LONDON (Alliance News) - The following stocks are the leading risers and fallers within the main London indices on Thursday.----------
FTSE 100 - WINNERS----------
Next, up 8.0%. The clothing and homewares retailer said full-price sales were up 6.0% year-on-year in its first quarter, driven by a strong performance in online sales. Next reported that online sales rose by 18% in the 14 weeks to this past Monday, while retail sales were down by 4.8%. Sales were "better than expected" standing at GBP40 million ahead of the company's forecast, due to the recent warm weather in the UK. The "overperfomance" added GBP12 million to the company's full year profit. Next said it is now expecting sales for its full financial ending January 26, 2019 to grow 2.2%. The company had previously expected a growth by 1.0%. Annual pretax profit is expected to be GBP717 million, up from its previous guidance of GBP705 million but down from GBP726.1 million in financial 2018.
ITV, up 4.4%. The broadcaster said first quarter total external revenue was up 5% year-on-year, driven by strong performances by online and studios divisions. For the three months ended March 31, the group's total external revenue was GBP772 million, up from GBP734 million in the year ago period. ITV Studios grew revenue by 11% in the period to GBP382 million from GBP343 million the previous year. Revenue from the online division increased 31% to GBP84 million.
Royal Bank of Scotland, up 4.1%. The state-backed lender has agreed to pay a USD4.90 billion penalty to settle a US Justice Department investigation about the bank's issuance of residential mortgage-backed securities. RBS said that USD3.46 billion of the amount will be covered by existing provisions, with an incremental charge of USD1.44 billion in the second quarter. RBS Chief Executive officer Ross McEwan said the agreement in principle with the US Justice Department was "a milestone". He said that "removing the uncertainty" would mean that RBS, bailed out by the UK taxpayer in 2008, would make the bank much stronger.
RSA Insurance, up 2.2%. The insurer said first-quarter pretax profit was higher than in the year-ago period, although on an underlying basis it was lower, as increased winter weather costs were not fully offset by other business improvements. The company said weather costs for the three months to March-end were 5.1% of net earned premiums, 3.1 points higher than a year ago and 1.9 points higher than the five-year average of 3.2%, with all regions impacted. First quarter gross written premiums totalled GBP2.09 billion, up 1% at constant exchange rates and in line with the year ago period.
Coca-Cola HBC, up 2.1%. The soft drinks bottler said it had a "solid" first quarter that saw sales revenue and volumes increase. For the quarter ended March 30, the soft-drinks bottling company achieved 4.5% currency-neutral net sales revenue growth to EUR1.35 billion from EUR1.30 billion. At actual exchange rates, net sales revenue declined 1.7% from EUR1.35 billion from EUR1.38 billion. The volumes sold were up 2.3% to 453.2 million from 442.8 million, helped by the Easter holiday falling inside the first quarter this year. The company saw its developing segment volumes grow by 12%, driven by "very strong growth" in Poland.
Wm Morrison Supermarkets, up 2.0%. The supermarket chain said it made a "strong" start to the year with like-for-like sales rising. For the 13 weeks to this past Sunday, like-for-like sales, excluding fuel, were up 3.6% - with equal contributions from retail and wholesale. Like-for-like sales including fuel were up 1.9%. Total sales were up 3.8% excluding fuel - 2.1% including fuel. Like-for-like number of transactions were up 0.7% but like-for-like items per basket fell 1.1% in the quarter. Looking forward, Morrisons expects net debt to continue to fall during 2018/19. Its expectations remain unchanged and the supermarket is "confident" of "another strong year".----------
FTSE 100 - LOSERS----------
Randgold Resources, down 8.7%. The gold miner said its annual production guidance remains intact despite a soft first quarter, in which it encountered "multiple challenges". Group production was lower in the first quarter of the year at 286,890 ounces, which was below the 340,958 ounces recorded in the fourth quarter of 2017 and 322,470 ounces in the first quarter of 2017. Gold sales totalled USD391.8 million in the three months to March 31, down from USD409.6 million a year before. Profit attributable to equity shareholders came in at USD57.5 million, down from USD69.8 million last year.
BT, down 7.5%. The telecommunications company it will cut 13,000 back office and middle management jobs as part of a broader restructuring plan to save GBP1.50 billion over the three years and invest GBP3.70 billion in improving mobile infrastructure. The company also plans to hire 6,000 new employees in network deployment and customer service divisions which means the restructuring will lead to 7,000 net job cuts.
Centrica, down 6.3%, Admiral Group, down 1.7%, BP, down 1.5%. The stocks went ex-dividend, meaning new buyers no longer qualify for the latest dividend payout. ----------
FTSE 250 - LOSERS----------
Superdry, down 16%. The high street fashion retailer reported 16% growth in annual revenue driven by strong performance in the wholesale and e-commerce divisions and said that its expects a double-digit adjusted profit growth for the period. For the year ended April 28, the company's group revenue totaled GBP872 million, up from GBP752 million. Wholesale revenue grew by 29.6% to GBP323 million, while Ecommerce revenue climbed 25.8% to GBP163 million. Store revenue, however, "remained under pressure" as it grew 3.4% to GBP386 million from GBP373 million.----------
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