Marks & Spencer: Q1 trading statement
Marks & Spencer continued to produce good like-for-like growth, and for the second quarter in succession there was strong like-for-like growth in “general merchandise” (non-food, mostly clothing) sales (10.5%). Growth in food sales has been strong for some time.
With overall like-for-like growth of 8.2% and expansion of the food business likely to continue, we expect […]
BBA: H1 2006 trading statement
BBA reported that trading for the half year to June 2006 was in line with expectations.
Aviation, which now accounts for more than 75% of operating profits, is expected to make “good progress” in the current the half year compared to the same period last year. The troubled Fibreweb business is expected to report substantially lower […]
Hanson: H1 2006 trading statement
Buildings materials company Hanson said operating profit was expected to rise by approximately 10% for the first half of 2006, despite a sharp decline in profits in its UK building materials business. Hanson reported operating profits of £197.3m in the same period last year.
Growth was driven mainly by a strong performance in North America and […]
BP: Q2 trading statement
Oil giant BP reported flat production for Q2 2006 in comparison to the same period last year.
The company’s production is still recovering from storm damage at the end of last year. Overall production for Q2 is expected to be around 4,010mboed compared to 4,110mboed in the same period last year. Excluding volumes from TNK-BP operations […]
Provident Financial: H1 2006 trading statement
Provident Financial, a provider of consumer credit, car finance and motor insurance reported that credit volumes in its UK home credit business rose 1% in the five months to May 2006 but warned that impairments were rising.
Impairments or bad debts were said to have risen due to a 7% growth in receivables and continued pressure […]
London Stock Exchange: Q1 2006 trading statement
The London Stock Exchange said trading revenues for the first quarter (to June 2006) had reached record levels.
Revenue rose 25% to £84.3m which was driven by record trading volumes on the Exchange’s electronic order book and growth in the number of terminals taking Exchange data.
The Exchange benefited from generally robust markets which contributed to a […]
Stagecoach: 2005/6 results
Transport company Stagecoach reported a slight increase in operating profits for the full year to June 2006. Operating profits (excluding amortisation and exceptionals) rose to £156.6m compared to £153.1m last year.
The growth was driven by UK rail where operating profits rose to £58.9m from £50m the previous year. UK buses also reported a slight improvement […]
Berkeley: FY2006 results
Property developer Berkeley reported a 34.6% growth in NAV per share in the year to April 2006. NAV per share rose from 518p last year to 697p.
Pre-tax profit rose to £165.1m (on continuing businesses) compared to £155.5m last year. Lower operating costs (down £5m) and higher interest income (up £8.7m) were largely responsible for the […]
Michael Page: Q2 trading statement
Michael Page maintained its strong growth with gross profit up 28%. As before high growth in the two largest operations, the UK (19%) and continental Europe (46%), meant that they contributed most of the growth.
The higher growth rates in the US had little impact because it is still a very small (albeit promising) operation generating […]
HMV: 2005/6 results
The 5.7% like-for-like fall in HMV’s sales was disclosed in the last trading statement and the 22% decline in operating profit is the natural result of it.
Although the decline in sales was offset by expansion the gross profit from a slightly lower (2% lower) level of sales has to cover the increased costs of the […]
Matalan: trading statement
So far this year Matalan has experienced a 1.1% like-for-like decline in sales, and with more closures than new space opening total growth fell 1.5%.
Performance improved over the last few weeks and like-for-like growth is not close to flat. However, as before , Matalan seems to be trading sales growth against margins and the improvements […]
Brambles trading statement, disposal
The sale of Cleanaway UK was expected as Brambles focuses on its two remaining core businesses - Chep (pallet hire) and Recall (document storage).
The £595m for which Cleanaway UK was sold was good - it is 1.2× sales and 27× operating profit. It also means that Brambles’ disposals of non-core businesses is almost complete.
We expect […]
DS Smith: 2005/6 results
DS Smith performed as badly as expected given the H1 results and the profit warnings last October. There was little problem with reveneues, with organic sales growth of 3.1% at CER, but profits were badly hit by higher energy prices.
Adjusted operating profit fell 27% and adjusted EPS fell 31%. With energy costs expected to rise […]
Diageo: trading statement
Organic sales growth continued to be strong at 6% and the company’s guidance for profit growth remains unchanged.
There are very few other actual numbers given in the trading statement, but it appears that the key driver remains volume growth in Diageo’s priority brands (its big, heavily marketed brands like Smirnoff, Johnnie Walker, Guinness etc.
At […]
Trinity Mirror: H1 trading statement
The decline continues with and organic decline in advertising revenues of 10.6%, with performance weak across local (down 9.7%), national (down 12.7%) and Scottish titles (down 10.5%).
Circulation revenues, were more robust, as would be expected, and were down only 1%. Local nespapers have actually slightly increased circulation revenues - but even there the estimated increase […]
Morgan Crucible: H1 trading statement
Ceramics and carbon manufacturer Morgan Crucible continued its strong growth with like-for-like growth of approximately 7% at CER in the first half of the current year.
With operating margin strengthening further the company appears to be on track for another year of strong profit. growth. Although EPS growth is not likely to match last year’s 31%, […]
Halma: 2005/6 results
Sensor and safety equipment manufacturer Halma’s organic revenue growth strengthened further in the second half and reached 10.8% for the full year, with acquisitions adding another 5%.
Operating margin strengthened slightly, adding another 5% to operating profit, bring operating profit growth to 21%. With interest expenses somewhat higher the rise in pre-tax profit (20.3%) and adjusted […]
Northumbrian Water: 2005/6 results
Northumbrian Water’s revenue and profit rise was the result of the price increases allowed by Ofwat. There will be more benefits from the price increase. These will be offset by higher capex requirements (the reason the price rises were allowed) and depreciation charges, in the long run they do mean a strong increase in cash […]
Misys: 2005/6 trading statement
Misys banking software business performed well with strong 9% increase in total sales and a 15% increase in initial license fees (which are a leading indicator for other revenue streams). Although operating margin has fallen this the result of exceptional costs.
The healthcare software business faces more serious problems with an organic decline in initial license […]
Sainsbury: Q1 trading statement
Like-for-like growth in the quarter was slightly better than last year at 5.7% (excluding petrol). The number given for the overall level of price deflation of 0.9% is for groceries only so it can not be directly compared to the latest number disclosed by Tesco. However it does appear to be broadly in line with […]