WINNERS & LOSERS SUMMARY: Sophos Sinks After Weak Billings Growth

LONDON (Alliance News) - The following stocks are the leading risers and fallers within the main London indices on Thursday.----------FTSE 100 - WINNERS----------Glencore, up 4.0%, The miner and commodity trader said it is to begin a share buyback programme worth USD1 billion, with the first part commencing immediately. Glencore, which earlier in the week was subpoenaed by the US Justice Department, is to buy GBP350 million worth of stock back from shareholders up to August 7, and will then go ahead with further buybacks. The programme is to be run by Citigroup Global Markets.----------FTSE 100 - LOSERS----------Associated British Foods, down 5.5%. The sugar producer and Primark clothing chain owner backed its full-year outlook though within this now sees lower profit from its Sugar division. For the full-year, said it expects good profit growth in Grocery, Agriculture and Ingredients. However, the company now expects reduced profit from AB Sugar due to lower EU sugar prices, but increased profit from Primark driven by higher margins. For the third quarter, AB Sugar revenue was down 17%, as expected. This was "entirely the result of significantly lower EU prices which adversely affected our UK and Spanish businesses", the company said. "Guidance may have been reiterated, but with Sugar waning in influence, Primark posting slower growth and Grocery up on acquisitions, traders are clearly looking at 80% of the revenue picture 90% of profits and deciding they want more proof of better things lying ahead," said Mike Van Dulken, head of research at Accendo Markets. Next, down 2.2%. The stock went ex-dividend meaning new buyers no longer qualify for the latest dividend payout. ----------FTSE 250 - WINNERS----------Superdry, up 9.3%. The fashion retailer declared a special dividend for its recently ended financial year, despite profit slipping on increased expenses. Superdry reported pretax profit of GBP65.3 million for the year ended April 28, down from GBP84.8 million made a year ago. Adjusted pretax profit grew by 12% to GBP97.0 million from GBP87.0 million. Selling, general & administrative costs jumped year-on-year to GBP429.4 million from GBP375.4 million. Revenue rose by 16% to GBP872.0 million from GBP752.0 million led by improvement in Wholesale and E-commerce divisions. The company declared annual dividend of 31.20 pence per share, up 11%. Superdry said it will also pay a special dividend of 25.00p as a result of continued strong cash generation. The prior year, special dividend totalled 20.00p.Tullow Oil, up 2.9%. Barclays raised the oil and gas company to Overweight from Equal Weight. ----------FTSE 250 - LOSERS----------Sophos Group, down 18%. The cyber security firm saw lower than anticipated billings growth in the first quarter. Sophos reported billings growth of 6%, up 2% at constant currency, for the quarter ended June. Sophos said it had a "strong performance" in revenue and cash flow, and expects to report mid-teens growth in new customer and network security billings in the period. According to Sophos, the lower billings were driven by its Enduser security business, which faced a "particularly challenging comparable". Underlying Enduser billings growth in the first quarter of the previous financial year was "in excess" of 50% at constant currency. The company warned that these factors will also apply to the second quarter of the current financial year as well.Pennon Group, down 5.1%. The stock went ex-dividend. ----------OTHER MAIN MARKET AND AIM - WINNERS----------Enquest, up 6.5%. Barclays raised the oil and gas company to Overweight from Underweight. ----------OTHER MAIN MARKET AND AIM - LOSERS----------Boxhill Technologies, down 40%. The e-commerce technology company said it experienced a strong decline in certain payment processing revenues during May and June. Boxhill attributed the decline in revenue to a requirement by banks to change the nature of transactions lenders are willing to deal with as a result of regulatory changes. The company said it is working on a number of solutions to address the issues and expects to update shareholders further during July.----------