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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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Ferguson, up 3.7%. The plumbing and heating products supplier said the "strong" momentum seen in the first half of its financial year has been restrained since by the Covid-19 outbreak. Ferguson said revenue from its ongoing operations in the US and Canada were up slightly in the third quarter but trading profit took a hit. In the three months to April 30 - Ferguson's third-quarter - revenue was up 0.9% year on year to USD4.75 billion from USD4.71 billion, but a 7.7% rise in February and March was offset by an 11% decline in April. In the US, Ferguson recorded 1.9% revenue growth in the third quarter but Canada suffered a 16% fall. In the nine months to April 30, revenue from ongoing operations was up 3.2% year on year to USD14.64 billion, while trading profit was 2.8% higher at USD1.13 billion.
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Sage Group, up 3.1%. The accounting software provider reported higher interim profit as software subscription revenue grew and expenses fell, offsetting a drop in other revenue. Sage reported a GBP275 million pretax profit for the six months ended March 31, up 39% from GBP198 million the year before. One factor in this was a 1.9% increase in revenue to GBP975 million from GBP957 million, with organic total revenue up 5.7% at GBP935 million including 10% recurring revenue growth. Sage said organic revenue growth was underpinned by software subscription revenue growth of 26% to GBP582 million while other revenue - software & software-related services and processing - fell 20% to GBP109 million. Sage explained that the other revenue drop "reflects the managed decline in licence sales and de-prioritisation of professional services revenue as the business continues to focus on subscription, together with the additional impact of Covid-19 towards the end of March."
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Spirax-Sarco Engineering, up 2.5%. The thermal energy manager said trading has "held up well" despite the "unprecedented" market conditions brought about by the Covid-19 outbreak. Spirax-Sarco Engineering said a "small number" of its manufacturing facilities were temporarily shut but all now are open, though operating at different levels of capacity. Demand in the area of Maintenance, Repair & Overhaul and small improvement project activities, which traditionally make up about 85% of revenue, "experienced only a mild decline compared to a very strong comparable period in 2019," Spirax said. About 80% of demand weakness stemmed from the postponement of larger project orders, the company added. Spirax noted about 85% of its revenue comes from customers' operating rather than capital budgets, with capital expenditure being one of the first areas by companies trying to save cash.
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Taylor Wimpey, up 1.0%. The housebuilder said it will be reopening its show homes and sales centres for pre-booked appointments on Friday next week. The company noted that, since resuming site activities, it has seen "increased sales activity and customer interest" with housing market conditions stable. So far during the lockdown period, Taylor Wimpey has sold 48 homes net of cancellations and has averaged a net private sales rate of 0.30 homes per outlet per week. Cancellation rates have averaged 27% during lockdown, just 2.5% of its private order book. As at the week ending May 10, its total order book came to 11,033 homes compared to 10,489 homes the year prior. The order book value had increased year-on-year to GBP2.7 billion from GP2.5 billion. Following the UK government's announcement on "re-starting the housing market", Taylor Wimpey said it is now able to set out its "detailed plans for a return to site sales activity" and extend its customer service provision.
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FTSE 100 - LOSERS
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Carnival, down 7.5%, InterContinental Hotels Group, down 7.0%, easyJet, down 5.0%, International Consolidated Airlines, down 3.5%. The travel-related stocks were lower amid continued fears around the health of the sector due to Covid-19. "Cruise operator Carnival is amongst the largest fallers today in the wake of yesterday's announcement that it would be cutting thousands of jobs at its UK operation. The reports of quarantines being put in place for international travel has seen the wider travel sector post losses in the past couple of days with easyJet and International Consolidated Airlines trading sharply lower, after last night's admission from Health Secretary Matt Hancock that international holidays were unlikely to be an option for most people this year," said CMC Markets analyst Michael Hewson.
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FTSE 250 - WINNERS
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Crest Nicholson, up 3.8%. The housebuilder said it will restart construction on its sites from next Monday, after similar moves from its rivals to do the same. Crest said it had been working to come up with new ways of working that were compliant with Covid-19 guidance. On Tuesday, the UK government said that viewing homes and visiting estate agents could be on the cards again as lockdown measures are relaxed. "In England at least, as estate agents are given the green light to open, viewings are permitted and working hours for construction businesses are relaxed to support social distancing. The next question will be whether people feel confident enough to buy and sell homes in the current uncertain environment. The fact several builders managed to complete transactions and take reservations through the lockdown suggests an impressive degree of resilience in the housing market," AJ Bell's Russ Mould said.
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FTSE 250 - LOSERS
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Aston Martin Lagonda, down 7.0%. The luxury carmaker said Covid-19 and the resulting global economic shutdown had a "material impact" on its performance in the first quarter. For the period ended March 31, wholesale volumes were down 45% year-on-year to GBP578 with revenue down 60% to GBP78.6 million. The firm's pretax loss widened to GBP118.9 million from GBP17.3 million. The uncertainty surrounding the duration and impact of the Covid-19 pandemic makes it "not possible to provide a clear view on the full-year outlook", the company said, and as a result, Aston Martin has withdrawn its guidance for the year
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By Arvind Bhunjun; arvindbhunjun@alliancenews.com
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