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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 - LOSERS
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Rolls-Royce Holdings, down 3.2%. The jet engine maker was cut to Buy by Goldman Sachs from its Conviction Buy List.
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Whitbread, down 2.9%. The Premier Inn owner received 61.5 million acceptances in its 1 for 2 rights issue, raising a total of GBP921.8 million. Whitbread noted the acceptances, priced at 1,500 pence per share, were 91% of the shares in the fully underwritten rights issue. Whitbread said JP Morgan Cazenove and Morgan Stanley, who are acting as joint global coordinators, will aim to sell the remaining 5.8 million shares. They will acquire the shares should no takers be found. Whitbread previously said the rights issue will be used to provide a platform for future growth and investment.
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FTSE 250 - WINNERS
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Lancashire Holdings, up 10% at 798.50 pence. The insurer completed a placing of new shares via an accelerated bookbuild, raising GBP277 million to take advantage of an increase in insurance rates. The insurer said it issued 39.6 million shares at a price of 700 pence each. The placing price represented a discount of 3.6% on Tuesday's close. "Lancashire intends to use the proceeds of the placing to fund organic growth and take advantage of rate rises that the company is currently seeing across the majority of its business lines. Lancashire expects these growth opportunities to be strongly aligned to Lancashire's core areas of underwriting expertise and relationships," it said.
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FTSE 250 - LOSERS
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Shaftesbury, down 4.4%. The London West End-focused property investor reported a fall in net asset value as Covid-19 hit visitor numbers. EPRA NAV declined 11% to 878 pence per share at March 31 from 982p at the end of September 2019, which the company said was due to revaluation deficits. Its wholly-owned portfolio valuation fell 7.9% in the six months to the end of March on a like-for-like basis to GBP3.5 billion following an increase in yields reflecting economic uncertainties, the impact of Covid-19 on near-term income and occupancy assumptions, and a softening of residential values. The "decisive outcome" of the December 2019 UK general election helped to boost business confidence and investment as well as consumer activity, with Shaftesbury's occupiers reporting good footfall and spending over Christmas and the New Year, as well as in the early weeks of 2020. However, Covid-19 began to hit leasing activity in February with a number of negotiations put on hold or terminated. The "collapse" in West End footfall was evident from early February in Chinatown and then spread across the rest of the area from mid-March, Shaftesbury said.
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OTHER MAIN MARKET AND AIM - WINNERS
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International Personal Finance, up 12%. The doorstep lender said it maintained tighter credit standards during the coronavirus pandemic in an effort to protect its credit quality and manage cashflow. What's more, IPF restricted its credit issued in April and May to 30% of its 2020 budget. IPF noted its collection effectiveness improved to 80% of pre-Covid-19 levels, which the lender attributed to its European home credit arm where there was an increase in the proportion of agents visiting customers. IPF expects collections effectiveness to "progressively improve" in the coming months due to the easing of lockdown restrictions.
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OTHER MAIN MARKET AND AIM - LOSERS
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Vp, down 6.1%. The equipment rental firm said its annual performance was "satisfactory" after facing uncertain market conditions in the UK. In the year to March 31, revenue slipped 5.2% to GBP362.9 million from GBP382.8 million, the bulk of the fall down to a 5.5% fall in the UK division. The Harrogate-based firm's International unit had a 1.8% revenue fall. Pretax profit, meanwhile, dropped 16% to GBP28.4 million from GBP33.6 million. Amortisation & impairment charges soared to GBP16.8 million from GBP4.6 million, while exceptional items fell 82% to GBP1.5 million from GBP8.6 million. Without these costs, Vp's pretax profit climbed 0.6% to a "record" GBP47.1 million. Operating margins improved to 14.3% from 13.5%. Vp has decided against making a decision on a final payout for now. Should it not make one, its 8.45 pence interim dividend will be its only one for the year, representing a 72% fall from the 30.20p payout in financial 2019.
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Photo-Me International, down 5.4%. The instant-service equipment company, offering photo and laundry services, said it intends to review its options and take further action, where possible, to restructure the business and align operations to the current market conditions. Photo-Me said the Covid-19 pandemic hurt its end-markets, and the majority of expected revenue in March and April did not materialise. Trading has also been weaker in Asia - especially China - since the second part of January to date, Photo-Me said. Consequently, the Epsom, Surrey-based company said its overall trading performance for the four months ended April 30 was significantly hurt. Total revenue is now expected to be 5.5% lower than in the previous 12 months to the end of April 2019. Pretax profit before deduction of the provisions is expected to be GBP28 million, down 34% from GBP42.6 million for the 12 months to the end of April 2019.
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By Lucy Heming; lucyheming@alliancenews.com
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