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McCarthy & Stone – Divi Raised 80% As Profits Slump
McCarthy & Stone MCS blames the referendum for its poor performance in the 6 month to 28th February but doesn’t even attempt to explain why it should have been so badly affected. On the face of it, the ludicrous explanation makes it look as if management is scrabbling round trying to find excuses for its own weakness. Revenue for the half year fell by 5%, completions were down by 6% and profit before tax slumped by 25%. Net debt surged nearly fivefold. Management is however, perhaps wisely, determined to look after shareholders and is maintaining its “progressive” dividend policy with a rise in the interim dividend of 80%.
The total order book over the last 5 weeks is now down only 1% on a year ago which the company describes as ( please try not to laugh at this ) “an increase in sales momentum”.
HSS Hire Group HSS is basically a tool hire business but it looks like management took its eye off the ball so that its core business in 2016 lacked both growth and momentum. The aim for 2017 is to try and restore that momentum. Revenue for the year to 31st December grew by 9.6% but on a statutory basis last years operating profit of £6.8m was turned into a loss of £2.7m and the reported loss before tax rose by some 25%, reflecting, the company says, a year of investment. As is proper in these circumstances, the dividend remained unchanged at 57p per share.
Gooch & Housego GHH reports good trading in the 6 months to 31st March, helped by positive market conditions and favourable currency movements. The order book is now 70% up on a year ago but this is reduced to 17.2% without the benefit of currency movements.
Telford Homes TEF has gone into built to rent in a big way. Now there is only one reason a housebuilder will do that, namely that building to sell has become less profitable. A stark warning if ever there was one, for the house building industry. record revenue and profits are forecast for the year to 31st March and profit before tax is expected to be slightly ahead of market expectations. The non prime London market remains robust. Taken as a whole, this is definately not the sort of news expected from housebuilders. And if buyers are leaving the housing market how long will it be before investors start doing the same. Hands up any one who knows what a de -risked forward sale is ? Its a rental ! You have been warned.
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Punch Plays Cards Close To Its Chest
Punch Taverns PUB Todays trading statement for the year to 20th August omits virtually any mention of its trading statistics It says it has produced a solid set of results following completion of its strategic disposal programme but fails to back that up with any meaningful figures, save to say that average profit per pub has risen by 4% and like for like net income from the core estate is up by 1% and the retail divisions 97 pubs are operating ahead of expectations. No doubt all will be revealed in the fullness of time.
Churchill China CHH produced yet another strong performance with profit before tax up by 29% for the half year to 30th June. Group revenue rose by 12% and basic earnings per share by 30%. The interim dividend is to be increased by 12%.
Fisher (James) FSJ is definitely ex growth for the time being , although that has not stopped it raising the interim dividend by 10% and it does expect to see growth resume in the second half, with new contracts and good demand for ship to ship services. Group revenue for the half year to the 30th June was down by some 2% and statutory profit before tax declined slightly from £17.9 to £17.4m. Strong growth was experienced in Marine Support, Tankships and Specialist Technical but this was offset, perhaps not surprisingly, by poor results from Offshore Oil.
HSS Hire Group HSS produced revenue growth of 13.5% in the half year to 2nd July and adjusted EBITDA rose by 11.1% which all helped to bring down the loss before tax from £14.1m to £9.8m and most of that, says the company, was due to what it euphemistically calls “strategy execution”. The interim dividend remains unchanged and the third quarter has started off ahead of last year.
Chemring Group plc CHG Revenue in the three months to the 31st July rose by 20% and the order book was up by 12.6% but £50m of this was due to the collapse of sterling which defintely did not help the company’s US dollar debt.
Surgical Innovations SUN Revenue for the six months to 30th June was robust rising by 16%, led by exports and a particularly strong performance in the US. Increased productivity helped margins rise by 26.6% and the company returned to profitability at the operating level. By the end of the half year net bank borrowings had been eliminated.
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HSS Hire Lower
HSS Hire Group HSS invested in growth in 2015 and saw profits plunge. Not to be put off by this minor quirk of fate the board decided that it would plough on with the same objectives which were the correct ones, despite profitability for the year to 26th December being lower than expected. Indeed the second half did see something of a turnround with revenue growth of 10%, well ahead of market growth of only 1.5%. Like for like growth for the year came in at 8%. Revenue growth in the first half had been a lowly 4.7%.
Nonetheless reported operating profit was savaged, down from £23.6m to £6.8m and the previous years earnings per share of 8.6p were transformed into a loss per share of 9.9p. A final dividend of 0.57p brings the full year dividends to 1.4p. and all will be much better this year as last years cost cutting programme is expected to bring cost savings of £10m.
Styles & Wood STY Profit before tax shot up by 309% and basic earnings per share by 694% as refinancing and additions to the board appear to have worked wonders in the year to the end of December. Net debt was slashed from £11.76m to £1.43m
easyJet EZJ could the original budget airline be losing out to Ryanair? easyJets load factor appears to have been rising month by month virtually for ever but last months statistics saw a shock fall of 1.3 points, despite the number of passengers rising by 4.3%. Over the past 12 months load factor has risen by only 0.66 points which is perhaps what happens when a budget airline becomes a non budget airline.
UK Mail Group UKM has, believe it or not, suffered from a continued mix effect. That at least is the reason it expects us to believe for the 1% fall in revenue which it is likely to have suffered in the year to the end of March. Mail volume rose by 5% but mail revenue fell by 3%, whilst parcels volume showed growth of 4%.
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