(Alliance News) - The following stocks are the leading risers and fallers among London Main Market small-caps on Wednesday.
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SMALL-CAP - WINNERS
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Hostelworld, up 14% at 97.70 pence, 12-month range 35.35p-125.21p. The hostel-focused online booking platform was enjoying a second session of gains for travel stocks. "Travel stocks enjoyed another day in the sun with the likes of EasyJet and International Consolidated Airlines flying higher on reports of strong holiday bookings following England’s roadmap to coming out of lockdown," says Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell. Saga, a holiday and insurance provider to over 50s, rises 8.6% after 13% gain on Tuesday. Hostelworld shares climbed 7.2% on Tuesday.
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LSL Property Services PLC, up 5.1% at 253.16p, 12-month range 143.5p-345p. The Newcastle-upon-Tyne-based estate agency reports strong performance over the first seven weeks of 2021, with all its principal trading divisions seeing a rise in underlying operating profit for January. In Financial Services, profit for January was ahead of the same month in 2020, as the number of financial advisers at the end of the month increased 1.1% to 2,613 from 2,585 at the end of December. Surveying business also reported a rise in profit for the month, driven by higher income per job and the restructuring of costs during the second half of 2019 and early 2020. Estate Agency profit for January is ahead of the same period in 2020.
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SMALL-CAP - LOSERS
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Metro Bank PLC, down 7.5% at 138.70 pence, 12-month range 57.36p-203.38p. The challenger bank says 2020 loss more than double that reported for 2019 as credit losses balloon to GBP126.7 million in 2020 from GBP11.7 million in 2019. For 2020, Metro posts a pretax loss of GBP311.4 million, widened from 2019's loss of GBP130.8 million loss.
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By Lucy Heming;Â lucyheming@alliancenews.com
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Hostelworld (HSW)
Saga (SAGA)
Metro Bank (MTRO)