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(Alliance News) - The following stocks are the leading risers and fallers within the main London indices on Thursday.
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FTSE 100 - WINNERS
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Taylor Wimpey, up 6.9%. The housebuilder said it plans to restart work on its building sites in early May. In March, Taylor Wimpey had closed all show homes, sales centres, and construction sites except for any work needed to make sites secure. Taylor Wimpey plans to restart work on its building sites the week beginning May 4 with its own staff following new safety guidelines, while subcontractors will resume the following week. Taylor Wimpey said the value of its order book grew by 12% year-on-year to GBP2.68 billion from GBP2.40 billion. Total completions were down 14% annually to 2,271 from 2,644 in the first 16 weeks of the year. Peers Barratt Developments, Persimmon and Berkeley were up 6.4%, 4.5% and 2.0% respectively, in a positive read-across.
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Meggitt, up 6.3%. The aerospace and defence contractor said it booked a single-digit revenue rise in its first quarter, though it has begun to see a "softening" in trading in its civil aerospace division. The company announced cost cuts of as much as GBP450 million, including salary and job cuts. Revenue in the three months to March 31 rose 5% on an organic basis, Meggitt said, with the company seeing growth in the defence division but "softer" trading in civil aerospace and energy. Meggitt said: "Covid-19 will result in a significant reduction in demand across our civil aerospace business in 2020 in both original equipment and aftermarket, as our customers adapt and scale back their activities to reflect the reduction in global air traffic." Meggitt said that to mitigate the likely slump in demand, it will use furlough schemes. It has also taken the "difficult decision" to cut 15% of its workforce.
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FTSE 100 - LOSERS
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Legal & General, down 6.6%. The stock went ex-dividend meaning new buyers no longer qualify for the latest payout.
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Unilever, down 4.0%. The consumer goods firm reported flat sales in its first quarter, with demand for household goods boosted by the pandemic, but lockdowns hitting its ice cream business. Revenue in the first three months of 2020 climbed 0.2% annually to EUR12.4 billion, though underlying sales growth was flat. Volumes rose 0.2%, the consumer goods firm said, though this was offset by prices slipping at the same rate. The Anglo-Dutch firm withdrew its sales performance targets for the year, which forecast growth at the lower end of a 3% to 5% range, saying it could not "reliably assess the impact" of the virus, although it said it would still pay its interim dividend. Unilever's first-quarter dividend was held at EUR0.4104 per share. It provided no comment on its decision to pay the quarterly dividend, at a time when other listed companies have been opting to stop payouts to preserve cash.
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Hargreaves Lansdown, down 3.5%. Deutsche Bank cut the fund supermarket to Sell from Hold.
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FTSE 250 - WINNERS
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Vistry Group, up 7.2%. The housebuilder said it will recommence work on most of its Partnership building sites, and a "significant number" of housing sites, with effect on Monday next week, in line with guidance from the UK government. The company formerly known as Bovis Homes said it has maintained a low level of activity on its Partnership sites since late March, and expects to be active on around 90% of site within the division by next week. Vistry expressed certainty on realising cash from the sites, which are developed alongside local authorities and housing associations, due to a high level of contracted forward sales. Looking ahead, Vistry said it remains financially strong, even as net debt came in below expectations at GBP440 million as at April 21 compared to GBP435 million at March 24. "Vistry's managed to keep selling properties during the lockdown, which is positive news. However, the sales rate has been considerably reduced and the group gave no indication on pricing. Taylor Wimpey said pricing had remained stable, albeit with a lower sales rate, so it's possible that Vistry has seen something similar," said Hargreaves Lansdown analyst William Ryder.
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Aston Martin Lagonda, up 5.0%. The luxury carmaker said it plans to restart production at a factory in Wales and added that its key leaders have taken pay cuts, with Chair Lawrence Stroll taking a nominal GBP1 annual salary. The FTSE 250 firm intends to reopen its St Athan manufacturing facility on May 5. In Warwickshire, Gaydon's manufacturing operations are planned to resume later, "taking the learnings" from the St Athan reopening. In addition, Aston Martin announced a series of salary reductions in its top team.
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FTSE 250 - LOSERS
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Drax Group, down 10%. The stock went ex-dividend.
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By Arvind Bhunjun; arvindbhunjun@alliancenews.com
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