(Alliance News) - The following stocks are the leading risers and fallers within the main London indices on Friday.
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FTSE 100 - LOSERS
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Rolls-Royce, down 6.6%. The jet engine maker said its restructuring plans are on track to deliver its targeted GBP1.3 billion cost savings by 2022, and confirmed at least GBP1 billion of near-term cash cost mitigations for 2020. Rolls said the benefits from improving its Civil Aerospace business have been "delayed" due to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic. Rolls said the unit saw a period of rapid growth and new engine programme launches, while research and development investment demands were falling and returns improving. Rolls said it expects its 2020 free cash flow to be approximately GBP4.2 billion, subject to timing of year-end working capital cash flows. This will result in a year-end net debt of between GBP1.5 billion and GBP2.0 billion, and liquidity of between GBP8.5 billion and GBP9.0 billion. Rolls-Royce shares have tripled since the start of October amid vaccine-driven hopes of a revival in the aviation market but remain down 49% so far in 2020.
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NatWest, Barclays and Lloyds Banking down 6.8%, 4.8% and 4.4%, respectively. The UK high street lenders were taking a hit as the UK and EU move ever closer to a no-deal Brexit. In brighter news, the latest Bank of England financial stability report highlighted that banks are in a very healthy position as they head into what could be a very turbulent few months.
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BT Group and Vodafone down 2.8% and 1.9%. The telecom firms were down after the UK Competition & Markets Authority launched in-depth investigation into the GBP31 billion mega-merger between rivals Virgin Media and O2. Under a "fast-track" process, investigators from the CMA will look at whether the deal could lessen competition for UK customers of the mobile phone and broadband giants. Evidence will be submitted by the networks' parent companies, Liberty Global, which owns Virgin Media and Virgin Mobile in the UK, along with Telefonica which owns O2. The CMA said it is "concerned that, following the merger, Virgin and O2 may have an incentive to raise prices or reduce the quality of these wholesale services, ultimately leading to a worse deal for UK consumers." The CMA blocked a merger between O2 and rival network Three, although it had previously waived through BT's deal with EE.
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FTSE 250 - WINNERS
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Calisen, up 25%. The Manchester-headquartered provider of smart energy meters agreed to a GBP1.43 billion takeover offer by infrastructure funds led by BlackRock. Calisen said its board has agreed unanimously to the offer, with shareholders set to receive 261 pence per share in cash. Calisen closed at 206.60p each in London on Thursday, and the deal represents a 50% premium to the firm's three-month volume weighted average closing price as of Thursday of 174p. The takeover, by Coyote Bidco Ltd, is considered "fair and reasonable" by Calisen's board, who intend to unanimously recommend the offer. The companies said support has been received from shareholders representing 73.6% of its equity.
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Qinetiq Group, up 3.2%. UBS raises defence technology company to Buy from Neutral.
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FTSE 250 - LOSERS
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Tui, down 5.2%. UK holidaymakers on the Canary Islands have hit out at new quarantine rules which have disrupted their Christmas plans. People arriving in the UK from the popular Spanish islands from 4am on Saturday must self-isolate for 14 days. Holiday operator Tui said it has around 5,000 UK holidaymakers on the islands, with a further 800 booked to fly out on Friday morning.
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By Paul McGowan; paulmcgowan@alliancenews.com
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