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(Alliance News) - The following stocks are the leading risers and fallers within the main London indices on Tuesday.
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FTSE 100 - WINNERS
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SSE, up 3.8%. The gas & electricity company said it has entered into an agreement to sell its 50% share in energy-from-waste ventures Multifuel Energy and Multifuel Energy 2 as part of its strategy to secure at least GBP2.00 billion from disposals of non-core assets by autumn 2021. SSE will be selling its share to European Diversified Infrastructure Fund III, an infrastructure fund managed by First Sentier Investors Pty, for GBP995 million in cash. The transaction is expected to be completed in late 2020. Multifuel Energy and Multifuel Energy 2 are joint ventures between SSE and Wheelabrator Technologies. Multifuel Energy consists of the operational Ferrybridge Multifuel 1 and Ferrybridge Multifuel 2 facilities, as well as the Skelton Grange Multifuel development project - all in West Yorkshire.
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Wm Morrison, up 1.5% and Tesco, up 1.3%. Take-home grocery sales in the UK increased in the face of new lockdown restrictions, but there is a limited evidence of consumers stockpiling, research agency Kantar said. In the 12 weeks to October 4, UK take-home grocery sales grew by 9.4%. However, in the shorter period of four weeks to October 4, sales increased by 10.6%, an acceleration from September. Among the "Big Four" UK grocers, Tesco saw a 9.2% sales rise to GBP7.84 billion, but its market share remained flat at 26.8%. J Sainsbury booked a 6.8% sales jump to GBP4.35 billion. Its market share slipped to 14.9% from 15.3%. Walmart's Asda had a 5.4% annual sales rise to GBP4.21 billion, but its market share fell to 14.4% from 15.0%. At Wm Morrison Supermarkets PLC, sales rose 12% year-on-year to GBP2.95 billion, with market share up to 10.1% from 9.9%.
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FTSE 250 - WINNERS
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IP Group, up 3.4%. The intellectual property firm said its portfolio company Oxford Nanopore Technologies has raised GBP84.4 million in new cash and is making progress with LamPORE SARS-CoV-2 virus test. IP Group noted that Oxford Nanopore received cash injections from both new and existing investors. "The funds will be used to support the rapid acceleration of Oxford Nanopore's commercial and manufacturing operations as well as ongoing innovation in the field of nanopore technology," IP said. It means the investee has now raised GBP162.1 million in 2020, after it tapped investors for GBP29.3 million and GBP48.4 million in January and May, respectively. IP's stake in Oxford Nanopore following the fundraise is 15%, valued at GBP257.7 million.
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FTSE 250 - LOSERS
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Mitchells & Butlers, down 6.0%. The pub and restaurants operator said it has opened redundancy consultations with "a number of our front-line team" due to the "exceptionally challenging" trading environment created by Covid-19 and government restrictions to check its spread. The announcement by the FTSE 250-listed company follows the setting out of the UK government's new three-tier restriction system for England, with the Liverpool city region placed in the most serious "very high" risk category from Wednesday. The company - which owns the Harvester, O'Neills, and All Bar One chains - did not confirm the number of redundancies, but said it would seek to redeploy affected staff. Mitchells & Butlers operates around 1,700 restaurants and pubs and employs around 44,000 people all over the UK, according to the company's website.
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OTHER MAIN MARKET AND AIM - WINNERS
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Scapa, up 8.6%. The healthcare and industrial firm said its interim revenue will top internal forecasts as company the "continued to track ahead of its Covid plan". For the six months ended September 30, revenue is tipped to come in 24% lower year-on-year at GBP122.0 million from GBP160.8 million. In the healthcare division, revenue fell 26% to GBP55.1 million from GBP74.7 million, Scapa said. Industrial revenue was 22% lower annually at GBP66.9 million from GBP86.1 million. "Scapa Group has continued to track ahead of its Covid plan. Scapa now anticipates that financial 2021 group revenues will be ahead of the board's expectations," the company added. "As previously indicated, Scapa acted swiftly to implement structural costs changes across the business in response to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the reduction in product demand, participated in various government assistance programs and ensured variable costs were closely managed to match."
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OTHER MAIN MARKET AND AIM - LOSERS
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French Connection, down 19%. The clothing retailer said its revenue fell by more than half during a first half battered by Covid-19. In the six months to July 31, the retailer's revenue plunged 53% to GBP23.9 million from GBP51.0 million a year earlier. French Connection's pretax loss stretched to GBP13.2 million from GBP4.5 million from a year prior. "This has undoubtedly been the most difficult trading period that the group has ever faced and I would like to thank our staff, both those who have kept the business running and those who have been on furlough, for their ongoing commitment to French Connection," Chair & Chief Executive Stephen Marks said. French Connection said it achieved cost savings and negotiated rent reductions with its landlords. The company's operating expenses were 37% year-on-year lower at GBP17.7 million from GBP28.3 million.
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By Lucy Heming;Â lucyheming@alliancenews.com
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