Marks & Spencer Share News (MKS)

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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Associated British Foods, up 9.0%. The owner of discount fashion retailer Primark and British Sugar reported growth in revenue in the first 40 weeks of its financial year and said its full-year outlook has improved due to sterling weakness after the UK's European Union referendum. Group revenue in the 40 weeks ended June 18 grew by 1% year-on-year. The company also reiterated an improved outlook for the full year after sterling weakened even further following the UK's decision to leave the EU last month, but this time said it expected to see no decline in adjusted earnings per share.

Land Securities Group, up 5.1%, British Land Co, up 4.5%. Having taken a battering from broker downgrades and property fund trading suspensions in recent days, the commercial property sector was benefiting from a relief rally. Land Securities also received an upgrade to Overweight from Equal Weight by Barclays. Blue-chip housebuilders Persimmon, up 6.3%, Taylor Wimpey, up 5.5% and Barratt Developments, up 4.2%, also were higher, as were banking shares, another sector that had been under selling pressure due to post-Brexit uncertainty. Lloyds Banking Group shares were up 4.0%. Royal Bank of Scotland was up 3.8% and Barclays up 2.6%.
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FTSE 100 - LOSERS
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Marks & Spencer Group, down 1.4%. The clothing, homewares and food retailer reported growth in group sales in the first quarter of its financial year and said its guidance remains unchanged for the full year. M&S said group sales in the 13 weeks ended July 2 grew by 1.3% on the same period the year before, as 4.0% growth in the food division offset an 8.3% decline in the clothing & home division. M&S said its new Simply Food stores continued to perform ahead of its expectations, while clothing & home was hit by a "weak market". M&S said its full-year guidance remains unchanged.

Randgold Resources, down 2.3%. Fresnillo, down 1.1%. The gold miners were giving up some of the gains made in recent days as gold traded slightly lower. Gold was trading at USD1,366.74 mid-morning Thursday, against USD1,367.58 at the London equities close on Wednesday. Fresnillo had closed up 4.7% on Wednesday, while Randgold closed up 4.0% having touched an all-time high earlier in the day.
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FTSE 250 - WINNERS
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Sports Direct International, up 10%. The sports clothing and equipment retailer said profit was over 15% higher in the last financial year but warned the volatility in the retail sector and the uncertainty caused by the EU referendum will "drag on consumer confidence" over the short to medium term. The sports retailer reported pretax profit of GBP361.8 million in the financial year to April 24, a significant increase from the GBP313.5 million profit booked a year earlier as revenue rose to GBP2.90 billion from GBP2.83 billion.

NCC Group, up 7.7%. The company, which provides software escrow and verification, cyber security consulting and managed services, said its pretax profit for the year to the end of May was pulled lower by one-off charges, but underlying trading proved very strong and the information assurance group hiked its dividend payout. It said pretax profit for the year to May 31 was GBP9.4 million, down from GBP21.4 million a year earlier as the group booked an GBP18.9 million one-off charge after shutting down its Domain Services business. NCC declared a final dividend of 3.15 pence, taking its total payout up 17% year-on-year to 4.65p.

Bovis Homes Group, up 6.5%. The housebuilder said trading in the first half of 2016 was in line with its expectations, and it is too early to assess the potential impact of the Brexit vote on the UK's housing market, though the fundamentals remain strong. In the half-year to the end of June, Bovis sold 1,601 new homes, up from 1,525 in the same period a year earlier, with the average sales price on the sales rising 15% to GBP255,000. Bovis's confidence fed a wider rebound in housebuilder shares. Crest Nicholson Holdings, up 6.0%, Redrow, up 5.0%, and Bellway, up 3.6%, were all among the best performers in the mid-cap index.

Great Portland Estates, up 5.1%. The central London-focused property developer said it is well-positioned to navigate the challenges facing the commercial property sector following the Brexit vote, with trading solid in the first quarter of its financial year. Toby Courtauld, Great Portland's CEO, said that, while tenant interest levels are currently healthy for the company's available space, the uncertainty caused by the vote is likely to have a negative impact on economic growth in the capital. "We can expect London's commercial property markets to weaken during this period of uncertainty with the benefits of lower bond yields and weaker sterling offset by reduced rental growth prospects," he said.
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FTSE 250 - LOSERS
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McCarthy & Stone, down 4.6%. As the rest of the housebuilding sector rallied, retirement housebuilder McCarthy & Stone was in retreat, as Barclays slashed its price target on the stock to 171.7 pence from 279.4p. Shares were trading at 138.4p0 Thursday.

Galliford Try, down 2.3%. The housebuilder and construction company also was missing out on gains in the rest of the sector after it was downgraded to Underweight from Equal Weight by Barclays.
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MAIN MARKET AND AIM - WINNERS
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Capital Drilling, up 13%. The drilling services company reported growth in revenue in the first half of 2016 and upgraded its full-year guidance after winning a drilling contract. The firm said revenue in the six months ended June 30 grew to USD41.1 million from USD39.0 million in the first half of 2015, thanks to increased activity at the Sukari open pit mine in Egypt. Capital Drilling added that it has won an award for a four rig deep hole exploration directional drilling contract by RAKITA Exploration, a subsidiary of Nevsun Resources. As a result of the contract win, Capital has uplifted its full-year revenue guidance to USD87.7 million.
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MAIN MARKET AND AIM - LOSERS
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Portmeirion Group, down 22%. The homewares maker said profit in 2016 is set to be materially lower due to continued difficult trading conditions in Asia and a slowdown driven by the Brexit decision in the UK. Portmeirion said total revenue for 2016 will be higher year-on-year, driven by the acquisition of home fragrance maker Wax Lyrical. But pretax profit for 2016 is set to be materially lower than the GBP8.6 million reported in 2015, due to a continued slowdown in sales for the company in Asia. In particular, Portmeirion said sales in South Korea have shown no signs of recovery and the performance of its distributor in India has been "extremely disappointing". In addition, Portmeirion said it has seen negative effects on demand both in the lead up to and in the aftermath of the UK's vote to leave the European Union. The fall in sterling which accompanied the vote to leave has yet to translate into firm overseas orders, it added.
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By Sam Unsted; samunsted@alliancenews.com; @SamUAtAlliance

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