Home » Posts tagged 'auto trader'
Tag Archives: auto trader
Midcap Bonanza among FTSE250 stocks
After the Brexit inspired sell-off, thanks to rising earnings, the FTSE 250 index has recovered sharply to hit record highs and post gains significantly in excess of the benchmark FTSE 100. At the time of the referendum, the slide in sterling was expected to be a disaster for UK plc, especially for those companies without significant dollar earnings. Even so the weaker pound has helped boost exporters’ orders, and although a mild pullback has been seen following the UK Election Hung parliament result, the recent trend shows the pound is continuing to strengthen against the dollar and euro, This stability has enabled midcap companies as diverse as Auto Trader (AUTO), Cranswick (CWK) and Greene King (GNK) to thrive.
These conditions haven’t suited all firms though, and there are plenty still suffering a weak sterling discount. Few pundits could predict the earth shaking political events of the past year, but with Article 50 triggered, and the UK Hung Parliament result, Brexit negotiations over the next two years coupled with European political uncertainty make it hard to identify opportunities. And for many FTSE 250 companies, the risks of a possible UK consumer slowdown cannot be offset by currency gains or outperformance in other parts of the world.
Despite the uncertain backdrop, one key element of the revival among FTSE 250 companies has been strong corporate earnings and positive news flow. Across the board, profits and sales are rising, dividends are being increased, and companies are expanding despite the obvious macroeconomic and political risk. Plus as of yet, consumer spending appears untroubled by recent political events.
Looking ahead, the pound looks stable and set to continue rising against the dollar and euro, a factor that could benefit companies without significant dollar earnings. A stronger pound could also take the sting out of the recent rise in inflation, which has hiked costs for importers.
While the wider global political outlook remains uncertain, financial markets have reacted in a broadly positive manner to the Hung Parliament result. This looks likely to provide backing to the ongoing stability and potential recovery of the pound, which in turn will further support FTSE 250 companies, and for some may even result in stellar growth performances, such as that delivered by Cranswick (CWK) and Cineworld (CINE) over the past year.
boohoo Revenue Surges
boohoo.com BOO now expects full year growth to February 2018 will be about 60% and ahead of previous guidance for revenue growth by some 50%. Group revenue for the quarter to 31st May increased by 106%, or on a like for like basis by 78%
Auto Trader Group AUTO will have a happy band of shareholders today after news that it is increasing its final dividend to 3.5p per share making a total payout for the year of 5.2p compared to last years 1.5p. Profit before tax for the year to 31st March rose by 23% and basic earnings per share by 22%. and the company is confident after a number of years of strong growth that it will continue to meet its growth expectations for the current year. After a slump in July, the share price is virtually unchanged over the last 12 months.
Flybe Group FLYB expected a small underlying loss before IT write downs for the year to 31st March. In fact after IT write downs the loss came in at £6.7m compared to 2016’s profit of £5.5m and more IT losses of around some £6m are still to come. However with a new CEO in place, FLYB claims that a platform for a sustainable future can now be built and a fleet reduction is planned for the coming winter. Group revenue for the year rose by 13.4% but load factor fell by 3% because of increased capacity for which there appears not to have been sufficient passengers. On a brighter note it is still the best UK airline for punctuality.
CMC Markets CMCX saw 5% client growth in the year to 31st March but the good news stops there as clients traded less and spent less, producing an 11% fall in revenue per active client. The result is that profit before tax and earnings per share fell by 9% and net operating income by 6%. The number of trades declined by 6% and their value was 3% down. The dividend remains unchanged.
Best Of The Best BOTB is to pay a special dividend of 6.5p per share this month on top of the 1.4p per share ordinary dividend proposed for the year to 30th April. The company describes the results as solid with profit before tax rising by 42.7% and earnings per share by 41.6%. Revenue for the year was up by 7% and further growth is expected in the current year.
Villas & houses for sale in Greece – visit; http://www.hiddengr.net
Bovis Hikes Prices By 10% To Grab Record Revenues.
Bovis Homes BVS Issues a trading up date for the year to date and what a good year it has been. Demand for new homes has outstripped supply. Of course credit for that can be given mainly to the government, rather than the house building industry which can just sit back, hikes is prices as much as it dare and watch the profits come rolling in. Bovis has not been backward at this and admits to increasing its average selling prices robustly i.e by 10%, in order to help it deliver what it hopes will be record revenues for 2016. Completions for the year will be 5% ahead of last year so with the 10% price rise on top, those record revenue (more socially correct than record profits) seem virtually gauranteed.
Auto Trader Grp AUTO There is no holding back the fearless British consumer once he, or she, has got the bit between the teeth and so it goes for Autotrader which is more than tripling its interim dividend for the six months to the 25th September. On a rise of 11% in revenue, operating profit was up by 21% and basic earnings per share by 28%. And as for that interim dividend, it is raised from 0.5p to 1.7p. Growth expectations for the second half are expected to ne met.
Halfords HFD is increasing its interim dividend by 3% on the basis that a 12% fall in profits and a 13.5% decline in basic earnings per share represents a strong sales performance. True, like for like revenue for the 6 months to the 30th September did rise by 2% but the CEO admits that the rise can only be justified by progress on strategy implementation which is intended to transform the future of the company.There are some grounds for optimism in that like for like sales for the 6 weeks to the end of September did rise by 6.1% and total revenue was up by 12.3% but that at present is a very short term view. Halfords has also been buffeted by the headwinds of currency fluctuations but claims to have found ways of mitigating these. The next quarter with Christmas trading could be all important.
Villas & Houses For Sale In The Greek Islands – visit; http://www.hiddengreece.net
Home Retail Still Clueless On Customer Overcharging
Home Retail Group HOME Having admitted that its Financial Services division had been overcharging customers on excess fees., has now discovered that the practice was far more widespread than had been initially discovered. There’s a sign of good strong management for you – it can’t even correct its mistakes properly. The result is that it may now have to make an additional provision of about £30m.
Despite this, in the 13 weeks to the 28th May Argos enjoyed its strongest sales growth for 2 years, despite poor weather and a deflationary price environment. Internet sales rose by 16%, the strongest quarterly growth for 3 years. Like for like sales rose by 0.1%
FlyBe Group FLYB After five years of losses FLYB has at last turned the corner and produced a reported profit after tax of £6.8m, compared to the previous years loss of £35.7m. Passenger revenue in the year to 31st March increased by 8.2% and passenger numbers were up by 5.9%. Seat capacity rose by 9.7% and 52 new routes were launched. Costs per seat fell by 4.2%.
Wincanton WIN Returns to the dividend lists with a payment of 5.5p per share for the year to the end of March which saw strong earnings growth and debt reduction. Underlying profit before tax and earnings per share rose by 12.4% and 13.3% respectively, whilst net debt was reduced by 31.4%. The CEO believes that the business is now on a strong footing.
Bellway BWY expects that full year housing completions will show a rise of at least 10% , leading to yet another record performance. Markets are robust, customer demand is positive and there is no sign of any effect from the pending referendum. The average weekly reservation rate is up by 8% and the forward sales position is strong.
Auto Trader AUTO has celebrated the end of its first year as a public company with a dividend payment of 1p. per share making a total of 1.5p for the year. Revenue for the year to 31st March rose by 10%, reported operating profit by 27% whilst basic earnings per share were up from 0.85p to 12.67p. Net debt fell by some 40%
Luxury Villas and Houses For Sale In Greece; http://www.hiddengreece.net