WINNERS & LOSERS SUMMARY: HSBC Rises After Strong First Quarter

LONDON (Alliance News) - The following stocks are the leading risers and fallers within the main London indices on Friday.----------FTSE 100 - WINNERS----------HSBC Holdings, up 2.8%. The Asia-focused bank reported a "good start" to 2019, seeing a significant rise in first quarter profit driven by its Retail Banking & Wealth Management and Commercial Banking businesses. For the three months ended March, pretax profit rose 30% to USD6.21 billion from USD4.76 billion the year prior. Excluding the impact of currency translation, pretax profit rose 9.5% on the year before. The lender's revenue increased 14% in the first quarter to USD14.43 billion from USD12.70 billion the year before. Revenue performance was driven by strong growth in all of HSBC's three main global businesses. For the three months ended March, the jaws ratio was at 6.0%. The jaws ratio - a key financial performance indicator - is the difference between the percentage growth in income and the percentage growth in expenses. ----------Anglo American, up 2.2%. The miner was upgraded to Outperform from Neutral by Credit Suisse. ----------Unilever, up 1.5%. Credit Suisse raised the consumer goods firm to Outperform from Neutral. ----------FTSE 100 - LOSERS----------InterContinental Hotels Group, down 1.2%. The hotel operator reported growth in its net system size, with revenue per available room growing slightly but occupancy rates slipped. At March 31, the company had 842,759 total rooms, 5.4% higher than a year ago. IHG saw a 13% rise in rooms in Greater China to 117,538. The company's rooms in its Americas region grew 2.9% to 511,427. The company's revenue per available room in the first quarter increased slightly, rising 0.3%. IHG's occupancy slipped, however, decreasing 0.2% in the period. In the Americas, the company's revenue per available room increased 0.8% and its occupancy rate decreased 0.3%. The rise in revenue per available room, the company noted, was made against "tough comparables from hurricane demand last year".----------Direct Line Insurance Group, down 0.9%. The insurer was cut to Neutral from Buy by UBS. ----------Schroders, down 0.7%. UBS downgraded the asset manager to Neutral from Buy. ----------FTSE 250 - WINNERS----------Ultra Electronics, up 5.3%. The defence company said it continues to trade in line with expectations and is experiencing further progress in its order book. "The group's new "Focus, Fix, Grow" initiative and move to average working capital throughout the year is producing positive early results," said Non-Executive Chair Tony Rice at Ultra's annual general meeting in London. "The board remains confident 2019 will be a year of good underlying progress." Ultra is scheduled to release its results for the six months ending June 30 on August 6. For the first half of 2018, the company recorded revenue of GBP350.5 million and pretax profit of GBP20 million.----------FTSE 250 - LOSERS----------Intu Properties, down 7.5%. The shopping mall operator said it saw a "good" first-quarter lettings performance but warned the rest of the year is anticipated to be difficult due to a higher level of company voluntary arrangements than expected among retail clients. In the first quarter, intu agreed 53 long-term leases worth GBP6 million in annual rent, a performance Chief Executive Matthew Roberts described as "stable" even though it was down from 60 leases for GBP10 million in annual rent agreed in the same period a year ago. Looking ahead, intu said it expects like-for-like net rental income for 2019 to be down 4% to 6% on the year before. Income is expected to fall more sharply in the first half of the year before the pace moderates in the second. The shopping centre owner said it expects CVAs in 2019 to run above those seen in 2018, while occupancy has been hit by tenants delaying decisions amid Brexit uncertainty.----------Lancashire Holdings, down 3.5%. HSBC cut the insurer to Hold from Buy. ----------OTHER MAIN MARKET AND AIM - LOSERS----------Numis, down 3.8%. The stockbroker reported a sharp drop in first half profit, blaming a "challenging market backdrop". In the six months to March 31, Numis reported pretax profit of GBP7.1 million compared to GBP19.5 million in the corresponding period the year before - a 64% decrease. The company's revenue slipped 25% to GBP55.7 million from GBP74.1 million. Investment Banking revenue decreased 24% in the first half to GBP38.8 million from GBP50.9 million a year before. However, it was 3% higher than in the second half of 2018. The Capital Markets division within Investment Banking saw revenue fall 25% on a year before. Numis maintained its interim dividend at 5.5 pence.----------