WINNERS & LOSERS SUMMARY: CRH Rises On Robust Results, US Acquisition

LONDON (Alliance News) - The following stocks are the leading risers and fallers within the main London indices on Thursday.
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FTSE 100 - WINNERS
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CRH, up 4.8%. The Irish building materials company said its pretax profit for the first half rose slightly, held back by the cost of a bond repayment, but its earnings and revenue both surged, boosted by the weak euro, and it said it has struck a USD1.3 billion deal to acquire US group CR Laurence. The company said its pretax profit for the first half to the end of June was EUR63.0 million, compared to EUR61.0 million a year earlier. Earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation in the half were up to EUR555.0 million from EUR505.0 million a year earlier, pushed higher by a 13% rise in sales revenue to EUR9.37 billion from EUR8.32 billion and by an improvement in the earnings margin for its continuing operations.

Standard Chartered, up 6.2%. Following a couple of days when it has been hit by the poor sentiment toward Asian markets, the emerging markets bank's shares were benefiting from the positive trading session in Asia. The Nikkei closed up 1.1%, while the Hang Seng added 3.0% and the Shanghai Composite 5.3%.
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FTSE 250 - WINNERS
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Aldermore Group, up 8.7%. The retail bank reported a jump in profit in the first half and said it is on track to deliver its goals for 2015. Pretax profit amounted to GBP39.5 million in the six months to the end of June, up from GBP18.6 million in the corresponding period the prior year. Net interest income, effectively the difference between interest received on loans made to customers and the cost of the bank's own interest payments, increased to GBP92.0 million from GBP61.2 million, driven by lending growth and lower funding costs. Its net interest margin improved to 3.6% from 3.3%.

Grafton Group, up 5.0%. The builders' merchant and DIY company reported a big rise in pretax profit for the first half to the end of June, as the group's revenue was pushed higher by improving conditions in its key markets. Grafton said its pretax profit for the first half was GBP57.9 million, up from GBP45.9 million a year earlier, as revenue increased to GBP1.08 billion from GBP1.02 billion a year earlier. Revenue was driven higher by a good performance in Grafton's UK merchanting business, which benefited from an improving economic backdrop and increased activity in the residential repair, maintenance and improvement and new build markets.

Premier Oil, up 8.8%, Tullow Oil, up 7.6%, Petrofac, up 7.2%. Oil-related stocks were trading higher as the oil price continued to recover in line with the improved sentiment in Asia. Brent oil was trading up 2.3% in mid-morning trade to USD44.68 per barrel.
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FTSE 250 - LOSERS
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OneSavings Bank, down 5.7%. The specialist lender was downgraded to Hold from Buy by Investec, though the broker kept its price target on the shares. While Investec said the sharp rise in OneSavings shares this week is justified, the underestimation of the company by markets has now broadly unwound.

Hunting, down 2.2%. The oil services company said it swung to a pretax loss in the first half of 2015 as revenue plummeted due to reduced activity in the oil and gas sector, leading the company to slash its interim dividend by more than half. Hunting reported a USD65.8 million pretax loss in the first half ended June 30, swinging from a USD68.9 million profit after revenue plummeted to USD463.6 million from USD664.1 million a year earlier due to reduced activity in North America and a decline in the amount of well construction and well completion projects. Hunting slashed its interim dividend by more than half to 4.0 cents per share.
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AIM ALL-SHARE - WINNERS
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Xaar, up 7.8%. The inkjet printing technology company said it expects continued stability for the remainder of 2015, with the intention to return to growth in 2016, as it reported a fall in pretax profit for its first half. For the half year to end-June, Xaar reported a pretax profit of GBP3.7 million, down from GBP15.3 million a year before, as revenue fell to GBP47.8 million from GBP60.4 million and it recorded restructuring costs of GBP4.8 million.

Atlantic Coal, up 138%. The coal miner swung to a pretax profit in the first half of 2015 after revenue rose due to higher sales and production alongside an improved margin. The coal miner swung to a USD3.7 million pretax profit in the six months ended June 30, from a USD271,921 loss a year earlier as revenue experienced a modest lift to USD10.4 million from USD9.5 million. The rise in revenue was also complimented by a substantial fall in its cost of sales to USD5.3 million, leading to a gross profit of USD5.1 million, from a cost of sales of USD7.5 million and a gross profit of only USD2.0 million a year earlier.

Surface Transforms, up 19%. The company, which manufacturers carbon-fibre-reinforced ceramic materials, said it has secured the TS16949 quality certification, sending its shares higher in early trade. The certification is the quality management standard for the automotive industry and a pre-requisite for supplying the mainstream automotive market. Surface Transforms also said it has made progress in talks with British and German manufacturers and said it is working on other automotive programmes.
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AIM ALL-SHARE - LOSERS
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Filtronic, down 23%. The electronic products company proposed a placing to raise GBP4.5 million, and is planning to cancel its trading on the Main Market of the London Stock Exchange to move instead to AIM, as it believes this market is more appropriate for its size. Additionally, the company is seeking shareholder approval to reorganise its share capital to reduce the nominal value attached to existing ordinary shares in a way that does not affect their economic value. It intends to reduce the existing 10 pence nominal value by sub-diving each share into one new share of 0.1 pence, and a one deferred share of 9.9 pence each.
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By Sam Unsted; samunsted@alliancenews.com; @SamUAtAlliance

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