(Alliance News) - The following stocks are the leading risers and fallers within the main London indices on Thursday.
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FTSE 100 - LOSERS
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TUI, down 2.3%. Berenberg cut the Anglo-German travel operator to Hold from Buy. TUI is making a "strategic error" by letting focus drift from its tour operator business, Berenberg said in a note. TUI should be focusing on its vertically integrated offering following investments in hotels and cruises rather than pursuing entirely different avenues of growth, such as its online travel agent.
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United Utilities, down 1.5%. The stock went ex-dividend on Thursday, meaning new buyers no longer qualify for the latest payout.
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FTSE 250 - LOSERS
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Capita, down 4.3%. Deutsche Bank cut the outsourcer to Sell from Hold.
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OTHER MAIN MARKET AND AIM - WINNERS
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Bidstack, up 52%. The in-game advertising firm has entered a two-year trading agreement with an undisclosed global marketing group. The new agreement will start on January 1 and calls for GBP10 million per year in gross media expenditure. Under the terms of the agreement, Bidstack's in-game advertising platform will be made available to the unnamed marketing group's advertising clients.
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Bilby, up 17%. The gas and electrical installation maintenance and building services firm said it saw a "robust" performance in a first half which saw a major reorganisation. For the six months to September 30, Bilby posted a pretax profit of GBP542,000, down 51% from the year before, with revenue falling 18% to GBP29.8 million. Bilby said performance will be, as usual, weighted to the second half. The company is paying no dividend, after returning 2.00 pence per share for the same period a year prior. This is because of Bilby's debt levels, after it posted a loss in its last financial year ended March. It had net debt of GBP11.1 million on September 30, up from GBP7.9 million a year before.
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OTHER MAIN MARKET AND AIM - LOSERS
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XLMedia, down 22%. The digital marketing firm warned on next year's profit as it begins a reorganisation which will include a focus on publishing activities. XLMedia has come up with three decisions moving forward: investing into and expanding global publishing activities, reviewing its technology platform, and an organisational restructuring. The overall one-off cost of transforming the organisational structure will be around USD3 million over 2019 and 2020, the company added. On the trading front, XLMedia said trading for 2019 is in line with previous guidance, and it has reiterated guidance of USD78 million of revenue and USD32 million of adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortisation. This compares to USD117.9 million and USD43.9 million respectively the year prior.
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Goodwin, down 17%. The mechanical and refractory engineering firm blamed political uncertainty for a fall in interim profit. Goodwin's pretax profit for the six months to October 31 slipped 5.1% to GBP7.4 million, despite revenue increasing by 3.8% to GBP70.1 million. "This is a feature of the disruption caused by the commotions in our parliamentary system over the past six months where the uncertainty has temporarily stalled projects," said Chair Timothy Goodwin. Looking to the second half of its financial year, the company believes profitability levels will be similar to the first half.
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Plant Health Care, down 12%. The company, which provides biological products that improve agricultural yield, expects revenue for 2019 to be below company expectations, and reflect a decline from the year before. Plant Health Care said for 2019, revenue is expected to be USD6.5 million, a 20% fall from USD8.1 million the prior year. The anticipated revenue decline was attributed to the delayed supply of H2Copla until an import licence is granted by the Brazilian authorities, and postponed sales of Harpin for corn seed in the US, as Plant Health's channel partner deals with working capital pressures.
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By Lucy Heming; lucyheming@alliancenews.com
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