Recent articles for private investors with a focus on dividend announcements
Invensys Interim Management Statement
The performance of the substantial majority of the Group continues to be in line with management expectations. However a number of operational issues relating to certain projects within Invensys Operations Management and Invensys Rail will affect performance for the current year. We now expect that our reported operating profit for the full year will be significantly below last year.
Home Retail Interim Management Statement
"In a trading environment that has been both volatile and demanding, Homebase has again seen more resilient sales. Argos sales continue to be impacted by the market decline in consumer electronics categories, however we saw internet penetration reach over 40% of total sales, with Check & Reserve being boosted by the development of mobile commerce as customers embrace our leading multi-channel proposition.
Tesco Xmas Trading Statement
"In a challenging economic environment, we made good progress internationally but despite record sales, we are disappointed with our seasonal trading performance in the UK.
N. Brown Trading statement - January 2012
N Brown Group plc, the internet and catalogue home shopping retailer, today announces a trading update for the 19 weeks ended 7 January 2012.
Balfour Beatty Trading update
"Further to our Interim Management Statement of 10 November 2011, overall trading remains in line with our expectations. Order book remained stable over the year despite weak market conditions in some of our core markets at a level in excess of £15B. During the year, Support Services and US Construction order books increased while the UK Construction order book contracted."
Hays Trading update
"In the quarter ended 31 December 2011, Hays, the leading global professional recruitment group, increased net fees by 9% (8% on a like-for-like basis) against prior year. Net fees in the temporary placement business, which accounts for 57% of Group net fees, saw strong growth of 13%. Net fee growth in the permanent placement business slowed to 1% as increasing uncertainty about the global macro-economic environment impacted confidence amongst the Group's candidates and clients, notably in our Banking related specialisms."
WPP acquisition
The company has announced it has agreed to acquire a majority stake in Oasis Insights (Private) Limited, "an insight and consultancy business based in Karachi", adding: "Oasis' revenues for the year ended 30 June 2011 were app x. PKR254M, with gross assets at the same date of appx. PKR109M."
Biologics Joint Venture
Commenting on the transaction, Olivier Bohuon, Chief Executive Officer of Smith & Nephew, said:
Carnival final results 2011
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Micky Arison commenting on these results: "On the whole, 2011 was an encouraging year for our global portfolio of cruise brands.Our North American brands performed well, achieving an almost four percent revenue yield increase, while our European, Australian and Asian brand yields were in line with the prior year (constant dollars) despite having been significantly impacted by the geo-political unrest in the Middle East and North Africa. Higher revenue yields partially offset a 32 percent increase in fuel prices, which reduced earnings by $535 million or$0.68 per share for the year." "Cash from operations of $3.8 billion provided more than ample funding for our $2.7 billion capital investment program and enabled the company to return excess cash to shareholders. Earlier this year, our quarterly dividend was increased from $0.10 to $0.25 per share resulting in $670 million of dividend distributions. In addition, we purchased 14.8 million of the company's shares in the open market at a cost of $455 million." "Our base of business for 2012 is solid and we are experiencing strong booking volumes leading into wave season, our heaviest booking period which begins in early January. Despite the uncertain economic environment, we anticipate a continued slow recovery in yields in 2012 driven by ongoing consumer recognition that our cruises provide an exceptional value." "A wide array of exciting innovations and the continued modernization of our existing global fleet should drive even greater consumer interest and enthusiasm for our brands. An example is Carnival Cruise Lines' recently announced Fun Ship 2.0, which is a multi-year $500 million investment to transform the shipboard experience through exciting partnerships and new branded spaces. Carnival Liberty, which was recently re-introduced with several of the new features, has generated exceptional buzz and has been well received by consumers and travel agents." "We remain focused on strategic growth through the addition of two to three new ships per year and expect to continue to return excess cash to shareholders. Based on the above guidance, we estimate our cash from operations will approach $4 billion in 2012, while our capital investment commitment will be $2.6 billion. We expect to generate significant free cash flow in 2012 and beyond, which should provide further opportunities to return cash to shareholders."
Aggreko pre-close trading statement
Strong fourth quarter, with underlying revenues expected to be up at least 22% year-on-year.
John Wood - Pre close trading update
Wood Group, the international energy services company, issues the followingpre-close trading update for the year to 31 December 2011. Full year resultsfor the year will be announced on 6 March 2012.Overall, the Group expects to deliver good growth, with performance for theyear in line with expectations.Conditions in oil & gas markets remain strong, with commodity prices atfavourable levels for our customers. We are not witnessing any material changein customer behaviour as a consequence of volatility in financial markets, andwe remain confident in the longer term prospects for oil & gas and gas firedpower generation.
BG Group - Project in Kazakhstan
BG Group today announced that the Republic of Kazakhstan (RoK) and the contracting companies in the giant Karachaganak gas-condensate field in north-west Kazakhstan have reached an agreement that will support the further development of the field.
Bunzl pre close statement
Bunzl plc, the international distribution and outsourcing Group, is updating the market today relating to the twelve months ending 31 December 2011 prior to entering its close period.
