WINNERS & LOSERS SUMMARY: Grafton Group Rises After Strong First Half

LONDON (Alliance News) - The following stocks are the leading risers and fallers within the main London indices on Wednesday.----------FTSE 100 - WINNERS----------Persimmon up 1.5%, Barratt Developments, 0.9%, Berkeley Group, up 0.7%, Taylor Wimpey up 0.4%. The housebuilders were higher on the back of positive results from Persimmon on Tuesday. Persimmon said Tuesday it has continued to deliver on its long-term strategy, as it recorded a rise in first half profit and revenue.----------FTSE 250 - WINNERS----------Grafton Group, up 4.8%. The builders merchant said profit for the first half of the year rose strongly on the back of increased revenue. For the six months to June 30, the group said pretax profit climbed 18% to GBP87.6 million from GBP74.1 million in the same period a year ago. Meanwhile, the company's revenue rose 9% to GBP1.45 billion from GBP1.34 billion a year prior. Grafton lifted its interim dividend by 14% to 6.00p per share from 5.25p a year ago. Looking ahead, the company said conditions in the UK merchanting market are expected to remain "relatively flat" over the remainder of the year with competitive pricing pressure.----------John Wood Group, up 3.1%. Morgan Stanley raised the oilfield services firm to Equal Weight from Underweight. On Tuesday, John Wood said first half profit came in at the higher end of its forecast on increased revenue.----------Provident Financial, up 3.0%. Berenberg upgraded the subprime lender to Hold from Sell. ----------OTHER MAIN MARKET AND AIM - WINNERS----------Laura Ashley, up 17%. The women's fashion and homewares retailer said its annual profit plummeted due to a challenging trading environment. The company said it was "disappointed" to report a fall in profit, with the "softer" trading environment leading to a 98% drop in pretax profit to GBP100,000 from GBP6.3 million a year ago. Part of the drop was profit to the sale of the company's property in Singapore which led to a GBP4.7 million impairment charge. Still, the company said its fashion division like-for-like sales increased in an "extremely competitive sector". During the year, total retail like-for-like sales were down 0.4% but like-for-like sales in the company's fashion division increased by 9.7%. The company's online performance continues to grow with like-for-like sales up 4.1% year-on-year. The online division reported revenue of GBP59.7 million, accounting for 25% of total retail revenue. ----------Edenville Energy, up 3.0%. The Tanzania-focused coal project developer said it secured a two-year contract with an unnamed East African industrial group for the supply of up to 4,000 tonnes of coal per month. The company said it will supply a coal with a gross calorific value greater than 4,800 per kilogramme. Edenville also said it agreed on pricing, based on calorific content and local commercial rates. The company said it has already worked with this client through 2018 to optimise the product and transport options. The upgrades currently being undertaken at Edenville's project site will ensure this contract along with our other customer deliveries can be met, it said.----------OTHER MAIN MARKET AND AIM - LOSERS----------Paragon Entertainment, down 7.5%. The attractions, design and production company said it swung to loss in the first half of 2018 following the cancellation of two projects after the departure of partner. Paragon swung to a pretax loss of GBP2.0 million in the six months to the end of June compared to GBP438,000 profit reported a year earlier, as revenue declined by half to GBP4.0 million from GBP8.0 million. Paragon said the results were hurt by a delay in product roll-out following a major brand partner walking away from a development contract, which meant the cancellation of two UK product-based attractions. However, the company highlighted that its order book has recovered and is now strong. Paragon said it aims to narrow its loss in the second half of 2018. ----------