LONDON (Alliance News) - The following stocks are the leading risers and fallers within the main London indices on Friday.----------
FTSE 100 - WINNERS----------
Unilever, up 1.5%. The Anglo-Dutch consumer goods firm said it has completed the first EUR3 billion tranche of the previously announced EUR6 billion share buyback programme. The Dove soap maker also said that it has commenced the second tranche to buy back shares worth EUR3 billion in line with its previously announced plans. On Thursday, the company had reported a year-on-year drop in sales and profit for the first half of 2018 on the back of a truckers strike in Brazil, weakening of economic conditions in Argentina, and adverse currency movements. The stock closed up 2.8% Thursday. ----------
FTSE 100 - LOSERS----------
Smiths Group, down 0.9%. JPMorgan removed the engineer from its Analyst Focus List, thought it retained its Overweight rating on the stock. Shares in Smiths fell on Wednesday after the company warned that it expects a 2% drop in full-year revenue at its medical division.----------
FTSE 250 - WINNERS----------
Sirius Minerals, up 2.0%. The fertilizer development company said it has signed supply agreements for POLY4 fertilizer with two new Chinese customers. Sirius, which is developing a large polyhalite mine in north Yorkshire, has signed a 10-year take-or-pay supply agreement with each of Guangzhou Eiliseng Biotech Co and Yantai Service Agricultural Science and Technology Co for the resale of POLY4 into southern and northern provinces of China. Pricing terms of both the agreements are consistent with the company's existing agreements, Sirius said. ----------
HomeServe, up 1.8%. The home emergency repairs company said, ahead of its annual general meeting, trading during the traditionally quieter period of April 1 to July 19, was in line with management expectations. The company also said it has good prospects for growth in 2019 financial year with attractive opportunities in all geographies. HomeServe said that continued strong organic growth is expected in North America and potential acquisitions will provide opportunities to further accelerate growth across the company.----------
FTSE 250 - LOSERS----------
Beazley, down 5.1%. The insurer reported a fall in profit in the first half of its current financial year, hit by a decline in investment performance. The company reported pretax profit of USD57.5 million for the six months to the end of June, down 64% from USD158.7 million for the same period in 2017. The decline reflects a much lower investment return than the same period in 2017, down significantly to USD8.0 million from USD79.4 million. The drop in investment performance was caused by the recent rise in US interest rates, Beazley said. Beazley said it achieved a combined ratio at 95%, up from 90% a year prior. The higher ratio represents a deterioration of underwriting profitability, as the further the ratio is below 100%, the more profitable the insurer's underwriting business. Peer Lancashire Holdings was down 2.6%. ----------
Premier Oil, down 1.9%. Investec cut the oil and gas company to Hold from Buy. ----------
OTHER MAIN MARKET AND AIM - WINNERS----------
PureTech Health, up 8.7%. The clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company said it has entered into a multi-year collaboration with F Hoffmann-La Roche and Hoffmann-La Roche, both part of Switzerland's Roche Holding, to advance PureTech's milk-derived exosome platform technology for the oral administration of Roche's antisense oligonucleotide platform. PureTech said its milk exosome-based technology is designed to facilitate the oral administration of complex payloads such as nucleic acids, peptides, and small molecules. Under the agreement, PureTech Health will receive up to USD36 million, including upfront payments, research support, and early preclinical milestones. The company also will be eligible to potentially receive development milestone payments of over USD1 billion and additional sales milestones and royalties for an undisclosed number of products.----------
600 Group, up 8.5%. The industrial products maker reintroduced its dividend after full year revenue grew significantly and despite profit dipping on absence of exceptional gains. For the year ended March 31, pretax profit fell 4.2% to USD3.9 million from USD4.0 million the year prior. This was despite revenue rising 12% to USD66.0 million from USD58.8 million the year before. 600 has begun reporting results in US dollars as opposed to sterling as around two-thirds of the company's revenue is generated in the greenback. 600 proposed a maiden dividend of 0.5 pence per share. ----------
OTHER MAIN MARKET AND AIM - LOSERS----------
Feedback Group, down 15%. The medical imaging technology firm said Chief Executive David Crabb is leaving the firm with immediate effect "to devote more time to other business interests". Feedback has begun a search for a new boss, but in the meantime Chairman Alastair Riddell will take up the role of Executive Chairman. Riddell commented: "On behalf of the board I would like to acknowledge and thank David for his contribution to Feedback. We wish him well with his future endeavours."----------
