LONDON (Alliance News) - The following stocks are the leading risers and fallers within the main London indices on Tuesday.----------FTSE 100 - WINNERS----------Ocado Group, up 6.0%. The online grocer entered into an exclusive services agreement with Coles Group to launch online grocery shopping offering to Australian customers. Under the deal, Australia's second-largest retailer will gain access to Ocado's smart platform technology. No financial details were announced. The partners plan to construct two robotic customer fulfilment centres in Melbourne and Sydney, which are expected to be operational by 2023. Each of the centres has an estimated sales capacity of USD500 million to USD750 million per year. Ocado will be responsible for the installation of the material handling equipment in the centres, including the provision of ongoing maintenance of the equipment. To ensure successful completion of the project, the UK online grocer will base a team in Australia, both for the construction and maintenance of the facilities. In turn, Coles will pay Ocado fees for the installation and maintenance of the equipment within the centres and licensing of the platform. ----------Persimmon, up 2.5%. HSBC upgraded the housebuilder to Buy from Hold. ----------Reckitt Benckiser, up 1.5%. Barclays started coverage on the household goods firm with an Overweight rating.----------FTSE 100 - LOSERS----------Ferguson, down 8.5%. The plumbing and heating products supplier warned over slowing growth and said annual profit will be at the lower end of market expectations, despite posting profit growth in the first half of its current financial year. Ferguson reported revenue of USD10.85 billion for the six months to the end of January, up 8.2% from USD10.03 billion reported a year earlier, pushing pretax profit up by 14% to USD679 million from USD598 million. The company - formerly known as Wolseley - said it now expects organic sales to grow by between 3% and 5% over the full year, down from 6.5% reported for the half-year. For the year to the end of July 2018, the company reported trading profit of USD1.50 billion.----------FTSE 250 - WINNERS----------Crest Nicholson, up 7.2%. The housebuilder poached construction comapny Galliford Try Chief Executive Peter Truscott to be its own chief. Galliford, down 3.1%, the second worst FTSE 250 performer, said it has appointed its Finance Director Graham Prothero as its new CEO, while Linden Homes Finance Director Andrew Duxbury has replaced Prothero. In addition, Peel Hunt raised the housebuilder to Hold from Reduce. ----------FTSE 250 - LOSERS----------Spectris, down 4.0%. Goldman Sachs downgraded the precision instruments maker to Sell from Neutral.----------Hunting, down 2.5%. The oilfield services firm was cut to Neutral from Buy by Goldman Sachs.----------AG Barr, down 1.7%. The soft drinks maker said its profit was largely flat in its most recent year due to a one-off pension charge and absence of a property disposal gain. The company, which makes Iru-Bru, posted a pretax profit of GBP44.5 million for the year ended January 26, down 0.9% from GBP44.9 million the year before. This was largely the consequence of a one-off past service pension charge of GBP700,000, which was not incurred the year before, as well as an exceptional GBP800,000 gain on property disposal the year before. AG Barr said it is working with the pension trustee in order to de-risk pension liabilities as well as securing its commitments to employee benefits as part of its strategic risk management and described its overall pension deficit as "manageable".----------OTHER MAIN MARKET AND AIM - WINNERS----------Debenhams, up 42%. The struggling department store chain said any firm offer made by Mike Ashley's Sports Direct International will be given "due consideration". Debenhams however, stressed that there was "no certainty" over any offer. Sports Direct late Monday said it is it is considering a possible cash offer for the entire capital of Debenhams. Any offer made for Debenhams will not address the company's immediate funding requirement, the company said, so it is continuing with its plan to obtain funding. Debenhams on Friday launched a consent solicitation with its bondholders in order to seek permission to raise GBP200 million by amending the terms of its loan notes. Debenhams said any offer from Sports Direct must provide an offer price, a "clear plan" on how Debenhams' debt will be repaid and, finally, Debenhams said the offer must address how the company's immediate funding requirements will be met. Sports Direct shares were up 1.0%. ----------Boku, up 16%. The mobile payments platform provider said its annual loss narrowed sharply due to increased volumes and active client numbers. Boku reported pretax loss of USD3.0 million in 2018, narrowed sharply from USD28.5 million a year earlier, as revenue jumped by 45% to USD35.3 million from USD24.4 million. Total payment volume doubled to over USD3.6 billion from USD1.7 billion in 2017, with the number of active monthly users up to 13.5 million from 8.0 million. Boku swung to adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization of USD6.3 million versus adjusted Ebitda loss of USD2.3 million a year prior. Strong growth from App Store clients was balanced with an equally buoyant performance by Settlement business portfolio, the company said.----------OTHER MAIN MARKET AND AIM - LOSERS----------Coral Products, down 45%. The plastics manufacturer said its performance in the latter part of its second half suffered from "a number of key factors". Coral said it saw a "strong recovery" in the first half and made an "encouraging" start to the second half but a downturn in business from the automotive industry and "significant" delays in deliveries from a "major on-line retailer" hurt the company's performance. In the six months to October 31, Coral reported a pretax profit of GBP582,000. The company said this was followed by a loss in the four months to February 28. As a result, Coral expects its full year results - for the twelve months ending April - will be "materially below" both management and market expectations. For the twelve months to April 2018, Coral reported a pretax loss of GBP497,000 on revenue of GBP23.4 million. ----------MySale Group, down 30%. The online retailer said earnings in the first half of its current financial year took a hit from changes in the Australian tax legislation for e-commerce import transactions. Mysale reported a 17% decrease in revenue to AUD126 million, about GBP68.1 million, for the six months to the end of 2018 compared to AUD152 million a year prior, with online revenue falling by 13% to AUD120 million. Pretax loss widened significantly to AUD10.3 million from just AUD125,000 loss reported a year before. MySale explained that first half results reflect the significant challenges faced within the core Australia and New Zealand market, principally due to the impact of changes to the goods and services tax legislation for e-commerce import transactions of less than AUD1,000. The company said it has made allowance for some disruption and had plans in place to accommodate this change through a combination of input cost savings, supply chain changes and selective price increases. ----------
9 Sep 2014 15:00
