Majestic Wine plc WINE Moved into profit in the half year to the 2nd October and the interim dividend is to be increased by 33.3% to 2p. The Chief Executive says he is now ready step on the gas and accelerate growth with a team which has worked like demons and made him “dead proud” of every one of them. After breaking even in the first half, momentum continued through into the second half producing a profit of 6.8m.On a statutory basis last years loss of 4.4m was turned into a profit before tax of 3.3m. Sales rose by 5.7%
Centrica CNA admits that it is not only disappointed with its performance but also with the delivery of that performance. The usual excuses are trotted out the main one being that trading conditions have been highly competitive which is really an admission that it is not managed well enough to beat the competition. Then of course there is the weather which is blamed for being warmer in the UK than Centrica expected. The UK is now only expected to break even, on top of which there is downward pressure in North America.
Severn Trent plc SVT Ongoing momentum is reflected in the results for the half year to the 30th September which saw a reduction of 48% in sewer floodings, which appears to illustrate after all these years of privatised utilities, just how bad they had allowed their infrastructure to become. The latest policy craze is now “customer first” which begs the question as to where in the pecking order have customers been for the last 25 years or so? As for the statistics, half year turnover rose by 3.7%, reported profit before interest and tax fell by 0.2% by and like for like reported basic earnings per share were down by 20.2%, in response to all of which the interim dividend in the true spirit of customer first, was increased by 6.2%
Cineworld CINE delivered revenue growth of 10.6% between the 1st January and 19th November, spurred on by the expansion and refurbishment programme. The Rest of the World led the way with a 24.6% rise in retail revenue (13.3% on a constant currency basis). Dunkirk took pride of place as the highest grossing film in the second half and for the rest of the year we have old favourites to look forward to with another Star Wars epic and Paddington 2.
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