(Alliance News) - The following stocks are the leading risers and fallers within the main London indices on Friday.
----------
FTSE 100 - WINNERS
----------
Persimmon, up 2.7%. Jefferies raised the housebuilder to Buy from Hold.
----------
FTSE 100 - LOSERS
----------
Imperial Brands, down 2.8%. Shares in the tobacco firm continued to fall after it warned on Thursday that the backlash against vaping and e-cigarettes in the US would weigh on revenue. The stock colosed down 13% on Thursday.
----------
Pearson, down 2.4%. Shares in the education publisher continued to slide after it warned on Thursday that a drop in demand for US college textbooks would hurt earnings. The stock closed won 14% on Thursday.
----------
Carnival, down 1.8%. UBS downgraded the cruise line operator to Neutral from Buy and Berenberg cut the stock to Sell from Hold. Carnival on Thursday lowered earnings guidance for both the fourth quarter and for the 12 months to the end of November due to higher fuel prices. The stock closed down 7.2% on Thursday.
----------
FTSE 250 - LOSERS
----------
Renewables Infrastructure Group, down 3.8%. The renewable energy-focused investor said it will propose a change in its investment policy to shareholders at a general meeting in October, and announced plans to issue new shares to fund acquisitions. The company wants to increase the amount of non-UK investments allowed to 65% of the portfolio. Its current policy does not allow for more than 50% of non-UK investments. The investor said European renewable markets have "continued to evolve" and a number of countries where it has already invested in, including France and Germany, have "robust" government support for onshore wind and solar projects. Renewables Infrastructure also plans to new issues through its share issuance programme, which has 185.0 million shares still available. The shares will be priced at 123.00 pence, a 6.0% discount to Thursday's closing price of 130.90p but a 7.0% premium to the net asset value of 115.00p from the end of June. If it does issue all 185.0 million shares, it will raise roughly GBP227.6 million.
----------
Big Yellow, down 2.0%. HSBC cut the storage company to Hold from Buy.
----------
OTHER MAIN MARKET AND AIM - WINNERS
----------
Indivior, up 2.2%. The drugmaker said it awarded a grant as part of a US government initiative to clamp down on opioid misuse. Indivior develops and commercialises CX3256, a medication "suitable for the treatment" for use disorder of opioid, a substance frequently used for pain relief and offers morphine-like effects. The grant was one of 375 awards across 41 states made by the National Health Institutes, a part of the US government Department of Health & Human Services.
----------
OTHER MAIN MARKET AND AIM - LOSERS
----------
Lekoil, down 19%. The oil and gas company said it expects its performance to improve following a swing to loss in the first half of 2019. Lekoil said it swung to pretax loss of USD1.2 million in the six months to the end of June compared to USD4.0 million profit recorded a year earlier, as revenue slipped to USD22.3 million from USD22.4 million. Lekoil also said its operating expenses grew to USD4.3 million from USD1.1 million year-on-year. The company said it continues to target a 25% run rate reduction of general and administrative costs for 2019. Lekoil said Otakikpo - which is located in Nigeria - production averaged 5,822 barrels of oil per day gross with 2,329 barrels of oil daily net to Lekoil, up from 2,042 barrels of oil daily net last year.
----------
Andrews Sykes Group, down 19%. The heating and air-conditioning firm said profit and revenue for the period dropped on unfavourable weather conditions. For the six months to the end of June, pretax profit was down 27% to GBP6.3 million from GBP9.3 million the year before, as revenue declined by 7.5% to GBP35.0 million from GBP37.8 million. Andrews Sykes attributed the weaker interim performance to adverse weather, with the much milder winter period for 2019 than 2018, leading to less opportunities for the group heating and boiler products. In addition, a drier period compared to the year before impacted the group's pump hire business. Looking ahead, Andrews Skyes said that trading in the third quarter to date has started more positively, with pump hire revenue in the UK improving and air conditioning hire revenue in Europe being strong.
----------
By Arvind Bhunjun; arvindbhunjun@alliancenews.com
Copyright 2019 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.
