HSBC Holdings Share News (HSBA)

LONDON (Alliance News) - The following stocks are the leading risers and fallers within the main London indices on Thursday.----------FTSE 100 - WINNERS----------Spirax-Sarco Engineering, up 3.0%. Berenberg started coverage on the steam management systems maker with a Buy rating. ----------Anglo American, up 2.5%. The miner said its off-shore diamond joint venture with the Namibian government has received the thumbs up. Debmarine Namibia, a project held equally by Anglo American's De Beers diamond business and Namibia, has approved the construction of a new diamond recovery vessel. This will cost USD468 million, with Anglo American paying half, and will become the seventh in Debmarine's fleet. The new vessel will start producing from 2022, and could increase the joint venture's production capacity by 500,000 carats a year, or 35% above current levels.----------FTSE 100 - LOSERS----------Burberry Group, down 3.6%. The fashion house said it made "excellent progress" in the first year of its transformation plan, but missed annual profit expectations. For the financial year that ended March 30, the luxury goods retailer posted pretax profit of GBP440.6 million, compared to GBP412.6 million a year ago. Revenue met analysts expectations, coming in broadly flat at GBP2.72 billion from GBP2.73 billion. Adjusted operating profit however lagged behind market consensus, coming in at GBP438 million, down 6% year-on-year from GBP4667 million. Analysts had anticipated adjusted operating profit of GBP442 million. "Given the scale of the planned changes, there inevitably remains much to do. Growth in its key Asia Pacific region, which accounts for 41% of revenue, is still in evidence but is more subdued, potentially exacerbated by the ongoing spat between the US and China and the economic consequences. Growth in the US itself is also soft, the gross margin has suffered after further investment in the business and foreign exchange headwinds," said Interactive Investor's Richard Hunter.----------National Grid, down 2.5%. The UK power lines operator reported a significant reduction in annual profit but expressed confidence in its future performance. For the financial year ended March 31, the gas and electricity utility posted pretax profit down 31% to GBP1.84 billion from GBP2.66 billion. Revenue slipped 2.1% to GBP14.93 billion from GBP15.25 billion, while operating costs rose 2.6% to GBP12.06 billion from GBP11.75 billion. The reduction to profitability was also in part due to GBP648 million taken in respect of exceptional items and remeasurements. With regards to the UK market, where the Labour Party is seeking to bring UK energy networks under public ownership, National Grid separately told the Press Association that nationalisation was the "last thing" that was needed as the "enormous distraction, cost and complexity" of the proposals would distract from efforts to combat climate change.----------Tesco, down 1.8%, HSBC Holdings, down 0.9%. The stocks went ex-dividend meaning new buyers no longer qualify for the latest dividend payout. ----------FTSE 250 - WINNERS----------Sophos Group, up 13%. The cybersecurity firm revealed a swing to annual profit on the back of strong revenue growth, foreign exchange gains and lower costs. For the financial year that ended in March, Sophos recorded pretax profit of USD53.6 million, compared with a USD41.0 million loss in financial 2018, on revenue of GBP710.6 million and USD639.0 million, respectively. The rise in revenue was attributed to 16% year-on-year growth in subscription revenue to USD593.9 million from USD512.4 million. Adjusted operating profit - the company's preferred profit measure - increased 87% to USD109 million from USD58 million, driven by revenue growth and operating leverage, as well as a one-off benefit from the reduction in variable performance-related pay in the period. Sophos Group declared a final dividend of 3.7 cents per share, an increase of 6% over the prior year. The total dividend for the year amounted to 5.2 cents versus 4.9 cents.----------Premier Oil, up 8.5%. The oil and gas company said surprisingly strong production so far this year, thanks to a "very high group operating efficiency", has led to an increase in production guidance for 2019. Premier's production was 85,100 barrels of oil equivalent in the year to Wednesday, 14% higher than the same period last year. That was due to a "very high group operating efficiency" of 97%, the company said. UK production averaged 57,4000 barrel of oil equivalent per day, up 47% on the corresponding period in 2018, driven by an increased contribution from Catcher Area, in the UK North Sea. The Catcher Area is located off the coast of Aberdeen, and Premier is the operator of the area with a 50% stake. As a result of the surprisingly strong production, Premier Oil has increased its full-year production guidance from 75,000 boe per day to 75,000 to 80,000. Meanwhile the guidance for expenditures remained unchanged. ----------Funding Circle Holdings, up 7.0%. HSBC started coverage on the business lender with a Buy rating. ----------FTSE 250 - LOSERS----------Just Group, down 9.5%. The life insurer said its retirement income sales in the first quarter fell sharply amid a "new regulatory regime" as it shuts its loss-making US operations. Just Group's retirement income sales in the three months to March 31 decreased 59% to GBP184 million from GBP454 million the year before. Defined Benefit De-Risking sales were almost wiped out, decreasing to GBP26 million from GBP249 million. Guaranteed Income for Life sales decreased 23% to GBP145 million from GBP188 million. Lifetime mortgage loans advanced in the quarter decreased 47% to GBP79 million from GBP151 million. As a result of the sharp drop in retirement income and lifetime mortgages, Just Group's total business sales in the period decreased 55% to GBP276 million from GBP617 million.----------OTHER MAIN MARKET AND AIM - WINNERS----------Yu Group, up 55%. The electricity supplier said the UK Financial Conduct Authority has decided to discontinue its probe and has no present intention to take action against the company. In December, the regulator said it will probe Yu to review the accuracy of the company's announcements made between March 6, 2018, and October 24, 2018, and whether the announcements accurately reflected the Yu's true financial status. Yu on Wednesday said it has resolved its previously announced accounting mistakes, which resulted to a loss for 2018. In October 2018, the company said it would record a GBP10 million profit reduction due to accounting mistakes relating to income recognition and level of trade debtors. For 2018, the gas, electricity and water supplier posted a pretax loss of GBP9.6 million compared to a GBP730,000 profit the prior year. ----------OTHER MAIN MARKET AND AIM - LOSERS----------Thomas Cook Group, down 17%. The travel agent reported a widened interim loss due to significant goodwill impairment charges and warned against tough trading ahead. For the six months to March 31, the company reported a sharply widened pretax loss of GBP1.45 billion compared with GBP303 million pretax loss a year prior. This was mainly due to a GBP1.1 billion charge related to the company's 2007 merger with MyTravel. Revenue fell to GBP3.01 billion from GBP3.22 billion, as the first six-months represented a period of "uncertain consumer environment" across the firm's markets. "As we look ahead to the remainder of the year, it's clear that, notwithstanding our early decision to mitigate our exposure in the 'lates' market by reducing capacity, the continued competitive pressure resulting from consumer uncertainty is putting further pressure on margins. This, combined with higher fuel and hotel costs, is creating further headwinds to our progress over the remainder of the year," the company said.----------