UK WINNERS & LOSERS SUMMARY: Admiral Rises On Comparison Sites Sale

Tue, 29th Dec 2020 10:54

(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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AstraZeneca, up 4.5%. Shares were higher amid hopes the Anglo-Swedish drugmaker's coronavirus vaccine, created in partnership with Oxford University, will be rolled out imminently. Over the weekend, the Sunday Telegraph reported the Oxford jab could be rolled out en masse from a few days into the New Year. According to the newspaper, the UK government hopes that the approval could mean more than two million could receive their first dose of a coronavirus vaccine within a fortnight, with doses of the Oxford medicine available from January 4. Further, AstraZeneca said Monday its Lynparza cancer treatment has secured approval in Japan for the treatment of advanced ovarian, prostate and pancreatic cancers.

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Admiral Group, up 3.5%. The insurer said it has come to an agreement with ZPG Comparison Services Holdings UK to offload its Penguin Portals and Preminen price comparison sites for a total value of GBP508 million. Penguin Portals is made up of online comparison portals Confused.com, Rastreator.com and LeLynx.fr, technology operations Admiral Technologies and its 50% share of Preminen Price Comparison Holdings. Admiral expects net proceeds of around GBP450 million, with a majority of this to be returned to shareholders but will hold back a portion to support new investments. Admiral expects the deal to close in the first half of 2021. ZPG will control the acquired businesses through its comparison site division, RVU - which operates Confused.com rival Uswitch.

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FTSE 100 - LOSERS

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Lloyds Banking, down 3.8%, NatWest, down 3.0%, Barclays, down 2.8%, HSBC, down 1.0%. Shares in the lenders were lower amid uncertainty over future implications of the UK's Brexit deal on the financial services sector. "There is fear among investors that the Bank of England could be pushing the curve further with respect to its monetary policy, and traders are hoping that it doesn't mean negative interest rates. In addition to this, UK banks are also going to face the consequence of Brexit, meaning less business than they used to had before the Brexit transition. All these factors are adversely influencing the banking stocks," said AvaTrade analyst Naeem Aslam.

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FTSE 250 - LOSERS

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Ninety One, down 1.8%, Sabre Insurance, down 0.7%. "The laggards are nearly all banks and providers financial services, a trend which can also be seen in the FTSE 250 where asset managers and insurers such as Ninety One and Sabre are among the day's losers. This suggests that nerves remain over what deal will be struck in 2021 when it comes to financial services and indeed services overall," said AJ Bell's Russ Mould.

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OTHER MAIN MARKET AND AIM - WINNERS

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THG Holdings, up 5.0%. The Hut Group owner agreed to acquire US-based online skincare and beauty brands retailer Dermstore.com for USD350 million in cash from major retailer Target Corp, subject to US regulatory approval. The Manchester-based retailer said the Dermstore.com acquisition will provide it with the opportunity to "accelerate the growth" of its own beauty brands via a new and large US customer base. In addition, THG acquired two of its long-standing UK-based nutrition product suppliers, Claremont Ingredients and David Berryman, for a combined purchase price of GBP59.5 million in cash.

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By Arvind Bhunjun; arvindbhunjun@alliancenews.com