UK WINNERS & LOSERS SUMMARY: Covid-19 Hit Sends National Express Lower

Thu, 13th Aug 2020 11:02

(Alliance News) - The following stocks are the leading risers and fallers within the main London indices on Thursday.

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FTSE 100 - WINNERS

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Just Eat Takeaway, up 2.6%. The online food delivery platform was counting gains after it posted positive interim results on Wednesday. The stock closed up 3.7% on Wednesday.

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FTSE 100 - LOSERS

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Phoenix Group, down 3.7%, Legal & General, down 1.8%, Aviva, down 2.3%. GlaxoSmithKline, down 2.3%. Royal Dutch Shell A, down 2.2%, Shell B, down 2.1%. The stocks listed in this section all went ex-dividend on Thursday, meaning new buyers no longer qualify for the latest payout.

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FTSE 250 - WINNERS

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Watches of Switzerland, up 16%. The luxury timepiece retailer said it delivered a strong performance in its maiden year as a public company. For the financial year ended April 26, revenue was up 6% to GBP819.3 million from GBP797.7 million in financial 2019, and adjusted pretax profit was GBP49.4 million, up 86% from GBP26.5 million. For financial 2021, Watches of Switzerland expects revenue in a range between GBP840 million to GBP860 million, on the basis of a continued strong luxury watch market in the UK and US. The company re-opened the majority of its stores during the first quarter, with July registering 7.4% growth in sales versus a year ago, the first full month when the majority of the network was re-opened. June sales were up 0.3%, while May registered a 83% drop.

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FTSE 250 - LOSERS

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National Express, down 12%. The transport company swung to a bruising loss during a first-half that was focused on limiting the damage from Covid-19, which has battered the public transport sector. The bus, coach and train operator swung to a GBP122.2 million pretax loss in the six months to June 30 from a GBP88.4 million profit a year earlier. Revenue dropped 23% to GBP1.03 billion from GBP1.34 billion. There was no interim dividend, as previously guided, following a 5.16p payout a year ago. There is also no annual profit guidance, due to Covid-19 uncertainty.

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Renishaw, down 11%. The British engineering company warned of the continuation of "very challenging" macroeconomic conditions due to the Covid-19 pandemic. For the financial year that ended June 30 pretax profit fell to GBP3.2 million down 97% from GBP109.9 million recorded a year ago. The sharp drop was attributed to restructuring costs, losses in value of financial instruments and financial expenses. Annual revenue fell 11% to GBP510.2 million from GBP574.0 million. Metrology division revenue was lower by 11% at GBP475.2 million, largely as a result of trade tensions between the US and China, weaker demand in the machine tool sector, and the impact of the pandemic. Healthcare revenue decreased by 15% to GBP35.0 million, with Covid-19 causing delays in orders, shipments, installations and postponements of elective surgery. It stated that a final dividend will not be declared in 2020.

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TUI, down 4.2%. The Anglo-German holiday firm offered a bleak picture to investors after third-quarter results highlighted how severely hit the travel sector was due to Covid-19 lockdown. Tui reported a pretax loss of EUR1.46 billion for the period ended June 30, swinging from a EUR60 million profit a year before, as revenue plunged 98% to EUR75 million. Third-quarter underlying loss before interest and tax amounted to EUR1.1 billion due to suspension of operations for the majority part of the quarter, resulting in impairment charges and costs arising from ineffective hedging contracts. For the nine months to June-end, the company's revenue fell 41% To EUR6.71 billion, resulting in a sharply widened pretax loss of EUR2.34 billion from a EUR323.3 million loss a year ago. The nine-month underlying Ebit loss amounted to EUR2.0 billion, an increase of EUR1.8 billion versus a year prior, reflected underlying costs of EUR1.3 billion from business suspension since March, impairments triggered totalling EUR410 million, and net costs from ineffective hedges amounting to EUR189 million.

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OTHER MAIN MARKET AND AIM - WINNERS

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ASOS, up 3.5%. The online fashion retailer was upgraded to Hold from Sell by Liberum. ASOS on Wednesday said its annual sales and profit are likely to be "significantly ahead of market expectations" as customer returns did not increase as fast as expected.

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By Neetika Kurup; neetikakurup@alliancenews.com