IG Group pre-close trading statement December 2012
The Group expects to report revenue of £195.6m, an increase of 25% from £156.7m reported in the comparative period. Excluding the Group's Sports business, which was closed during the period, the Group achieved like-for-like revenue growth of 28%. This strong growth in the Group's financial business was driven by a 15% increase in active clients and an 11% increase in revenue per client.
Standard Chartered pre-close trading statement December 2011
Peter Sands, Group Chief Executive, commented, "Standard Chartered is on course to deliver another strong set of full year results. Income growth remains resilient and well diversified, underpinned by high levels of activity across our businesses. We have continued to invest to underpin future income momentum; the credit environment remains relatively benign across our footprint. We continue to focus on the basics of banking, on maintaining a very strong balance sheet, as well as on the continued disciplined execution of our strategy. Our consistent performance and balance sheet resilience have been recognised by both the market and by the rating agencies. We have now been upgraded by all three rating agencies since the beginning of the financial crisis. The growth prospects of our markets in Asia, Africa and the Middle East remain intact despite the increasing uncertainty in the West."
Tesco Interim Management Statement
"We have made good progress in our third quarter against the background of challenging conditions for consumers in many of our markets.
Astra Zeneca Restructuring
AstraZeneca said it will reduce its US sales force by appx. 1,150 leadership positions and sale s representatives, roughly 24% of the Co's sales organisation in the US. The Co added: "This change to the US sales force is incremental to the ongoing second phase of the company's restructuring programme that was announced in January 2010. As a result, a discrete restructuring cost associated with today's announced changes, estimated at between $50 million to $100 million, will be charged in the fourth quarter of 2011."
PZ Cussons trading update December 2011
PZ Cussons Plc announces its trading update in respect of the half year to 30 November 2011.
Premier Farnell third quarter results
Commenting on the results, Harriet Green, Group Chief Executive, said:"The quarter's profit was in line with our expectations, compared with lastyear's strong performance. Although we remain cautious on the global economicoutlook, the business has responded well to the challenging environment and weremain focused on margin management, improving our cost ratios and investing inour strategy. As markets remain uncertain it is encouraging to note that ourstrategy delivered third quarter operating profit up 40.2% on two years agowhen markets were similarly challenged, with sales up by 21.8% over the sameperiod.November sales per day showed progression on Q3 but a small decline fromNovember of last year. Gross Margin was up from Q3 levels.The balance sheet has been further strengthened through the successfulrefinancing of our bank facilities and the raising of $235m through US privateplacement notes. This provides the company with flexibility to repay short termdebt and the confidence to execute its plans.Through focus on the strategic delivery of our key metrics - web penetration,growing our EDE active customer base and growth in profitable MRO segments -Premier Farnell has proven its resilience and agility through the economiccycle, maintaining an industry leading return on sales and with a track recordof acting swiftly and decisively to shape our business. This will allow us tocontinue to generate cash and benefit strongly from the recovery whenconfidence returns."
Stagecoach investment
STAGECOACH INVESTS £44M IN NEW VEHICLES FOR BUDGET COACH NETWORKS IN NORTH AMERICA AND UK
Carillion Trading statement
"Total revenue in 2011 is expected to be broadly similar to that in 2010, because increased revenues in support services and our international business will be offset by lower revenue in UK construction, in line with our previously announced objective of re-scaling our UK construction activities. In 2011, we remain firmly on track to deliver strong growth in underlying profit and earnings, in line with market expectations."
Rio Tinto acquires Hather
Rio Tinto has acquired Hathor Exploration stating: "All of the conditions of the offer, made through an indirect wholly-owned Canadian subsidiary, have been satisfied. Appx. 94,950,089 Hathor common shares were validly tendered by shareholders or held by an affiliate of Rio Tinto, representing 70.21% of the outstanding Hathor common shares on a fully diluted basis."
Rolls Royce contract win
Rolls-Royce has won a $350M contract from Hawaiian Airlines to deliver Trent 700 engines to power five Airbus A330 aircraft.
Vodafone acquires Bluefish
Vodafone Group announced its acquisition of European IT and communications consultancy Bluefish Communications Ltd, saying: "Bluefish will form the nucleus of a new Unified Communications and Collaboration practice within Vodafone Global Enterprise, which will focus on advising multinational companies on how to get the most from their mobile, fixed line and IT services, as well as offering guidance on the adoption of cloud services."
Greene King half year 2011 results - interim dividend increased
Retail like-for-like sales growth of 4% and 10% operating profit growth
GKN Disposal
GKN Plc announced the disposal of its Aerospace Engineering Services Business in the UK and Australia to QuEST Global Services Pte Limited and QuEST Global Engineering Limited.
Sage 2011 final results - 25% increase in dividend
Guy Berruyer, Chief Executive, commented: "These good results reflect the strong fundamentals of Sage's business including our leading market positions, a large and loyal customer base, a culture of innovation and robust financial position. In the past year we have continued to build on these foundations to deliver higher revenue and profit growth in the future. With our strong cash flows, confidence in our business and our focus on shareholder returns, we are evolving our approach to the use of capital, and as part of the process, the Board has rebased the dividend, resulting in a proposed 25% increase for 2011.
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