Recent articles for private investors with a focus on dividend announcements
Admiral Group IMS November 2011
"Group turnover increased by 30% to £582m (Q3 2010: £446 million). Group vehicle count increased 27% to 3.3 million (Q3 2010: 2.6 million). International car insurance turnover up 45% to £27.0 million (Q3 2010: £18.6 million). International car insurance vehicle count up 53% to 267,000 (Q3 2010: 175,000)"
Tullow Oil Q3 Interim Management Statement
"Tullow has continued its strong performance in the second half of 2011. The Group is delivering record cashflows, underpinned by production from the Jubilee field. The Exploration and Appraisal programme continues to deliver excellent results with a 71% success ratio year-to-date, including the basin opening Zaedyus well in French Guiana. In addition, Tullow has signed new contracts in Mauritania with Tullow as Operator and a new Petroleum Agreement for the Kudu field in Namibia. In Uganda, despite further delays, final approval from the Government is expected shortly to enable the farm-down to CNOOC and Total to complete." Separately the Co announced the appointment of Simon Thompson as non-executive Chairman with effect from 1 January 2012"
Sainsbury half yearly figures
David Tyler, Chairman, said: "We are pleased with our sales and profit performance, given the challenging economic environment. We have continued to make good progress against our five areas of focus, strengthening our position for the long-term, particularly the investment in our food and clothing ranges as well as new channels and services.
Resolution Q3 Interim Management Statement
UK Life Project remains on track to deliver its 2013 financial targets. The focus remains on the execution of Resolution's strategy;
FirstGroup 2011/12 half yearly figures - dividend improved
Commenting, FirstGroup's Chief Executive, Tim O'Toole said:"I am pleased to report that overall Group trading for the first half of the current financial year is in line with our expectations. In First Student we are executing our plan to address performance and strengthen the operating model and I am encouraged by the positive early indicators. At Greyhound our actions to transform the business are delivering results with good revenue growth and margin improvement. First Transit continues to deliver growth and has a strong pipeline of further opportunities. In our UK Bus operations, which are focused in high density urban areas, our priorities are to manage the immediate challenges presented by a softening macroeconomic outlook and reduced funding to the industry while also taking the necessary forward looking decisions to equip the business to deliver increased growth. Strong passenger demand continues across all of our rail operations and we look forward to building on our market leading position and developing further opportunities once the Department for Transport's new rail franchising programme commences in 2012. With market leading positions and operations that are fundamentally strong, together with our clear focus on creating a stronger business for the future, the Group has good prospects to deliver long-term value for shareholders in a sector which is a key enabler of economic growth."
Intercontinental Hotels third quarter results
Richard Solomons, Chief Executive of InterContinental Hotels Group PLC, said:
Associated British Foods 2011 final results - dividend upped
George Weston, Chief Executive of Associated British Foods, said:
Weir Group Interim Management Statement
Market conditions across the mining and upstream oil and gas markets remainedstrong through the third quarter with the Group continuing to perform well,achieving a new record in quarterly order input. These positive trendscontinued through October. Although we remain vigilant given current macro-economic uncertainty, this performance underpins our confidence in delivering astrong set of results for 2011, in line with our expectations, and starting2012 with a record order book.Revenue strengthened further in the third quarter, ahead of both the first halfrun rate and prior year period, as a result of the first half's strong orderinput. As a result, Group operating profits were also up on the samecomparatives, with Group margins broadly in line with the first half.
Bunzl Aquisition
Bunzl Plc announced the acquisition of Danny Comércio Importação Exportação Ltda, "a leading supplier of personal protection equipment throughout Brazil", from Nielzer and Rita Sudré.
BP deal falls through
China's CNOOC Ltd and Argentina's Bridas Energy Holding have terminated the $7B deal to acquire the Co's stake in Argentina-based oil & gas group Pan American Energy with Bridas citing "legal issues and the way BP handled the transaction".
G20 final communique
Mr Sarkozy said that France and Germany were in favour of a financial transactions tax and they hoped it would be implemented in 2012.
Derek Pain's No pain, no gain article in Saturday's Independent
In an article entitled 'Dividends rise as directors remember the shareholders' Derek goes on to make the case for dividend investing. As we have been saying for some time, he points out the importance of dividends 'in these low interest rate days' He also points out that there are number of FTSE companies paying more than the rate of inflation! If only he used OptimizerMax....he would see a lot more than that. He points out that it is not just small companies that provide eye catching yields, but large ones. As you know, we do not look at small companies. We only look at large Caps. He quotes data from Capita registrars that we have already covered in recent weeks in terms of the scale of the payout by the big UK dividend payers.
