(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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International Consolidated Airlines, up 3.5%. Shares in the British Airways parent were up after the UK government said on Thursday that there would be no change to its coronavirus quarantine exemption list. There had been speculation that Westminster would reimpose the quarantine requirement on Portugal due to a spike in Covid-19 cases, leading many holidaymakers to pay hundreds of pounds to fly home this week.
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Fresnillo, up 3.1%, Polymetal International were up 2.8%, The gold miners were tracking spot gold prices higher. The precious metal was quoted at USD1,940.33 an ounce Friday morning, up from USD1,926.09 an ounce at the London equities close Thursday. FTSE 250-listed peer Hochschild Mining was up 3.5%.
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Hikma Pharmaceuticals, up 2.8%. Barclays upgraded the generic drugmaker to Overweight from Equal Weight.
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FTSE 100 - LOSERS
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Barratt Developments, down 1.3%, Persimmon, down 1.0%, Taylor Wimpey, down 0.3%. The UK Competition & Markets Authority said it has found "troubling evidence" house developers have handed out "potentially unfair" terms concerning ground rents in leasehold contracts and potential mis-selling. As a result, the CMA has launched an enforcement action as it believes housebuilders may have broken consumer protection law. The CMA has written to four London-listed developers over the action, outlining its concerns: Barratt Developments, Countryside Properties, Persimmon and Taylor Wimpey. In response, Persimmon, Barratt, Taylor Wimpey and Countryside said they all would co-operate with the investigation. "The last thing the sector needs heading into a recession is to face a mis-selling scandal akin to the PPI debacle which hit the banks in the wake of the financial crisis," said AJ Bell's Russ Mould.
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OTHER MAIN MARKET AND AIM - WINNERS
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Filta Group Holdings, up 21%. The catering services provider said it has signed an exclusive licensing agreement with North Tees & Hartlepool NHS Trust to supply its hypochlorous acid-based, broad-spectrum disinfectant. The deal with NTH Solutions - a support services group wholly owned by North Tees & Hartlepool NHS Trust - will see Filta's Sanitation Service sell the products and provide training for customers in NHS best practices for proper use of the disinfectants to help stop the spread of the coronavirus. Filta staff will conduct initial cleans at sites and will then ensure that these sites are sufficiently trained/certified and prepared to continue the cleaning regime.
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Renew Holdings, up 9.1%. The engineering services firm said it anticipates its results for its current financial year to be "materially ahead of current market expectations". Renew said trading since May has been strong as it forecast full-year adjusted operating profit of between GBP39 million to GBP40 million. For comparison, adjusted operating profit for its financial year ended September 30, 2019 was GBP38.3 million. Looking ahead, it said: "Our proven resilience and the reliable long-term nature of the UK infrastructure markets in which we are deeply embedded gives the board confidence in our strategy and the continued success of the group."
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OTHER MAIN MARKET AND AIM - LOSERS
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Eurocell, down 4.0%. The PVC window, door, conservatory and roofline products manufacturer reported a loss for the first half as its sales took a hit from the coronavirus pandemic. In the six months to June 30, the company sunk to a GBP16.5 million pretax loss from a GBP10.4 million profit the year before. Eurocell's revenue plunged 31% year on year in the first half to GBP93.6 million from GBP136.3 million. Third-party revenue was down 37% to GBP36.4 million and like-for-like sales dropped 4%. The company's performance for the 11 weeks to March 20, were in line with expectations, with like-for-like sales up 3%, but then Eurocell was forced to temporarily close its business in line with official guidance from the UK government on March 23. Post-period, however, Eurocell noted its like-for-like sales over July and August were up 12%, with 2% growth in its Profiles unit and 20% growth in its Building Plastics unit.
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By Arvind Bhunjun; arvindbhunjun@alliancenews.com
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