British American Tobacco Share News (BATS)

(Alliance News) - The following stocks are the leading risers and fallers within the main London indices on Thursday.----------FTSE 100 - WINNERS----------London Stock Exchange Group, up 7.2%. The stock market operator and index calculator sealed its agreement to buy financial markets data provider Refinitiv Holdings in an all-stock transaction for a total enterprise value of USD27 billion. LSEG, which on Saturday had confirmed talks to buy the business, will acquire Refinitiv from a consortium including investment funds affiliated with Blackstone and Thomson Reuters. The transaction will result in the Refinitiv shareholders - Blackstone and Thomson Reuters - holding a 37% economic interest in the stock market operator, though less than 30% of the total voting rights of the company to avoid the requirement of making a takeover offer for LSEG. Under the terms of the deal, LSEG will issue USD14.5 billion worth of new shares and assume USD12.5 billion of existing Refinitiv debt. LSEG shares are up 24% since Friday's close.----------British American Tobacco, up 6.3%. The tobacco major delivered "strong" interim results which leaves the cigarette maker on track to deliver another set of "good" annual growth figures. For the six months ended June, pretax profit narrowed 2.5% to GBP3.87 billion from GBP3.97 billion the year prior. This was despite revenue rising 4.6% to GBP12.17 billion from GBP11.64 billion the year before. Reported profit performance was hurt by rising operating and finance costs during the period. Adjusted operating profit in constant currency, however, pushed 5.9% higher to GBP5.21 billion. Sales volumes, however, fell 3.5% on the year prior to 336.0 billion sticks. Volume falls were primarily due to cigarette volumes falling 3.7% to 332.1 billion sticks, whilst new category tobacco heating products saw volumes rise 17% to 3.9 billion sticks. Tobacco peer Imperial Brands was up 3.3% in a positive read-across.----------Standard Chartered, up 4.6%. The Asia-focused bank reported strong profit growth in the first half and said it is making continued progress in its transformation plans, set out in 2015. StanChart also upped its first half dividend by 17% to 7.0 US cents from 6.0 cents a year before. In the six months to June 30, the lender's pretax profit grew 2.5% to USD2.41 billion from USD2.35 billion the year before. Standard Chartered's underlying pretax profit expanded 11% to USD2.61 billion. In Greater China & North Asia, StanChart's underlying profit increased 3.1% to USD1.33 billion.----------Barclays, up 2.7%. The lender reported a sharp rise in interim profit after last year's settlement with the US government led to a dramatic drop in litigation costs in the first half this year. In the six months to June 30, the lender's pretax profit almost doubled to GBP3.01 billion from GBP1.66 billion the year before. However, excluding litigation and conduct costs, pretax profit slipped 15% to GBP3.13 billion from GBP3.70 billion. Barclays litigation costs dropped to GBP114 million from GBP2.04 billion in the first half last year. The bank's total operating expenses decreased 21% year-on-year to GBP6.87 billion from GBP8.72 billion. The bank's net operating income declined 4.8% to GBP9.86 billion in the recent six months from GBP10.36 billion a year before. Total income slipped 1.3% to GBP10.79 billion. The discrepancy is due to credit impairment charges jumping 63% year on year to GBP928 million.----------FTSE 100 - LOSERS----------Mondi, down 5.1%. The packaging firm indicated conditions in the half were increasingly challenging, though hiked its interim dividend after reporting a "strong" performance. For the six months ended June, pretax profit widened 29% to EUR632 million from EUR490 million the year prior. This was as revenue edged 1.1% higher to EUR3.77 billion from EUR3.73 billion the year before. "Mondi delivered a strong performance in the first half of 2019 against a backdrop of increasingly challenging trading conditions," Mondi Chief Executive Officer Peter Oswald said. "Going into the second half of 2019, ongoing macro-economic uncertainties continue to impact on the trading environment," Oswald said. ----------Royal Dutch Shell 'A' shares down 4.4% and 'B' shares down 4.6%. The oil major reported a fall in interim earnings despite slightly higher production. Current cost of supply earnings attributable to shareholders excluding items was down 13% in the first half to USD8.76 billion. Cash flow from operating activities was up 4% to USD19.66 billion. For the second quarter alone, CCS earnings attributable to shareholders excluding items was down 26% year-on-year to USD3.46 billion, which Shell said reflected lower realised oil, gas and liquefied natural gas prices, plus weaker realised chemicals and refining margins, as well as higher provisions, though this was all partly offset by improved production. Total production available for sale in the half rose 1% to 3.67 million barrels of oil equivalent per day. In the second quarter alone, this was up 4% to 3.58 million.----------Glencore, down 4.5%. The miner and commodities trader on Wednesday had cut its 2019 production guidance for copper and ferrochrome Wednesday after a mixed set of interim output figures. The stock lost 2.0% in London on Wednesday, and overnight both JPMorgan and CFRA cut their price targets.----------FTSE 250 - WINNERS----------ConvaTec, up 17%. The wound and skin care products company said unfavourable currency exchange rates hurt its earnings in the first half of 2019 but its outlook remained positive as it expects its margin to expand following the completion of transformation programme. Convatec reported pretax profit of USD61.3 million for the six months to the end of June, down 31% from USD88.5 million reported a year earlier, as revenue slipped 3.5% to USD888.9 million from USD921.3 million. On an organic basis, revenue was flat year-on-year. The company maintained its interim payout of 1.717 US cents per share. ConvaTec said it expects to deliver margin expansion, over the medium to long term, from its adjusted earnings before interest and taxes margin in 2018 of 23.4%, and the anticipated decline to between 21.0% and 22.5% in 2019. ----------Capita, up 16%. The outsourcer reported a drop in first half revenue and profit, in line with expectations, but said it is making progress on in its business transformation programme. Capita, which provides support services to local authorities, schools and health organisations, also retained its annual guidance. It remains on track to record pretax profit of between GBP265 million and GBP295 million for 2019 and cost savings of GBP175 million by end 2019. Capita also reiterated its 2020 targets of double-digit operating profit margins and at least GBP200 million of sustainable free cash flows.----------FTSE 250 - LOSERS----------Intu Properties, down 5.3%. The shopping mall operator was adding to its 26% loss on Wednesday, having axed its interim dividend, as it looked to strengthen its balance sheet amid intense pressure on its assets and income performance. Following Intu's earnings report on Wednesday, research outfit AlphaValue early Thursday cut the stock to Sell from Reduce, while Goldman Sachs cut its price target by more than half to 40p from 84p, keeping a Sell rating.----------OTHER MAIN MARKET AND AIM - WINNERS----------SDL, up 2.3%. Peel Hunt upgraded the translation services firm to Buy from Add.----------OTHER MAIN MARKET AND AIM - LOSERS----------Halfords, down 3.2%. Citigroup cut the bike and car parts retailer to Neutral from Buy.----------