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(Alliance News) - The following stocks are the leading risers and fallers within the main London indices on Wednesday.
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FTSE 100 - WINNERS
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Diageo, up 0.5%. Bernstein raised the distiller to Outperform from Market Perform.
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Ferguson, up 0.2%. The plumbing and heating product supplier said it is planning an additional listing of its shares in the US and has taken steps to conserve cash, including suspending its buyback and withdrawing its interim dividend. Ferguson said its "key residential, commercial, industrial and public sector facilities" are still running and it is supporting "major public utilities" during the Covid-19 pandemic. Ferguson said its trading to March 31 from January 31, the end of its first half, was not hurt significantly by the virus, though Ferguson suffered weakened revenue growth toward the end of the period. At the end of March, Ferguson has around USD2.5 billion of available liquidity and its net debt was USD1.93 billion. It has, since then, "been approved and has issued commercial paper under the Bank of England's Covid Corporate Financing Facility".
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FTSE 100 - LOSERS
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easyJet, down 6.9%. Shares in the budget airline remained lower amid ongoing tensions between founder Stelios Haji-Ioannou and the company's board. Haji-Ioannou - who is easyJet's biggest shareholder - on Tuesday wrote to the UK market regulator regarding the airline's deal with Airbus. Last Thursday, easyJet pushed back the deliveries of 24 aircraft until the end of financial 2022. easyJet added that its agreement with Airbus also allows it to defer a further 5 deliveries in its financial year to the end of September 2022. But Haji-Ioannou said the airline's statement was "as clear as mud" and warned that the company may be in breach of UK market abuse regulations.
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BP, down 4.9%, Royal Dutch Shell 'A' and Shell 'B', down 4.0%. The oil majors were tracking spot oil prices lower, quoted at USD28.75 a barrel Wednesday morning, down from USD30.08 late Tuesday. Global oil demand will fall by a record amount this year as lockdown measures imposed to curb the coronavirus outbreak bring the economy to a virtual halt, the International Energy Agency said. For 2020 overall, demand will fall by 9.3 million barrels per day, with April alone down 29 million barrels a day from a year earlier to levels last seen in 1995, the IEA said in its latest monthly report. However, measures taken to bolster the global economy and to reduce oil supply should allow a "gradual" recovery in the second half of the year, it said.
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FTSE 250 - WINNERS
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Hastings Group, up 3.8%. The insurer said gross written premiums remained stable, though revenue was down slightly amid the Covid-19 pandemic. Gross written premiums for the three months ended March 31 dipped 0.5% to GBP234.3 million from GBP235.5 million the year before, while net revenue was 2.1% lower at GP179.2 million versus GBP183.1 million. Live customer policies as at March 31 were 3.6% higher year-on-year at 2.9 million compared to 2.8 million, while Hastings's share of the UK private car market was marginally higher at 7.7% compared to 7.6% previously. At present, Hastings is still intending to seek shareholder approval for paying a final 2019 5.5p dividend at its May 21 annual general meeting. This represents a 39% drop from its final 2018 dividend.
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FTSE 250 - LOSERS
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Hiscox, down 16%. Shares in the insurer were lower after the UK Financial Conduct Authority warned insurance companies liable for claims to cover business interruption due to coronavirus must pay out "as soon as is possible" to help small businesses survive the lockdown. Hiscox is one of the insurers in the firing line, with the Hiscox Action Group set up by a group of brokers and loss adjusters to look at whether or not they have a case to take legal action. Over the weekend, The Times reported that a group led by PR firm Media Zoo is alleging that Hiscox is trying to avoid paying out for what they believe are legitimate claims.
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OTHER MAIN MARKET AND AIM - WINNERS
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Costain, up 33%. The UK government has given formal approval for the HS2 project to begin the construction phase. It has issued a notice to proceed to the companies that will build phase one of the high-speed railway, PA reported. That means the firms can transition from carrying out scheme design and preparatory work to detailed design and construction. Costain said its Skanska Costain Strabag joint venture received a notice to proceed on the design and construction of phase 1 of HS2 in the southern area. Its work will include designing and building tunnels for the approach of the railway line into London Euston station. Costain said the contract is worth GBP3.30 billion to the joint venture as a whole, but it won't make a significant contribution to Costain's profit until financial year 2021 onwards. This is because construction is paused during the Covid-19 lockdown.
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By Arvind Bhunjun; arvindbhunjun@alliancenews.com
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