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(Alliance News) - The following stocks are the leading risers and fallers within the main London indices on Thursday.
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FTSE 100 - WINNERS
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BT Group, up 0.7%. The telecommunications firm said it is on track to meet its full-year expectations but reported a slight first-half revenue and profit declines. In the six months to September 30, revenue fell by 1.0% year-on-year to GBP11.47 billion from GBP11.59 billion. Pretax profit was down by 0.5% to GBP1.33 billion from GBP1.34 billion. BT attributed the revenue fall to the "impact of regulation, declines in legacy products, and strategically reducing low margin business". BT held its interim dividend of 4.62 pence per share.
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FTSE 100 - LOSERS
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Royal Dutch Shell, 'A' shares down 3.6% and 'B' shares down 3.4%. The oil major said it may not be able to reduce debt as planned and keep on with its share buyback programme. Shell is looking to reduce gearing to 25% by 2020. At the end of September, it stood at 27.9%, higher than the 27.6% at the end of June and 23.1% a year before. The oil major, London's largest listed company, has kept the dividend for the third quarter at 47 US cents, the same as the prior quarter, and also announced a new USD2.75 billion buyback, as it looks to return USD25 billion to shareholders. Chief Executive Ben van Beurden commented: "Our intention to buy back USD25 billion in shares and reduce net debt remains unchanged. The prevailing weak macroeconomic conditions and challenging outlook inevitably create uncertainty about the pace of reducing gearing to 25% and completing the share buyback programme within the 2020 timeframe." Shell's CCS earnings, its preferred profit metric, excluding items was USD4.92 billion for the third quarter, 15% lower year-on-year.
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Lloyds Banking Group, down 2.1%. The lender recorded a GBP1.80 billion payment protection insurance provision for the third quarter, wiping away almost all of the lender's profit. In the three months to September 30, Lloyds saw almost all of its pretax profit wiped from the books, recording GBP50 million profit compared to GBP1.82 billion in the same period a year before. For the quarter, Lloyds booked a GBP1.80 billion PPI provision. In September, the lender warned of a "significant increase" in PPI claims in the days leading up to the Financial Conduct Authority's deadline of August 29. Before the PPI charge, the lender's underlying profit was down 12% year on year at GBP1.82 billion - as a result of lower income. Net interest income slipped 2.2% to GBP3.13 billion from GBP3.20 billion the year before. Net income was 5.8% lower year on year at GBP4.19 billion. The lender blamed the drop in income on "continued pressure on asset margins".
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DS Smith, down 1.5%. The packaging firm retained its overall expectations for financial 2020 and said that business trends in the first half have remained in line with expectations amid strong price discipline, cost improvements and some box volume growth. DS Smith said it is making "excellent" progress with acquisition of Papeles y Cartones de Europa, known as Europac, with delivery of synergies in line with the recently upgraded EUR70 million synergy target. The company also expects completion of the disposal of its Plastics division with anticipated net proceeds of GBP400 million around the end of 2019. "We remain excited by the medium-term underlying drivers of demand for our sustainable corrugated packaging and our leading offerings for FMCG and e-commerce customers give us confidence of volume and market share growth going forward," Chief Executive Miles Roberts said.
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FTSE 250 - WINNERS
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Future, up 13%. The media company said it has raised GBP104.4 million from a completed placing, which will be used to acquire magazine printer TI Media. Future placed 8.2 million new shares at 1,275 pence each, which represented a 6.3% discount to the company's closing share price on Wednesday. Late Wednesday, the publisher said it will acquire magazine printer TI Media - which owns brands including Decanter, Country Life and Horse & Hound - for GBP140 million in cash. In addition, Future extended its debt facility by GBP45 million to GBP135 million in order to help fund the deal.
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PPHE, up 2.2%. The hotel developer and owner said it experienced a "solid" third quarter with revenue growth driven by a higher average room rate. In the three months to September 30, total revenue increased 6.0% to GBP121.0 million from GBP114.2 million the year before. Like-for-like revenue grew 5.5% year-on-year to GBP120.2 million. Revenue per available room increased 4.3% to GBP116.3 from GBP111.5 the year before. Like-for-like RevPAR increased 3.9%. PPHE Hotel's occupancy rate edged slightly higher in the third quarter to 86.7% from 86.6% the year before.
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FTSE 250 - LOSERS
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Crest Nicholson, down 7.4%. The housebuilder said it expects profit for financial 2020 to be lower than the year before, as a result of "volatile" market conditions and customer uncertainty due to Brexit. During the second half of 2019, the housebuilder said it has experienced "a volatile sales environment in some of its regional businesses, driven largely by ongoing customer uncertainty relating to Brexit and the economic outlook in the UK". Following the appointment of new leadership and new Chief Executive Peter Truscott in September, the company reviewed its operations and now anticipates profit before tax for the twelve months to October to be in the range of GBP110 million to GBP120 million. In financial 2019, Crest Nicholson reported pretax profit of GBP176.4 million.
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OTHER MAIN MARKET AND AIM - LOSERS
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Glanbia, down 11%. The Ireland-based dairy and non-dairy ingredients producer reiterated its annual guidance and said that a strong performance from its Nutritional Solutions business and contribution from recent acquisitions resulted in a 17% year-on-year revenue growth for the first nine months of 2019. Acquisitions added 11% to revenue growth for the nine months to September 30, with volume and price contributing 2.4% and 3.2%, respectively. The Nutritional Solutions business recorded 25% revenue growth, with the Watson acquisition adding 12%, volume up 9.3% and price up 3.9%. Glanbia completed its USD89 million cash acquisition of US-based non-dairy ingredient company Watson and Polymer Films, collectively known as Watson, at the end of February.
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By Lucy Heming; lucyheming@alliancenews.com
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