WINNERS & LOSERS SUMMARY: Shell Gains As Earnings Meet Expectations

LONDON (Alliance News) - The following stocks are the leading risers and fallers within the main London indices on Thursday.
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FTSE 100 - WINNERS
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Royal Dutch Shell, up 6.3%. Despite the oil major reporting a dramatic fall in earnings during 2015, the results did meet expectations. Shell said current cost of supply (CSS) earnings excluding items more than halved year-on-year in 2015 to USD10.67 billion from USD22.56 billion, which is at the top end of Shell's guidance provided last month. CSS earnings including items fell 80% during the year to USD3.84 billion from USD19.04 billion a year earlier, whilst income attributable to shareholders fell at an even steeper rate to USD1.93 billion from USD14.87 billion, representing an 87% fall. That USD1.93 billion result also was at the top end of Shell's guidance range of USD1.60 billion to USD2.00 billion. Shell, as expected, maintained its dividend for the year of USD1.88.

BP, up 4.3% and BG Group, up 4.1%. The Shell peers gained as world oil prices held onto their recent rally, with Brent crude quoted at USD35.28 a barrel. BG, which reports its own 2015 results on Friday, is set to merge with Shell.

Compass Group, up 4.6%. The catering and support services business said its outlook for 2016 remains positive after reporting a rise in revenue during the first quarter of the financial year. Compass said organic revenue grew 5.9% year-on-year in its financial first quarter ended December 31, with like-for-like revenue also increasing thanks to modest pricing and some volume improvement.
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FTSE 100 - LOSERS
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Coca-Cola HBC, down 4.9%. The stock was downgraded by Barclays to Underweight From Equal Weight.

AstraZeneca, down 4.6%. The pharmaceutical group forecast a fall in revenue and its closely watched earnings per share for 2016, including dilutive effects from recent acquisitions, as it reported a rise in pretax profit for 2015. The company said pretax profit rose to USD3.07 billion in 2015 from USD1.25 billion a year before, despite seeing revenue fall to USD24.71 billion from USD26.55 billion, with the improved profit mostly the result of lower cost of sales and of selling, general and administrative costs. AstraZeneca reported core earnings per share for the year of USD4.26, flat on the previous year at actual exchange rates, although up 7% at constant currency. AstraZeneca declared a second interim dividend of USD1.90 per share, taking its total dividend for the year to USD2.80, maintained from the previous year.

Smith & Nephew, down 0.1%. The medical devices maker reported a fall in pretax profit for 2015 on higher costs, but saw earnings per share come in ahead of both 2014 and market expectations. Smith & Nephew reported a pretax profit of USD559 million for 2015, down from USD714 million a year before, as a rise in revenue to USD4.63 billion from USD4.62 billion was offset by higher selling, general and administrative costs. The company said it has taken an accounting charge of USD203 million in relation to settlements for legal claims related to metal-on-metal hip replacements. Smith & Nephew proposed a final dividend of 19.0 cents per share, which takes its full-year dividend to 30.8 cents, up 4% from the 29.6 cents it paid in 2014.

Imperial Tobacco Group, down 0.6%. The stock went ex-dividend meaning new buyers no longer qualify for dividend payments.
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FTSE 250 - WINNERS
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AA, up 4.1%. The roadside assistance company said its full-year results are expected to meet market expectations as the company continues to strengthen its position as the UK's pre-eminent motoring organisation. The company said its marketing activities have continued to successfully slow the decline in personal member numbers, which is being exacerbated by the adverse price impact of the recent increase in insurance premium tax.

Allied Minds, up 1.7%. The science and technology capital investment firm said its subsidiary Spin Transfer Technologies Inc has successfully demonstrated its Spin Transfer Magneto-Resistive Random Access Memory technology through the production of a working prototype device.
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MAIN MARKET AND AIM - WINNERS
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South32, up 14%. The miner said it has booked charges totalling USD1.70 billion in the first half of its financial year after reviewing its commodity price assumptions as the miner outlined the results of its strategic review of its manganese operations in South Africa. South32 also said it has restarted production of manganese in South Africa after suspending production in the last quarter of 2015, but said it plans to reduce the amount of production and warned significant job cuts will be made over the next six months.
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MAIN MARKET AND AIM - LOSERS
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DQ Entertainment, down 60%. The animation producer said, after the market close on Wednesday, that Allenby Capital will terminate its position as the company's nominated adviser and broker on February 22. In accordance with AIM rules, DQ must appoint a new nomad and broker by no later then February 23 in order to avoid suspension of its shares. If a new nomad is not appointed within one month of Allenby ceasing to act, DQ's shares will be cancelled from trading on AIM. DQ said it is in discussions with prospective candidates to fulfill the role.
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By Arvind Bhunjun; arvindbhunjun@alliancenews.com; @ArvindBhunjun

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