(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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Reckitt Benckiser, up 1.3%. Berenberg restarted coverage on the household goods maker with a Buy rating.
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FTSE 100 - LOSERS
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Rio Tinto, down 1.9%. The Anglo-Australian miner chopped its bauxite and aluminium production guidance amid worse-than-expected output, while production at Pilbara, located in western Australia, accelerated. Rio said Pilbara iron ore shipments of 86.1 million tonnes in the three months to the end of September were 5% higher than in the third quarter of 2018. Pilbara iron ore production of 87.3 million tonnes was 6% higher year-on-year and 10% higher quarter-on-quarter, reflecting a good recovery from the operational and weather challenges experienced earlier in the year. Third-quarter bauxite production and shipments to third parties were 9% and 23% higher, respectively, than a year ago. Bauxite production from non-managed joint ventures was, however, lower than planned year-to-date, Rio noted. Aluminium production of 789,000 tonnes was 3% lower than the third quarter of 2018, primarily reflecting a preventive safety shutdown at one of the three pot-lines in Iceland and earlier-than-planned pot relining in Canada.
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FTSE 250 - WINNERS
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Mediclinic International, up 3.2%. The private hospital operator said it delivered a solid performance in the first half of its financial year across all of its operations, with revenue and earnings set to rise. For the six months to the end of September, the dual-listed private hospital group said adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation will increase by around 3.5% from GBP231 million the year before. This is on revenue that is to grow by 9.0% on a reported basis from GBP1.39 billion the prior year. On a constant currency basis, revenue will increase by 6.5% year-on-year. Mediclinic said its Hirslanden business in Switzerland performed well, despite the regulatory changes in the country's healthcare system. In South Africa, revenue for the period increased by 7.0% from ZAR8.01 billion, or GBP418 million, the prior year, driven by a rise in inpatient bed days mainly coming from Mediclinic's investment in the Intercare group of companies. Finally, in the Middle East, revenue grew by 8.5% from AED1.50 billion, around GBP318.6 million the year before on higher inpatient and outpatient volumes. The Ebitda margin for the period edged upwards to 9.5% from 9.4%.
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Go-Ahead Group, up 1.0%. HSBC raised the transport operator to Buy from Hold.
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FTSE 250 - LOSERS
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Hammerson, down 4.5%. RBC Capital downgraded the shopping centre operator to Sector Perform from Outperform.
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OTHER MAIN MARKET AND AIM - WINNERS
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Augean, up 20%. The waste management firm said, for the second time this year, profit is set to beat the market's expectations after strong trading. Augean said results for 2019 will benefit from a 20% rise in landfill volumes across all waste types in the year-to-date, with landfill pricing also rising 20%. The company has benefited from higher profit from radioactive waste operations as well and a good performance in both its waste treatment and North Sea businesses. The market sees an adjusted pretax profit for 2019 of GBP16.5 million, Augean said, and the company believes it will be "materially ahead" of this. Augean had said in May as well that 2019 profit was to beat expectations after a good start to the year. In 2018, pretax profit more than doubled to GBP10.6 million and the adjusted figure rose 69% to GBP11.4 million.
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ASOS, up 17%. The online fashion retailer's shares rallied after management assured it had a positive second half though its annual numbers still represented a disappointing year. In the 12 months to August 31, revenue climbed 13% to GBP2.73 billion and UK retail sales grew by 15%, in a tough market, to GBP993.4 million. Neither of these were enough to prevent the 68% year-on-year profit drop to GBP33.1 million as distribution expenses climbed 9.1% to GBP415.6 million. Administrative expenses grew 17% to GBP883.6 million and sales costs soared 19%, both outpacing revenue growth. ASOS offered the market assurances that it ended the year in a better position than it started it in, "having identified the root causes of the issues" it faced. AJ Bell's Russ Mould said: "Investors are now bidding up ASOS's shares because management are confident they have a solution to fix operational issues."
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By Arvind Bhunjun; arvindbhunjun@alliancenews.com
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