Indivior Share News (INDV)

LONDON (Alliance News) - The following stocks are the leading risers and fallers within the main London indices on Wednesday.----------FTSE 100 - WINNERS----------Tesco, up 0.8%. The supermarket chain reported 28% jump in its annual profit, outperforming analysts' expectations, driven by a good sales performance in its core UK & Ireland market. For the year ended February 24, Tesco posted pretax profit of GBP1.67 billion, up from GBP1.30 billion a year ago. Revenue rose 11% year-on-year to GBP63.91 billion from GBP57.49 billion, slightly lagging consensus. Group sales excluding fuels were up 12% to GBP56.88 billion, while on a like-for-like basis sales rose 1.4%. According to company-compiled analyst consensus, pretax profit was expected to rise 22% to GBP1.58 billion, while revenue was forecast 12% higher year-on-year at GBP64.52 billion. Like-for-like sales in the UK & Ireland, Tesco's core market, were up 2.9% in the year, driven by an excellent performance of wholesaler Booker Group, up 11%. Tesco proposed a final dividend of 4.10 pence per share, taking the total payout for the year to 5.77p compared with 3.0p a year ago.----------FTSE 100 - LOSERS----------Halma, down 0.7%. Exane BNP cut the safety and environmental technology company to Neutral from Outperform.Unilever, down 0.6%. Barclays started coverage on the consumer goods giant with an Underweight rating. ----------FTSE 250 - WINNERS----------PageGroup, up 2.5%. The recruiter reported growth across all its regions in the first quarter of the year with gross profit up 12%. The FTSE 250 company reported gross profit of GBP208.8 million for the three months to March-end, up from GBP187.8 million in the comparative period a year ago. The company achieved growth in all regions with the Americas up 21%, Asia Pacific 15%, Europe Middle East and Africa up 11% and UK 1.7%. Looking ahead, the company expects to deliver 2019 operating profit in line with consensus. Currently, the market expects an operating profit of GBP160.4 million for the year.Dunelm Group, up 2.3%. The home furnishings retailer could beat the market's profit expectations for its current financial year, it said. After strong first quarter revenue growth, and despite political and economic troubles in the UK, Dunelm expects to beat consensus for pretax profit for its year ending June of between GBP115.6 million and GBP118.5 million. In its previous financial year, Dunelm reported pretax profit of GBP93.1 million, up 0.8% year-on-year, meaning it and the market both expect a strong acceleration in growth. For the third quarter, ended March, Dunelm's total revenue rose 6.1% to GBP284.5 million, with like-for-like sales rising 13%. ----------FTSE 250 - LOSERS----------Indivior, down 74%. The drugmaker's shares fell to a record low of 26.36 pence after a grand jury in the Western District of Virginia issued an indictment of 28 felony counts against the company related to fraud. The felonies, issued in connection with a federal criminal investigation initiated by the US Department of Justice in 2013, include one count of conspiracy to commit mail, wire and health care fraud; one count of health care fraud; four counts of mail fraud; and 22 counts of wire fraud. The allegations are based on actions that occurred "almost exclusively" prior to Indivior becoming an independent company following its demerger from Reckitt Benckiser PLC at the end of 2014. The DoJ has demanded at least USD3 billion in fines against Indivior, according to the indictment. Indivior said it believes the claims are "unsupported by the facts and the law", and it will contest the allegations. Reckitt Benckiser shares were down 6.7%, the worst performer in the FTSE 100.Stagecoach Group, down 5.0%. The transport operator has been disqualified from applying from all three current UK rail franchise competitions, it said. The reason, Stagecoach said, is because it submitted non-compliant bids related to pension risks. Shares in Stagecoach were down 6.4% in morning trade at 124.80 pence each. The three franchises are East Midlands, South Eastern, and West Coast Partnership. It had applied for East Midlands independently, South Eastern alongside planned partner Alstom, and West Coast alongside Virgin Group and French firm SNCF. Stagecoach said without government support for the long-term funding of railway pensions, a further GBP5 billion to GBP6 billion would be needed to plug the gap. However, the railway industry's solution would add a further GBP500 million to GBP600 million, Stagecoach continued, providing "better stability". The company said it is "shocked" the government has rejected this for what it terms a higher risk approach.McCarthy & Stone, down 2.5%. The retirement housebuilder reported a steep decline in interim profit on Wednesday, despite strong revenue growth. McCarthy & Stone's pretax profit for the six months ended February 28 was GBP3.6 million, down 66%, due to GBP14 million of exceptional costs related to restructuring and redundancies. Excluding this, underlying pretax profit was up 64% to GBP18.9 million. The FTSE 250 firm's revenue came in at GBP280.5 million, up 17% year-on-year, with legal completions 11% higher at 845. McCarthy & Stone has held its interim return to shareholders flat at 1.9 pence per share. As of April 5, McCarthy & Stone's order book was GBP485 million, down 17% year-on-year, with higher quality reservations now being held "due to improved controls".----------OTHER MAIN MARKET AND AIM - WINNERS----------ASOS, up 14%. The online fashion retailer said UK sales outperformed in a highly competitive retail market, despite a significant profit drop for the first half of its financial year. For the six months to February 28, the online fashion retailer posted pretax profit of GBP4.0 million, 87% lower than the comparative period a year ago at GBP29.9 million. This was due to GBP24 million of temporary transition costs, the retailer explained. At group level, revenue rose 14% to GBP1.31 billion from GBP1.15 billion a year ago, driven by a 13% jump in retail sales. In the UK, the retailer's home market, retail sales increased 16% to GBP481.5 million from GBP414.5 million a year ago. Order growth in the county was 20% from a 4% increase in traffic, while active customer growth rose 13% year on year. "The important point from today's announcement is that life hasn't got any worse with ASOS maintaining its 2019 earnings and spending guidance. That will come as a relief to the market," said AJ Bell's Russ Mould. ----------