Mothercare Share News (MTC)

LONDON (Alliance News) - The following stocks are the leading risers and fallers within the main London indices on Wednesday.----------FTSE 100 - WINNERS----------Taylor Wimpey, up 5.2%. The housebuilder said it is on track to meet expectations for 2018 and reiterated its 2019 guidance. Total completions were up 2.8% year-on-year in 2018 to 14,947 from 14,541, including joint ventures. As at December 31, Taylor Wimpey's total order book was valued at GBP1.78 billion, rising from GBP1.63 billion a year before. This figure excludes joint ventures and represents 8,304 homes. This growth was attributed to affordable housing. Taylor Wimpey said it intends to return GBP600 million to its shareholder by way of a total dividend in 2019, although this is subject to shareholder approval. The company said that while it was too soon for a definitive view of trading in 2019, it has continued to see "solid forward sales indicators" and is starting the year with a "very strong order book". Peers Persimmon, Barratt Developments and Berkeley Group were up 4.0%, 3.4% and 3.2% respectively. ----------FTSE 100 - LOSERS----------Hargreaves Lansdown, down 0.7%. The fund supermarket is in the midst of a feud with Terry Smith over a decision to exclude him from its new list of top 50 fund managers that the company recommends to clients, The Times reported on Wednesday. Smith, who founded his own firm Fundsmith ten years ago, has accused Hargreaves of making recommendations based on their potential to maximise the FTSE 100-listed wealth management company's own profit, The Times reported. According to the Times, Hargreaves responded that while Smith's performance has been good, he only has a track record of nine years and the fees he charges are higher than other funds. Hargreaves added that its recommendations are based solely on investment performance and fees charged.----------BHP Group, down 0.3%. The Anglo-Australian miner was cut to Sell from Hold by Deutsche Bank. ----------FTSE 250 - WINNERS----------Softcat, up 20%. The IT infrastructure provider said it is trading ahead of expectations as it nears the halfway point in its financial year. Softcat said trading since its last update at the end of November has continued to be strong, though gave no further information. At that time, Softcat reported strong customer demand in all of its segments, with revenue and operating profit both rising year-on-year in its first quarter ended October 31. ----------Ted Baker, up 10%. The fashion retailer reported a strong Christmas performance which saw double-digit sales growth. For the 5 week period to January 5, the upmarket fashion retailer reported retail sales up 12% against the same period a year ago. At constant currency, sales were up 11%. E-commerce sales were up 19%, representing just over a quarter of the company's total sales in the period, while average retail square footage was up 5.0% to 429,576 square feet. Looking ahead, Ted Baker said: "Against a backdrop of increased promotional activity, gross margins remain in line with our expectations for the full year and we expect to end the year with a clean stock position."----------Greggs, up 7.3%. The bakery chain upped its annual guidance after reporting an increase in sales and "very strong finish to 2018". For the year ended December 29, the company said total sales were up 7.2% against the prior year, with company-managed shop like-for-like sales up 2.9%. The second half proved much stronger than the first, with like-for-like sales up 4.2% and 1.5% respectively, boosted by sales of seasonal products such as the "Festive Bake" and freshly-baked mince pies. As a result of its strong performance, Greggs said it expects its annual underlying pretax profit to be at least GBP88 million, "slightly ahead of our previous guidance". In November, the baker guided to profit of at least GBP86.0 million. For 2017, pretax profit came in at GBP81.8 million.----------Serco, up 4.5%. Citigroup raised the outsourcer to Buy from Neutral. ----------OTHER MAIN MARKET AND AIM - WINNERS----------Grand Vision Media, up 87%. The digital media company said it won a contract with Dadi Cinema Group to install 3D panels in 22 new cinema locations within the Dadi network. Installation work is to commence immediately. At present, Dadi operates more than 470 cinemas across China. Grand Vision said that this is the first collaboration between the two companies and that it plans to roll out to more Dadi locations following the initial 22-cinema programme. Moreover, Grand Vision has also secured the rights to deploy all their advertising assets across Dadi's cinemas with immediate effect, including video advertising on the walls of cinema foyers. Grand Vision also has the right to "organize off-line events" inside foyers. The value and length of this contract have not been disclosed.----------Shoe Zone, up 11%. The footwear retailer declared a special dividend and boosted its final payout after recording 18% annual profit growth. Shoe Zone is paying a final dividend of 8.0 pence per share for its year to September 29, taking the year's total to 11.5p from 10.2p paid out the year before. However, the company is also paying an 8.0p special dividend, having not declared such a payout the year before, meaning shareholders are getting almost double for its recently-ended year than the last. Shoe Zone posted an 18% increase in pretax profit for the year, with the figure reaching GBP11.3 million, while revenue rose 1.8% year-on-year to GBP160.6 million. ----------OTHER MAIN MARKET AND AIM - LOSERS----------Mothercare, down 15%. The mother and baby products retailer reported a sharp drop in its third-quarter sales, suffering online as well as on the high street. For the 13 weeks to January 5, Mothercare total group sales dropped 18% on the comparative period a year ago. UK sales were down 18% overall, as both like-for-like sales and online suffered amid a "difficult consumer backdrop", lower discounting and less website visits. International sales in the quarter improved slightly over the previous period the company said but still fell 3.2% on the third-quarter of the year before. Mothercare, which in the course of 2018 issued a series of profit warnings, said it is on track to deliver its strategic transformation plan which will see at least GBP19 million in cost savings for the year.----------