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(Alliance News) - The following stocks are the leading risers and fallers within the main London indices on Monday.
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FTSE 100 - WINNERS
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International Consolidated Airlines, up 6.6%. AJ Bell investment director Russ Mould noted that "coronavirus recovery names like British Airways owner International Consolidated Airlines and Rolls-Royce" were in demand on Monday. Rolls-Royce was up 5.9% and Premier Inn owner Whitbread up 4.6%.
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Vodafone, up 3.3%. The telecommunications company said its first half went according to plan, with the firm recording a swing to profit and reporting an improved quarter-on-quarter service revenue performance. Group revenue in the six months to September 30 fell 2.3% annually to EUR21.43 billion from EUR21.94 billion. Vodafone swung to a pretax profit of EUR2.05 billion from a EUR511 million loss a year earlier. The first half of the last financial year was hit by a EUR2.60 billion loss from its share of results from joint ventures. This year, Vodafone booked a EUR260 million such gain. Vodafone generates the bulk of its cash from service revenue, which includes monthly access charges, airtime usage and roaming. For the whole of the first half, service revenue was 0.8% lower year-on-year at EUR18.42 billion from EUR18.54 billion. Promisingly, its service revenue performance improved quarter-on-quarter on an organic basis. The organic service revenue decline in the second quarter was 0.4%, tempered from the 1.3% annual fall in the first quarter.
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Smiths Group, up 2.8%. The engineering business said it is confident of meeting market expectations for financial 2021 due to a "resilient" performance in the first quarter despite disruption caused by the pandemic. Smiths said revenue for the three months ended October 31 was down 2% on an underlying basis, noting John Crane performed as expected, with challenging market conditions in Energy partially offset by "modest" growth in its Industrials unit. Elsewhere, Smiths reported "strong performance" in its Detection division driven by the delivery of original equipment orders. It added that the Flex-Tek division also saw good Industrial sales that more than offset weakness in the Aerospace unit. Revenue for the quarter for Smiths Medical, recorded as discontinued operations, was up 4% on an underlying basis driven by further growth in Infusion Systems and Vital Care.
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FTSE 250 - WINNERS
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Softcat, up 6.4%. The IT infrastructure firm, in a brief statement, said it performed well in its first financial quarter with higher revenue and profit and "positive momentum" heading into its second quarter. For the three months ended October 31, its first quarter, Softcat said it achieved year-on-year growth in revenue, gross profit, and operating profit, without providing figures. Additionally, Softcat said its cash generation in the quarter stayed "in line with normal trends". Softcat commented that it is pleased with its results to date and noted additional "positive momentum" as it moves into its second quarter. Chief Executive Graeme Watt said: "We've performed well during the first quarter and saw good results from both corporate and public sector segments but are mindful that there is still a long way to go."
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FTSE 250 - LOSERS
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Diploma, down 1.9%. The London-based seals and cables maker said its annual profit declined as a result of acquisition-related charges. Diploma reported a GBP66.7 million pretax profit for its financial year ended September 30, down 20% from GBP83.5 million the year before. Operating profit fell 17% to GBP69.8 million from GBP84.1 million, attributed to GBP17.3 million of acquisition related charges, up from GBP13.1 million the year before, mostly consisting of amortisation of acquired intangibles. Revenue fell 1.2% to GBP538.4 million from GBP544.7 million while administration costs rose 10% to GBP110.6 million from GBP100.2 million. The company increased its dividend per share by 3.4% to 30.0 pence from 29.0p. The company expressed confidence in its growth outlook as well as its future prospects. Diploma expects to return to underlying mid-single digit growth as well as historic margins, in line with market expectations, in its 2021 financial year. It predicts that its revenue growth and margin progression will be weighted toward the second half.
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By Lucy Heming; lucyheming@alliancenews.com
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