WPP Share News (WPP)

LONDON (Alliance News) - The following stocks are the leading risers and fallers within the main London indices on Friday.----------FTSE 100 - WINNERS----------WPP, up 7.5%. The advertising firm held its dividend after 2018 results were at the upper end of expectations. In 2018, pretax profit narrowed 31% to GBP1.46 billion from GBP2.11 billion the year prior. On a constant currency basis, profit dropped 28%. This was after revenue fell 1.3% to GBP15.60 billion from GBP15.80 billion the year before, up 0.8% on a like-for-like basis. Billings, however, rose 3.3% to GBP55.80 billion from GBP55.59 billion the year prior, up 3.2% on a like-for-like basis. Profit performance also suffered from a rise in general & administrative costs increasing to GBP1.51 billion from GBP1.28 billion the year before. WPP proposed to hold its final dividend per share at 37.3 pence, also keeping its 60.0 pence final dividend flat on the year before. "The group's turnaround programme is going well as it made 36 disposals in the past 11 month, and net debt is falling," said CMC Markets analyst David Madden.----------London Stock Exchange Group, up 3.2%. The stock exchange operator said it "navigated" a difficult 2018 to post strong growth in what was Chief Executive David Schwimmer's first set of results at the helm. LSE reported that pretax profit rose by 27% to GBP685.0 million from GBP541.0 million in 2017, with gross profit increasing 9.8% to GBP1.91 billion compared to GBP1.74 billion in 2017. Analyst consensus had LSE recording GBP1.91 billion gross profit, so the result was as expected. Total revenue grew by 7.9% to GBP1.91 billion from GBP1.77 billion in 2017, marginally ahead of analyst consensus. LSE proposed a final dividend of 43.2 pence, 16% higher than the year before, taking its total dividend to 60.4p, a 17% increase on the 51.6p distributed in 2017.----------FTSE 100 - LOSERS----------Rightmove, down 6.1%. The property portal's shares were lower despite delivering a strong annual performance with revenue and profit rising on the prior year. For 2018, the London-listed property website posted pretax profit of GBP198.3 million, higher compared to GBP178.2 million a year ago. Revenue meanwhile rose 10% year-on-year to GBP267.8 million from GBP243.3 million. Looking ahead, the company said despite "continuing uncertainties" emanating from Brexit it expected the UK online property advertising market to grow, and that it was not "materially impacted" by the property market cycle except in extreme circumstances. "Rightmove claims not to be affected by the property cycle except in 'extreme' conditions and there may also be some nervousness that the Brexit uncertainties flagged by the firm could push us towards those extremities," said AJ Bell's Russ Mould. ----------FTSE 250 - WINNERS----------Jupiter Fund Management, up 6.5%. The asset manager said large fund outflows and negative investment performance led to a fall in its assets under management. At the end of 2018, Jupiter's assets under management fell 15% to GBP42.7 billion compared to GBP50.2 billion at the end of 2017. Jupiter blamed market and exchange rate movements for a negative GBP2.9 investment performance. It recorded net outflows of GBP4.6 billion in 2018 compared to GBP5.5 billion net inflows in 2017. Jupiter's 2018 dividend is 13% lower at 28.5 pence each from the 32.6p distributed in 2017. The company's dividend policy sees it pay out 50% of its underlying earnings - equal to 17.1p per share - but paid a 11.4p special dividend in 2018. Jupiter paid a special dividend of 15.5p in 2017. "We had expected a much bigger cut to the special as Jupiter had flagged that the implementation of IFRS 16 would materially impact its regulatory surplus. However, new disclosure today notes that as a results of changing the methodology of this calculation from an Illiquid Asset basis to Material Holdings basis, IFRS 16 is no longer expected to have a material impact on the regulatory surplus," Shore Capital said. ----------FTSE 250 - LOSERS----------Coats Group, down 5.6%. The industrial thread manufacturer said its annual profit decreased slightly despite a rise in revenue due to higher administrative costs. For 2018, the company posted pretax profit of USD122.8 million compared to USD129.5 million a year ago. The slip in profitability was mainly due to higher administrative expense, rising to USD214.9 million from USD202.0 million a year ago. Revenue meanwhile rose 4% year-on-year to USD1.42 billion from USD1.36 billion. By business, Apparel & Footwear revenue was flat year-on-year while Performance Materials sales rose by 20% to USD332 million.----------Man Group, down 4.9%. The wealth manager said it ended 2018 with a smaller pile of funds under management than it started the year, due to a "difficult" and "volatile" year. At the end of 2018, Man Group had USD108.5 billion funds under management, down from the USD109.1 billion under management twelve months ago. The fund manager recorded USD10.8 billion net inflows in 2018 compared to USD12.8 billion in 2017. Man Group suffered a negative net investment movement of USD7.7 billion during all of 2018 - losing USD6.9 billion in the fourth quarter alone - compared to a net investment gain of USD10.7 billion in all of 2017. The company also suffered a USD3.7 billion foreign exchange and other movements loss in 2018 compared to a USD2.9 billion gain in 2017.----------OTHER MAIN MARKET AND AIM - WINNERS----------7digital Group, up 51%. The digital music firm said it has reached a settlement with Media-Saturn Holding. The case relates to Media-Saturn subsidiary Juke Entertainment's music service, with Media-Saturn having indicated it wants to change the arrangements. 7digital has accepted settlement and release from all contracts and commitments for the music service for a payment by EUR4.0 million by Juke. Juke also agreed to write off all interest payments and EUR250,000 of the principal of a convertible loan note 7digital issued to Juke, though the latter will pay GBP500,000 of the outstanding amount. 7digital will, it added, "use its best endeavours" to ensure an orderly sale of Media-Saturn's interest in 7digital, standing around 12%. ----------OTHER MAIN MARKET AND AIM - LOSERS----------Revolution Bars, down 16%. The bar operator posted a narrowed interim loss driven by higher revenue, but warned on lower earnings for the full-year due to a sales slump. The company, which operates 79 bars under the Revolution and Revolution de Cuba brands also suspended its interim dividend payout. A year ago it paid an interim payout of 1.65 pence per share. For the six months to December 29, the company posted a pretax loss of GBP3.5 million compared to GBP4.0 million in the comparative year ago period. Revenue increased to GBP78.5 million from GBP73.5 million, but on a like-for-like basis sales fell 4.0%. Looking at the current performance, the company said its third quarter has been challenging, with like-for-like sales down 7.3%, in the eight weeks to February 23. The "slow start" to the second half means that the company now expects financial 2019 adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization to come in between GBP11 million and GBP12 million. A year ago, Revolution Bars posted adjusted Ebitda of GBP15.0 million on revenue of GBP141.9 million and a pretax loss of GBP3.6 million. ----------