WINNERS & LOSERS SUMMARY: Marston's Merry Christmas Boosts Pub Stocks

LONDON (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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Anglo American, up 4.6%. The miner said its first sales cycle for its De Beers diamond business delivered a big increase in revenue compared to the final cycle it handled in 2015. The value of the rough diamonds sold in the first cycle improved to USD540.0 million, up from USD248.0 million for the final sales cycle of 2015. Anglo said the holiday season in the UK was positive from a sales perspective, and the group was boosted by a manufacturing reduction which resulted in polished diamond stocks feeding through the sales pipeline, with the resulting reduction in stocks in turn driving firmer polished prices.
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FTSE 100 - LOSERS
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Kingfisher, down 2.8%. The DIY retailer, which owns B&Q and Screwfix, was downgraded to Reduce from Hold by Numis, with an unchanged price target of 275 pence. The group closed among the worst performers in the FTSE 100 on Monday after it outlined its restructuring plans for the next five years, warning the cost of the changes will constrain its profit and sparking warnings from analysts that the risks involved in the plan did not seem to be outweighed by the potential benefits.

easyJet, down 2.0%. The budget airline reported growth in passengers carried and load factor in the first quarter of its financial year, although revenue per seat and ultimately total revenue fell following the terrorist attacks in Egypt and Paris. easyJet said the number of passengers carried in the quarter ended December 31 increased by 8.1% to 16.1 million, as the load factor rose by 0.6 percentage point to 90.3%.

Dixons Carphone, down 1.8%. The electricals retailer said it expects pretax profit for its full financial year to be slightly ahead of consensus after achieving growth in line-for-like revenue over the key Christmas trading period. It said like-for-like sales at constant currency rose 5% in the 10 weeks to January 9, with a record Black Friday in late November. Dixons said it now expects group headline pretax profit for the full year to May to be within the range of GBP440 million and GBP450 million, which is slightly ahead of consensus. Dixons added that the Sprint store trial in the US was successful and that it has signed an agreement with Sprint to fully activate the joint venture for a targeted 500 stores.
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FTSE 250 - WINNERS
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Crest Nicholson Holdings, up 5.8%. The housebuilder said pretax profit rose, revenue increased and it will pay a higher dividend following a robust year for the UK housebuilding industry. The housebuilder said pretax profit for the year to the end of October was GBP154.0 million, up 32% year-on-year from GBP116.7 million. Total sales revenue for the year rose to GBP804.8 million from GBP636.3 million, as the group sold 2,725 homes, up from 2,530, at an average selling price of GBP318,000, 14% higher than the GBP278,000 average at which it sold homes in the previous financial year. The group will pay a total dividend for the year of 19.7p, up 38%.

Marston's, up 5.3%. The pub operator and brewer said its trading has been encouraging thus far in its current financial year, with a solid Christmas and New Year period. The company's Destination and Premium restaurant outlets saw like-for-like sales grow 3.0% over the 16 weeks to January 23, with food sales up 2.5% and drink sales rising 3.4%. For the two-weeks Christmas trading period to January 2, trading was good for the group, with like-for-like sales growth overall hitting 4.9%, despite tough comparatives for the year before. The good Christmas trading helped push shares in other pub companies higher on Tuesday, with Greene King up 1.8%, JD Wetherspoon up 1.7% and Mitchells & Butlers up 1.5%.
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FTSE 250 - LOSERS
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PZ Cussons, down 12%. The consumer products company said pretax profit edged slightly higher in the first half despite a dip in revenue, as it dealt with a drag on its results from a tough trading environment in Nigeria and a hit from currency weakness in Asia and Africa. The company, which makes Imperial Leather and Carex amongst a range of personal care, homecare, food and electricals products, said its pretax profit for the six months to the end of November rose to GBP40.0 million from GBP39.7 million. The group will pay a flat interim dividend of 2.61 pence per share.
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MAIN MARKET AND AIM - WINNERS
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Biome Technologies, up 12%. The bioplastics and radio frequency technology company said its trading for 2015 was above market expectations, as it reported a rise in group revenue for the year which look set to continue into 2016. Biome said its revenue would be 37% higher for 2015, to GBP4.9 million from GBP3.6 million in 2014. Biome added it made a small profit before interest, tax, depreciation, amortisation and incentive scheme charges in the second half of the year and said it had a robust order book in place for the first half of 2016.
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MAIN MARKET AND AIM - LOSERS
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Plexus Holdings, down 15%. The oil and gas engineering services company said it has signed licensing agreement with two Russian oil and gas companies. Plexus said it has signed deals with LLC Gusar Ltd and CJSC Konar for the rental, manufacture and servicing of Plexus' jack-up drilling wellhead exploration equipment in Russia. Plexus said the deal, on which no financial details were disclosed, will boost its presence in the Russian market. On Monday, Plexus shares had dropped 41% after it issued a profit warning, saying its financial results for the year to the end of June will be "very significantly below" market expectations.

Avon Rubber, down 14%. The rubber products manufacturer said market conditions have continued to prove soft in the first quarter of its financial year. Avon said conditions in dairy markets have remained soft in the quarter to the end of December. It said it remained confident it would be able to deliver against its long-term targets, though also cautioned this would be dependent on the timing of orders for its Protection & Defence division, where it said order timings remain unpredictable.
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By Sam Unsted; samunsted@alliancenews.com; @SamUAtAlliance

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