Intertek Group Share News (ITRK)

LONDON (Alliance News) - The following stocks are the leading risers and fallers within the main London indices on Tuesday.----------FTSE 100 - WINNERS----------Vodafone Group, up 2.0%. The telecommunications firm said it plans to raise around EUR4 billion through the issue of mandatory convertible bonds to fund the acquisition of some of US cable firm Liberty Global's assets. The sterling denominated bonds are to be issued in two tranches maturing no later than March 2021 and 2022 respectively, with the initial conversion price to be announced by Vodafone after the market close on Friday. The coupon for both tranches is expected to be 1.4% to 1.7% per annum and 1.7% to 2.0% per annum respectively. Proceeds from the bond issue will go towards partly financing the acquisition of Liberty Global assets in Germany, Czech Republic, Hungary and Romania, as well as bank loan refinancing and corporate purposes.----------GVC Holdings, up 1.5%. The sports-betting company said boosted its 2018 dividend after underlying profit and revenue both jumped following its Ladbrokes Coral Group acquisition, with further profit growth expected in 2019. In 2018, pretax loss improved modestly to GBP18.9 million from GBP22.6 million the year prior. This was despite net gaming revenue more than tripling to GBP2.98 billion from GBP815.9 million the year before. Revenue performance was helped by GVC's GBP3.2 billion acquisition of peer Ladbrokes Coral in March 2018. Profit was hurt by a sharp rise in exceptional administrative costs to GBP453.5 million from GBP173.6 million the year prior. GVC proposed a 16.0 pence per share second interim dividend, up 5.3% from 15.2p the year prior. For the full year, the dividend rose 16% to 32.0p from 27.7p the year before. ----------Direct Line Insurance, up 1.0%. The insurer reported a rise in annual profit but saw its written premiums fall due the ending of some partnerships and a patch of bad weather early in 2018 in the UK. In 2018, Direct Line's pretax profit increased 8.1% to GBP582.6 million from GBP539.0 million in 2017. Operating profit decreased 6.4% to GBP601.7 million, below consensus of GBP656 million. Direct Line said its pretax profit increased in 2018 on the non-repeat of debt finance costs in 2017. The company's operating profit, however, was pulled back by a decrease in underwriting profit and a fall in investment return. Direct Line's total income was broadly flat at GBP3.44 billion. Direct Line declared a final dividend of 14.0 pence, up 2.9% on the year before, giving a total dividend for 2018 of 29.3p, down 17% from the 35.4p distributed in 2017. Included in the total dividend is a special dividend of 8.3p, which was down 45% on 2017's special dividend of 15.0p. ----------FTSE 100 - LOSERS----------Intertek, down 3.0%. The testing, inspection and certification provider's shares were lower despite hiking its dividend and a rise in annual earnings. In 2018, pretax profit widened 2.8% to GBP404.5 million from GBP393.3 million the year prior. This was after revenue rose 1.1% to GBP2.80 billion from GBP2.77 billion in 2017. Profit was hindered by a rise in exceptional costs of GBP52.0 million in 2018, up from GBP45.5 million the year prior. This was primarily due to a rise in acquisition charges to GBP33.1 million from GBP19.2 million. Intertek proposed a 67.2 pence final dividend per share, up 41% from 47.8p the year prior. For the full year, the dividend rose 39% to 99.1p from 71.3p the year before. ----------Ashtead Group, down 2.7%. The equipment rental company said it had a strong third quarter but shares were lower on concerns over the firm's debt levels. On a statutory basis, pretax profit for the three months to January 31 was GBP240.9 million, up 17% year-on-year from GBP194.3 million the year before. On an underlying basis, pretax profit rose by 17% to GBP254.3 million from GBP205.1 million. However, net debt rose to GBP3.7 billion at the end of the quarter, up 42% from GBP2.6 billion last year. Ashtead has guided for capital expenditure for its current year ending April to be at the upper end of guidance at around GBP1.6 billion, with a similar level for its following financial year.