WHIreland Share News (WHI)

LONDON (Alliance News) - The following stocks are the leading risers and fallers within the main London indices on Wednesday.----------FTSE 100 - WINNERS----------Barratt Developments, up 3.5%. The housebuilder said it has further extended its capital return plan to 2020, amid profit and revenue growth for the first half of its financial year. For the six months to the end of December, total completions rose by 4.1% to 7,622 units from 7,324 units a year before, while the average selling price edged upwards to GBP282,000 from GBP281,000. Pretax profit for the period rose by 19% to GBP408.0 million from GBP342.7 million a year prior, while revenue grew by 7.2% to GBP2.13 billion from GBP1.99 billion. Barratt declared an interim dividend of 9.6 pence per share, up from 8.6p a year before, which the company said represents one-third of the expected ordinary dividend for the year, meaning this should come in around 28.80p. Peers Berkeley Group, Persimmon and Taylor Wimpey were up 1.3%, 1.2% and 0.7% respectively. ----------Vodafone Group, up 1.7%. Merrill Lynch raised the telecommunications company to Buy from Neutral.----------Paddy Power Betfair, up 1.3%. The bookmaker was upgraded to Hold from Reduce by HSBC. ----------FTSE 100 - LOSERS----------Ocado Group, down 6.5%. The online grocer said its warehouse in Andover has been "substantially" damaged after a fire continued to burn overnight. On Tuesday afternoon, Ocado said a fire had broken out at the customer fulfilment centre in Andover, Hampshire, damaging some equipment. However, the company said the fire "was not contained as we believed", and expanded overnight. The fire is now under control, Ocado said, but part of the building's roof has now collapsed and there has been significant damage to the building. As such, Ocado said it expects a fall in sales growth until it can shift operations to other warehouses. News of the fire Tuesday came the same day Ocado reported annual results, in which it posted a much wider loss than the market had expected, due to the costs of fulfilment centres such as the one in Andover. "The warehouse accounts for 10% of Ocado capacity, and thus we are likely talking about a substantial disruption to profitability in both lost business and rebuild cost," said IG Group's Josh Mahony. Peel Hunt cut the stock to Hold from Buy following Wednesday's news of the fire.----------Centrica, down 3.0%. The British Gas parent was double downgraded to Underperform from Outperform by RBC. The Canadian bank was concerned by a lack of visible growth, and believes Centrica is likely to cut its dividend in the near future.----------FTSE 250 - WINNERS----------CYBG, up 14%. The lender said it had a solid first quarter, while its full-year net interest margin should be at the top end of expectations. For the first quarter ended December, CYBG's net interest margin was 172 basis points. For its year ending September, the bank expects its net interest margin to be between 165 and 170 basis points. This would be down year-on-year, as expected due to pricing pressure in the UK mortgage sphere, but towards the top end of prior guidance. For the financial year ended September 30, 2018, CYBG's net interest margin was 2.17%. CYBG's first quarter lending grew 1.4% year-on-year to GBP71.9 billion. Mortgage growth was 1.5% to GBP60.0 billion and small and medium enterprise lending by 1.2% to GBP7.6 billion. The company's integration plan of peer Virgin Money is going well, it said, and CYBG now expects at least GBP150 million of annual savings by the end of its financial year ending September 2021, from GBP120 million previously guided. ----------Electrocomponents, up 5.0%. The electrical parts maker said it is making good progress on its improvement plan, as revenue grew in the four months to the end of January. The company registered like-for-like revenue growth of 6% on the prior year for the period. Electrocomponents also noted all three regions, Europe, the Middle East & Africa, and the Americas & Asia Pacific saw positive revenue trends. Looking ahead, the company continues to expect a stable gross margin in its base business, which excludes acquisitions, for the full year to the end of March. Electrocomponents "remains focused" on initiatives to simplify and scale its business and to generate further efficiency. The company is also on track to deliver GBP4 million of savings in its current financial year, with cumulative annualised savings of GBP12 million by March 2021.----------Just Group, up 2.7%. The retirement products and services provider reported a strong increase in three performance metrics in 2018, though one did fall. Retirement income sales for 2018 increased 15% on 2017, to GBP2.17 billion, driven by "the continued growth in defined benefit de-risking sales". Just Group's defined benefit sales climbed 32% to GBP1.31 billion in a strong market. Just Group said it could be more selective towards the end of the year after record volumes earlier on, and it expects 2019 to be another strong year in this sphere. The company's lifetime mortgage advances increased 18% on the year to GBP602 million, in line with retirement income sales. Guaranteed income for life sales fell, however, by 4% to GBP786 million in 2018. Volumes slowed in the last quarter after price increases due to new regulation. ----------FTSE 250 - LOSERS----------Victrex, down 1.0%. The speciality chemicals company said its performance in the first quarter of its current financial year was weaker than anticipated with a double-digit fall in revenue and sales volumes. Victrex said its revenue in the three months to the end of December 2018 declined 18% to GBP64.1 million compared to GBP78.7 million the year prior. Sales volumes in the first quarter also declined, down 22% on the prior year at 822 tonnes. Excluding volumes from a large consumer electronics contract, core business volumes were down 13% during the period.----------OTHER MAIN MARKET AND AIM - WINNERS----------Interserve, up 11%. The outsourcer said it has agreed in principle all commercial terms for its debt-for-equity swap with lenders, bonding providers, and its pension trustee. Net debt will reduce to around GBP275 million through the issue of around GBP480 million of new equity. This will account for 98% of Interserve's share capital, it said, and all proceeds will be used to repay senior debt. The plan will see RMDK Kwikform remain with Interserve, with GBP350 million of existing debt allocated to that construction and engineering subsidiary. Of that, GBP169 million will be cash-pay and the rest into a subordinated non-cash pay debt instrument. The debt will have its maturities extended to 2023. ----------OTHER MAIN MARKET AND AIM - LOSERS----------WH Ireland, down 9.8%. The stockbroker said it remains optimistic for the future despite challenging market conditions, as it appointed Head of Finance Philip Tansey as finance director. WH Ireland said the board changes reflect new Chief Executive Phillip Wale's intention of putting in place a leadership team to position the company for future growth. WH Ireland said challenging market conditions continue to affect both of its divisions, Corporate & Institutional Broking and Wealth Management. In addition, exceptional costs for the financial year to the end of March are anticipated to be higher than originally expected, the company said, following a number of significant one off expenses as WH Ireland continues with its transformation strategy. However, despite these challenges, the company said it has a strong pipeline of new business and remains optimistic for the future.----------