(Alliance News) - The following stocks are the leading risers and fallers within the main London indices on Monday.
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FTSE 100 - WINNERS
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Johnson Matthey, up 3.7%. The speciality chemicals firm said it expects its trading performance for financial 2020 to be hurt to the tune of around GBP50 million amid the Covid-19 outbreak. The company attributed the loss of around GBP50 million to reduced demand in Clean Air, which serves the largely shut auto industry, as well as the delay of around GBP20 million worth of shipments caused by logistics challenges across its other business. Johnson Matthey added that it has decided to temporarily close most of its Clean Air plants across the world, except in China which is "ramping back up as the region starts to recover from Covid-19".
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Pennon Group, up 2.0%. The water company said it is in strong financial position to continue operations following the sale of its Viridor waste management unit. Pennon said its performance in the financial year to the end of March was in line with management expectations. Pennon said it is well positioned with strong funding and liquidity to weather the uncertainty caused by the Covid-19 health crisis. By division, the company said South West Water revenue in financial 2020 was reduced due to prolonged wet weather, compared with rainfall experienced last year. More positively, Pennon said operationally, South West Water has performed well, ensuring minimal impact to customers at times of extreme wet and stormy weather. Looking forward, Pennon said it has GBP1.6 billion of cash and committed facilities providing liquidity, with its GBP300 million perpetual capital security approaching the first call date in May.
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FTSE 100 - LOSERS
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Ashtead Group, down 9.1%. Berenberg downgraded the equipment rental firm to Sell from Hold.
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easyJet, down 4.3%. The budget airline said it has fully grounded its entire fleet of aircraft due to "unprecedented" travel restrictions imposed by governments around the world in response to the new coronavirus pandemic and the implementation of national lockdowns across many European countries. easyJet said that at this stage there can be no certainty of the date for restarting commercial flights and will continuously evaluate the situation based on regulations and demand. Midcap peer Wizz Air Holdings was down 5.4% and Irish carrier Ryanair Holdings was down 0.6%. "easyJet isn't flying any planes and most of its staff have been furloughed, so management will have a reasonable idea of what costs will be each week from here on out. Unfortunately, investors don't have this information so it's impossible to accurately assess easyJet's prospects. We think the group has enough liquidity to manage a short suspension of European air travel, but if the disruption proves prolonged or the recovery is sluggish easyJet could be in real trouble," said Hargreaves Lansdown.
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FTSE 250 - LOSERS
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Dixons Carphone, down 15%. The electrical goods and mobile phone retailer was downgraded to Underperform from Sector Perform by RBC Capital.
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Hammerson, down 14%. The property investor said it will not recommend paying its final dividend and also withdrew its payout guidance. Hammerson, which has retail units among its assets, said some tenants have been forced to close stores as national governments impose lockdown measures in a bid to contain the Covid-19 outbreak. In the UK, where only stores providing essential services remain open, Hammerson said it has so far received 37% of rent billed for the second quarter. In addition, Deutsche Bank cut the shopping centre operator to Hold from Buy.
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Cineworld Group, down 13%. JPMorgan cut the movie theatre operator to Neutral from Overweight.
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By Arvind Bhunjun; arvindbhunjun@alliancenews.com
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Wizz Air (WIZZ)
Johnson Matthey (JMAT)
Hammerson (HMSO)
Pennon (PNN)
easyJet (EZJ)