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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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DCC, up 6.0%. The Irish support services firm raised its payout, despite earnings falling during a year which it said presented "challenging market conditions", Brexit uncertainty, and now the Covid-19 outbreak. In the year ended March 31, revenue inched 3.1% lower to GBP14.76 billion from GBP15.23 billion. Pretax profit was down 4.9% to GBP311.5 million from GBP327.4 million. DCC raised its dividend by 5.0% to 145.27 pence from 138.35p. It comes at a time when many other companies have decided against payouts due to the Covid-19 pandemic. DCC said it was a "strong performance for the year, with all divisions delivering growth, notwithstanding the challenging market conditions experienced during the year including Brexit uncertainty and the emergence of the Covid-19 pandemic".
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FTSE 100 - LOSERS
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Imperial Brands, down 5.6%. The tobacco firm cut its dividend after reporting a drop in interim profit and warned that the Covid-19 pandemic is expected to have a "more pronounced" impact in the second half of financial 2021. For the half-year ended March 31, the Davidoff cigarette maker's revenue rose 2.0% to GBP14.67 billion from GBP14.39 billion last year, but pretax profit fell 23% to GBP785 million from GBP1.02 billion. Operating profit fell 20% to GBP925 million. The company said first-half results were affected by lower sales of next-generation products like e-cigarettes, write-downs and impairments totalling GBP95 million. Imperial Brands, which also owns cigarette brands like Winston and Gauloises, cut its interim dividend by 33% to 41.70p from 62.56p last year. Looking ahead, Imperial Brands expects coronavirus-related factors to have a low single-digit impact on annual earnings per share in addition to current market expectations of a 2% fall in constant currency EPS. Peer British American Tobacco was down 1.2% in a negative read-across.
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Compass Group, down 3.0%. The contract caterer launched a GBP2.0 billion placing, subscription and retail offer after reporting a double-digit profit decline in the first half of its current financial year. Compass reported revenue of GBP12.5 billion for the six months to the end of March, up 1.2% from GBP12.3 billion reported a year earlier. Organic revenue increased by 1.6% in the first half. For the five months to the end of February, organic revenue growth was around 6%, the company noted, before a 20% fall in March and a 46% slump in April. The Chertsey, England-headquartered company said it recognises the importance of a dividend to its shareholders. However, it explained it needs to balance this with the impact that the Covid-19 pandemic has had on its business. As a result, Compass decided not to declare an interim or a final dividend for the year to the end of September. Looking ahead, Compass said the duration of the pandemic makes it a challenge to reliably assess the impact across markets the company operates in. Therefore, Compass said it is withdrawing its previous growth and margin outlook for 2020.
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Antofagasta, down 2.5%. The Chilean miner said it has decided to cut its previously declared final dividend payout for 2019 due to the "heightened uncertainty" created as a result of a significant increase in the number of new Covid-19 cases in Chile and a total quarantine over the greater Santiago area of the country. Antofagasta, in order to conserve cash, has decided to lower its 2019 final dividend to 7.1 US cents per ordinary share, or a total of USD70.0 million, from 16.3 cents per share, or a total of USD160.7 million, from the previous recommendation. The total dividend payment for 2019 will therefore be 17.8 cents per share, which amounts to USD175.5 million, equal to a 35% pay-out of net earnings and in-line with Antofagasta's dividend policy.
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FTSE 250 - WINNERS
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Beazley, up 8.9% at 360.80p. The insurer said it has raised GBP247 million through a share placing, the proceeds of which will go towards positioning the business for future growth opportunities as well as strengthening its balance sheet amid continued uncertainty. The FTSE 250-listed insurer issued 78.5 million shares at a price of 315p per share, reflecting a discount of 4.9% to the closing price on Monday of 331.4p. For the bookbuild process, Numis Securities and JP Morgan Cazenove acted as joint bookrunners.
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William Hill, up 4.5%. Morgan Stanley raised the bookmaker to Overweight from Equal Weight.
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FTSE 250 - LOSERS
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Renewables Infrastructure Group, down 3.8% at 122.60p. The trust said intends to raise an undisclosed amount of new capital through the issue of new shares by way of a non-pre-emptive tap issue to fund new investments and repay outstanding amount under the company's revolving acquisition facility. The new shares will be issued at a price of 120.0 pence per share, a 5.8% discount their 127.4p closing price on Monday. The company plans to issue new shares by way of a non-pre-emptive tap issue.
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Greencore Group, down 3.0%. The sandwich maker said its profit surged in the first half of its current financial year but demand dropped dramatically over the past six weeks. Greencore reported pretax profit of GBP27.3 million for the 26 weeks ending March 27 compared to just GBP5.7 million reported for the same period a year ago. Revenue, meanwhile, grew by 1.6% to GBP712.7 million from GBP701.4 million year-on-year. Despite that, Greencore said it will not be paying an interim dividend, having distributed 2.45 pence a share a year ago. The company explained that since the start of the second half of its current financial year the Covid-19 pandemic has had a "dramatic and volatile" impact on the shape of UK food consumption.
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By Arvind Bhunjun; arvindbhunjun@alliancenews.com
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