(Alliance News) - The following stocks are the leading risers and fallers within the main London indices on Wednesday.
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FTSE 100 - WINNERS
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Just Eat, up 1.7%. Shares in the online takeaway platform were higher, benefitting from a positive read-across from Dutch peer Takeaway.com. The Amsterdam-headquartered firm on Wednesday said order growth jumped sharply in the third quarter on acquisition activity, whilst it continued to advance its proposed combination with its London-listed rival. For the three months ended September, total orders almost doubled to 41.6 million from 22.3 million the year prior. Orders growth was driven by its core German market, with orders there more than doubling to 19.2 million from 8.2 million the year before. German growth was helped by acquisition activity. In August, Takeaway.com and Just Eat proposed an all-share combination to create one of the largest food delivery companies in the world with a market capitalisation around EUR10 billion and processing orders worth over EUR7 billion per year. Takeaway.com said it continues to expect the transaction to close around the end of 2019 subject to shareholder and other approvals.
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London Stock Exchange Group, up 1.1%. JPMorgan restarted coverage on the stock exchange operator with an Overweight rating.
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FTSE 250 - WINNERS
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GVC Holdings, up 3.2%. The gambling company raised its annual guidance after reporting a solid third quarter of trading and said it still expects to close 900 stores in the UK. The Ladbrokes bookmaker owner raised its earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation guidance to a range of GBP670 million and GBP680 million. GVC previously guided for full-year Ebitda in the range of GBP650 million from GBP670 million. Total net gaming revenue was down 1.0% year-on-year on a like-for-like basis during the quarter ended September 30, though in the year-to-date, it has improved 3.0%. In Online alone, there was growth of 12% in the third quarter, despite a strong comparative period featuring the FIFA World Cup.
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Ascential, up 1.9%. HSBC started coverage on the business events company with a Buy rating.
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FTSE 250 - LOSERS
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4imprint, down 5.0%. HSBC started coverage on the promotional products supplier at Hold.
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Aston Martin Lagonda, down 2.2%. Deutsche Bank resumed coverage on the luxury sports car maker at Hold.
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OTHER MAIN MARKET AND AIM - WINNERS
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Zenith Energy, up 47%. The oil and gas company said continued flow testing of the C-37 well in the Jafarli oilfield in Azerbaijan led to a significant uplift in the company's expected production. Flow testing of well C-37 recorded a production rate of 285 barrels of oil per day, more than double of Zenith's current daily oil production. Well C-37 is expected to generate USD5.5 million in revenue per annum, and Zenith said it could further increase the rate of production by further simulating the well, through swabbing operations. In addition, Zenith said it expects to start mobilising its drilling rig to the C-30 well location before the end of October.
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Pressure Technologies, up 12%. The engineering company said its subsidiary has secured a contract - worth in excess of GBP3 million - to supply nitrogen storage solutions to EDF Energy. Pressure Tech said Sheffield-based gas storage solutions supplier Chesterfield Special Cylinders signed a deal for EDF's UK nuclear power plants at Heysham, Torness and Hartlepool. The AIM-listed company said this design and supply contract comprises high pressure cylinders manufactured at Chesterfield's Sheffield facility, in an innovative series of nitrogen storage packages to meet EDF's operational requirements. The modular design is seismically qualified to allow ease of installation at EDF's sites. The cylinder packages will be supplied to EDF by mid-2020, Pressure Tech noted.
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OTHER MAIN MARKET AND AIM - LOSERS
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Tricorn Group, down 33%. The pipes manufacturer said it expects earnings in the first half of its current financial year to come in below expectations due to margin pressure in the US, with its annual results to be "materially lower" than market expectations. Tricorn noted that the demand in the US has remained broadly in line with expectations. However, it has experienced some short-term pressure on margins, due to a lag between the impact of the increase in tariffs in the US on goods sourced from China and the time taken to negotiate price increases with customers. In the UK, Tricorn said demand slowed "significantly" through the second quarter, resulting in revenue for the first half being around 12% lower than last year. As a result, first half revenue for the whole firm is expected to be around 7% down on the prior year's GBP11.4 million and slightly lower than expectations. Pretax profit will be lower year-on-year, Tricorn said, reflecting both the lower demand levels and short-term pressure on margins in the US.
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By Arvind Bhunjun; arvindbhunjun@alliancenews.com
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