(Alliance News) - The following stocks are the leading risers and fallers within the main London indices on Tuesday.
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FTSE 100 - WINNERS
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Antofagasta, up 2.3%. Liberum upgraded the Chilean copper miner to Buy from Hold.
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Glencore, up 1.5%. Liberum upgraded the commodities house to Buy from Hold.
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FTSE 250 - WINNERS
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Grafton Group, up 7.0%. The builders' merchant said trading in November and December was better than anticipated but its end markets remained "subdued". As a result, the Irish building materials supplier said it expects to report adjusted operating profit of about GBP202 million for 2019, compared to GBP194.5 million in 2018. Grafton said it expects 2019 revenue from continuing operations to be GBP2.67 billion. In the first half, Grafton generated GBP1.44 billion of revenue from continuing operations. During the year, Grafton sold its specialist UK plumbing and heating business Plumbase and its Belgian Merchanting unit. In 2018, the company generated total revenue of GBP2.95 billion.
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Dixons Carphone, up 5.5%. Goldman Sachs raised the electrical goods retailer to Buy from Neutral.
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Games Workshop, up 4.2%. The tabletop games and figurines retailer said it was pleased with its interim performance as it recorded a rise in earnings. For the six months to December 1, the FTSE 250-listed wargames retailer posted revenue of GBP148.4 million, up 19% from GBP125.2 million the previous year. Pretax profit increased 44% year-on-year to GBP58.6 million from GBP40.8 million. By division, the company's trade unit saw 24% year-on-year rise in first half sales to GBP76.1 million, retail posted 6.3% rise to GBP45.3 million and online sales rose 14% to GBP24.2 million.
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FTSE 250 - LOSERS
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Elementis, down 15%. The speciality chemicals company said it expects to report a drop in adjusted operating profit for 2019 following a subdued trading performance in the last quarter. For the year, the firm expects adjusted operating profit to be between USD122 million to USD124 million, a 6.8% to 8.2% decline from GBP133 million in 2018. The Personal Care segment had a mixed end to the year, as a solid performance in cosmetics offset competitive pressures in AP Actives. The Energy unit performed weaker due to a slowdown in North American drilling activity, Elementis said, as did the Chromium segment as a result of a weak demand environment and lower market prices. However, Coatings performed well as demand conditions remains in line with expectations, it said, and Talc was buoyed by solid demand for industrial talc and new business.
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Safestore Holdings, down 3.5%. Bank of America downgraded the self-storage company to Underperform from Neutral.
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OTHER MAIN MARKET AND AIM - WINNERS
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boohoo Group, up 5.3%. The online fashion retailer raised its annual guidance as a result of strong revenue growth. In a trading statement for the four months ended December 31, the online fast fashion retailer said its revenue increased by 44% to GBP473.7 million from GBP328.2 million a year ago. As a result, boohoo said it now expects revenue growth for financial year to February 29 to be 40% to 42%, ahead of its previous guidance of 33% to 38%. The company also said it expects adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation margin to be 10% to 10.2%, ahead of its previous guidance of around 10%. Boohoo also said it has successfully integrated and re-launched newly-acquired brands MissPap, Karen Millen and Coast onto its multi-brand platform.
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OTHER MAIN MARKET AND AIM - LOSERS
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Lekoil, down 66%. The Nigerian oil firm confirmed late Monday it has been duped by fake investors. Lekoil had asked for shares to be suspended in London on Monday, as it said the Qatar Investment Authority was querying the USD184.0 million funding. The shares resumed trading Tuesday morning. Lekoil at the start of January said it had agreed the loan with the QIA to fund drilling and development at the Ogo field off the coast of Nigeria. However, Lekoil said representatives from the QIA had questioned the validity of the loan agreement. It also confirmed it had paid USD600,000 to Seawave Investment which acted as an introducer to those "purporting to be the QIA". After the London market close on Monday, in another statement, Lekoil then confirmed the loan seems to have been agreed with people "who have constructed a complex facade in order to masquerade as representatives of the QIA". Lekoil said it conducted due diligence on both the people offering the loan as well as introducer Seawave.
McBride, down 17%. The household goods retailer issued a profit warning for financial 2020, as it posted a 4.4% year-on-year drop in group revenue due to weak trading activity in its core Household division and exit from UK Aerosol manufacturing in financial 2020. McBride expects financial 2020 adjusted pretax profit to be 15% lower than current market expectations of GBP22.1 million due to lower revenue generation. Adjusted pretax profit amounted to GBP24.5 million and revenue stood at GBP721.3 million in financial 2019. The company also said it has commenced a review of its strategy and operations following the appointment of Ludwig de Mot as chief executive on November 1, 2019. De Mot replaced Rik de Vos, who stepped down in July 2019 after four years in the role since 2015.
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By Arvind Bhunjun; arvindbhunjun@alliancenews.com
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