Ascential Share News (ASCL)

LONDON (Alliance News) - The following stocks are the leading risers and fallers within the main London indices on Monday.----------FTSE 100 - WINNERS----------GlaxoSmithKline, up 0.5%. The pharmaceutical company is considering splitting the pharmaceutical company due to pressure from investors, the Financial Times reported late on Friday. According to the newspaper, "several top-ten investors" have been urging the company's board to spin off Glaxo's consumer division. According to a newspaper source, Chairman Philip Hampton has been in talks over the possible creation of a stand-alone pharmaceuticals and vaccines company.----------FTSE 100 - LOSERS----------easyJet, down 1.8%, International Consolidated Airlines Group, down 1.7%. The airlines were suffering a negative read-across from peer Ryanair Holdings' first quarter results. The Irish carrier said lower fares, the earlier timing of Easter, and higher fuel and pilot costs resulted in a 20% drop in first quarter profit. Ryanair said it remains concerned by the danger of a hard, or no-deal, Brexit and may be forced to restrict the voting rights of all non-EU shareholders in the event of a hard Brexit, to ensure that Ryanair remains majority owned and controlled by European Union shareholders. For the three months ended June 30, the airline recorded profit after tax of EUR319 million, down from EUR397 million in the comparative year ago period, on a revenue of EUR2.08 billion and EUR1.91 billion, respectively. Ryanair shares were down 5.2%. Midcap peer Wizz Air was down 2.5%.----------Hargreaves Lansdown, down 1.0%. The fund supermarket was cut to Underperform from Hold by Jefferies. ----------FTSE 250 - LOSERS----------Ascential, down 4.2%. The business events organiser said lower margins and earnings for its core exhibitions and festivals business led to a drop in first half profit. Ascential recorded pretax profit of GBP23.1 million for the six months ended June 30, down 14% from GBP26.8 million in the comparative period a year ago, on revenue of GBP188.9 million and GBP165.1 million, respectively. Group margins dipped to 32.0% from 36.8%. Exhibitions & Festivals margins fell to 49.7% from 55.5%, while information services unit recorded margins of 25.1% versus 28.8%. Adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation dipped to GBP60.4 million from GBP60.8 million. ----------OTHER MAIN MARKET AND AIM - WINNERS----------Keras Resources, up 18%. The miner said it has secured permission to undertake a bulk sampling metallurgical testwork programme at the Nayega manganese project in northern Togo. Keras said the bulk sampling will include processing of 10,000 tonnes of beneficiated manganese ore, by a major producer of manganese-based alloys, for large scale metallurgical testwork, to assess the suitability of the ore in their manganese smelting facilities. The test work is estimated to cost USD1.5 million and will be fully funded by the unnamed third-party manganese end-user. Keras Resources is targeting a 10 millimetre to 75 mm manganese product from a simplified washing, scrubbing and screening operation. This will provide real-time data with respect to the operating costs and logistics of exporting beneficiated manganese to third party end-users, the company said.----------OTHER MAIN MARKET AND AIM - LOSERS----------McColl's Retail Group, down 12%. The convenience store chain said first half profit nearly halved on the back of supply chain disruptions. For the 26 weeks ended May 28, McColl's reported pretax profit of GBP2.3 million, down from GBP4.5 million for the same period the year before. The drop in profit was primarily attributed to costs relating to the collapse of wholesaler Palmer & Harvey, health and safety breach fines and an unprofitable store closure programme. First half like-for-likes sales were down 2.7% due to supply chain disruption caused by the demise of Palmer & Harvey. The company separately said Chief Financial Officer Simon Fuller will be leaving the company to join newspaper publisher Reach in the same role. In addition, Liberum cut the stock to Hold from Buy. ----------