SSE Share News (SSE)

LONDON (Alliance News) - The following stocks are the leading risers and fallers within the main London indices on Thursday.----------FTSE 100 - WINNERS----------Associated British Foods, up 5.6%. The Primark clothing chain owner reported a strong performance during the key Christmas trading period. For the 16 weeks to January 5, AB Food's Primark retail unit saw sales up 4.0% on the prior year, both at constant currency and actual rates, on the back of increased retail selling space. Retail selling space increased by 300,000 square feet since the September with the company now trading from 364 stores. AB Foods now expects to add 900,000 square feet of retail space in the year. "For now Primark just needs to keep doing what it's doing - opening new stores is clearly working, even if doing so seems like a brave move in a rocky retail climate. All-in-all, Primark is in a position some of its rivals can only dream of," said Hargreaves Lansdown analyst Sophie Lund-Yates.----------Sage Group, up 5.4%. The accounting software provider said revenue increased in the first quarter of its current financial year as it progressed on its transition to a software-as-a-service company. Sage reported a 7.6% increase in organic revenue for the three months to the end of December to GBP465 million. Organic revenue excludes businesses acquired during the current financial year. The growth reflects an improvement in product sales within the company's Business Cloud accounting software arm, where revenue rose by 9.3% to GBP380 million. Revenue from other product sales grew by 0.6% to GBP85 million. Recurring revenue rose by 11% to GBP387 million, underpinned by software subscription growth of 28% to GBP237 million. ----------Experian, 1.5%. The credit checking agency retained its full year guidance and said that it delivered "strong" revenue growth in the third quarter. Experian reported year-on-year total revenue growth of 5% in the three month period to December 31, or 9% at constant exchange rates. Year-on-year organic revenue growth at constant exchanges rates stood at 9% in the quarter. Experian's organic revenue was driven by 13% increase in its Decisioning unit and 10% increase in Consumer Services business. All four of Experian's core businesses - Decisioning, Consumer Services, Data and Business-to-Business - reported organic revenue growth.----------FTSE 100 - LOSERS----------ITV, down 7.8%. The broadcaster was doubled downgraded to Underperform from Buy by Merrill Lynch. ----------easyJet, down 3.0%. Barclays cut the budget airline to Underweight from Equal Weight. ----------SSE, down 3.5%, Ashtead Group, down 2.9%. The stocks went ex-dividend meaning new buyers no longer qualify for the latest dividend payout. ----------FTSE 250 - WINNERS----------NewRiver REIT, up 1.7%. The retail property investor increased its third quarter dividend by 3% on the back of a "solid" performance. For the three months to December-end, the trust said it sustained a high level of occupancy, despite it dipping to 95.5% from 96.2% a year prior. The slight drop in occupancy rate was attributed to up-sizing of one JD Sport Fashion store, creating a vacancy in the company's portfolio. Average retail rents remained stable in the period at GBP12.37 per square feet, up from GBP12.48 in September. The company increased its third quarter dividend to 5.4 pence per share from 5.25p a year ago. Total payout to date is now up 3% to 16.2p from 15.75p. ----------OTHER MAIN MARKET AND AIM - WINNERS----------Game Digital, up 16%. The video game retailer abandoned its plan to move its stock-market listing from the London Main Market to AIM and like-for-like sales during the Christmas trading period rose. Game Digital's proposed share listing change to London's junior market has been cancelled, it said, after the resolution did not receive enough shareholder support, based on already counted proxy votes ahead of a general meeting of shareholders being held Thursday morning. Meanwhile, in the 7 and 23 weeks to January 5, Game Digital said like-for-like sales increased 2.0% and 1.0%, respectively. Overall, however, group sales decreased 0.5% and 0.6%, respectively, over the same periods. The company expects its full-year performance will be in line with management expectations. For the financial year ended July 28, 2018, Game reported a pretax loss of GBP7.4 million on revenue of GBP782.3 million.----------OTHER MAIN MARKET AND AIM - LOSERS----------Arena Events, down 33%. The event seating and furniture provider said it has experienced "operating issues" at its UK division in 2018, leading to a reduction in profitability. The company said it expects revenue for the year to the end of December to be in-line with expectations, and adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization in a range of GBP12.0 million and GBP12.5 million. In 2017, the company reported adjusted Ebitda of 10.6 million. Whilst the UK Structures & Scaffolding division exceeded revenue expectations, an increase in new and one-off projects resulted in the division experiencing operational issues, Arena Events said. As a result, the company's costs increased on service of these events. The operational issues are now being addressed, including a number of senior management changes within the division, the company noted. However, Arena Events said these issues have led to a material reduction in the overall profitability of the UK division.----------N Brown, down 6.0%. The fashion retailer said revenue in its third quarter fell in a "challenging and highly promotional peak trading period". For the 18 weeks to January 5, the retailer posted group revenue down 1.6%, as Product revenue fell 6.0% on the prior year while Financial Services revenue was up 9.7%. The company's Product revenue excludes figures from its 20 stores which last year the company announced would be closed. Looking ahead, N Brown expects to reduce its operating costs by between 2% and 4% due to ongoing improved operating cost efficiencies. The company guided for its depreciation & amortisation costs to be between GBP30 million and GBP31 million, down from GBP32 to GBP33 million forecast earlier. ----------