inflows totaled GBP2.47 billion versus GBP2.36 billion. For the nine months to September-end, net inflows grew year-on-year by 15% to GBP7.68 billion. The company's net asset value on the European embedded value basis at September 30 was 1,165 pence per share, including dividend, and 1,150 pence per share after interim dividend payment.----------Whitbread, down 3.1%. The hospitality firm hiked its interim dividend after profit and revenue from its ongoing business rose modestly despite softer customer demand, as it continues to progress its Costa Coffee sale and focus on its hotel business. For the six months ended August, pretax profit from continuing operations rose 0.2% to GBP257.4 million from GBP256.8 million the year prior. This was after revenue rose 2.6% to GBP1.08 billion from GBP1.05 billion the year before. During the period Costa - now deemed a discontinued operation - saw pretax profit rise 0.7% to GBP59.6 million from GBP59.2 million a year prior. This was after revenue grew 3.7% to GBP645.0 million from GBP621.7 million a year before. ----------FTSE 250 - WINNERS----------Travis Perkins, up 3.1%. The builders' merchant said good sales growth in trade-focused businesses and successful pass-through of commodity-price inflation resulted in a solid third-quarter trading performance, in line with expectations. For the three month period to September-end, Travis Perkins recorded like-for-like sales growth of 4.1% and total sales growth of 3.9%. Year-to-date, same store sales rose 4.2% and total sales were up 4.3%. The company's merchanting businesses - general merchanting, plumbing & heating and contracts - achieved like-for-like growth of 7.0% in the quarter. Market consensus for 2018 group earnings before interest, taxes and amortisation is for GBP363 million, with a range of GBPP356 million to GBP368 million, according to Travis Perkins.----------Plus500, up 0.7%. The contracts-for-difference platform provider said it expects full-year trading to be ahead of expectations despite a weaker third-quarter performance, as it also initiated a share buyback programme. For the nine months ended September, revenue rose 86% to USD565.6 million from USD304.9 million the year prior. This was after the number of active customers rose 74% to 278,529 from 160,090 the year before. This was helped by a jump in new customers to 114,832 over the first nine months compared to 96,373 new adds the period prior. In addition, Plus500 approved a USD10 million share buyback programme to be started immediately. ----------FTSE 250 - LOSERS----------IntegraFin Holdings, down 5.5%. The financial platform services provider said its Transact's funds under direction at the end of its financial year grew significantly, a result of strong inflows and the completion of a lock-up period for certain shareholders. As at September 30, the end of its financial year, Transact's funds under direction stood at GBP33.11 billion, up 3.9% over the quarter and 18% over its prior year end. Inflows during the quarter totalled GBP1.51 billion, dropping from GBP1.45 billion in the same quarter of 2017. Outflows increased to GBP537 million from GBP414 million, resulting in a reduction in net flows to GBP979 million from GBP1.04 billion. In the year ended September 30, inflows totalled GBP5.96 billion versus GBP5.30 billion the year before. Outflows totalled GBP1.86 billion versus GBP1.64 billion. This produced overall net flows for the year of GBP4.09 billion, up from GBP3.66 billion. Outflows decreased as a proportion of opening funds under direction, on an annual basis, to 6.7% from 7.2%, Integrafin noted.----------OTHER MAIN MARKET AND AIM - WINNERS----------Communisis, up 38% at 70.55 pence. US based billing, communications and payment solutions provider OSG Group reached an agreement to acquire the UK listed communications and marketing solutions provider for GBP153.8 million in cash. OSG's takeover vehicle OSG Bidco said it will buy Communisis shares at 71 pence per share, representing around a 40% premium to the closing price per Communisis share of 50.8 pence on Monday. Communisis directors intend to recommend the deal unanimously to the company's shareholders and have decided to vote in favour of the agreement in respect of their own beneficial holdings of Communisis shares, representing roughly 0.3% of the ordinary share capital of the company. OSG has received acceptances in respect of a total of 89.9 million Communisis shares, representing roughly 42.9% of Communisis' outstanding share capital.----------Bloomsbury Publishing, up 4.5%. The Harry Potter-publisher boosted its interim dividend after revenue rose despite reported profit dipping on one-off costs. For the six months ended August, pretax profit narrowed 5.9% to GBP1.6 million from GBP1.7 million the year prior. This was despite revenue rising 4.4% to GBP75.3 million from GBP72.1 million the year before. Profit performance was hurt by a 64% rise in exceptional costs during the period to GBP1.3 million from GBP794,000 the year prior. This was primarily due to legal & other professional fees and restructuring costs of GBP419,000 from nothing for such items a year prior. Bloomsbury proposed a 1.21 pence per share interim dividend, up 5.2% from 1.15p the year prior. ----------OTHER MAIN MARKET AND AIM - LOSERS----------McBride, down 4.2%. The household and personal care products manufacturer said it saw a strong revenue growth in the first quarter of its current financial year, helped by its recent acquisition of Danlind. Ahead of its annual general meeting, the consumer household and personal care products company said revenue in the three months to September-end grew by 15% on a constant currency basis, thanks to the strong performance of its eco-friendly detergents producer Danlind. Underlying revenue was up 5.5% year-on-year. However, the company warned that raw material, packaging and logistics costs have been slightly higher than anticipated. McBride said there is increased volatility and uncertainty around future raw material and packaging cost levels.----------