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David Paul of Vectorvest on Core Finance TV – Waiting for confirmation of a bottom in the Stock Market, plus #AAL, #RIO, #ELA, #PSON
Dr David Paul of Vectorvest appears with Nick ‘Moose” Batsford on Core Finance TV. Subject: Waiting for confirmation of a bottom in the Stock Market. Stocks covered include Anglo American (AAL), Rio Tinto (RIO), Eland Oil & Gas #ELA and Pearson #PSON. “Never let a good crisis go to waste”.
Ian Pollard – Rightmove #RMV warns of consumer confidence worries
Rightmove RMV provides another warning from the housing industry that all is not well. Transactions in the first half of the year fell by 5% compared to last year and today’s update warns that economic conditions in the UK are such that consumer confidence may be impacted which could in turn affect the level of transactions and the number of agencies it operates.Despite the warning the interim dividend is to be increased by 14% from 22p per share to 25p., after rises of 10% and 14% in revenue and basic earnings per share, whilst underlying operating profit increased by 11%.
BT Group BT Underlying revenue fell 2% in the quarter to the 30th June due to regulated price reductions in Openreach and declines in enterprise businesses offsetting growth in consumer businesses. Adjusted3 profit before tax rose 3% to £816m., which the Chief Executive describes as a good start to the year.
Reckitt Benckiser Gp RB is increasing its interim dividend by 6% to 70.5 p. per share after the second quarter to the 30th June produced a 30% rise in net revenue at constant currency rates and adjusted earnings per share rose by 12%.The full year net revenue target has been increased from +13-14% to +14-15% after growth exceeded expectations.
Pearson plc PSON reports a rise of 46% in underlying operating profit for the half year to the 30th June with good growth in earnings per share. The interim dividend is being increased by 10% from 5p. per share to 5.5p. Expectations continue of a full year decline in net sales in the US.
Gear4music G4M updates that revenue growth continues to be strong and the relocation of the Swedish distribution centre and upgrade to UK distribution facilities are on-track to be delivered ahead of the peak trading period.
Hutchison China Medi HCH reports that it continues to deliver on its clear strategy of “developing its broad pipeline and cultivating and growing its capabilities in global drug discovery and development”. Half year group revenue tumbled from $126m. to $102m and last years net profit of $1.7m was turned into a net loss of $32.7m. for the six months to the end of June.
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Pearson Selling The Family Silver
Pearson plc PSON The best that can be said about Pearsons 2017 results is that they came out at the top end of guidance and that the restructuring programme is on track. Nonetheless underlying revenues fell by 2% due to a 4% decline in North America where US higher education coursework fell by 3% despite a rise of 9% in digital coursework. For 2018 further falls are possible and adjusted operating profit is expected to be between £520m and £560m after disposals compared to 2017’s £ 570 to £575m. Disposals which were completed in 2017 included a 22% stake in Penguin Random House. Perhaps it is time that management woke up to the fact that there is only a limited supply of family silverware and in the end it runs out.
Burberry Group BRBY not surprisingly saw retail revenue down by 2% in the quarter to the 30th December which management should perhaps be reminded, included Christmas, although to be fair, on a comparative store basis, they did manage an increase of 2%. Here is another former stalwart of British retail whose management is trying to transform it and to do so with strings of meaningless verbiage. The aim is to establish it firmly in luxury – it does not actually say ” luxury what” but no doubt they will get round to deciding that later.They seem to have completely forgotten that the company was for decades firmly esconsed in the luxury goods market and apparently no longer is..This great transformation is going to be underpinned by “people strategies”, We will also see a “global engagement campaign” for employees and best and most important of all “the piloting of new enhanced digital sales associate tools.”At least management is not lost for words, it is just sales it is a bit short of.
Beazley plc BEZ expects to report that pre tax profits for the year to the end of December will be ahead of current market expectations, helped partly by a reduction in US Corporation tax rates from 35% to 21%.
Cineworld CINE achieved growth of 11.6% in the year to 30th December after admissions increased compared to 2016. Another year of progress is expected for 2018 after refurbishments and selective site closures duing 2017.
Corporate news review Tuesday 17th October 2017
ASOS ASC says FY retail sales grew strongly at +34% on a reported basis and +27% on a constant currency basis. Customer engagement remains strong with active customers6 +24%, average basket value +2% and average order frequency +5%. CEO Nick Beighton said the new financial year “shows continuing momentum in the business” and the potential for the company “remains huge.”
Bellway BWY reports another record year with completions rising by 10.6% to a record 9,644 homes. Operating profit rose by 16.2% to £571.6m, with EPS up 12.7% to 370.6p and a 13% rise in the proposed total dividend per share to 122.0p.
Hornby HRN updates on trading and says to maximise the value of its brands over the long term, it will no longer offer for sale large quantities of stock at a discount. Hornby warns that current year revenues will be lower and, consequently, there will be a material impact on profitability in the current financial year. Interim Chairman David Adams has indicated his intention to step down to take up another appointment.
