WINNERS & LOSERS SUMMARY: Provident Financial Shares Jump On Bid Lapse

LONDON (Alliance News) - The following stocks are the leading risers and fallers within the main London indices on Wednesday.----------FTSE 100 - WINNERS----------Carnival, up 3.0%. The cruise line operator agreed to pay a penalty of USD20 million after admitting its subsidiary Princess Cruises violated terms of a 2017 settlement for waste disposal. Senior US District Judge Patricia Seitz approved the settlement agreement after Carnival Chief Executive Officer Arnold Donald admitted the company's responsibility for probation violations from the previous environmental case. "The company pleads guilty," Arnold said in courtroom. "We acknowledge the shortcomings. I am here today to formulate a plan to fix them."----------International Consolidated Airlines, up 1.8%. JPMorgan initiated its coverage of the British Airways owner at Overweight. ----------FTSE 100 - LOSERS----------Hargreaves Lansdown, down 5.6%. The fund supermarket was suffering a second day of selling pressure after star fund manager Neil Woodford suspended withdrawals from its flagship equity fund on Monday. The fund had been a constituent of Hargreaves' favourite fund investment list. The fund supermarket on Monday removed the LF Woodford Equity Income Fund and the Woodford Income Focus Fund from its Wealth 50 list. Woodford apologised and sought to reassure investors blocked from withdrawing from his multi-billion pound fund. Woodford appeared in a video suggesting his firm faced having to hold a fire sale in order to meet the demand for redemptions, which were reported to have hit GBP10 million a day. He insisted his firm, Woodford Investment Management, has a strategy in place to stabilise the fund so holders would eventually be able to access their investments.----------FTSE 250 - WINNERS----------Provident Financial, up 17%. The home credit lender was up following the collapse of Non-Standard Finance's hostile GBP1.1 billion takeover for the company. Responding to a statement from lender Non-Standard Finance, stating that it would "lapse" the offer after discussions with the UK regulators, Provident said it "greatly regrets the unnecessary distraction, cost and impact of the uncertainty" caused by the bid. Non-Standard Finance's bid for its bigger London-listed home credit rival collapsed after the UK financial regulator blocked the deal on Tuesday. Non-Standard Finance's shares were down 2.7%.----------IMI, up 3.1%. Shares in the engineering firm were up after Goldman Sachs upgraded the stock to Buy from Neutral.----------Babcock International, up 2.2%. The engineering services firm announced its medium-term targets ahead of a capital markets day, with a focus on a trio of core sectors for the company. Babcock explained that for the period following March 2020 it is targeting earnings growth at a compound annual growth rate of between 3% and 5%. It also intends to retain margins at "around" 11%. Over the next five years, Babcock is targeting generating around GBP1.4 billion in free cash flow after growing cash flow in line with earnings. It also intends to continue to reduce its net debt levels and deliver a "sustainable dividend". For the financial year ended March 2019, Babcock generated underlying operating margins at 11.4%. Net debt fell to GBP957.7 million from GBP1.12 billion the year prior. In order to deliver these medium-term targets, Babcock explained it would focus on its three markets in which it has "strong leadership positions": Defence, Emergency Services and Civil Nuclear. ----------Go-Ahead, up 2.9%. The transport operator's shares were on the rise after it appointed interim Chief Financial Officer Elodie Brian to the company's board in the role of permanent CFO. Brian had joined the board of Go-Ahead in December 2018 in an interim capacity, having previously worked as finance & contracts director at train operator Southeastern. ----------FTSE 250 - LOSERS----------Woodford Patient Capital Trust, down 3.8%. The trust, like Hargreaves Lansdown, was suffering from the fallout of Neil Woodford freezing redemptions from its equity funds. LF Woodford Equity Income Fund and Woodford Income Focus Fund are both managed by Woodford Investment Management, which also manages Woodford Patient Capital Trust. Trading in Woodford Patient Capital Trust remains unaffected by the suspension. ----------OTHER MAIN MARKET AND AIM - WINNERS----------Findel, up 3.3%. The online retailer reported high double-digit profit growth in its most recent financial year, driven by a strong performance by catalogue retailer Studio, to which the