Smith and Nephew third quarter results
Commenting on the third quarter, Olivier Bohuon, Chief Executive Officer of Smith & Nephew, said:
Anglo American acquires De Beers
Anglo American has entered into an agreement with CHL and Centhold International Limited ("CIL"), together representing the Oppenheimer family interests ("CHL Group"), to acquire their 40% interest in DB Investments and De Beers sa ("De Beers") for a total cash consideration of US$5.1 billion, subject to adjustment as provided for in the agreement. Under the terms of the existing shareholders' agreement between Anglo American, CHL and the Government of the Republic of Botswana (GRB), the GRB has pre-emption rights in respect of the CHL Group's interest in De Beers, enabling it to participate in the transaction and to increase its interest in De Beers, on a pro rata basis, to up to 25%. In the event that the GRB exercises its pre-emption rights in full, Anglo American, under the proposed transaction, would acquire an incremental 30% interest in De Beers, taking its total interest to 75%, and the consideration payable by Anglo American to the CHL Group would be reduced proportionately.
GSK reaches settlement with US government
GlaxoSmithKline reaches agreement in principle to resolve multiple investigations with US Government
Old Mutual 3Q Interim Management Statement
"Funds under management ("FUM") decreased by 5% from 30 June 2011 to £116.1 billion at 30 September 2011. Equity markets ended the period down over 15% and were volatile due to continued concerns over European sovereign debt and European bank capital levels. Our Long-Term Savings division ("LTS") achieved positive net client cash flow ("NCCF") of £1.4 billion, driven by strong retail flows and flows in our non-South African Emerging Markets businesses."
Pearson Interim Management Statement
"Pearson increased sales by 6% and operating profit by 13% in the first nine months of 2011. (...) with all of our businesses performing well, we are reaffirming our trading guidance for the full year in spite of the recent deterioration in the macroeconomic outlook. In addition, we anticipate that our interest and tax charges on adjusted earnings will be lower than our previous guidance. As a result, we now expect to achieve adjusted earnings per share of approximately 83p for the full year (ahead of our previous guidance of approximately 80p)."
Tate & Lyle half year results
Tate & Lyle delivered an encouraging performance during the first half with solid demand in a number of our markets. In Speciality Food Ingredients, we delivered good profit growth driven by increased sales volumes across the product portfolio and stable operating margins. Within Bulk Ingredients, we experienced firm demand for corn sugars in the US and Mexico and improved industrial starch margins particularly in Europe. During the first half we experienced exceptionally strong co-product returns as a result of tight market conditions. The dividend is up to 7.1p
BT half yearly 2011/12 results - interim dividend increased
Ian Livingston, Chief Executive, commenting on the results, said:
Logica Q3 IMS
HeadlinesGroup orders up 10% for the nine months to September driven by continued stronggrowth in OutsourcingRevenue for the nine months to September up 4%, with third quarter revenue up2% on last year to £914 millionOutsourcing revenue growth still strong, up 10% on a year to date basis and up8% in the quarterConsulting and Professional Services broadly stable for the nine months toSeptember despite third quarter revenue down 3% and mixed trends across ourmarketsRevenue up in all geographies except the Benelux on a year to date basis, withparticularly strong third quarter growth in the UKRevenue growth expected to be above 3% for the year, with adjusted operatingmargin now to be in the range of 6.5% to 7.0%Year endnet debt/EBITDA expected to be comfortably below 1.0x; strong secondhalf cash conversion expected
Next Interim Management statement
Next Brand sales (VAT exclusive) in the third quarter were up 3.3%. This figure is in line with our performance in the first half; so sales for the year-to-date are up 3.2%, at the mid-point of the full year +2.0% to +4.5% sales guidance issued in September. The overall growth pattern for the Next Brand is unchanged, with further improvements in Next Directory (our online business) and the addition of profitable new space more than compensating for slightly weaker underlying Retail sales.
Standard Chartered Q3 2011 IMS
"The Group has continued to perform well in the third quarter of 2011 with income momentum across a broad spread of products and geographies. Despite recent macroeconomic events, our markets continue to exhibit strong growth and their growth credentials remain intact. (...) Income in the first nine months of 2011 has grown by a high single digit percentage over the first nine months of 2010. Over the same period, operating profit before tax grew at a double digit rate. Income in the quarter has remained resilient and diverse and well above the level of the comparable period of 2010. Looking across the main income streams, Consumer Banking and Transaction Banking have shown double digit income momentum on a year to date basis. Financial Markets client income has performed well and Corporate Finance income is ahead of the level seen in the third quarter of 2010, whereas Principal Finance has been affected by the uncertain market environment. (...) Credit quality remains good in both businesses and loan impairment for the Group overall was slightly below the first half run rate. (...) We have no direct sovereign exposure to Portugal, Italy, Ireland, Greece or Spain. Our direct sovereign exposure in Europe is immaterial."