Merlin Entertainments MERL updates on trading and reports 12.4% revenue growth driven by continued strong New Business Development, including the successful opening of LEGOLAND Japan, five new Midway attractions, and 381 new accommodation rooms. Trading in recent weeks has remained mixed and Group like for like revenue growth for 2017 is therefore expected to be approximately flat on 2016. EBITDA is expected to be in the range of £470 – £480m.
Moneysupermarket.com MONY updates on trading and says it is on track for another record year.
Virgin Money Holdings VM. updates on trading and confirms profitability, earnings and underlying RoTE are in line with expectations.
Pearson PSON updates on trading and reports a good competitive performance year to date, while plans to complete the digital transformation and simplify the company are on track. Nine-month revenues are in line with expectations.
Corporate news review Friday 4th August 2017
Ascent Resources AST updates on progress with its Petišovci project in Slovenia, and says the installation of the necessary infrastructure to accommodate export production has now been completed. As a result, recertification on the Croatian side of the border is moving towards a positive conclusion.
Pearson PSON reports a 1% increase in half-year sales to £2,047m, with a statutory operating profit of £16m (H1 2016: £286m loss. The group declared an interim dividend of 5p (2016: 18p) and plans a share buyback of £300m following the announced reduction and recapitalisation of the stake in PRH.
Royal Bank of Scotland RBS reports H1 operating profit before tax of £1,951m. Adjusted return on equity across PBB, CPB and NatWest Markets was 14.1% compared with 10.9% in H1 2016. Common Equity Tier 1 ratio increased by 70 basis points in the quarter to 14.8%, and remains ahead of the stated RBS target of 13%. RBS retains 2017 FY financial guidance and medium term financial outlook as provided in 2016 Annual Results document.
S & U SUS says trading at motor finance subsidiary Advantage continues at record levels, while Aspen Bridging is proceeding cautiously and gradually establishing itself in the bridging market.
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YouGov YOU says trading for the year ended 31 July 2017 is now expected to be ahead of the Board’s previous expectations. YouGov reports another year of revenue growth well ahead of the global market research sector and has maintained the performance trends reported in the first half of the current financial year.
Pearson Abandons Profit Goal After Unprecedented Collapse in North America
Pearson PSON failed to stop the rot as its year end approached and Quarter 4 produced further unprecedented decline in its North American higher education business. Net revenue fell by 30% leading to an annual decline of 18% for the full year, again an unprecedented collapse. Despite this profits for 2016 are still expected to be in line but the operating profit goal for 2018 has been abandoned because of the continuing challenges and uncertainty in the North American market. From 2017 dividends are to be rebased.
MITIE Group MTO warns of underperformance in the cleaning division, a board meeting this week which lasted for two days whilst it considered the company’s problems and management changes which are now being implemented. Delays and deferrals by clients have added to the problems and means that income expected early in the year, will now be deferred until quarter 2017. Underlying operating profit for the year to 31st March is expected to fall to between 60 – 70m. pounds
Premier Foods PFD has been forced to issue a profit warning after weak third quarter sales which were down by 1% even after a strong December which saw a rise of 4.5%. Mince pies led the way with a 17% surge. With quarter 4 expected to see sales below expectations as a result of the continuance of challenging conditions, trading profit for the full year is now expected to be down by 10%.
FDM Group FDM Anticipates that results for the year to the end of December will be ahead of expectations, following a strong second half, combined with favourable exchange rates. 2016 revenue grew by over 34% on a constant currency basis.
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Pearson Gives Notification of Exit & Other Nonsense
Pearson PSON has brought out a new literacy programme which management has obviously not read. Had it done so they could have written their 9 month interim management statement in something like English instead of nonsense such as “some 3,600 Full Time Equivalent employees have been notified of exit.” – and this from a purveyor of higher education products, who seems to be surprised that its nine month sales have declined by7% although this is glossed over as due to retailer inventory corrections. Come off it. A slump in sales is still a slump in sales however you dress it up in fancy language. Pearson even claims that this is a good competitive performance even though sales are continuing to suffer from a further 3% fall and sales are trending lower than expected in North American higher education..
Fortunately the declining pound is there to rescue management to the extent that if current exchange rates persist, earnings per share are expected to increase by about 4.5p or some 8%. Saving weak management is not supposed to be the reason for allowing the pound to collapse.
Lok’n Store Group LOK claims that the year to 31st July was an exciting one which produced an impressive performance with more to come. Document storage more than doubled its profits and self storage performed strongly. The annual dividend is to be increased by 12.5%
Mortice Limited MORT has enjoyed another strong period of growth with year on year revenue for the first half, up by 57%, including contributions from its two acquisitions which have been performing well.
Image Scan Holdings IGE Sales for the year to the end of September have almost doubled with a rise from £1.7m to £3.3m and margins rising from 38% to 42%. Pretax trading profit for the year is expected to have risen over sixfold to £0.64m. As a sign of continuing success the outstanding year end order book has almost tripled from a year ago and now stands at £1.7m.
Tristel TSTL results for the year to the end of June are ahead of market expectations and the full year dividend is to be increased by 11%. Overseas sales rose by 22% and total turnover by 12%. Pretax profit and EBITDA before share based payments rose by 27% and 26% respectively. Tristel has no debt and there is £5.7m in the bank.
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