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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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GVC Holdings, up 1.5%. The gambling company expressed confidence in its long-term prospects amid high demand following the reopening of its betting shops. GVC said it responded swiftly when sports events were cancelled and retail outlets were closed in mid-March, which resulted in it achieving its target of operating at cash neutral through the period. GVC also noted that it has increased its financial flexibility through a relaxation of the covenants on its revolving credit facility. Throughout the lockdown period, the newly promoted FTSE 100-listed company said its online gaming businesses continued to trade strongly, and it is seeing the resumption of sporting events across its business, with sport volumes returning in line with expectations. Peer Flutter Entertainment was up 1.0%.
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FTSE 100 - LOSERS
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Kingfisher, down 5.2%, Next, down 3.5%. Citigroup downgraded both the DIY retailer and the clothing retailer to Sell from Neutral.
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FTSE 250 - LOSERS
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Crest Nicholson, down 12%. The housebuilder said it swung to a pretax loss as Covid-19 dented its first-half performance, and it guided to a sharp drop in annual profit. Crest reported revenue for the six months to April 30 down 52% to GBP240.0 million, resulting in a swing to a pretax loss of GBP51.2 from a GBP64.4 million profit a year prior. Crest said it now expects adjusted pretax profit to be around GBP35 million to GBP45 million for the current financial year, after achieving just GBP4.5 million in adjusted profit for the first half. A year ago, first-half adjusted pretax profit amounted to GBP64.4 million. For the financial year to the end of October 2019, the firm reported adjusted pretax profit of GBP121.1 million. Blue-chip peers Persimmon, Taylor Wimpey and Barratt Developments were down 4.7%, 2.5% and 3.1% respectively in a negative read-across.
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Petrofac, down 11%. The oilfield services firm said Covid-19 and weak oil and gas prices hurt its performance in the first half of 2020 and noted it remains unclear how long oil prices will remain at low levels. The Jersey-based firm said Engineering & Construction division performance in the first six months of 2020 was been hurt by the deterioration in market conditions. Petrofac said it expects first-half revenue for E&C to be around USD1.6 billion, driven by Covid-19-related project delays. In comparison, for the first half of 2019, the company reported revenue of USD2.3 billion for the division. Looking ahead, the company said it remains unclear how long Covid-19 and low oil prices will continue to disrupt business activity and hurt business performance. As a result, full-year 2020 revenue and margin guidance remains suspended.
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National Express, down 5.5%. Shares in the transport company were down after Persimmon said it appointed National Express boss Dean Finch to be its new chief executive and will take up the post at the end of the year. Finch will succeed David Jenkinson, who announced in February that he wanted to step down once a successor had been identified. Finch is expected to join Persimmon at the end of the year. However, no specific start date was given.
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OTHER MAIN MARKET AND AIM - WINNERS
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Premier Foods, up 6.5%. The food producer said it turned to an annual profit and expects to beat forecasts for the financial year ahead. The St Albans, England-based food maker reported revenue for the financial year ended March 28 up 2.8% to GBP847.1 million, swinging to a pretax profit of GBP53.6 million from a GBP42.7 million loss, as administrative costs fell 51% to GBP76.6 million. The UK Grocery business grew revenue each quarter and by 4.5% in the full-year. The firm's grocery categories and brands saw a "sharp increase" in volumes in the last three weeks of the financial year, as large numbers of consumers in the UK sought to build household stocks of some products during the Covid-19 pandemic. Going forward, the company said it expects to make further progress this year, after delivering eleven successive quarters of UK revenue growth. Additionally, a new international strategy is being implemented with the objective of delivering sustainable profitable growth.
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By Arvind Bhunjun; arvindbhunjun@alliancenews.com
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