WINNERS & LOSERS SUMMARY: Plus500 Up On Share Buyback, New Customers

(Alliance News) - The following stocks are the leading risers and fallers within the main London indices on Tuesday.----------FTSE 100 - WINNERS----------TUI, up 3.5%. The Anglo-German travel company reported revenue growth on strong performances by its experiences businesses in the third quarter. For the three months ended June, revenue rose 3.7% to EUR4.75 billion from EUR4.58 billion the year before. Revenue was supported by strong performances by the Destination Experiences, Holiday Experiences, and Cruises divisions. This was offset by weakness in the Western Region, Northern Region, and All Other Segments units. However, underlying earnings before interest, taxes & amortisation narrowed 46% to EUR100.9 million from EUR186.8 million a year prior. Profit performance was hurt by the Markets & Airlines unit sinking to a EUR103.9 million underlying Ebita loss from a EUR37.2 million profit the year prior. TUI reiterated its full-year guidance for underlying Ebita to fall by up to 26% from last year. "TUI had the kitchen-sink experience earlier in the year with two profit warnings, so the fact that there are no further shocks has resulted in a warm share price reaction to these numbers," said Interactive Investor's Richard Hunter. ----------GlaxoSmithKline, up 0.5%. JPMorgan restarted coverage on the drugmaker with a Neutral rating.----------FTSE 100 - LOSERS----------Rolls-Royce Holdings, down 2.7%. Moody's Investors Service downgraded the credit rating for the jet engine maker citing weak cash flow and high leverage levels. The credit ratings agency downgraded the long-term debt rating for the FTSE 100-listed firm to Baa1 from A3 previously. The outlook was boosted to Stable from Negative. Moody's downgraded the rating for Rolls-Royce amid adjusted leverage levels sitting at 5.3 times earnings, with the credit analyst not expecting this to fall below 4.0 times over the next year to year-and-a-half. The high cost of rectifying issues with the cracking blades of the Trent 1000 aircraft engines, as well as "limited" free cash flow also worried Moody's. ----------Croda International, down 2.2%. Goldman Sachs cut the speciality chemicals company to Sell from Neutral. ----------FTSE 250 - WINNERS----------Plus500, up 19%. The spread betting and contract-for-difference said it has "performed well", despite reporting a steep drop in both revenue and profitability and also slashing its dividend. Plus500's revenue for the six months to June fell 68% year-on-year to USD148.0 million, with pretax profit slumping 82% to USD63.9 million. Plus500's net profit fell 80% to USD51.6 million, with earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation down 81% to USD65.6 million. Plus500 will be returning USD0.2734 per share to shareholders for the period, an 80% reduction from the USD1.3786 paid out a year before. However, the firm has also announced a share buyback worth USD50.0 million. The company said the performance was in line with expectations, with the second quarter improving on the first after financial markets volatility increased. Second quarter new customer numbers were 23% ahead of the first quarter, with active customer numbers rising 11%. ----------FTSE 250 - LOSERS----------Aston Martin Lagonda, down 4.0%. Credit Suisse downgraded the Valkyrie hypercar maker to Neutral from Outperform. ----------OTHER MAIN MARKET AND AIM - WINNERS----------Oilex, up 60%. The oil and gas company announced its request for a halt in the trading of its shares on the Australian Stock Exchange was granted with immediate effect. Oilex said its suspension on the ASX is in relation to a proposed acquisition, and will be in place until Thursday, when it makes an announcement relating to the acquisition. Trading in Oilex's shares on London's AIM however will continue during the period. On Wednesday last week, Oilex agreed to acquire Holloman Energy Corp's 48% interest in the PEL 112 and PEL 444 licences within the Cooper-Eromanga basins, onshore Australia for AUD145,500 in cash and shares.----------OTHER MAIN MARKET AND AIM - LOSERS----------John Menzies, down 4.5%. The aviation services firm blamed the grounding of Boeing Co's 737 MAX and weak cargo volumes for an interim loss. John Menzies's pretax loss for the six months to June was GBP4.4 million, after a GBP8.3 million profit the year before. On an underlying basis, pretax profit was down 47% to GBP8.2 million. The company did manage to increase revenue, by 3.6% to GBP649.9 million and has kept the interim payout flat at 6.0 pence a share. John Menzies said the aviation sector has seen a decline in airline flight schedules and reduced cargo volumes, while the company has also been hurt by contract losses in the Dominican Republic and Panama. The firm is now looking to deliver over GBP10 million of cost savings, most of which will be realised in 2020, with "decisive" action now taken to "right size" the business. ----------