Alliance & Leicester: Q1 2006 trading statement
Alliance & Leicester reported an 11% growth in lending in the first three months to March 2006 but warned that interest margins had weakened. The weakening in margins was due to due to a lower mortgage and savings margin and a change in business mix towards lower margin assets.
In particular, the bank seems to have […]
Workspace: 2005/6 results
Workspace, a provider of flexible business accommodation to small and medium size businesses in London and the South East reported that net asset value (NAV) per share jumped 36% (to £3.12 per share) in the year to March 2006.
A valuation surplus of £131.3m helped drive up pre-tax profits by 80% to £149m. The average like-for-like […]
Corus: Q1 results
The prospects for this year have improved a little since we last looked at Corus. Another six months of price increases appears likely with a decline in prices now looking likely to come towards the end of the year - or even early next year.
However prices have not been as good so far this year […]
Signet: Q1 results
Signet’s sales in the US continue to grow strongly, and the decline in the UK seems to have stabilised. The underlying performance for the quarter is better than in the last (full) year.
Growth is likely to remain much stronger in the US, where like-for-like sales growth was 3.9%. Signet estimates a 3%-4% negative impact on […]
AWG: 2005/6 results
AWG reported a 30% growth in operating profits for the year to March 2006 (£377.9m against £288.8m last year) mainly due to higher prices and increased demand.
AWG runs Anglian Water (which serves 6m customers in the east of England and Hartlepool) and support services group Morrison. Anglian Water is (by far) the company’s most […]
United Utilities: 2005/6 results
Water company, United Utilities reported that pre-tax profits rose 21% to £481m in the year to March 2006, on the back of regulatory price increases.
The company also has an electricity distribution network.
In the regulated water and electricity business, revenue increased by 9% to £1,503m due to allowed price increases of 8.4% on the water and […]
Halfords: 2005/6 results
Halfords’ full year performance justified our concerns about gross margin which has fallen 2.6 percentage points year on year, with the second half much worse than the first.
Although Halford continued reasonably good sales growth (6.1% like-for-like, 8.5% total) and significantly reduced its overhead cost ratio (by 1.5 percentage points) the benefits of both fell just […]
Invensys: 2005/6 results
Invensys’ performance improved in the fourth quarter with revenue up 5%, operating profit up 9% and order intake up 10% (all excluding the effect of the disposal during the year).
Performance was mixed across different lines of business in terms of both revenues and margins.
The drivers of the varied performance were also varied. The weakest performing […]
Carphone Warehouse: 2005/6 results
Carphone Warehouse’s performance over the year was dominated by the core retail business and fixed line telecoms, the key drivers being expansion of the former and both acquisitions and organic growth at the latter.
Like-for-like retail sales growth was good at 5.9% but expansion added much more with retail sales up 19% and insurance revenues up […]
Scottish & Southern Energy: 2006 results
Scottish & Southern Energy (SSE) reported that pre-tax profits (before exceptional items and derivative and pensions adjustments) rose by 19.2%, from £719.7m to £858.2m in the year to March 2006. Statutory pre-tax profits were up 13.6% to £896.9m.
The company earned an exceptional income of £127.4m, comprising distributions from the administration of TXU businesses (£108.8m in […]
Intermediate Capital: 2006 results
Intermediate Capital, a specialist provider of mezzanine finance, reported a 72% increase in annualised pre-tax profits for the fourteen months to March 2006.
Core income (which the company defines as net interest income plus fee income less related administrative expenses) rose 22% on an annualised basis to reach £106m.
The company has changed its financial year end […]
BAA: Revised Ferrovial bid
Shareholders who were patient enough to hold onto BAA shares have been rewarded. The company’s board announced that it recommended the acceptance of a revised offer from the Ferrovial Consortium valuing BAA at 950.25p.
Shareholders will be entitled to receive the proposed final dividend of 15.25 pence per share.
BAA’s management rejected a series of bids recently, […]
ICAP: 2006 results
ICAP, the world’s largest interdealer broker reported that pre-tax profit (before amortisations, exceptionals and impairment of intangibles) rose 16% (to £193m) in the year to March 2006.
Strong revenue growth, coupled with tight cost control were responsible this years growth. Group revenue rose by 13% to £919.2m with electronic broking revenue increasing by 17%. Operating margins […]
Quintain Estates: 2006 results
Quintain Estates reported that net asset value (NAV) per share increased by 19% to 526p in the year to March 2006.
The company’s pre-tax profits rose by 86% (to £65m from £34.9m last year) mainly due to sales in the core investment portfolio and substantial valuation uplifts. Disposals realised profits in excess of valuations of £14.2m.
The […]
Scottish Power: 2006 results
Scottish Power reported that operating profit for the year to March 2006 rose 39% to £805m with higher margins and rising output being the drivers of growth.
The company provides electricity, transmission and distribution services in the UK as well as gas services to homes and businesses across the UK. It also operates electricity generation and […]
Man Group: 2006 results
The Man Group, a manager of hedge funds and the sponsor of the Man Booker prize for fiction reported that pre-tax profits (before exceptionals) rose 51% to $1,306m in the year to March 2006. Earnings were driven by a sharp increase in performance fees ($450m against $119m last year) and brokerage fees ($177m against $148m […]
Kelda: 2006 results
Kelda, which runs Yorkshire Water reported that operating profits (from continuing operations) rose by 15.1% (to £315.4m) in the year to March 2006, but warned of tougher times ahead due to high energy costs.
The company’s main business is Yorkshire Water, which provides water and waste water services to some 4.7m people and 140,000 businesses in […]
Electrocomponents: 2005/6 results
Not only did a continued decline in the UK keep Electrocomponents’ revenue growth down to 7%, but even the benefit of this modest growth was lost against the effects of pressure on prices (and lower gross margin) and the costs of implementing new systems.
Electrocomponents performed fairly well outside the UK with sales growth of 11.8% […]
Premier Farnell: Q1 results
Premier Farnell is one of the companies that has most benefited from cyclical recovery with organic sales growth of 8.7% at CER and stronger margins at all levels.
Gross margin was barely changed on the previous quarter, but was lower than an year ago but the considerable amount of operational gearing in recovering from last year’s […]
French Connection: update
French Connection’s sales stabilised somewhat in the second half of last year, but have continued small like-for-like declines (1% in the half year).
While there are been a few areas of growth (licensing, Nicole Farhi and North American wholesale sales) these had little impact against the background of the declines in the rest of the business.
Like-for-like […]