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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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Evraz, up 2.2%. The Russian steelmaker reported increased output for both the last quarter of the year and 2019 as a whole. Evraz's fourth-quarter steel production was 2.1% higher on the third quarter at 3.4 million tonnes, and the 2019 figure climbed 6.1% to 13.8 million tonnes. The London-headquartered company said quarterly production was helped by higher volumes from the ZSMK steel plant in Siberia after repairs in the summer ended. Annual production was boosted by increased pig iron volumes from ZSMK after longer repair periods in 2018 than 2019. Evraz sold 3.6 million tonnes of steel products in the last quarter, 6.6% higher than the quarter before, while 2019 sales rose 10% year-on-year to 12.2 million tonnes.
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St James's Place, up 1.9%. The wealth manager reported a "robust" set of results, with a 22% annual rise in funds under management, as a positive investment return compensated for slightly lower net inflows. The company added that UK investor sentiment has improved following the December general election. St James's Place reported assets under management of GBP116.99 billion for 2019, up from GBP95.55 billion a year ago. Net inflows totalled GBP8.99 billion, down from GBP10.28 billion in 2018, with gross inflows of GBP15.10 billion, down from GBP15.70 billion.
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FTSE 100 - LOSERS
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BT Group, down 5.7%. The telecommunications firm said its third-quarter performance missed expectations, though it is on track for its full-year. BT revenue for the nine months to December fell 2% to GBP17.25 billion, with pretax profit down 8.6% at GBP1.91 billion. Adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortisation was 3% lower at GBP5.90 billion, while normalised free cash flow fell 42% to GBP1.00 billion in part due to a deposit for the rights to European football. BT said revenue declined due to "ongoing headwinds from regulation, competition, and legacy product declines". BT blamed the falling profitability on the lower revenue, higher spectrum fees, investment, and higher operating costs in Openreach, the firm's UK digital network business. "Not only have we seen a decline in revenues and adjusted earnings, as a result of the Government's decision to give Huawei a role in the UK's 5G network, the group has to increase its range of suppliers in the future," Share Centre analysts said.
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Royal Dutch Shell 'A', down 3.5%, Shell 'B', down 3.0%. The oil major reported a significant fall in annual earnings, driven by a decline in oil and gas prices. Shell's 2019 current cost of supplies earnings attributable to shareholders excluding items, its preferred profit metric, fell 23% to USD16.46 billion, which is short of market consensus of USD16.74 billion. The figure for the fourth quarter of the year slumped 48% to USD2.93 billion, and was around half the third-quarter figure. Shell is paying a USD0.47 quarterly dividend, as expected by the market, taking the annual total to USD1.88, again as expected. This means no annual dividend increase. Shell is to start the next tranche of its ongoing USD25 billion share buyback for 2018 to 2020. It has so far bought back USD14.75 billion of that, and will purchase USD1 billion more to April 27. Shell did warn that the pace of the current buyback programme is subject to macroeconomic conditions and the company's progress in reducing debt.
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Diageo, down 1.5%. The Johnnie Walker whisky maker upped its interim dividend by 5% after reporting a consistent set of first half results, with broad-based organic sales growth across regions and categories. The brewer and distiller, however, warned that full-year organic net sales growth will be towards the lower end of its mid-term guidance range of 4% to 6% due to changes it is making in the business following increased levels of volatility. London-based Diageo lifted its interim dividend 5.0% to 27.41p per share from 26.10p.
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FTSE 250 - WINNERS
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Centamin, up 4.6%. The Egyptian gold miner reported a revenue increase, helped by the rising price of the precious metal, and added that is "highly confident" in its strategy after rebuffing an approach by Canada's Endeavour Mining Corp. In 2019, revenue was 9.1% higher year-on-year at USD658.1 million from USD603.2 million. Gold sales were down 3.0% year-on-year in 2019, at 470,020 ounces, though averaged realised prices climbed 10% to USD1,399 an ounces from USD1,267. The company declared a final dividend of 6.0 cents, taking its total payout to 10.0 cents, an 81% jump from 5.5 US cents in 2018.
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KAZ Minerals, up 3.0%. The miner reported "record" open pit production in Kazakhstan, helping it post a strong quarterly performance. Kaz's fourth-quarter copper production fell 2.4% quarter-on-quarter to 80,900 tonnes, but was 3.9% higher on the year before. Annual output rose 5.7% to 311,400 tonnes, beating guidance of 300,000 tonnes. Gold production in the quarter was 55,300 ounces, down 5.5% on the third quarter of 2019 but up 14% yearly. For 2019, Kaz produced 201,500 million ounces of gold, up 9.9% year-on-year. Guidance for gold was between 170,000 ounces and 185,000 ounces in 2019, but in October the firm said it would beat the top end of that range by 5%. It has also beaten that guidance, with 2019 gold output 7.2% higher than the 185,000 ounce guidance limit.
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FTSE 250 - LOSERS
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Avast, down 7.8%. The antivirus software maker said it ended the provision of data to Jumpshot, after allegations the unit harvests and sells personal data. Prague-headquartered Avast currently has a 65% stake in data analytics business Jumpshot. London-listed business events firm Ascential owns the rest, buying the 35% stake in July last year for USD61 million. In its own statement on Thursday, Ascential said it has agreed to sell that 35% stake back to Avast. It did not say for how much, but said Avast will pay the original investment in cash plus expenses. On Wednesday, the cybersecurity firm said it was reviewing options for Jumpshot, responding to media reports suggesting the company was selling personal data. Ascential was up 0.8%.
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IG Group, down 2.6%. Liberum cut the contract-for-difference provider to Hold from Buy.
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By Arvind Bhunjun; arvindbhunjun@alliancenews.com
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