(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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NatWest Group, up 5.4%. The state-backed lender rounded off a week of surprisingly good UK bank earnings, swinging to a profit in the third quarter while saying credit provisions for the year will be at the lower end of a range previously guided. For the quarter ended September 30, net interest income was down to GBP1.93 billion from GBP2.01 billion last year, and total income fell to GBP2.42 billion from GBP2.90 billion. The lender, formerly known as Royal Bank of Scotland, swung to an operating profit of GBP355 million in the third quarter following a loss of GBP8 million in the same period last year. Attributable profit was GBP61 million, improved from a GBP315 million loss last year. NatWest booked a further GBP254 million provision for expected bad loans, which is up from GBP213 million a year before but down sharply from GBP2.06 billion in the previous quarter. Looking ahead, NatWest said its full-year impairment charge is likely to be at the lower end of the GBP3.5 billion to GBP4.5 billion range. UK peer Barclays was up 2.6%.
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Royal Dutch Shell 'A' and 'B', up 1.8%. Barclays upgraded the oil major to Equal Weight from Underweight. The bank said Shell's latest strategic developments, unveiled on Thursday, demonstrates the strengths it has to transition towards cleaner energy.
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FTSE 100 - LOSERS
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Glencore, down 1.5%. The Swiss miner said production across most of its commodities declined in the year to date, while it cut its guidance for coal production amid extended worker strikes at Cerrejon in Colombia. Lead production was down 12% to 194,300 tonnes from 219,800 tonnes a year prior. Nickel production was down 9% to 81,800 tonnes from 89,400 tonnes a year before. Coal production was fell 20% to 83.5 million tonnes from 104.0 million tonnes a year prior. Oil production was down 8% year-on-year to 3.4 million barrels in the year to date from 3.6 million barrels. Full-year production guidance was maintained for all resources except for coal, which was decreased to approximately 109 million tonnes from the previously forecast 114 million tonnes.
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FTSE 250 - WINNERS
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Vivo Energy, up 2.0%. The oil and gas company posted lower gross profit for the third quarter of 2020, due to a decline in volumes, as localised restrictions remain despite the easing of Covid-19 containment measures. However, Vivo decided to pay its previously withdrawn final dividend for 2019 as an interim dividend. For the three months to the end of September, the downstream petroleum products distributor - which sells Shell-branded products - posted gross profit at USD187 million, a 1.0% decline from USD189 million the year before. Although Vivo had withdrawn its recommendation to pay its 2019 final dividend of 2.65 pence per share, its balance sheet has remained strong despite the pandemic, leading to the company declared an interim dividend of the same amount. Looking ahead, Vivo said it is encouraged by its resilient performance during the quarter, and is cautiously optimistic for the rest of 2020 and into 2021.
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FTSE 250 - LOSERS
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4imprint Group, down 4.0%. The marketing firm reported encouraging trading progress in the past four weeks, with its apparel category performing well compared to others. 4imprint said for the recent period, its average weekly order intake has run at just above 60% of prior year levels. Meanwhile, the average order values have continued to run higher than historical levels, leading to average weekly revenue over the same period reaching 65% of the prior year. This is up from the 50% rate achieved by the time of 4imprint's half-year results in August and a low of 20% in April. In addition, London-based 4imprint said it has continued to acquire new customers at a "promising rate", driven by the reallocation of funds towards the company's brand marketing programme. "Although we have seen encouraging signs in recent weeks, the inherent uncertainty resulting from the Covid-19 situation means that it is too early to provide any forward guidance at this point," the company said.
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By Arvind Bhunjun; arvindbhunjun@alliancenews.com
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