Auto Trader Share News (AUTO)

(Alliance News) - The following stocks are the leading risers and fallers within the main London indices on Wednesday.----------FTSE 100 - WINNERS----------Fresnillo, up 2.8%. The Mexican gold miner was tracking spot gold prices higher quoted at USD1,337.28 an ounce, up from USD1,325.80 late Tuesday. "Such a turn to growth [in the gold price] may be a signal of increased anxiety of markets, despite the relatively cautious movement of the stock indices," said analysts at FXPro. Midcap peers Hochschild Mining and Acacia Mining were up 4.0% and 1.7%, respectively. ----------FTSE 100 - LOSERS----------British American Tobacco, down 4.0%. The tobacco company said it was continuing to "perform well" and left its full-year guidance unchanged, but warned it expects annual global industry sales volume to be down around 3.5%. BAT said it was on track to deliver constant currency revenue growth in the "mid-upper half" of its 3% to 5% long-term guidance range for 2019. BAT also anticipated "good" operating margin improvement in 2019. This is despite further investment in its New Categories, which includes vaping, heat-not-burn and other new products lines. All told, BAT forecasts constant-currency adjusted operating profit to deliver growth in the "upper half" of its 5% to 7% guidance range. In the US, BAT described its business to be "performing well" with good pricing and value share growth despite industry volumes forecast to be down between 4% and 5% on the year prior. Auto Trader, down 2.5%. UBS downgraded the online digital marketplace to Sell from Neutral. ----------FTSE 250 - WINNERS----------Entertainment One, up 2.5%. The film and television show producer announced a new GBP425 million note offering. The senior secured notes, due 2026, will help Entertainment One redeem existing senior secured notes due in 2022, and also allow in to repay an outstanding term loan. The company also Wednesday said Non-Executive Director Michael Friisdahl bought 14,444 shares at a price of 406 pence in two transactions last Friday, worth GBP58,643. A week ago, Entertainment One confirmed Chief Content Officer & President Mark Gordon was still a part of the firm, after media reports that he would leave after conflict with other senior management. ----------FTSE 250 - LOSERS----------Amigo Holdings, down 5.0%. The guarantor loans provider said a majority shareholder is still considering selling some of its holding in the company, after opting not to in the immediate future. Richmond Group, which owns 61% of Amigo, said it has been investigating selling "part" of the holding. With a market capitalisation of approximately GBP1.33 billion for Amigo, Richmond's stake is worth approximately GBP816.6 million. Amigo shares were down 4.1% Wednesday morning at 280.00 pence each. Last October, Amigo's founder & former director James Benamor left the board after Richmond decided it no longer wanted to be represented on the Amigo board. Amigo joined the London Stock Exchange last June, with selling shareholders netting GBP326.8 million in the float. ----------OTHER MAIN MARKET AND AIM - WINNERS----------Boohoo Group, up 2.2%. The online fashion retailer reported a strong performance for the first quarter of its financial year, with revenue growth across all geographies. Total revenue for the three months to the end of May rose by 39% to GBP254.3 million from GBP183.6 million the year before. Revenue also grew by 39% on a constant currency basis. Regionally, the UK remained the largest contributor to revenue, rising by 27% to GBP140.6 million from GBP110.7 million a year prior. Revenue from the US grew by 64% to GBP51.3 million from GBP31.4 million, while the Rest of World generates sales of GBP24.2 million, a 26% rise from GBP19.2 million. Looking ahead, boohoo said it continues to expect revenue growth to be 25% to 30% for the year to the end of February 2020, with an adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation margin of 10%.----------OTHER MAIN MARKET AND AIM - LOSERS----------Pendragon, down 25%. The car dealer said it expects to post a small underlying loss in 2019 due to market conditions and excess stock across the business. Pendragon said the UK market has stayed "challenging" and noted the Society of Motor Manufacturers & Traders' report of a 3.1% decline in new car registrations in the year to May. Pendragon said it has also be hurt by "certain internal operational challenges" and now expects to report a small underlying pretax loss in 2019, prior to the disposal of its US Motor group unit. The first half of the year is likely to be "significantly loss making", followed by a return to profit in the second half. Pendragon expects the GBP11.9 million operating loss suffered by its Car Store business in 2018 to accelerate to around GBP25 million in 2019 due to "execution inefficiency" and an increase in used car stock at the end of 2018 to GBP485 million from GBP372 million a year before, which caused excess stock to be held across Pendragon's business. Also hindering performance has been "lower than anticipated new car margins in order to achieve volume targets with lower levels of tactical registrations" and higher costs, especially in aftersales.----------