LONDON (Alliance News) - The following stocks are the leading risers and fallers within the main London indices on Monday.----------
FTSE 100 - WINNERS----------
NMC Health, up 4.8%. The UAE-based private healthcare company lifted its annual guidance due to "positive developments" in the second half of 2018. NMC raised its 2018 revenue growth expectations to 24% from 22%. Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation guidance was lifted to USD480 million from USD465 million. In calendar 2017, the company recorded revenue of USD1.60 billion and Ebitda of USD353.4 million. The revenue growth guidance suggests 2018 revenue of GBP1.98 billion. For 2019, revenue is forecast to increase by between 22% and 24% and Ebitda by 18% to 20%. The 2019 guidance does not include the effects of implementation of IFRS 16 accounting standards and the anticipated financial consolidation of National Medical Care. NMC Health also predicts continuation of strong organic growth in 2019 on the back of the ramp-up of key facilities, integration and expansion of acquired entities, and a strong operational performance. ----------
Rightmove, up 2.7%. UBS upgraded the property portal to Buy from Sell. ----------
FTSE 100 - LOSERS----------
GVC Holdings, down 2.5%, Paddy Power Betfair, down 2.0%. The gambling companies were lower after The Financial Times on Sunday reported UK Chancellor Philip Hammond is expected to clamp down on offshore gambling companies in next week's budget. Hammond has prepared plans to increase the remote gaming duty paid by overseas operators who offer online casino games, the FT reported citing government aides. This could raise GBP1 billion for the UK government over the next five years. The chancellor is expected to lift the remote gaming duty from the current level of 15% of "gross gambling yield" to between 20% to 25%, according to the newspaper. The reported also noted that some operators, including Ladbrokes and William Hill, have set up online operations based in Gibraltar. Midcap bookmaker William Hill was down 1.0%. ----------
FTSE 250 - WINNERS----------
Man Group, up 4.1%. UBS raised the investment management company to Buy from Neutral. ----------
FTSE 250 - LOSERS----------
ConvaTec Group, down 3.0%. HSBC downgraded the wound dressings maker to Hold from Buy. ----------
OTHER MAIN MARKET AND AIM - WINNERS----------
Ryanair Holdings, up 4.1%. The Irish airline said profit fell in the first half of its current financial year due to the higher fuel costs and compensation of passengers affected by flight delays and cancellations. Ryanair said pretax profit for the six months ended September 30 declined 13% to EUR1.26 billion from EUR1.45 billion reported for the same period a year earlier, despite revenue improving by 8.1% to EUR4.79 billion from EUR4.43 billion. Ryanair said higher fuel, staff and compensation costs offset the strong revenue growth. The company guided after tax profit for all of financial 2019 to the end of March to be between EUR1.10 billion and EUR1.20 billion. "The key takeaway from Ryanair's results is that life doesn't seem to be getting worse. A decline in profit isn't a surprise given it had already laid the foundations for a bad set of numbers in a previous trading update. Instead, the market is breathing a sigh of relief that full year earnings guidance hasn't had to be downgraded again," said AJ Bell's Russ Mould. ----------
Safestyle UK, up 31%. The windows and doors maker said it entered into new commercial agreement with its founder Mitu Misra, who was party to the company's legal dispute with rival NIAMAC Developments, which trades a SafeGlaze UK. Under the five-year non-compete agreement, Misra will provide services to support the continued recovery of Safestyle, it said. The company also said it will allot four million shares and a payment of cash consideration of up to GBP2.0 million to Misra, if Safestyle's trading performance in 2019 will be above existing market expectations. However, the company noted that both the allotment of shares and payment of the cash fees, if any, would only be made in the final quarter of 2020. ----------
WideCells Group, up 15%. The stem cell-focused healthcare services group said CellPlan, its stem cell healthcare insurance subsidiary, signed a partnership agreement with stem cell extraction and storage firm Smart Cells. Under the agreement, Smart Cells will offer CellPlan's insurance plan to its 60,000 clients across multiple regions, beginning in Spain in the next four weeks. From there, it will be released in the UK and then worldwide. With CellPlan operations already in place in Spain and the UK, insurance sales are expected to start very soon, generating revenue from Smart Cells' client base.----------
