Merlin Entertainments Share News (MERL)

LONDON (Alliance News) - The following stocks are the leading risers and fallers within the main London indices on Thursday.
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FTSE 100 - WINNERS
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Tesco, up 5.0%. The UK's biggest retailer said group like-for-like sales in the third quarter of its financial year fell, but they rose over the key Christmas period to January 9, leaving the supermarket chain on track for full-year profit. Tesco said group like-for-like sales in the 13 weeks ended November 28 fell 0.5% year-on-year as a 1.5% decline in the UK offset 2.9% growth internationally. However, over the Christmas period in the six weeks to January 9, group like-for-likes rose 2.1%, with 1.3% growth in the UK and 4.1% growth internationally. Together, covering the 19 week period to January 9, group like-for-like sales increased 0.4%, which Tesco said was its first reported increase in over four years.

Burberry Group, up 1.8%. The luxury goods retailer said like-for-like sales were flat in the third quarter of its financial year, a better performance than in the second quarter, as mainland China, key market for the group, returned to growth. The British heritage brand said its retail revenue for the quarter was GBP603.0 million. Retail revenue was flat on a like-for-like basis, an improvement on the 4.0% decline seen in the second quarter. Total retail revenue was up 1.0% in constant currencies. The group saw an improvement in its Asia Pacific business. Though Hong Kong remained weak, mainland China returned to growth.
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FTSE 100 - LOSERS
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Merlin Entertainments, down 5.5%. Shares in the attractions and theme parks operator were hit by a downgrade from JPMorgan Cazenove. The bank downgraded Merlin to Underweight from Neutral and trimmed its target price to 440 pence from 450p. Merlin shares were trading at 408.00p.

Bunzl, down 3.2%. The distribution and outsourcing company said Chief Executive Michael Roney will step down after its annual general meeting in April and will be replaced by Frank van Zanten. Bunzl said Roney will leave after the AGM, due to be held on April 20, having served as chief executive for more than a decade. Van Zanten moves from the role of managing director of Bunzl's Continental Europe business. He will join the board on February 1 and take over when Roney retires in April.
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FTSE 250 - WINNERS
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B&M European Value Retail, up 5.8%. The discount retailer reported growth in revenue in the third quarter of its financial year as strong sales in the UK offset a weaker performance in Germany, the latter hit by the weak euro. Total sales in the 13 weeks ended December 26 rose 23% to GBP647.8 million from GBP527.9 million in the same period the year before. B&M said it achieved a record Christmas season in the UK, despite a challenging market, serving over four million customers in the Christmas week as it continued to gain market share.

JD Sports Fashion, up 4.4%. The sports and outdoor clothing retailer said trading remained good during the key Christmas period, with like-for-like sales rising, and upgraded its expectations for the year to the end of January again. JD Sports, which upgraded its full-year expectations twice last year thanks to strong trading, said like-for-like sales in its core estate, including in Europe, rose 11% in the five weeks to January 2. As a result, the group said its headline pretax profit, before exceptional items, for the currently financial year is anticipated to be higher than the GBP136.0 million markets currently expect.

William Hill, up 1.4%. The bookmaker said its operating profit for 2015 was in line with market expectations and said it is well positioned to deliver growth in 2016. The group, which is contending with a wave of consolidation in the gambling industry in which it has yet to participate, said its operating profit for the full year will come in around GBP290.0 million, in line with market expectations. The group said its gross win margin in the fourth quarter, covering the 13 weeks to December 29, was broadly in line with its expectations, while its net revenue from its core online gaming markets, including the UK, Italy and Spain, rose 14% year-on-year.
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FTSE 250 - LOSERS
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Restaurant Group, down 13%. The restaurant operator, which runs Frankie & Benny's, Chiquito and Garfunkel's chains, said it expects its full year earnings to be substantially ahead of the previous year after revenue rose by 8.0%, but warned it is more cautious about 2016 over concerns about like-for-like sales trending lower. The company said recent data from the retail sector and the wider economy has shown that the trading environment for many consumer facing businesses has been tougher in recent months than it was earlier in 2015.

Booker Group, down 5.3%. The food wholesaler and convenience store operator reported growth in sales in the four months to January 1 as its newly-acquired Budgens and Londis convenience store chains were successfully integrated into the business, although like-for-like sales declined. Booker said total sales in the 16 weeks to January 1 rose 11% year-on-year, while non-tobacco sales grew 12% and tobacco sales increased 7.4%. Like-for-like sales including the Makro wholesale chain declined 3.1%, while non-tobacco like-for-likes fell 1.3%, and tobacco like-for-likes decreased 6.9%.
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MAIN MARKET AND AIM - WINNERS
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Blinkx, up 26%. The internet media firm said trading in its third quarter to the end of December was in line with its expectations in what is seasonally its strongest quarter. The group said its core product sales continued to ramp up in the quarter and offset declines seen in its non-core product portfolio, while the group also continued to cut costs across the business. Blinkx said thanks to the progress it made in the third quarter, profit for the period was ahead of its expectations, meaning it reached breakeven on an adjusted earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation measure. The adjusted earnings number strips out one-off costs.

Lavendon Group, up 6.1%. The equipment rental company said its 2015 results are set to come in at the high end of market expectations thanks to continued improvement in trading across the business. Lavendon said its total revenue for the year rose 2.0%, driven by 7.0% growth in the Middle East, 3.0% growth in Continental Europe and a continued improvement over the course of the year in the UK. In the fourth quarter, revenue for the UK rose 1.0%, turning positive for the first time, even as it ended the year marginally lower, down 1.0%. The company said its profit, margins and return on capital employed have all continued to improve, leading it set to deliver results for 2015 at the top end of market expectations.
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MAIN MARKET AND AIM - LOSERS
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Steppe Cement, down 15%. The Kazakhstan-based cement company said an increase in sales during 2015 was not enough to offset lower cement prices, leading to a decline in revenue, and said it also lost a considerable amount of market share over the year. Steppe managed to boost cement sales in 2015 by 2% from the previous year, but average cement prices dropped by 8% in 2015, causing revenue for the full year to decline by 7%. Steppe Cement said pricing was mostly affected by pricing pressure from Russian imports, which also increased during the year, until the Kazakhstan government chose to devalue the tenge back in August.
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By Sam Unsted; samunsted@alliancenews.com; @SamUAtAlliance

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