UK WINNERS & LOSERS SUMMARY: Landsec Rises On Reinstated Dividend

(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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Land Securities, up 6.1%. The commercial property developer reported a wider interim loss and a fall in net asset value, though did reinstate its dividend. Net asset value per share fell 9.6% to 1,068 pence at the end of September versus 1,182p a year ago. Revenue fell to GBP327 million from GBP369 million, and LandSec's pretax loss widened sharply to GBP835 million from GBP147 million. LandSec posted a valuation deficit of GBP945 million for the versus, versus GBP368 million a year prior. Like-for-like net rental income, excluding provisions for bad and doubtful debts, was down 10%. More positively, LandSec reinstated its dividend alongside Tuesday's results. The company said it is resuming quarterly dividends - after suspending payouts in April in order to conserve cash - commencing with a 12p payment in January, representing an aggregated payment for the first two quarters of the year. LandSec paid out an interim dividend of 23.2p for the first half of 2019.

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Next, up 3.1%. Goldman Sachs raised the clothing and homewares retailer to Buy from Neutral.

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FTSE 100 - LOSERS

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Persimmon, down 5.5%. The housebuilder announced the payment of a further interim dividend following a "continuing strong performance" as sales rates remain ahead of the year prior. The York, England-based housebuilder said trading through the summer weeks was "robust" as sales rates remained strong due to good availability of homes at an advanced stage of construction. From July 1 to November 9, average private weekly sales rates per site was 38% higher than a year prior, driven by the strength of the group's gross sales levels. Persimmon said that it expects legal completions in the second half of 2020 to be in line with the second half of the year prior. Persimmon declared a further interim dividend of 70 pence per share "reflecting the group's continuing strong performance". This, together with the previously paid interim dividend of 40p per share, replaces the postponed 110p per share final dividend declared for 2019, the company said.

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Flutter Enteratinment, down 5.4%. Pell Hunt cut the bookmaker to Reduce from Hold.

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Ocado, down 5.0%; Just Eat Takeaway, down 4.7%. The firms that benefited from lockdowns and other virus-related restrictions were in the red following the positive news from Pfizer and BioNTech's Covid-19 vaccine trial.

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FTSE 250 - WINNERS

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Cineworld, up 40%; Carnival, up 15%. Travel and leisure stocks were sharply higher as the coronavirus vaccine held out the promise of a return to cinemas and cruise ships.

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Capita, up 15%. The outsourcer said trading has been in line with expectations and expects to comply with its debt covenants. For the first quarter, revenue fell 11% to GBP803 million from GBP902 million, though operating profit tripled to GBP36 million from GBP12 million. Capita said the "greater part" of its revenue has remained resilient, with the year-on-year fall driven by the impact of Covid-19, largely in its transactional businesses - such as travel and training - and contract losses announced in 2019. The revenue reduction in the quarter has been mitigated through cost actions taken over the last twelve months, the firm added. On the Education Software Solutions business, Capita said it continues to proceed with the unit's disposal and talks are ongoing.

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Meggit, up 11%. The aerospace and defence company said its top-line performance improved in the third quarter, though margins narrowed. Revenue in the third quarter amounted to GBP384 million, down 25% on an organic basis. Meggitt said it was a continued strong performance from its defence operations in the quarter, with organic growth of 9%. Conditions in its core US market remained positive, it noted. Civil aerospace revenue was 49% lower than the comparative period on an organic basis, while energy revenue grew 4%. While Meggitt said its top-line performance was broadly in line with expectations in the third quarter, margins were lower, particularly at the end of the period.

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Oxford Instruments, up 8.1%. The Abingdon, England-headquartered company, which makes products, systems and tools for research and industry, reported a rise in profit for its first half, and said its full-year performance is expected ahead of current market forecasts. Revenue for the half-year to September 30 amounted to GBP140.3 million, down slightly from GBP157.6 million a year before. Oxford Instruments said revenue was hit by customer site closures and the introduction of new Covid-related working practices. However, the firm's pretax profit rose to GBP20.2 million from GBP18.9 million, helped as selling & marketing costs fell to GBP19.8 million from GBP23.4 million. The company proposed an interim dividend of 4.1 pence after its better-than-expected trading performance.

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Greggs, up 7.7%. Barclays resumed the bakery chain with an Overweight rating.

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FTSE 250 - LOSERS

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Direct Line Insurance, down 2.6%. The insurer is "encouraged" by trading in the third quarter as some segments returned to growth. Direct Line said gross written premiums in the third quarter ended September 30 were down 0.8% year-on-year to GBP851.5 million from GBP858.0. Motor written premiums were down 2.3% year-on-year to GBP447.2 million, from GBP457.8 million. This was due to risk mix, arising from a reduction in new car sales and fewer young drivers entering the market, as well as modest market premium deflation, the company said. Going forward, Direct Line said: "We are currently on track to deliver a combined operating ratio slightly below our target range of 93% to 95% in 2020, normalised for weather. We also reiterate our medium-term combined operating ratio target, however we acknowledge this will inevitably depend on the duration and uncertainties of the Covid-19 pandemic, the impact of Brexit, the FCA pricing practices report and any consequential impact on customer, market and regulatory approaches."

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By Paul McGowan; paulmcgowan@alliancenews.com

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