Ascential Share News (ASCL)

LONDON (Alliance News) - The following stocks are the leading risers and fallers within the main London indices on Friday.----------FTSE 100 - WINNERS----------Smiths Group, up 1.3%. The engineering firm appointed JehanZeb Noor as the new chief executive officer for Smiths Medical, ahead of the planned spin-off of the unit. Noor will be part of Smiths Group's executive committee and report to Group CEO Andy Reynolds Smith, the company added. He will join the company on July 1 to oversee the Medical division's separation, expected to be completed in the first half of 2020. In November, Smiths Group announced the spin-out of its struggling medical unit. Smiths Medical will separately list in the UK. ----------BP, up 1.8%. The oil producer was up amid higher oil prices. Brent oil was quoted at USD62.74 a barrel Friday morning, up from USD60.52 late Thursday. Royal Dutch Shell A was up 1.1% and Royal Dutch Shell was up 1.0%. ----------Centrica, up 1.5%. The UK competition regulator said they had provisionally decided to adjust the energy prepayment price cap to "better reflect costs", whilst also advising the energy regulator to extend protection to prepayment customers amid delays to the smart meter roll-out.----------FTSE 100 - LOSERS----------Sage Group, down 1.2%. Deutsche Bank cut the stock to Sell from Hold. ----------FTSE 250 - WINNERS----------Ferrexpo, up 6.9%. The Swiss commodity trader and miner was seen up after it said higher pricing, production and sales volumes will result in a material year-on-year rise in first-half adjusted earnings before interest, taxes and depreciation. For the six months to June 30, 2018, the company recorded adjusted Ebitda of USD234 million on a revenue of USD617 million. Total pellet production stood at 5.1 million tonnes. The company also announced the appointment of former Ernst & Young executive Graeme Dacomb as independent non-executive director. Dacomb was a partner at accountancy firm Ernst & Young for 26 years. For the past 12 years, he was a lead EY partner in the extractive industry, responsible for providing services to mining and oil & gas companies. Dacomb will be chairing the company's audit committee and will be a member of the independent review committee which is looking into matters relating to Blooming Land charity matter. In April, Ferrexpo's auditor Deloitte LLP resigned amid a dispute over potential links between the company's chief executive and a charity being probed for misuse of funds. Ferrexpo disagreed with its auditor's conclusion of a link between Kostyantin Zhevago, its chief executive and controlling shareholder, and Blooming Land Charity, which is being investigated for possible misuse of funds. ----------Games Workshop, up 4.5%. The miniature wargaming manufacturer was up after saying positive trading continued in its recently ended financial year, and guided for both revenue and profit to rise. For the year ended June 2, the FTSE 250 firm said it expects revenue to be GBP254 million and pretax profit to come in at "not less" than GBP80 million. A year ago, revenue amounted to GBP219.9 million, while pretax profit was GBP74.5 million. The company - maker of tabletop game Warhammer - paid a 35p per share dividend to shareholders on May 31, bringing the total annual payout to 155p. A year ago, the total dividend amounted to 126p. ----------Ascential, up 1.7%. Macquarie initiated the stock with Outperform.----------FTSE 250 - LOSERS----------AJ Bell, down 4.0%. The stockbroker was off following Invesco Asset Management Ltd sold 38 million shares in the company, raising GBP144.4 million. The shares were sold at 380 pence each, a discount to Thursday's 400p close. AJ Bell was trading at 384.0p on Friday morning. Following completion of the sale, Invesco will hold 65.6 million shares in AJ Bell, equivalent to a 16.1% stake, down from 25%. ----------Woodford Patient Capital Trust, down 3.9%. The trust was seeing its fourth straight day of sharp falls. Shares in the closed-end investment trust are down 20% this week. On Monday, high profile fund manager Neil Woodford suspended withdrawals from the equity income fund as the fund's underperformance resulted in a significant outflow of investors. The freeze on redemptions started after Kent County Council asked for its GBPGBP263 million pension fund investment to be returned. As at April 30, LF Woodford Equity Income Fund had GBP4.3 billion in assets. The equity fund is managed by Woodford Investment Management Ltd, which also manages listed Woodford Patient Capital Trust. Trading in Woodford Patient Capital Trust remains unaffected by the suspension. The UK financial regulator late Wednesday said it may open an investigation into LF Woodford Equity Income Fund if there are circumstances suggesting serious misconduct or non-compliance with the rules. Earlier Wednesday, FTSE 100-listed wealth manager St James's Place terminated its mandate with Woodford Investment Management. James's Place was up 0.3%. ----------Pets at Home, down 3.1%. HSBC cut the stock to Hold from Buy.----------Royal Mail, down 2.7%. HSBC cut the stock to Hold from Buy. ----------OTHER MAIN MARKET AND AIM - WINNERS----------ThinkSmart, up 57%. The digital payment technology provider noted the launch of ClearPay in the UK following the sale of its 90% stake in ClearPay Finance Ltd to Afterpay Touch Group in August. Australian-listed APT is a "global leader in online payments", ThinkSmart said, and has now launched in the UK using the ClearPay company and name. ThinkSmart maintains exposure to the new product through its 10% holding in ClearPay, the firm added. Commenting on its overall outlook,ThinkSmart said that current trading remains in line, with business volumes down year-on-year, mainly as a result of lower margins in the Flexible Leasing product. ----------Microsaic Systems, up 13%. the developer of mass spectrometry instruments said it signed an exclusive agreement with CM Corp Ltd for the distribution of its 4500 MiD MS detector in South Korea. CM is a specialist distributor of life science and analytical equipment in South Korea, Microsaic explained. "We work exclusively with local partners, knowledgeable in separation and MS technologies. Our strategy continues to be focused on business development in all key geographies," Chief Executive Officer Glenn Tracey said. ----------OTHER MAIN MARKET AND AIM - LOSERS----------Surgical Innovations, down 33%. The developer of minimally invasive surgery tools warned that its adjusted annual profit will fall below the prior year, as trading in the second quarter disappointed. Meanwhile, despite exceeding the prior year's level, Surgical Innovations said that annual revenue is expected to grow at a "more modest rate" than forecast. For 2018, the company posted adjusted pretax profit of GBP1.4 million and revenue of GBP11.0 million. The company explained that, despite first quarter trading in line with expectations, the momentum "has not carried into the second quarter" with orders in both the UK and EU markets lower than expected, due to Brexit uncertainty. In the UK, demand had been negatively affected by both Brexit and the "concerning" level of activity in the NHS, the company explained. Revenue in the other export markets remained unaffected, with the US recording "strong" growth. ----------Somero Enterprises, down 20%. The floor-laying machinery manufacturer said its trading in the five months to the end of May was below management expectations. The company said "adverse weather conditions" in the US - Somero's largest market - hurt trading. "Broad sections of the US experienced the highest levels of rainfall on record. The record rainfall seen in the US has delayed project starts which in turn has slowed the pace of equipment purchased by our customers, the impact of which was seen through historically strong trading months of March and April," the company explained. Somero said there an improvement in trading in May, and the company expects weather conditions, and therefore trading, will improve throughout the rest of 2019. However, Somero does not expect to "fully recapture" the shortfall caused by the "extended period of poor weather". As a result, Somero now expects to deliver USD87 million of revenue in 2019 and earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization of about USD28 million. In 2018, Somero generated revenue of USD94.0 million and recorded Ebitda of USD30.8 million. Despite the weak trading in 2019 so far, Somero said it continues to see growth opportunities across all its markets, including the US. This optimism is "reinforced by extended backlogs and healthy new project starts, albeit much delayed". ----------