UK WINNERS & LOSERS SUMMARY: Dixons Carphone Rises On Turnaround Steps

Tue, 17th Mar 2020 10:39

(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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Antofagasta, up 8.0%. The Chilean copper miner reported a rise in earnings for 2019 and said it is in "good shape" despite copper prices falling due to the Covid-19 crisis. In 2019, Antofagasta's revenue climbed 4.9% to USD4.97 billion from USD4.73 billion. Pretax profit rose 7.7% to USD1.35 billion from USD1.25 billion. Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation rose 9.5% to USD2.44 billion from USD2.23 billion. Boosting earnings was a 7.6% rise in copper sales volumes to 772,200 tonnes from 717,600 tonnes. Average realised copper price fell 2.1% to USD2.75 per pound from USD2.81. On its mines, Antofagasta said Los Pelambres had a "strong 2019", Centinela had record annual copper production, with Zaldivar also seeing improved output.

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Reckitt Benckiser, up 4.7%. Exane BNP upgraded the household goods maker to Outperform from Neutral.

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Pearson, up 3.2%. Goldman Sachs raised the education publisher to Neutral from Sell.

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Unilever, up 3.0%. JPMorgan upgraded the Dove soap maker to Neutral from Underweight.

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FTSE 100 - LOSERS

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Compass Group, down 20%. The contract caterer said it expects government containment measures arising from the Covid-19 pandemic to severely damage its interim earnings. Compass said a majority of its Sports & Leisure and Education business in Europe and North America have been closed due to government restrictions, with its Business & Industry volumes being "severely" hurt. Compass said revenue growth in its half year to March 31 is now expected to be between zero and 2%, with operating profit expected to be between GBP125 million to GBP225 million lower than previously expected. For the comparative period a year prior, the company generated a pretax profit of GBP852 million on revenue of GBP12.5 billion. Operating profit was GBP913 million.

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Ferguson, down 14%. The plumbing and heating products distributor said it saw strong operational delivery in the first half of financial 2020, but stopped short of confirming its annual trading profit outlook due to the "dynamic situation unfolding with Covid-19". For the half year ended January 31, the company's revenue rose 1.1% to USD10.97 from USD10.85 billion a year before. Pretax profit fell 5.7% to USD640 million from USD679 million on a USD19 million exceptional charge and USD22 million impairment charge relating to an associate. Ferguson Chief Executive Kevin Murphy said: "Given the strength of our first half results, we had intended to confirm our full-year trading profit outlook for 2020. However, due to the dynamic situation unfolding with Covid-19 it is too early to understand its impact on current trading."

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FTSE 250 - WINNERS

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Dixons Carphone, up 20%. The mobile phone and electrical goods retailer said it will close all of its UK standalone Carphone Warehouse stores - 531 shops representing 8% of its total UK selling space. The company said mobile phones are to be sold through Carphone Warehouse sections of Currys PCWorld stores. The company said the move marked the "essential next step" in the turnaround of its UK Mobile business. Dixons Carphone expects 2,900 redundancies as the businesses are combined. It said the 70 Carphone Warehouse stores in the Republic of Ireland aren't affect, nor are international operations. Dixons Carphone added that it has not yet seen a "material impact" from Covid-19 but is preparing for one. It said it still expects adjusted pretax profit of GBP210 million in its current year ending in April. Headline pretax profit in financial 2019 - excluding one-off costs - was GBP298 million.

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Softcat, up 6.7%. The IT infrastructure products provider said its earnings increased in the first half of its current financial year, with "good" start made made in the second half. The company reported revenue of GBP524.1 million for the six months to the end of January, up 21% from GBP434.0 million a year earlier, pushing pretax profit up 19% to GBP40.5 million from GBP34.0 million. Softcat declared an interim dividend of 5.4 pence a share, up 20% from 4.5p paid a year earlier. Looking ahead, the company said the second half of its current financial year has started well and to date it has not seen a "material impact" from the ongoing Covid-19 outbreak. Softcat said it intends to continue to invest in its business and is confident in its ability to continue to build market share and drive profitable growth over the longer-term.

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By Arvind Bhunjun; arvindbhunjun@alliancenews.com