31st May 2019 10:46
LONDON (Alliance News) - The following stocks are the leading risers and fallers within the main London indices on Friday.----------FTSE 100 - WINNERS----------Bunzl, up 2.1%. Goldman Sachs upgraded the support services and outsourcing company to Buy From Neutral, raising the target price to 2,700 pence from 2,650p.----------Whitbread, up 2.2%. The Premier Inn branded hotels operator has proposed the return of up to GBP2 billion to shareholders in the second phase of its GBP2.5 billion capital return programme. As part of the first phase the company launched an initial share buyback programme in January to repurchase up to GBP500 million by April-end, which was completed in May with Whitbread returning GBP480 million. Now, the company is launching a new tender offer to purchase up to 43.5 million shares, which represents about 25% of Whitbread's issued share capital, in the hope of returning GBP2 billion to shareholders. The tender price is capped at GBP50 per share and will be calculated on the volume-weighted average price of the shares in the five day period before the tender offer closes, which is currently set at July 19.----------FTSE 100 - LOSERS----------Antofagasta, down 2.5%; Rio Tinto, down 1.8%; Anglo American, down 1.5%. Mining stocks fell as Chinese manufacturing activity for May fell into contraction. The National Bureau of Statistics posting a purchasing managers' index score of 49.4. That was short of expectations for 49.9 and down from 50.1 in April. It also fell below the boom-or-bust line of 50 that separates expansion from contraction. The non-manufacturing PMI came in at 54.3 - unchanged from the previous month and in line with expectations - while the composite index had a score of 53.3, down fractionally from 53.4 a month earlier.----------Taylor Wimpey, down 1.3%; Berkeley Group, down 1.3%; Barratt Developments, down 1.3%; Persimmon, down 1.0%. Housebuilders fell as UK house price growth slowed in May, as consumer confidence slowed, Nationwide said. On an annual basis, house prices in the UK rose 0.6%, slowing from 0.9% in April. On the month, prices shrank 0.2% versus a 0.3% rise the month before. The average house price stood at GBP214,946 in May compared to GBP214,920 the previous month.----------FTSE 250 - WINNERS----------Galliford Try, up 2.2%. Liberum cut its price target for the housebuilder to 830 pence from 865p, but retained its Buy rating.----------Stobart Group, up 0.9%. Chief Executive Officer Warwick Brady purchased 50,000 shares in the aviation, energy, and civil engineering company at 125.9 pence each, for a total of GBP62,950. On Thursday, Stobart posted a pretax loss of GBP42.1 million in its recent financial year, swinging from a GBP109.3 million profit, but a 39% increase in revenue from continuing operations.----------FTSE 250 - LOSERS----------Wizz Air, down 3.1%. The Central & Eastern Europe-focused airline posted revenue for the 12 months to March 31 of EUR2.32 billion, 20% higher from EUR1.93 billion the year before, with passenger numbers up 17% to 34.6 million. Pretax profit increased 4.5% year-on-year to EUR300.2 million, with earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, amortisation, and aircraft rentals was 8.9% higher at EUR718.5 million. Looking ahead, Wizz Air said for the year ending March 2020, capacity is expected to rise by 16% and a net profit of between EUR320 million and EUR350 million versus EUR292 million recorded in 2019. However despite a solid start, Wizz Air warned on a challenging operating environment due to no signs that air traffic control and airport infrastructure issues will improve "any time soon".----------Capital & Counties Properties, down 0.6%. The London and Johannesburg-listed property investor reported a fall in the valuation of its interest in Earls Court Partnership. Capital & Counties said an independent valuation showed the implied value of the company's property interests in Earls Court Partnership is GBP412 million as at March 31, down 11% on a like-for-like basis from GBP461 million at the end of 2018. On a pro-forma basis, this reduces the company's EPRA net asset value as at December 31, 2018, of 326 pence by around 6p.----------OTHER MAIN MARKET AND AIM - WINNERS----------NetScientific, up 32%. The biomedical technology firm said its portfolio company ProAxsis had received positive data from a lung disease study. The data is from the Bridge study, a clinical trial funded by the British Lung Foundation and the European Respiratory Society which involves more than 1000 patients across the European Union. The result of a NEATstik test is correlated with the severity of lung disease, the presence of a bacterial infection, and the risk of exacerbation. The study concludes that NEATstik can help clinicians identify lung disease patients with bacterial infections or who are at risk of getting worse in the next 12 months.----------Stride Gaming, up 24% at 145.50 pence. Bingo and gambling firm Rank Group made a GBP115 million cash offer to buy smaller rival Stride Gaming, shortly after the smaller Stride reported weaker interim results. FTSE 250-listed Rank will pay 151 pence in cash per Stride share. This represents a 46% premium to the Stride share price prior to talks opening in early February and 29% higher than the closing price of Stride on Thursday, valuing the firm at GBP115.3 million. For the six months ended February, Stride pretax profit narrowed 33% to GBP2.6 million from GBP3.9 million the year prior. This was after revenue fell 17% to GBP36.6 million from GBP43.9 million the year before. ----------Patagonia Gold, up 14%. The gold miner agreed to a GBP17 million takeover deal with Canada's Hunt Mining Corp. Hunt Mining, which is listed in Toronto, is to offer 10.76 new shares for every one Patagonia share. The deal, at Hunt Mining's share price as of Thursday, values Patagonia at GBP17.2 million. Hunt Mining closed in Toronto at CAD0.12, making the offer worth CAD1.29, or about 75 pence, per Patagonia share. This price, Patagonia said, is a 36% premium to its closing price of 53.5 pence a share on Thursday in London, and a 77% premium to its average price over the three months to Thursday. Hunt Mining has so far received irrevocable undertakings to accept the deal from 55% of Patagonia's shareholders.----------OTHER MAIN MARKET AND AIM - LOSERS----------Nautilus Marine Services, down 73%. The offshore services provider said it intends to cancel its AIM listing and re-register as a private company. Nautilus said t will seek shareholder approval for the cancellation on June 24. The re-registration is conditional upon at least 75% shareholder approval for the cancellation. At present, irrevocable undertakings from shareholders accounting for 73% of shares has been obtained. Nautilus blamed conditions in the offshore service industry for its troubles, which have made it harder to "to identify investment opportunities at attractive valuations", as well as limited share liquidity.----------Bagir Group, down 30%. The tailor agreed to give Chinese investee Shandong Ruyi Technology Group more time to gather funds to to complete the USD16.5 million investment which would see it take 54% of Israel's Bagir. Despite Bagir saying this is a "fundamental breach" of the agreement, it has agreed to push the deadline back again to June 18. ----------Cambria Africa, down 20%. Although the Zimbabwe-focused investment company reported a 50% rise in pretax profit to USD1.7 million for the six months to the end of February, Cambria expects its earnings in the second half to be hit as a result of rapid devaluation in the exchange rate. Revenue fell by 4% to USD4.4 million from USD4.6 million.----------