(Alliance News) - The following stocks are the leading risers and fallers within the main London indices on Friday.
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FTSE 100 - WINNERS
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Royal Bank of Scotland, up 2.5%. JPMorgan has raised the stock to Overweight from Neutral.
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FTSE 100 - LOSERS
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InterContinental Hotels Group, down 3.3%. The hotel firm expressed confidence in the remainder of the year despite a reduction in third-quarter revenue amid challenges in some of its operating markets. The Buckinghamshire, England-based hospitality company reported net system size growth of 4.7% in the third quarter to 865,000 rooms and said it is on track to exceed it by 5% in 2019. Revenue per available room, a key performance metric for the hotel industry, for the three months to the end of September was down 0.8%, hurt by "tougher" trading conditions in the US and China, and ongoing unrest in Hong Kong, InterContinental Hotels said. For the first nine months of 2019, RevPAR remained flat year-on-year.
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Evraz, down 2.6%. The steelmaker said an ongoing efficiency programme is expected to add USD350 million to 2019 earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation. The London-headquartered company also said it is considering three major investments projects to increase sales of finished steel products. The investments will be made between 2020 and 2023 and, as a result, Evraz is predicting capital expenditure of USD1 billion per annum for each of the years. For 2019, the company sees capital expenditure at USD850 million.
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Fresnillo, down 1.3%. Goldman Sachs has cut the gold miner to Neutral from its Conviction Buy List.
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FTSE 250 - WINNERS
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Avast, up 6.2%. The cybersecurity firm reported "good" third-quarter growth, with all guidance for 2019 reaffirmed. For the three months to September, Avast posted adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation of USD121.9 million, 8.7% higher year-on-year. For the nine months, adjusted Ebitda grew 6.6% to USD358.5 million. Avast's adjusted revenue climbed 5.0%, or 6.6% excluding foreign exchange, to USD220.3 million. Removing forex and discontinued business, the figure was up 9% to USD218.3 million, though with currency movements climbed 7.3%. For the nine months to September, Avast's revenue from continuing operations rose 7.9% to USD640.1 million, and was up 9.1% excluding forex. Including discontinued business, it climbed 5.5% to USD647.1 million, rising 6.7% excluding forex.
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FTSE 250 - LOSERS
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Centamin, down 3.1%. The gold miner has been reduced by Goldman Sachs to Neutral from Buy.
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Britvic, down 1.5%. JPMorgan has lowered its rating on the drinks maker to Neutral from Overweight.
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OTHER MAIN MARKET AND AIM - WINNERS
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Elegant Hotels, up 57%. Marriott International and Elegant have reached a takeover agreement. US hotel chain Marriott will pay 110 pence in cash per Elegant share. This values the entire share capital of Elegant at GBP100.8 million. The offer represents a 57% premium to Elegant's closing price on Thursday of 70p, and implies an enterprise value of USD199.0 million based on the firm's net debt.
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OTHER MAIN MARKET AND AIM - LOSERS
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Itaconix, down 12%. The firm said delays in customer projects mean 2019 revenue will be below market expectations, but will be significantly ahead of the comparative year ago figure. The New Hampshire, US-based polymer ingredients maker's revenue for the nine months to September 30 reached GBP700,000, up 78% year-on-year. Second half revenue is predicted to exceed the first half. As a result of lower than expected annual revenue and one-off costs related to new product development, Itaconix expects to report loss before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation for second half of 2019 broadly in line with the GBP1.0 million loss recorded in the first half, meaning the 2019 Ebitda loss will be roughly GBP2.0 million.
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By George Collard; georgecollard@alliancenews.com
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