(Alliance News) - The following stocks are the leading risers and fallers within the main London indices on Wednesday.
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FTSE 100 - WINNERS
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Wm Morrison Supermarkets, up 6.2%. The grocer reported a rise in annual profit but deferred declaring a special dividend. The supermarket chain declared a final ordinary dividend of 4.84 pence per share, taking the full-year payout to 8.77p. The supermarket did not declare a special dividend, choosing to defer it in order to preserve cash amid uncertainty surrounding the Covid-19 outbreak. For its year ended February 2, the FTSE 100 grocer said pretax profit jumped 44% to GBP435 million from GBP303 million the year before. Wm Morrison booked a GBP27 million exceptional gain in financial 2020 versus a loss of GBP93 million in financial 2019. Profit before tax and exceptional items rose 3.0% to GBP408 million from GBP396 million, in line with analyst's expectations. Revenue fell to GBP17.54 billion from GBP17.74 billion with like-for-like sales excluding fuel and VAT down 0.8% compared to a 4.4% rise the previous year.
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FTSE 100 - LOSERS
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Compass, down 6.0%. The contract caterer was extending losses on Wednesday, having closed down 4.2% on Tuesday, as it warned of a hit from Covid-19 to events and travel. Kepler Cheuvreux raised the stock to Buy from Hold.
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FTSE 250 - WINNERS
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Royal Mail, up 8.1%. The postal operator late Tuesday said it is "disappointed" Communication Workers Union members backed industrial action. CWU members voted 95% in favour of industrial action, Royal Mail noted. The union held back from announcing strike dates, however, and said it wanted to become an additional emergency service in view of the coronavirus crisis. "We welcome and appreciate CWU's statement this afternoon that now is not the time to take industrial action," said Shane O'Riordain, managing director of Regulation, Corporate Affairs & Marketing.
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FTSE 250 - LOSERS
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Micro Focus International, down 14%. The business software firm said it is no longer recommending a final dividend for its most recent financial year due to uncertainty caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. Micro Focus had intended to propose a final dividend 58.33 cents per share for its financial year that ended October 2019 to its upcoming annual general meeting on Wednesday next week. However, Micro Focus has now withdrawn the dividend resolution, resolution number 2, citing "the current increased macro uncertainty, which has been uniquely impacted by the global spread of Covid-19". So far, the company said, Covid-19 has not had "any material impact" on its business, but "the ultimate impact on the global economy is unknown". Micro Focus said it will consider paying a second interim dividend for its financial 2019 year, in lieu of the final dividend, once some visibility on the virus's effect on its business has been seen.
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OTHER MAIN MARKET AND AIM - LOSERS
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Superdry, down 18%. The clothing retailer said it is seeing "major disruption" from Covid-19. As trading has been "significantly impacted" by Covid-19, with the firm temporarily closing stores in a number of countries, it has become "clear" that the company will not meet guidance. As such, Superdry has withdrawn its guidance for the 2020 financial year. "Given the performance to date, we do not expect the decline in sales from our retail stores to be fully mitigated by sales through our e-commerce channel, which remains fully open for business. Whilst we are also pursuing cost-saving measures across the business, we do not expect these to be sufficient to offset the sales decline," said Superdry. The retailer said it has GBP47 million of net cash, and its working capital performance to date has been "better" than forecast.
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Pendragon, down 13%. Automotive retailer Pendragon said an improved second half performance was unable to offset difficulties in the first six months of 2019. Pendragon's revenue for 2019 was 3.8% higher on a like-for-like basis at GBP4.51 billion, though on a reported basis the figure fell 2.6%. Pendragon has posted a pretax loss of GBP16.4 million, after a profit of GBP47.8 million the year before. Profit was hurt by the clearance of used car stock from excess levels as well as a fall in the value of used cars in the UK. The company has decided against a final dividend for 2019, having also not paid one at the half-way stage. For 2018, it returned 0.7 pence per share to shareholders.
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By Lucy Heming; lucyheming@alliancenews.com
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Compass Group (CPG)
Superdry (SDRY)