(Alliance News) - The following stocks are the leading risers and fallers within the main London indices on Friday.
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FTSE 100 - WINNERS
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Barclays, up 1.2%. Investec raised the lender to Buy from Hold.
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FTSE 250 - WINNERS
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Petropavlovsk, up 3.0%. The gold miner said Non-Executive Chair Peter Hambro, Chief Executive Alya Samokhvalova, Non-Executive Directors Johnny Smith, Martin Smith and Angelica Phillips will remain directors of the firm after the court requested a full hearing of Everest Alliance Ltd's application to remove them from their roles. Petropavlovsk said that while the judge found that Everest's complaints that the directors were not validly appointed were arguable, he declined to determine its application summarily and instead now requires a full hearing of Everest's application. Earlier on Friday, Everest - which has a 7.5% stake - requisitioned a general meeting to propose the hire of two new directors. The resolutions to be put forth at the meeting requested include the appointment of Paul Bushell and Ivan Kulakov as directors, the re-hire of James Cameron, Charlotte Phillipps, Katia Ray and Maxim Kharin in the event they have been removed as directors. Everest is looking to remove Hambro, Samokhvalova, Johnny Smith, Martin Smith and Phillips from the board. Everest also wants the removal of any other director that may have been appointed since Thursday until the end of the requisitioned meeting.
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FTSE 250 - LOSERS
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Senior, down 2.8%. The technology components manufacturer expressed a confident outlook going forward despite expecting to report a revenue fall in the first half of 2020. Senior reported a "robust" cash performance in the six months to the end of June, with GBP3 million net cash inflow generated during the period, in the face of "significant disruption" to its end markets. The company said it now expects revenue in the first half of 2020 to be around 30% lower than GBP580.4 million generated in the first half of 2019. Senior said net debt is expected to be GBP239 million at June 30, an improvement of GBP3 million from the end of December 2019. In 2019, in order to counter the anticipated decline in sales, Senior initiated a restructuring plan. Reflecting the additional actions which the company is taking, it now expects the total restructuring charge to be up to GBP35 million, an increase from the GBP23 million originally anticipated. Going forward, Senior said trading for the rest of 2020 continues to be hurt by Covid-19. As a result, guidance for 2020 remains suspended.
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OTHER MAIN MARKET AND AIM - WINNERS
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Marston's, up 2.5%. JPMorgan resumed the brewer with Neutral.
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International Personal Finance, up 15%. The home credit business said it is "well-placed" going forward as its collections effectiveness continued to improve in June. The company said it is encouraged by the extent to which the company is now stabilising into a "new normal" operational environment. International Personal Finance said collections effectiveness continued to improve in June, reaching 88% of pre-Covid expectations. It was at 76% in April and 80% in May. Going forward, the company said it expects collections effectiveness to progressively improve in the coming months. International Personal Finance said there is a continuing strong demand for its products. As lockdown restrictions are progressively relaxed and the company's collections effectiveness is improved, it said it has increased credit issued. In June, the company lent 37% of pre-Covid expectations, up from 30% during both of April and May.
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SRT Marine Systems, up 19%. The maritime surveillance provider announced the resumption of its Philippines fisheries management system project, with a significant cash payment being received in the week. The revised Philippines project plan agreed with SRT's customer is looking to accelerate implementation to make up for as much time lost as possible due to the five month pause. Meanwhile, in the Middle East final contract negotiations have recommenced and subject to completion of internal processes, these are expected to conclude soon with the projects starting in the coming months. Finally, SRT's Transcievers business has performed better than expected despite the current circumstances, achieving gross sales in the first quarter ended June 30 up 2% from the same period the year before.
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Focusrite, up 6.1%. The AIM-listed music & audio products company said revenue and profit are currently ahead of the company's expectations for the year to the end of August. Focusrite noted that the demand for its Audio Engineering and ADAM Audio products has been strong during the widespread lockdowns that have occurred as a result of Covid-19, thanks to widespread availability globally through e-commerce platforms. In addition, consumer registrations of products primarily focused on home recording equipment have risen. Conversely, demand for Martin Audio products has been significantly lower than pre-Covid levels of expectation due to the suspension of live music tours and festivals, although demand is now starting to show modest signs of recovery driven by the installed sound segment. Similarly, Focusrite Pro has seen muted performance as well, although the pipeline across education, post-production and installed sound is now showing signs of recovery.
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OTHER MAIN MARKET AND AIM - LOSERS
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Genedrive, down 13%. The molecular diagnostics firm expects its full year revenue to be sharply lower but in line with internal guidance. For the year to June 30, Genedrive expects its revenue to come in at GBP1.0 million from GBP2.4 million the year before. Looking ahead, Genedrive said it has received "significant" interest in its 96 SARS-CoV-2 kit, but obtaining regulatory approval is "taking longer than anticipated" and the regulatory agencies the firm is dealing with is "unable to provide definitive timelines for approvals".
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By Paul McGowan; paulmcgowan@alliancenews.com
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