----------J Sainsbury, down 1.1%. According to the latest grocery market share figures by Kantar Worldpanel, in the 12 weeks to February 24, Sainsbury's sales fell by 1.0%, reducing its market share by 0.5 percentage point to 15.7%. Despite that, Kantar highlighted, Sainsbury's premium Taste the Difference range proved popular, as sales of this range of products rose by 4%. Last month, the UK Competition & Markets Authoity poured cold water over the supermarket chain's proposed merger with rival Asda amid concerns the tie-up could raise prices for consumers. ----------FTSE 250 - WINNERS----------Genus, up 3.8%. Liberum raised the animal genetics specialist to Buy from Hold. ----------Ibstock, up 3.5%. The brickmaker boosted its 2018 payout following profit and revenue rising in a "busy" year in which it focused on its UK operations. In 2018, pretax profit widened 19% to GBP92.5 million from GBP77.7 million the year prior. This was after revenue rose 7.9% to GBP391.4 million from GBP362.6 million the year before. Ibstock proposed a 6.5 pence per share final dividend, unchanged on the year prior. For the full year, however, the dividend rose 4.4% to 9.5p from 9.1p the year before. ----------Phoenix Group, up 1.7%. The life insurance consolidator reported a sharp rise in profit and gross written premiums in a "very successful" year for the company. In 2018, Phoenix swung to a pretax profit of GBP259 million from a GBP7 million loss in 2017. The company's net premiums written more than doubled to GBP2.16 billion from GBP941 million, with gross written premiums doubling to GBP2.65 billion from GBP1.30 billion. Phoenix total revenue more than doubled to GBP2.55 billion from GBP1.11 billion. Net income swung to a GBP6.87 billion loss in 2018 from a GBP6.11 billion profit in 2017, due a swing to a net investment income loss of GBP9.60 billion from GBP4.99 billion gain the year before. Phoenix proposed a final dividend of 23.4 pence, 3.5% higher than 2017's final dividend, giving a total dividend of 46.0p, 1.8% up on the total distributed in 2017. ----------FTSE 250 - LOSERS----------BBA Aviation, down 5.1%. The aviation and aftermarket services provider's shares were lower despite reporting positive annual earnings. For 2018, BBA said statutory pretax profit edged up by 3.3% to USD174.3 million from USD168.7 million the year before. On an underlying basis, profit rose again by 3.3%, to USD308.0 million from GBP298.3 million. BBA Aviation's revenue saw double-digit growth of 20% to USD2.89 billion from USD2.41 billion the year before, helped up by contributions from acquisitions, particularly fuel supplier EPIC in July and the positive impact of higher fuel prices in the year. The group declared a final dividend of 10.07 US cents per share, bringing the total payout to 14.07 cents, up 5% from 13.40 cents the prior year. Looking ahead, BBA said the US business & general aviation market has seen little change, continuing the trend seen in the last quarter of 2018. ----------OTHER MAIN MARKET AND AIM - WINNERS----------Challenger Acquisitions, up 70%. The leisure and entertainment asset investor said it has received USD51,875 following the sale of its stake in a wheel in Dallas, Texas, back to the developers. This is the second of six scheduled payments, totalling USD300,000. In addition, the company has appointed former Rudolf Wolff Director George Lucan as a non-executive director, effective immediately. Challenger said Lucan has over thirty years of experience in equity and debt markets. He began his career at Dresdner Kleinwort Benson where he spent ten years, mainly within the structured finance team, and continued in alternative fund management, most recently with Rudolf Wolff.----------OTHER MAIN MARKET AND AIM - LOSERS----------Debenhams, down 7.5%. The troubled department store chain said it no longer expects to deliver annual profit in line with market views following a decline in sales in the first half of its current financial year. Debenhams reported a fall in gross transaction value of 5.4% for the 26 weeks to this past Saturday, with like-for-like sales down by 5.3%. UK sales slipped by 6.0% with International sales down 2.3%. On a more positive note, online sales grew by 2.0% over the period. Debenhams said trading headwinds have moderated in recent weeks, but the company expects macroeconomic uncertainties and increased financing costs to disrupt its business in the coming months. In mid-February, Debenhams agreed a new GBP40 million credit facility for 12 months with its existing lenders and inked a sourcing partnership with US and EU retail chains manager Li & Fung. Debenhams issued three profit warnings in 2018 as trading worsened amid a decline in footfall and Brexit uncertainty.----------