(Alliance News) - The following stocks are the leading risers and fallers within the main London indices on Friday.
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FTSE 100 - WINNERS
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Land Securities, up 2.6%. The commercial property developer said that, following the reopening of most of its properties after the easing of lockdown measures, it has continued to make progress on the collection of rent and is set to reinstate its dividend. All of LandSec's office properties have remained open, and following the easing of restrictions on non-essential retail in the UK in mid-June, all shopping centres, outlets and retail parks have now open. By the end of June, 79% of the the real estate investment trust's retail units were trading, while 16 out of 18 leisure parks were open. Accor-managed hotels remain closed, but will go through a phased reopening over the next three months. Looking ahead, LandSec said it intends to reinstate dividend payments following the announcement of its interim results on November 10. As at June 30 the group's adjusted net debt was GBP3.92 billion compared to GBP3.93 billion at the end of March.
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FTSE 100 - LOSERS
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Next, down 1.8%. Goldman Sachs cut the retailer to Sell from Neutral.
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FTSE 250 - WINNERS
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Essentra, up 5.7%. Trading for the second quarter of 2020 was much more affected by the Covid-19 pandemic than in the first. However the plastic and fibre products maker noted improvement in revenue as the quarter progressed. In April, Essentra's like-for-like revenue declined by 17% but its performance improved from there, with a 10% drop in May and for June it is expected to have fallen just 1%. For the second quarter ended June 30, Essentra expects a 10% like-for-like revenue decline, while for the six-month period the decline is anticipated to be 9%. Looking ahead, Essentra expects some continued some disruption to trading in the coming months, but, for the third quarter, Essentra expects the trend of revenue improvement to continue from the second quarter.
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Rank Group, up 3.0%. The company said it will start reopening its Mecca bingo clubs starting Saturday in line with updated UK government lockdown guidance. Rank will open 35 venues in England at first followed by another 30 in a phased approach throughout July and August, including venues in Scotland and Wales when permitted. Revenue has been at around 60% of the levels seen before the Covid-19 pandemic. Rank's Digital business has done particularly well, with fourth-quarter revenue growth of around 17% on a proforma basis. The company is forecasting an operating profit for its year ended June 30 at the lower end of its GBP40 million to GP58 million prior guidance after IFRS16 "due to the venues reopening costs being expensed". With Mecca reopened, monthly cash outflow is expected to ease to GBP7 million per month from around GBP10 million, and Rank expects to become cashflow positive before deferred duty and rental payments once Grosvenor reopens.
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OTHER MAIN MARKET AND AIM - WINNERS
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CMC Markets, up 17%. The online trading platform said that net operating income for its first quarter alone exceeded the figure reported for the first half of its prior financial year. CMC Markets said for the three months to the end of June, the entire business performed very well, with client trading activity at around double that of the same period the year before. Meanwhile, client income retention was materially higher than the 82% reported for the six months ended September 30, 2019, and stockbroking net trading revenue has benefited from the current market conditions. As a result, net operating income for the quarter has risen above GBP102.3 million, which was reported for the interim period of CMC's 2020 financial year. In addition, CMC is confident that its net operating income for the year ending March 31, 2021 to exceed the upper end of its current market consensus, even if client trading activity returns to more normal levels.
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Trakm8, up 32%. The vehicle tracking company said it has now agreed a two-year contract with an undisclosed "major UK food retailer" after delays. The fleet optimisation contract was expected in March but the Covid-19 pandemic led to delays. The contract has an initial period of two years and involves using Trakm8's algorithm to optimise home deliveries. "There will be some initial customer funded engineering integration activity in advance of product going live later in the year," said Birmingham-headquartered Trakm8.
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OTHER MAIN MARKET AND AIM - LOSERS
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Fastjet, down 19%. The budget African airline said that if it cannot find alternative funding by the end of August then it would not be able to continue trading as a going concern past that point. Fastjet had been in talks with an investor consortium led and underwritten by Solenta Aviation Holdings, as well as local Zimbabwe investors. However, as it had said in May, talks with the consortium can only resume when "the impact and timeline of the lockdowns in South Africa and Zimbabwe" becomes known and so are currently on hold. In terms of trading, Fastjet has been performing some repatriation flights - around three per month - to Zimbabwe from South Africa while commercial flights are suspended until July 31 at the earliest.
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By Paul McGowan; paulmcgowan@alliancenews.com
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