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(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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JD Sports Fashion, up 7.6%. The athleisurewear retailer said it was "reassured" by its performance in the first half despite a sharp drop in earnings. Revenue for the half-year ended August 1 came in at GBP2.54 billion, down 6.6% from GBP2.72 billion a year ago. Sports Fashion revenue shrunk by 4.6% to GBP2.40 billion, while Outdoor revenue tumbled more dramatically, by 30% to GBP142.5 million. Pretax profit dropped by nearly two thirds to GBP41.5 million from GBP129.9 million. JD Sports said the reduction in profitability was due to additional costs associated with the shift in revenue to online channels, particularly during the period of temporary store closures. The FTSE 100-listed retailer added that it is "generally encouraged" with its performance post-lockdown, though noted that retail footfall remains comparatively weak. JD Sports also reinstated guidance for the full-year.
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DS Smith, up 6.3%. The packaging firm said it continued to perform in line with expectations over the past four months, giving it the confidence to plan to pay an interim dividend. The London-headquartered packaging business told its annual general meeting that it has progressed well since the beginning of May, with performance continuing in line with expectations, despite the economic challenges that resulted from Covid-19. Geographically, DS Smith said Northern European region has continued to perform well, with "pleasing" recovery momentum in Southern and Eastern Europe since May. The company also said it is encouraged by the progress in North America, in particular in attracting new customers. Given the performance over the last quarter, and an improved clarity in the outlook, combined with a strong financial position, the company said it intends to declare an interim dividend for the half year to the end of October.
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Experian, up 2.4%. The credit checking firm raised its second-quarter guidance after stronger trading in July and August. The FTSE 100-listed company now expects organic revenue growth for the quarter to September 30 in a range of 3% to 5%. Growth had previously been guided to a range of flat to down 5%, with first half growth to be broadly flat. The quarterly guidance lift was attributed to further strength in the company's US mortgage business, which is anticipated to contribute three percentage points to growth. With "continued investment in our innovation agenda", Experian now expects organic growth in costs of between 2% and 3% for the first half, having been previously guided to being held broadly flat.
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FTSE 100 - LOSERS
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GVC Holdings, down 3.8%. Barclays downgraded the sports betting and gaming firm to Equal Weight from Overweight.
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FTSE 250 - WINNERS
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Royal Mail, up 16%. The postal operator said revenue rose in the five months to August, thanks to a sharp increase in parcel volumes and prompting upgraded guidance for the current financial year. The London-based letter and package carrier said revenue in the UK business was GBP139 million higher for the five months ended August 30 compared to the year before. UK parcel volumes were up 34%, representing an additional 177 million parcels, and parcel revenue increased by 33% year-on-year compared to the same five month period a year before. Addressed letter volumes in the UK, excluding for elections, were 28% lower, a drop of 1.1 billion. Letter revenue declined 22%. The company updated its annual guidance for its financial year ending March 2021. It has two scenarios, 1 and 2, with scenario 2 assuming a deeper recession with a UK gross domestic product decline of 15%. Scenario 1 is more optimistic and assumes a 10% UK GDP decline amid easing Covid-19 restrictions. Scenario 1 has been updated and now assumes that Royal Mail's UK revenue will rise by between GBP75 million and GBP150 million year-on-year, rather than falling by GBP200 million to GBP250 million as previously predicted.
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FTSE 250 - LOSERS
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Travis Perkins, down 5.9%. The Northampton-based builders' merchant swung to an interim loss on falling revenue and Covid-19 disruption. For the six months to the end of June, Travis Perkins reported a pretax loss of GBP126.5 million, swinging sharply from a profit of GBP15.8 million for the same period a year before, on revenue that fell by 20% to GBP2.78 billion from GBP3.48 billion. On a like-for-like basis, revenue declined by 19%. The group's decline in sales was driven by the lockdown period in the UK implemented from late March as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, as only the Toolstation business reported growth for the period. Looking ahead, Travis Perkins said the long term fundamentals of its end markets remain robust, however uncertainties remain within the near-term UK economy. Like-for-like sales trends in July and August have come very close to prior year levels, supported by the UK renovation, maintenance and improvement market and strong trading in consumer do-it-yourself markets.
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easyJet, down 5.6%. The low-cost airline said it has suffered reduced demand for travel as customer confidence to make holiday plans has been hurt by constantly changing government restrictions. The firm plans to fly slightly less than the 40% of planned capacity previously expected for the fourth quarter as a result of the UK's travel quarantine measures. "Due to the constantly evolving government restrictions across Europe and quarantine measures in the UK, including yesterday's announcements that removed seven Greek islands from the exemption list, customer confidence to make travel plans has been negatively affected," easyJet said. The UK government on Tuesday said arrivals from seven Greek islands - Lesvos, Tinos, Serifos, Mykonos, Crete, Santorini and Zakynthos - will need to self-isolate for 14 days, but mainland Greece is to maintain its exemption. The airline added that it "would not be appropriate" to maintain any forward looking financial guidance, for the 2020 and 2021 financial years, at this time.
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By Lucy Heming;Â lucyheming@alliancenews.com
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