Randgold Resources Q3 statement
London, 2 November 2011 - Despite torrential rains which flooded its flagship Loulo/Gounkoto complex in Mali during August, Randgold Resources ('Randgold') maintained gold production and on an adjusted basis significantly increased profit in Q3.
Greece to hold referendum
European markets have fallen following Monday's announcement of a Greek referendum on the latest aid package to solve its debt crisis.
GDP at 0.5%
The UK economy grew by a better than expected 0.5% in the third quarter of 2011, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS).
Imperial Tobacco Final results 2011 - dividend increased 13%
Delivering Growth Through Total Tobacco Portfolio
Greek woes cause market turmoil
Stocks tumbled on Tuesday after investors were shocked by a surprise call for a Greek referendum on the EU bailout plan.
G4S abandons Aquisition and rights issue
G4S AND FS INVEST AGREE NOT TO PROCEED WITH ACQUISITION OF ISS AND RELATED RIGHTS ISSUEG4S plc ("G4S") announces that G4S and FS Invest II S.Ã r.l. ("FS Invest") haveagreed to terminate the share purchase agreement ("SPA") pursuant to which G4Swas to acquire ISS A/S ("ISS") from FS Invest (the "Acquisition"). Accordingly,the board of directors of G4S (the "Board") will not put any resolutions to theshareholder meeting convened for 2 November 2011 and will not be proceeding withthe rights issue or other financing required for the Acquisition.Alf Duch-Pedersen, Chairman of G4S, said:"We believe that developing our business towards an enhanced security andintegrated facilities services model is the way forward in the longer term andwe saw ISS as an excellent opportunity to achieve this aim. However, followingthe announcement of the Acquisition, shareholders have raised concernsparticularly over its scale and perceived complexity against the backdrop ofcurrent macro-economic uncertainty.We consulted our leading shareholders ahead of announcing the transaction, andbased on the feedback received, felt confident to launch the deal. We have nowdiscussed the merits of this combination with a significantly larger number ofour shareholders and whilst they continue to express their overwhelming supportfor the standalone G4S business and its management, the Board has listenedcarefully to concerns raised by shareholders regarding the Acquisition and hasconcluded that in the circumstances it is inappropriate to proceed.G4S is a successful and well managed business. It has delivered year on yearearnings and dividend growth since the group was created in 2004 from the mergerof Securicor and Group 4 Falck. G4S has consistently generated returns oninvested capital well above its cost of capital, and delivered averageshareholder returns of 13.3% per year since the start of 2005.The Board and management of G4S remain focused on continuing to generatesustainable shareholder value and driving business success both organically andthrough targeted acquisitions."Nick Buckles, Chief Executive of G4S, said:"We are obviously disappointed that we have not been able to complete thistransaction. Â We felt strongly that the combination of G4S and ISS would createa market-leading integrated security and facilities services company which wouldbe well placed to meet the growing needs of customers and deliver significantinvestment returns at the same time.However, we respect the importance of shareholders' views and, on the basis offeedback received since the transaction was announced, we have decided not toproceed.Our strategy will continue to focus on providing higher value, integratedsecurity solutions to our customers and leveraging our expertise in key sectors,geographies and service lines. We will continue to acquire businesses which addcapability to G4S to help drive the business forward.The G4S business continues to develop positively with organic growth of 5% inthe first nine months of 2011."The Acquisition, together with the rights issue, was conditional, inter alia, onsecuring 75% shareholder support at a G4S shareholder meeting. There are nobreak fees payable pursuant to the termination of the SPA. The majority of thefees and costs to be paid in connection with the Acquisition and the rightsissue was only payable if the Acquisition completed. However certain of thesefees and costs, amounting to approximately £50 million, will be incurred by G4Sin any event. These fees relate principally to commitment fees in connectionwith the financing of the Acquisition, but also include the net costs ofderivative hedging instruments entered into to hedge the foreign exchange riskassociated with raising funds in sterling to effect a purchase in Danish Kroneand up to £2 million payable to ISS's auditors in relation to certain workcarried out in respect of the Acquisition. These fees and costs will be treatedas exceptional items in the G4S accounts for the year ended 31 December 2011.
Unilever Sells division
Unilever said it has agreed to sell its Culver Specialty Brands division to B&G Foods Inc for $325M.
BG Group Chairman stands down
"Sir Robert Wilson has today announced his intention to stand down as Chairman of BG Group at the conclusion of the Company's Annual General Meeting in May 2012. He will be succeeded by Andrew Gould, currently Chairman of Schlumberger Lim ited."
Capital Shopping Centres interim management statement
CEO David Fischel said in the Co's interim management statement for the period from July 1 to October 31: "As evidenced by a 97% occupancy level, CSC has delivered a robust operational performance in the period in the face of a challenging economic and retail background. CSC remains well positioned through its focus on leading and high quality regional shopping centres in the UK."
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