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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Royal Bank of Scotland Group, up 2.9%, Standard Chartered, up 2.3%, Barclays, up 1.9%, and Lloyds Banking Group, up 1.1%. Banks were broadly trading higher after a hawkish set of meeting minutes from the US Federal Reserve on Wednesday put a June interest rate hike back on the table. Higher interest rates can benefit banks' net interest margins, a key driver driver of profit.

RSA Insurance Group, up 1.6%, Admiral Group, up 1.0%. The general insurers were both upgraded by JPMorgan. RSA was upgraded to Overweight from Neutral, while Admiral was raised to Neutral from Underweight.

3i Group, up 1.6%. The private equity investor said it delivered a higher total return and net asset value per share for the year to the end of March as it continued its momentum in realising value from its assets. The group said its total return for the year to the end of March was GBP824.0 million, up from GBP659.0 million a year earlier, while its net asset value per share was 463.0 pence at the end of the financial year, compared to 396.0p at the same point a year earlier. 3i said it will pay a final dividend of 16.0p for the year, taking the total payout to 22.0p, up 10% from 20.0p a year earlier.
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FTSE 100 - LOSERS
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Anglo American, down 5.7%, BHP Billiton, down 5.4%, Royal Dutch Shell 'A', down 4.8%, Shell 'B', down 4.8%, Glencore, down 4.7%, Rio Tinto, down 3.4%, Antofagasta, down 3.3%. Miners and oil companies were down as commodities prices came under pressure from the stronger dollar after the minutes from the Federal Reserve suggested that a US rate hike in June is a firm possibility. Gold is quoted at USD1,254.60 an ounce compared to USD1,272.11 at the London equities close Wednesday. Oil is trading at USD47.85 a barrel against USD49.54 at the equities close.

Fresnillo, down 5.4%. Citigroup cut the gold miner to Sell from Neutral.

Royal Mail, down 5.2%. The postal service reported a sharp fall in annual pretax profit as it pursues its business transformation plan, but it pushed up its dividend as it said it had delivered a resilient performance within a challenging market. The group said pretax profit for the 52 weeks to March 27 was GBP267.0 million, down from GBP400.0 million the year earlier, due to the costs related to its ongoing restructuring. Stripping out those costs and in constant currencies, operating profit grew to GBP742.0 million in the financial year from GBP740.0 million the year before. Royal Mail declared a total dividend for the year of 22.1 pence, up 5.2% from 21.0p the year before.

Merlin Entertainments, down 3.2%. The theme park and attractions operator said trading in the year to date has been broadly in line with expectations. The company said the key underlying trends seen in 2015 have continued into 2016, with market conditions in London remaining challenging despite recent favourable movements in foreign exchange rates.
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FTSE 250 - WINNERS
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Mitchells & Butlers, up 2.7%. The pub operator reported growth in profit in the first half of its financial year as its margin improved on the back of lower costs, but revenue slipped and group warned its second-half margin will be hit by the UK National Living Wage. The company said its pretax profit in the 28 weeks ended April 9 grew to GBP83 million from GBP75 million in the first half of the year before, even though revenue slipped marginally to GBP1.10 billion from GBP1.11 billion.

Electrocomponents, up 1.5%. The electronics distributor said its pretax profit dropped in the financial year to the end of March due to exceptional charges, though revenue edged higher and the company held its dividend payout flat. Headline pretax profit, which strips out exceptionals, slipped to GBP76.8 million from GBP80.1 million. But revenue for the year grew to GBP1.29 billion from GBP1.27 billion, driven by strong growth in Europe which offset weaker trading in North America and Asia Pacific, but the group's headline operating margin declined to 6.4% from 6.7%, hitting its bottom line.

Grainger, up 1.3%. The residential landlord said it has adopted a new dividend policy that will see payouts increase significantly, forecasting more than a 45% rise to the dividend this year, as the company reported a rise in profit during the first half. The company also said it expects recurring profit to be ahead of expectations for the full year. The company said the full year dividend should be around 4.0 pence, which would be a 45% rise from the total 2.75 pence dividend paid in the last financial year. The new policy has been introduced following a positive first half which saw rental income rise by 13% and pretax profit soar 73%. Net rental income rose to GBP18.0 million from GBP16.0 million to give Grainger recurring profit of GBP25.4 million compared to GBP22.5 million the year before.
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FTSE 250 - LOSERS
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Thomas Cook Group, down 19%. The travel operator ported a narrowed pretax loss in the first half of its financial year although revenue slipped and it warned on the outlook for the full year due to reduced demand for Turkey and Belgium. The group said its pretax loss in the six months ended March 31 narrowed to GBP288 million from GBP303 million in the same period the year before, although revenue slipped to GBP2.67 billion from GBP2.74 billion. Due to a sharp decline in demand in Belgium following the terrorist attacks in Brussels in March, Thomas Cook now expects underlying earnings before interest and tax for the full year to be between GBP310 million and GBP335 million, which is at the lower end of analyst expectations.

Brewin Dolphin Holdings, down 6.6%. The wealth manager said pretax profit fell in the first half of its financial year due to tough market conditions and one-offs booked a year earlier, though total funds on its books grew. Brewin said its pretax profit for the half year to the end of March was GBP21.5 million, 42% down from the GBP37.2 million it made a year earlier. The previous year had included a GBP9.7 million one-off gain. Brewin said its total funds under management at the end of the half was GBP32.8 billion, up 2.5% from GBP32.0 billion at the end of September, while discretionary funds grew 4.4% to GBP25.9 billion. The company declared an interim dividend of 3.85 pence, up 2.7% from 3.75p a year earlier.
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MAIN MARKET AND AIM - WINNERS
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Kibo Mining, up 13%. The miner said it completed the first phase of the environmental and social impact assessment covering the Mbeya coal-to-power project in Tanzania after authorities accepted and officially registered the assessment. Kibo is developing the Mbeya project in two parts, one covering the coal mining aspect of the operation, which in turn will feed the second part of the project, a power plant that will serve the domestic market. Feasibility studies have been progressed for each part of the project, and the environmental and impact assessment (ESIA) has also been conducted over each element of the project.

ProPhotonix, up 13%. The LED systems and laser diode modules manufacturer said it remains confident on its pipeline and on its outlook for the coming year. Chief Executive Tim Losik, in comments to be given at its annual general meeting, said ProPhotonix has had an encouraging 2016 so far, with production orders from three customers and new product launches in its UV range.

Fevertree Drinks, up 11%. The tonic water drinks company said it has "outperformed expectations" in the first four months of the year as the momentum seen in 2015 has continued into 2016. This strong performance, alongside a currently favourable foreign exchange environment, also has driven gross margin improvements, Fevertree said. "Given the strong sales in the period to date, the board anticipates that the results for the full year ending December 31, 2016 will be materially ahead of market expectations," Fevertree said in a statement.
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By Arvind Bhunjun; arvindbhunjun@alliancenews.com; @ArvindBhunjun

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