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(Alliance News) - The following stocks are the leading risers and fallers within the main London indices on Tuesday.
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FTSE 100 - WINNERS
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Ferguson, up 4.0%. The plumbing and heating products supplier said earnings for its recently ended financial year rose above market expectations, as work on the US-focused group's demerger of its UK operations was said to be "progressing well". For the year to the end of July, Ferguson reported pretax profit of USD1.32 billion, up 11% from USD1.19 billion the year before. Trading profit, which excludes exceptional items and the amortisation of acquired intangible assets, increased by 7.5% year-on-year to USD1.60 billion from USD1.49 billion. This was on revenue that grew 6.1% to USD22.01 billion from USD20.75 billion. Consensus expectations for Ferguson's 2019 financial year had trading profit at USD1.58 billion, on revenue of USD21.87 billion. Ferguson declared a final dividend of 145.1 US cents per share, bringing its total payout to 208.2 cents, up 10% from 189.3 cents the prior year.
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International Consolidated Airlines Group, up 2.0%. Bank of America Merrill Lynch restarted coverage on the British Airways parent with a Buy rating.
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WPP, up 1.3%. The adverting company appointed John Rogers as chief financial officer with effect in early 2020, poaching him from J Sainsbury where he is currently chief executive officer of its subsidiary Argos. He will be succeeding Paul Richardson, who is stepping down from the advertising and public relations group at the end of January. Sainsbury's also made an announcement concerning Rogers's departure from the FTSE 100 supermarket chain, saying that he will leave at the end of October. Rogers has been in his role in Argos for three years, since 2016. Prior to that he was chief financial officer at Sainsbury's for six years from 2010 to 2016. Sainsbury's shares were up 0.6%. "The exit of an obvious internal replacement for current CEO Mike Coupe could suggest the latter is staying put for some time despite the damage to his reputation from the failed merger with Asda," said AJ Bell's Russ mould.
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FTSE 100 - LOSERS
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Fresnillo, down 2.8%, Polymetal International, down 2.4%. The gold miners were tracking spot gold prices lower quoted at USD1,460.25, down from USD1,470.11 late Monday.
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Hargreaves Lansdown, down 1.7%. Credit Suisse started coverage on the investment fund platform at Underperform.
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JD Sports Fashion, down 1.5%. The UK Competition & Markets Authority referred the sportswear retailer's acquisition of smaller competitor Footasylum for a more in-depth Phase 2 investigation. The CMA said it believes the GBP90 million deal could lead to substantially less competition in the sportswear market where the two firms operate. It issued an initial enforcement order in May commenced its probe into the deal in July. The order means JD Sports and Footasylum are prevented from integrating their businesses, despite the acquisition having already completed and Footasylum shares being delisted in London. In response, JD Sports argued that there was "clear evidence" the acquisition would not shrink competition to a substantial degree and said it "does not consider that there are any appropriate remedies that can be offered at this time to avoid a reference to Phase 2".
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FTSE 250 - WINNERS
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Wizz Air Holdings, up 1.6%, easyJet, up 1.6%. BoFA started coverage on Wizz Air with a Buy rating and resumed coverage on easyJet at Neutral.
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FTSE 250 - LOSERS
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Integrafin Holdings, down 6.3%. The investment platform provider said founder Michael Howard sold 6 million shares at 370 pence each, in a deal worth GBP22.2 million on Monday. The company said the sale was conducted in order for Howard to provide seed funding for a charitable foundation and for diversification purposes. Following the sale, Howard holds around an 11.5% stake in the firm. "Michael Howard continues to be a director of the company and his working relationship with the group is unchanged," Integrafin said.
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OTHER MAIN MARKET AND AIM - WINNERS
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Ryanair Holdings, up 3.8%. BoFA restarted the Irish carrier with a Buy rating.
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By Arvind Bhunjun; arvindbhunjun@alliancenews.com
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