group as a whole will change its name. For the year ended March 29, the online retailer and education business posted pretax profit up 33% to GBP29.4 million from GBP22.1 million. Revenue rose 5.7% to GBP506.8 million from GBP479.6 million. "These strong results reflect the clear transformation of the group into a digital-first, value-led retailer," Chief Executive Officer Phil Maudsley said. Studio is Findel's fashion and homewares retail brand. Given the strong performance of the unit, Findel is proposing a change of name to Studio Retail Group PLC. Notwithstanding the positive performance, Findel did not declare a dividend for the year and said it "does not have plans to reinstate dividend payments at this stage" as it chooses to priortise investment in the company. ----------K3 Capital, up 21%. The business sales and brokerage company expressed a confident outlook for the financial year that just begun, saying earnings for the year that ended on May 31 are estimated to have come in at the upper end of market expectations. K3 Capital said adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization for the financial 2019 are expected to have been at the upper end of the market guidance. Revenue also was expected to be in line with market expectations. In its financial 2018, K3 Capital reported revenue of GBP16.5 million and Ebitda of GBP7.4 million. ----------GB Group, up 3.8%. The identity data firm hiked its annual dividend Wednesday after profit and revenue rose in a "good" year for the company. For the year ended March, pretax profit widened 9.7% to GBP14.7 million from GBP13.4 million the year prior, this was after revenue rose 20% to GBP143.5 million from GBP119.7 million the year before. Profit performance was held back by a rise in acquired intangibles amortisation to GBP10.3 million from GBP7.9 million the year prior. GB proposed a 2.99 pence per share final and full year dividend, up 13% from 2.65p the year prior. "This was another good year for GB Group," GB Chief Executive Officer Chris Clark said. "The continued investment in our three core solutions led to exciting product innovation and deeper geographical reach. Our strong growth and track record of delivery is a testament to our commitment to customer value and the expansion of our global presence through organic developments and strategic acquisitions." ----------Ariana Resources, up 8.6%. The exploration & development company reported "outstanding" annual results as gold production for the year exceeded guidance. For 2018, Ariana posted a pretax profit of GBP2.2 million compared to GBP424,000 a year ago. The increase in profitability was due to significantly higher gains on share of profit from Ariana's joint venture at the Kiziltepe Mine in Turkey, up to GBP3.7 million from GBP1.8 million in 2017. "Ariana continues to deliver outstanding results from year to year and 2018 has been no exception," the company said. It added: "Gold production from our joint venture Kiziltepe Mine, in excess of 27,100 ounces was 36% above guidance for the year. The mine has achieved an average cash-cost of USD415 per ounce which is half of the current international average, placing the mine within the lowest cash-cost quartile." ----------OTHER MAIN MARKET AND AIM - LOSERS----------Ironveld, down 43%. The iron miner said it has entered into discussions with the intention of signing a commercial offtake agreement for an iron, vanadium and titanium project in South Africa. However, Ironveld said that so far commercially viable terms have not been offered to the company, leading Ironveld to believe it will not be possible to agree terms with the potential off-take partner. ----------Impax Asset Management, down 4.3%. The investment manager reported an increase in assets under management as of the end of the first half of its financial year and was able to hike its dividend following a sharp rise in revenue. In the six months to March 31, the investment manager recorded a 69% increase in pretax profit to GBP9.3 million from GBP5.5 million the year before. Impax's revenue increased 32% in the first half to GBP33.8 million from GBP25.7 million. The investment manager declared an interim dividend of 1.5 pence, 36% higher than the 1.1p distributed in the same period the year prior. The AIM-listed investment company ended March with GBP13.25 billion in assets under management compared to GBP12.52 billion at September 30. Impax's thematic equity funds increased 12% in the same period to GBP10.06 billion from GBP9.02 billion. Impax said its assets under management further expanded to GBP13.7 billion as at April 30.----------