Coca-Cola HBC Share News (CCH)

LONDON (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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Coca-Cola HBC, up 9.4%. The soft drinks bottling company reported a rise in profit in the first half of its financial year as it benefited from growth in volumes and margins, although its revenue was hit by adverse foreign exchange rates. The company reported a pretax profit in the six months ended July 3 of EUR164.7 million, up from the EUR129.2 million profit it made in the same period the year before, although revenue did slip to EUR3.15 billion from EUR3.18 billion. "We are pleased to have achieved strong results, with good volume growth and a significant improvement in margins," Chief Executive Dimitris Lois said.

TUI, up 7.0%. The tourism and travel operator posted higher revenue for the third quarter and for the first nine months of its financial year, despite the recent quarter being clouded by the terrorist attack in Tunisia. It said it is confident it will achieve further earnings growth in the full year and beyond, even though it will take a further hit in the fourth quarter from the Tunisian tragedy. TUI said it is currently confident of delivering underlying earnings growth of 12.5% to 15.0% for its current financial year and at least 10% over each of the next three years, with trading in the summer months so far proving solid.

Burberry Group, up 2.7%. The luxury goods company was given a boost after the Chinese central bank said there was no basis for continuing to allow the yuan to depreciate against major currencies, despite devaluing the currency for a third day. Burberry shares had been sold in recent days after the People's Bank of China started devaluing its currency, amid concerns the company would take a revenue hit given the importance of the Chinese market to its operations. Exane BNP Paribas also published research saying the share falls for luxury firms after the yuan devaluation were overdone.
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FTSE 100 - LOSERS
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G4S, down 3.5%. The outsourcing company fell after Goldman Sachs cut its rating on the company to Sell from Neutral and cut its target price to 260 pence from 300 pence. Exane BNP Paribas followed suit, downgrading the company to Neutral from Outperform and cutting its target price to 290 pence from 330 pence. However, JPMorgan Cazenove kept an Overweight rating and nudged its price target up to 309 pence from 298p.
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FTSE 250 - WINNERS
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Cineworld Group, up 3.9%. The cinema operator posted a big jump in pretax profit in the 26 weeks ended July 2 to GBP46.8 million from GBP13.9 million in the same period the year before, as its revenue grew 22.5% to GBP329.1 million from GBP268.6 million. Cineworld said that it saw a "satisfactory" increase in admissions, box office revenue and retail sales, with the most successful titles released being 'Fifty Shades of Grey', 'Fast and Furious 7', and 'Jurassic World', all of which broke box office records. It added the second half release slate looks strong, with 'Star Wars: Episode VII', 'Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part' and the next Bond film 'Spectre' coming up.

Ashmore Group, up 4.4%. Citigroup raised its recommendation on the asset manager to Buy from Neutral and hiked its target price to 290 pence from 270 pence.

Michael Page International, up 3.5%. The recruitment company said it will pay a special dividend to shareholders after its pretax profit rose on the back of higher revenue and gross profit in the first half, which defied the currency challenges the group faces. Pretax profit for the group rose to GBP40.4 million in the half-year ended June 30, up from GBP35.6 million a year before, as its total revenue rose to GBP530.4 million from GBP512.2 million. Gross profit, or net fee income, rose to GBP280.9 million from GBP263.7 million.
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FTSE 250 - LOSERS
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Ophir Energy, down 5.3%. The oil and gas company increased its full-year production guidance and reported a large reduction in spending, as it tries to restructure itself for a USD50 per barrel of oil environment, after swinging to a substantial pretax loss in the first half of 2015. Ophir said it swung to a large USD123.3 million pretax loss in the first half of 2015 from a USD589.4 million profit a year before, when it had booked a one-off gain. Revenue came in at USD86.5 million compared to nil a year earlier.
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AIM ALL-SHARE - WINNERS
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Independent Oil & Gas, up 7.8%. The company said it has been given extra time to try to pull together a financing package to allow the company to complete its acquisition of a stake in, and to fund the work programme for, the Skipper licence offshore the Shetland Islands in the UK.

Greka Engineering & Technology, up 134%. The company, which provides services for infrastructure projects in the unconventional gas sector in China, said it has entered into a construction contract with China United Coalbed Methane Corp, the state-owned Chinese coal-bed methane company. Under the deal, Greka will be responsible for power line construction and support equipment installation.
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AIM ALL-SHARE - LOSERS
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Quarto Group, down 11%. The illustrated book publisher posted a wider interim pretax loss on the back of higher costs, as revenue increased marginally on the back of solid trading in its core business. Quarto said its pretax loss in the half to the end of June was USD1.9 million, substantially wider than the USD644,000 loss it posted a year earlier on higher administrative expenses and the booking of exceptional costs as opposed to the one-off gain it recorded a year earlier.

Caza Oil & Gas, down 7.7%. The company said its pretax loss widened in the second quarter of 2015 as a fall in production and prices hampered revenue. The US-focused company reported a USD3.3 million net loss in the second quarter of 2015, widening from a USD763,150 loss a year earlier after revenue dropped to USD2.9 million from USD6.3 million as lower oil and gas prices, compounded by lower production levels, took its toll.
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By Sam Unsted; samunsted@alliancenews.com; @SamUAtAlliance

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