UK WINNERS & LOSERS SUMMARY: JD Wetherspoon Slips After Quiet Weekend

Mon, 14th Sep 2020 10:37

(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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Ocado, up 3.5%. The online grocer was the best performer in the FTSE 100 on Monday ahead of its third quarter results on Tuesday.

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FTSE 100 - LOSERS

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Fresnillo, down 5.5% and Polymetal International, down 3.0%. The gold miners were tracking the price of the precious metal lower, quoted at USD1,945.94 from USD1,950.07 late Friday. "Gold is slipping despite slightly lower yields, which is more likely a consolidation reaction function in the near term as focus shifts to the FOMC meeting," commented Stephen Innes, chief global market strategist at AxiCorp. The US Federal Reserve's two-day meeting starts on Tuesday.

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FTSE 250 - LOSERS

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JD Wetherspoon, down 3.7%. The pub operator said trading was "very quiet" during this past weekend, denouncing newspaper claims that "Britons have promised to run riot" before new tighter government restrictions kick-in. "In fact, trade was very quiet over the weekend, as the public weighed up the evidence about the alleged dangers of going out - Wetherspoon sales were 22.5% below the equivalent Saturday last year," Chair Tim Martin said. The coronavirus "rule of six" came into force in England on Monday, meaning any social gatherings of more than six people will break the law. The negative view about safety of pubs during the Covid-19 pandemic has been "widely misunderstood", Wetherspoon's Martin said. Wetherspoon said it saw 32 million customer visits to its 861 open pubs in the 10 weeks since July 4. It reported 66 positive tests for Covid-19 among its 41,564 employees during the period. Wetherspoon said it has invested around GBP15 million in its social distancing and hygiene measures.

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OTHER MAIN MARKET AND AIM - WINNERS

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Symphony Environmental, up 21%. The company, which develops additives to make ordinary plastic biodegradable, swung to a profit in the first half of 2020 amid solid revenue growth. It also noted positive results from a test of Symphony's d2p masterbatch against the bovine form of the coronavirus. The d2p product range is used for antimicrobial purposes, with one of its uses in wrapping bread. For the first half of 2020, Symphony Environmental reported pretax profit of GBP18,000, compared to a loss of GBP86,000 the year before. This was on revenue that grew by 17% to GBP4.8 million from GBP4.1 million the prior year, driven by higher d2w sales across Symphony's main markets. Looking ahead, Symphony said that invoicing in the third quarter started out slow due to disruption caused by Covid-19 and holiday season delays. However, recent activity within the group's pipeline has hinted at a pick up for the rest of the year, and into 2021.

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OTHER MAIN MARKET AND AIM - LOSERS

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Costain Group, down 6.8%. The infrastructure construction firm said its revenue fell during a first half of 2020 hit by Covid-19 and issues with two of its long-standing contracts. In the six months to June 30, the company swung to a pretax loss of GBP92.3 million from profit of GBP8.4 million a year earlier. Revenue dropped 23% annually to GBP461.3 million from GBP599.2 million. "The first half of 2020 has been a challenging period due to the impact of Covid-19 and working to resolve issues with two long-standing contracts," Costain explained. Costain decided against an interim payout, following a 3.8 pence per share dividend a year earlier.

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By Lucy Heming;Â lucyheming@alliancenews.com