Merlin Entertainments Share News (MERL)

LONDON (Alliance News) - The following stocks are the leading risers and fallers within the main London indices on Thursday.----------FTSE 100 - LOSERS----------WM Morrison Supermarkets, down 5.5%, DCC, down 3.3% and Imperial Brands, down 2.9%. The stocks went ex-dividend meaning new buyer no longer qualify for the latest payout. ----------FTSE 250 - WINNERS----------Serco Group, up 8.0%. The outsourcer announced it has acquired a "leading" US defence business for USD225 million from Alion Science & Technology Corp. Serco will buy the Naval Systems Business unit from Alion on a cash and debt-free basis for USD225 million, or GBP173 million. The deal, expected to close in the second half of 2019, will be funded through a new debt facility up to GBP75 million and a share placing to raise up to a further GBP130 million. Serco will place up to 111.2 million shares in order to raise the targeted GBP130 million to fund the acquisition through an accelerated bookbuild. Details of the pricing of the placing shares will be announced once the process closes. The acquisition is expected to contribute "materially" to earnings in the first full year of ownership in 2020.----------Merlin Entertainment, up 4.5% at 346 pence. US activist investor ValueAct Capital urged the amusement park and attractions operator to evaluate a merger or go private. In an open letter to Merlin Chair John Sunderland, ValueAct said: "Merlin's share price does not reflect the underlying value of the company and may not in the foreseeable future. The company's share price is down 2.7% since the 2013 IPO despite a 35.5% increase in earnings per share. Simply put: Merlin has struggled as a public company." ValueAct, which owns a 9.3% stake in the theme parks operator, said Merlin could attract a bid of around GBP4 per share in a public or private transaction, a premium of roughly 30% to the current and recent average share price. In response, Merlin said it regularly considers all options for driving shareholder value and has concluded that it remains in the best interests of all shareholders to continue its current strategy of creating a high growth, high return, family entertainment company based upon strong brands and a global portfolio.----------Mitchells & Butlers, up 3.5%. The restaurant and pub operator said it outperformed the market in the first half of its financial year, delivering both revenue and profit growth. For the six months ended April 13, the managed restaurants & pubs operator posted pretax profit of GBP75 million, up 8.7% from GBP69 million a year prior. Revenue rose 5% year-on-year to GBP1.18 billion from GBP1.13 billion, with like-for-like sales up 4.1% in the first half. Looking ahead, the company reported like-for-like sales in the past 33 weeks were up 3.8%. ----------Inchcape, up 2.7%. The car dealer retained its outlook for 2019 and said that it will return GBP100 million to shareholders over the course of the year via a share buyback programme. Inchcape also said it has sold its Honda and Mitsubishi retail sites in Australia for GBP11 million cash, as part of an effort optimise its Retail business. The disposal is expected to generate a profit for the company. For the four months to April 30, Inchcape's revenue grew 3% year-on-year to GBP3.1 billion, with both Distribution and Retail businesses delivering 3% growth. Inchcape expects both Retail and Distribution business to deliver annual profit in line with guidance. It expects resilient constant currency profit performance, excluding a currency headwind from the Japanese yen.----------QinetiQ, up 2.0%. The defence technology company raised its dividend after annual revenue grew strongly alongside a healthy order book, whilst underlying profit also edged higher. For the year ended March, pretax profit narrowed 15% to GBP123.2 million from GBP144.8 million the year prior. This was despite revenue growing 9.4% to GBP911.1 million from GBP833.0 million the year before. Profit performance was hurt by a one-off GBP22.7 million gain recorded the year prior due to the sale of property and other investments during the year. Underlying pretax profit - excluding one-off items - widened 1.6% to GBP124.0 million from GBP122.1 million the year prior. QinetiQ proposed a 4.5 pence per share final dividend, up 7.1% from 4.2p the year prior. For the full year, the dividend rose 4.8% to 6.6p from 6.3p the year before. ----------FTSE 250 - LOSERS----------Tate & Lyle, down 4.5%. The bulk food ingredients maker reported lower annual pretax profit and said earnings per share growth will be flat in 2020. For the financial year ended March, pretax profit narrowed 16% to GBP240 million from GBP286 million the year prior. This was despite revenue rising 1.8% to GBP2.76 billion from GBP2.71 billion the year before. Profit performance was hurt by GBP58 million in one-off costs associated with moves to simplify the business. This included a GBP43 million charge associated with its sale of its oats ingredients business. "For the year ending March 31, 2020, we expect continuing progress in Food & Beverage Solutions and gains from productivity initiatives to offset both lower Sucralose profits and continued market challenges in Primary Products. As a result we expect earnings per share growth in constant currency to be broadly flat to low-single digit," said Chief Executive Nick Hampton. ----------OTHER MAIN MARKET AND AIM - WINNERS----------Aura Energy, up 42%. The minerals company said it produced its first samples of yellowcake product, a type of uranium concentrate powder. The company said it produced the samples as part of the Tiris Uranium project definite feasibility study. Moreover, the yellowcake produced is regarded as "saleable", with impurity levels within the acceptable limits relative to the American Society for Testing & Materials standards. ----------A&J Mucklow, up 17% at 640.30p. FTSE 250-listed LondonMetric Property announced a near GBP415 million takeover of the Midlands-based real estate developer. LondonMetric has made a GBP414.7 million cash-and-shares offer for A&J Mucklow. The deal would see LondonMetric pay 655.20 pence per share through 204.50p in cash and 2.19 new LondonMetric shares for every Mucklow share. The board of Mucklow have unanimously recommended investors vote in favour of the acquisition. After completion, LondonMetric shareholders will own 84% of the combined firm with Mucklow investors holding the remainder. LondonMetric shares were down 1.3%.----------