Paddy Power Betfair Share News (PPB)

LONDON (Alliance News) - The following stocks are the leading risers and fallers within the main London indices on Wednesday.----------FTSE 100 - LOSERS----------Paddy Power Betfair, down 3.1%. The bookmaker said its profit grew slightly in the first half of 2018, but lowered its earnings expectations due to uncertainty over Australian tax reforms and its FanDuel acquisition. The company reported a pretax profit of GBP106 million for the six months to the end of June, up 4% from GBP102.3 million the year before. Underlying pretax profit dropped, however, to GBP172.2 million compared to GBP177.6 million. Looking forward, the company said it now expects Ebitda for the full-year to come in between GBP460 million and GBP480 million, due to the the introduction of additional taxes in Australia and losses from the FanDuel daily fantasy sports business. In 2017, underlying Ebitda was GBP473 million. Glencore, down 1.2%. The commodities house reported a rise in interim earnings and revenue, against a "volatile but favourable" trading environment. Revenue for the first half of the year rose to USD108.55 billion from USD100.29 billion last year, as pretax profit grew to USD3.72 billion from USD2.87 billion. Adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation grew 23% to USD8.27 billion from USD6.74 billion a year before, with the Industrial business seeing adjusted earnings up 26%. Net income grew 13% to USD2.78 billion from USD2.45 billion year-on-year. While the financial market outlook is likely to remain volatile, Glencore said it remains "highly confident" in the strength of its underlying business. ----------FTSE 250 - WINNERS----------TI Fluid Systems, up 6.4%. The automotive fluid manufacturer said interim profit climbed 4.6% although foreign exchange rates provided a headwind in the first half of the year. For the six-month period to June 30, the company's revenue dropped 0.5% to EUR1.76 billion from EUR1.77 billion a year ago. However, on constant currency basis, revenue rose 4.5%. The company said the reported revenue growth was driven by "a combination of new business awards, volume and mix". Pretax profit rose to EUR124.0 million from EUR118.5 million reported in the comparative year ago period. TI Fluids maintained its outlook for the rest of 2018, expecting further revenue growth - excluding the impact of currency movements. ----------FTSE 250 - LOSERS----------Hill & Smith Holdings, down 21%. Around GBP241 million was wiped off the infrastructure products and galvanising services company's total market value after reported a drop in first half profit. In the six months ended June 30, Hill & Smith's pretax profit decreased 14% to GBP28.9 million from GBP33.5 million the year before. Revenue increased 1% to GBP295.4 million from GBP291.8 million. Hill & Smith's "difficult" first half was down to a poor performance in the UK, which resulted from bad weather in the first quarter, delays to road projects and a "more cautious" investment environment. The company also said the volatile pricing of zinc commodity prices impacted operating margins.Spire Healthcare, down 6.5%. Berenberg double downgraded the private healthcare company to Sell from Buy. On Monday, Spire said it expects 2018 profit to be "materially lower" than 2017 after declines in its NHS business and increased investment.UDG Healthcare, down 4.0%. The healthcare service provider said it sold its Aquilant division to H2 Equity Partners for EUR23 million. UDG said it will receive EUR20.5 million as an initial cash consideration, while a further EUR2.5 million is deferred and conditional on the division achieving its gross profit targets for the financial years 2018 and 2019. UDG added that it will recognise an impairment charge of USD10 million on the asset value of Aquilant as at March 31. It will also recognise a USD34 million charge relating to "foreign exchange losses held in equity".----------OTHER MAIN MARKET AND AIM - WINNERS----------TT Electronics, up 16%. The electronic components manufacturer expressed confidence for delivering full-year results ahead of expectations, as profit jumped by third in the first half of 2018. The company said pretax profit rose to GBP7.1 million for the six months to the end of June from GBP5.4 million reported a year earlier, as revenue increased by 7.6% to GBP194.2 million from GBP180.5 million. On a constant currency basis, revenue climbed by 12%. TT Electronics declared an interim dividend of 1.95 pence per share, up 11% from 1.75p paid the year prior.----------