LONDON (Alliance News) - The following stocks are the leading risers and fallers within the main London indices on Monday.----------
FTSE 100 - WINNERS----------
Marks & Spencer, up 1.3%. Credit Suisse raised the food, clothing and homewares retailer to Neutral from Underperform. ----------
FTSE 100 - LOSERS----------
Reckitt Benckiser, down 2.4%. The household goods firm was extending losses from Friday after its first quarter like-for-like sales growth came in at 2%, short of analyst expectations. The stock closed down 2.8% on Friday. ----------
FTSE 250 - WINNERS----------
Capita, up 10% at 176.10 pence. The outsourcer proposed to raise GBP701.0 million through a rights issue, in line with its plan to simplify and strengthen its business. The rights issue will involve three new shares for each two already held. The fully underwritten issue of 1.00 billion shares will be at a price of 70.0 pence each, reflecting a 56% discount to the stock's closing price of 159.8 pence on Friday. It is also at a 34% discount to the theoretical price the shares should trade at after the rights issue. Proceeds from the issue will go towards supporting the delivery of the group's new strategy, investing further in the business and reducing its debt. Capita also said trading in the first quarter was in line with its full year guidance and continues to expect underlying pretax profit for 2018 to be in the range of GBP270 million and GBP300 million, down from GBP383.0 million in 2017 as contract and volume attrition as well as increased cost items are expected to beat out cost savings and new business wins.
Rotork, up 8.0%. The valve actuators maker said it expects full-year revenue to grow by mid to high single digits, despite currency headwinds, and margins to be "slightly" ahead of last year after strong growth in revenue and orders in the first quarter. For the quarter ended April 1, revenue rose 10% on a reported basis and 16% on an organic constant-currency basis. In addition, order intake was up 21% at reported and 27% at organic rates. This reflected "continuation of the more favourable market trends seen during the last quarter". At the end of the quarter, its order book stood at GBP228.3 million. This was 19% higher than at the end of 2017 and 12% higher than the year prior. Order intake also increased across all four of its divisions, Rotork said. ----------
FTSE 250 - LOSERS----------
Clarkson, down 20%. The shipping services company said it expects both first half and full year earnings to be below expectations amid headwinds in trading in its first quarter. The company said challenging conditions in shipping and offshore capital markets have led to transactions being pushed back, resulting in a quiet period in sale and purchase activity across shipping and offshore markets. In addition, Clarkson said it suffered from lower freight rates within the tanker market and a fall in the value of the dollar - the main trading currency of its banking and broking businesses. "Lower freight rates doesn't tally with optimism over the health of the global economy, though over capacity in the industry has also been a key factor. The announcement is all the more surprising because it turns on its head an announcement in March that management were optimistic over a recovery in the shipping market. There is the possibility that recent tensions over trade have dented this recovery as customers delay making key decisions," said CMC Markets analyst Michael Hewson.----------
OTHER MAIN MARKET AND AIM - LOSERS----------
Safestyle UK, down 22%. The windows and doors maker cancelled its final dividend upon reporting it expected revenue and profit to be "significantly" below expectations after a competitor ramped-up pressure on its order intake. In late March, the company had said the start of the year had been "difficult" after a continuing deterioration in its market as well as the arrival of an "aggressive" new market entrant. As a consequence, its 2018 order intake had been "weak" and its market share was "under pressure." On Monday, Safestyle said the activities of the unnamed competitor had "intensified". As a result, it is taking longer than anticipated to rebuild its order intake to the rate it previously had anticipated. It has also experienced cost increases as management takes the "necessary" steps to address the challenges it is facing. For 2018, therefore, the company now expects underlying pretax profit and revenue to be "significantly below current market expectations". Profit was also expected to be "heavily" weighted towards the second half of the year.----------
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