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(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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Barratt Developments, up 6.5%. The housebuilder said it has moved into the new financial year with "cautious optimism" after "unprecedented disruption" caused by the coronavirus pandemic. In addition, UK house prices reached record high in August, Nationwide said. In the year to June 30, Barratt's pretax profit almost halved to GBP491.8 million from GBP909.8 million. Revenue dropped 28% to GBP3.42 billion from GBP4.76 billion. Total completions plunged 29% to 12,604 from 17,856. In terms of current trading, Barratt said it has seen a substantial increase in home completion volumes in the eight weeks to August 23, which were up 62% compared to the prior period at 1,439 homes due to "pent up demand". Barratt also noted "strong" forward sales at August 23 with 15,660 homes, with a value of GBP3.71 billion. Peers Taylor Wimpey, Persimmon and Berkeley Group were up 4.4%, 3.3% and 3.2% respectively. "The dire numbers for the past 12 months have been entirely disregarded, investors choosing instead to look at the admittedly-promising recovery in sales levels. With the Nationwide HPI pointing to strength in house prices too the outlook for the sector seems quite bright, or at least much brighter than a few months ago," said IG Group's Chris Beauchamp.
Rolls-Royce Holdings, up 5.5%. Shares in the jet engine maker were rebounding after falling to a 16-year low of 206.70 pence on Tuesday.
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FTSE 100 - LOSERS
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Fresnillo, down 2.3%. The Mexican gold miner was tracking spot gold prices lower. Gold was quoted at USD1,966.51 an ounce early Wednesday, down from USD1,974.90 at the London equities close Tuesday.
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FTSE 250 - WINNERS
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Computacenter, up 11%. The IT services provider said it expects results for 2020 to be "materially above" its previous expectations. Computacenter said its upbeat outlook is as a result of good performance in the first half of the year continuing into the first two months of the second half. "As we consolidate our forecasts for the rest of the year, it has become clear to the board that the likely outturn for the year as a whole will be materially above the board's previous expectations," Computacenter said. The firm's interim results will be published next Wednesday.
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FTSE 250 - LOSERS
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Aggreko, down 5.5%. Morgan Stanley started coverage on the temporary power generation supplier with an Underweight rating.
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OTHER MAIN MARKET AND AIM - WINNERS
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Uniphar, up 4.5%, The healthcare services firm posted a rise in its earnings for the first half of 2020 as it announced the acquisition of healthcare technology company Innerstrength Ltd and Irish pharmacy chain Hickey's Pharmacy Group. For the six months ended June 20, Uniphar posted pretax profit of EUR15.8 million, up 36% year-on-year from EUR11.6 million. This was as revenue rose 8.8% to EUR871.3 million from EUR800.6 million. Looking ahead, the company said it remains on track to achieve its objective of doubling Ebitda within 5 years of its 2019 IPO with continued strong growth in earnings per share on a like-for-like basis.
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OTHER MAIN MARKET AND AIM - LOSERS
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Kingspan Group, down 1.5%. JPMorgan downgraded the Irish building materials firm to Neutral from Overweight.
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By Arvind Bhunjun; arvindbhunjun@alliancenews.com
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