LONDON (Alliance News) - The following stocks are the leading risers and fallers within the main London indices on Monday.----------
FTSE 100 - LOSERS----------
United Utilities, down 0.7% and
Severn Trent down, 0.5%. The water companies were lower after the submission of their business plans for the period from 2020 to 2025 to UK water regulator Ofwat. United Utilities said it intends to reduce its average customer bills in real terms over the period by 10.5% from GBP427 in 2019-20 to GBP382 in 2024-25. In addition, United Utilities said it intends to reduce the total expenditure in its asset management period from GBP6.47 billion in the AMP5 programme to GBP5.4 million in United Utilities' plan submission for AMP7. Severn Trent said it plans to reduce its real bill for Severn Trent Water customers by 5.0%, by using the company's commercial pipelines to produce 13% more efficiency in spending, with total expenses of GBP6.60 billion over the five-year period.----------
Imperial Brands, down 0.3%,
British American Tobacco, down 0.2%. RBC Capital downgraded the tobacco stocks to Underperform from Sector Perform. ----------
FTSE 250 - WINNERS----------
Mitchells & Butlers, up 2.3%. Citi raised the pub and restaurant operator to Neutral from Sell.----------
FTSE 250 - LOSERS----------
Dechra Pharmaceuticals, down 15%. The veterinary medicines maker warned on challenging market conditions due to growing competition from European veterinary products suppliers, as it reported a rise in profit. Dechra said revenue in the year to the end of June grew 13% to GBP407.1 million from GBP359.3 million reported for the same period a year earlier, pushing pretax profit up to GBP28.9 million from GBP28.6 million. Dechra noted that the veterinary market is seeing faster change than at any time in its history. The company said veterinary distributors, who operate in the majority of countries in Western Europe and North America, are changing and are beginning to increase focus on the sales and marketing of their own products. Dechra also highlighted European practice corporate consolidation is increasing, especially in the UK and Northern European countries, while the US companies are taking a small presence in the UK and a significant presence in mainland Europe.----------
JD Wetherspoon, down 5.0%. Citi cut the pub chain to Sell from Neutral. ----------
Homeserve, down 4.1%, UBS downgraded the home repairs company to Neutral from Buy. ----------
OTHER MAIN MARKET AND AIM - WINNERS----------
Frontera Resources, up 28%. The oil & gas company said it entered agreements with two industry majors regarding possible transactions involving a farm-out or joint operating arrangement within its Block 12 asset in Georgia. The company said while the discussions are at an early stage talks with the unnamed "majors" have taken a significant step forward, with both interested parties having attended extended site surveys and management meetings. "As a result of these discussions and to assist with data analysis, the company has been conducting extended well tests to better establish production capabilities," Frontera said.----------
Safestyle UK, up 22%. Shares in the windows and doors supplier rose after a court claim raised by the firm against a rival was settled. In May, Safestyle made claims of trade mark infringement, passing off, misuse of confidential information, malicious falsehood and "various other matters" against NIAMAC Developments which trades as SafeGlaze UK. Injunctions had been put in place in May and July after interim applications were lodged. SafeGlaze has agreed under the settlement to replace the injunctions with "appropriate undertakings" to the court. The settlement "ensures that there will be no misuse of confidential information or misleading statements to customers". In addition, SafeGlaze has agreed to change its trading name and rebrand fully within an unspecified period of time. ----------
OTHER MAIN MARKET AND AIM - LOSERS----------
Footasylum, down 48%. Shares in the footwear retailer lost almost half of its value after it warned on profit for the 2019 financial year due to weak consumer sentiment and a challenging trading performance. The company said, for the year ending February 23, revenue is expected "below current market expectations" with the board guiding for earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation to be "significantly lower than previous guidance, at less than half of the financial 2018 adjusted Ebitda of GBP12.5 million". "These are undoubtedly challenging times in the retail industry and, in common with many other businesses, Footasylum's trading has continued to be impacted by weak consumer sentiment," said Chairman Barry Bown. The company said that it was forced to reassess its overall earnings expectations for the balance of financial 2019 due to challenging trading during July and August and no sign of a trading recovery in the short-term.----------
