UPDATE 1-BAE Systems H1 earnings up 14 pct, sees FY growth

July 30, 2010 By Leave a Comment

LONODN, July 29 (Reuters) – BAE Systems (BAES.L) reported a 14 percent rise in first-half earnings and said it expected to deliver growth in the full-year despite expected lower sales at its land vehicle unit and cuts in European defence budgets.

Europe’s largest defence contractor on Thursday posted underlying earnings before interest, taxes and amortisation of 1.11 billion pounds ($1.73 billion) on sales 9 percent higher at 10.64 billion pounds for the six months to the end of June.

The company, which on Wednesday signed a 500 million pounds deal to supply India with 57 Hawk jets, increased the interim dividend by 9 percent to 7 pence per share but said it “anticipates a challenging trading environment” ahead.

BAE wants to grow its customer support and services business to offset expected cuts in UK defence procurement as Britain moves to cut a massive budget deficit.

Shares in BAE, which have fallen 10 percent in the last three months on concerns about potential cuts to European defence budgets, closed at 317 pence on Wednesday, valuing the company at around 10.80 billion pounds.

Despite the looming cuts, BAE, which derives around a fifth of its sales from Britain, said it saw unprecedented levels of interest from Middle Eastern and Asian governments at last week’s Farnborough airshow. [ID:nLDE66K206]

(Reporting by Rhys Jones; Editing by Matt Scuffham)

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UPDATE 1-National Express H1 boosted by margin improvement

July 30, 2010 By Leave a Comment

LONDON, July 29 (Reuters) – British transport group National Express (NEX.L) reported a 36 percent increase in first-half pretax profit on Thursday as it benefited from improved operating margins and new contracts in North America.

The company, which runs coach services and rail franchises in the east of England, made a pretax profit of 75.7 million pounds ($118.2 million) in the six months to June 30. Its operating margin rose by 3.8 percentage points to 9 percent.

“Despite challenging economic conditions, greater operational focus is having a positive impact and we will continue to progressively drive improvement in performance and cut cost,” said Chief Executive Dean Finch.

National Express, which also operates yellow school buses in North America and a fleet of coaches and buses in Spain, said it expected trading to remain resilient in the next six months.

“We have secured growth opportunities, particularly in North America and Spain, in which we will selectively invest in the second half of the year,” said Finch.

The company, which raised 360 million pounds through a rights issue last November, said it expected to recommence dividend payments at the year-end, depending on its trading performance.

Shares in National Express closed on Wednesday at 242.9 pence, valuing the business at 1.25 billion pounds.

(Reporting by Matt Scuffham; Editing by Victoria Bryan)

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UPDATE 1-PureCircle sees lower profitability, shares fall

July 28, 2010 By Leave a Comment

July 27 (Reuters) – Malaysia-based sweetener group PureCircle Ltd (PURE.L) warned full-year profitability would be below last year as it was running under capacity and invested heavily in production overheads, sales and marketing.

The company’s shares were down 21.2 percent at 216 pence at 0719 GMT on Tuesday on the London Stock Exchange.

PureCircle, which supplies sweeteners to U.S. beverage giants PepsiCo Inc (PEP.N) and Coca-Cola Co (KO.N), also said it expected sales for the year ended June 30 to be flat from year-ago levels.

Separately, the company said it signed a memorandum of understanding with British Sugar Group, a unit of food and retail group Associated British Foods (ABF.L), to form a joint venture owned equally by both parties.

The joint venture, to be called Natural Sweetness Co, will develop and market products that combine the benefits of both sugar and stevia, PureCircle said.

Stevia is a shrub native to Paraguay, and compounds from its leaves like Rebaudioside A (Reb A) are likely to compete with established artificial sweeteners such as saccharin, aspartame and sucralose, which are sold under brand names Sweet’N Low, NutraSweet and Splenda. (Reporting by Tresa Sherin Morera in Bangalore; Editing by Vinu Pilakkott)

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UPDATE 1-Promethean World H1 sales up 35 pct

July 28, 2010 By Leave a Comment

July 27 (Reuters) – British education technology firm Promethean World (PRWP.L) reported a 35 percent rise in its first-half revenue, aided by higher average selling price for its products.

The company, which recently bought U.S. education software firm SynapticMash, saw strong growth across all of its key markets globally and reported a revenue of 122.4 million pounds ($189.5 million) for the period ended June 30.

On a constant currency basis, total group revenues rose 34 percent from the comparable period last year.

Revenue at its interactive display systems segment rose to 103.2 million pounds from 76.2 million pounds, whereas its learner response segment recorded a revenue of 19.2 million pounds.

Shares of Promethean World were up 2.8 percent at 162 pence at 0708 GMT on Tuesday on the London Stock Exchange. ($1=.6458 Pound) (Reporting by Juhi Arora in Bangalore; Editing by Jarshad Kakkrakandy)

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UPDATE 1-Informa beats H1 forecasts, hikes dividend 25 pct

July 28, 2010 By Leave a Comment

LONDON, July 27 (Reuters) – British business media group Informa (INF.L) said delegates and sponsors returned to its core events and training courses in the first half, helping it beat sales and earnings forecasts and hike its dividend 25 percent.

Informa said on Tuesday publishing revenues remained resilient, with three-quarters now delivered electronically, and said it continued to benefit from cost-cutting programmes initiated in 2008 and 2009.

The company, whose exhibition portfolio includes Arab Health and Palm China, said it was confident about its balance of stable publishing revenues and cyclical event revenues, despite a fragile and uneven global economic recovery.

“While we remain cautious about the economic recovery, we are confident in the resilience, diversity and flexibility of our model,” it said in a statement. “We remain in line with our expectations for the full year.”

Revenues for the first half to end-June were down 0.5 percent organically to 624 million pounds ($964 million), beating the weighted average of 615 million pounds given by Thomson Reuters StarMine SmartEstimates.

Adjusted operating profit was up 5.6 percent to 153 million pounds, also beating the SmartEstimate of 146 million, while adjusted diluted earnings per share were 16.7 pence, compared with the SmartEstimate of 15.4 pence.

Informa raised its dividend to 4.5 pence. (Reporting by Georgina Prodhan; Editing by Mike Nesbit) ($1=.6473 Pounds)

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UPDATE 1-Patsystems H1 profit up, upbeat on outlook

July 28, 2010 By Leave a Comment

(Reuters) – British software firm Patsystems Plc (PTS.L) posted a 37 percent rise in first-half adjusted pretax profit, helped by sales growth in Europe and Asia, and said it was confident of achieving its targets for 2010.

The AIM-listed company, which provides software for electronic trading and exchange systems, also raised its interim dividend by 38 percent to 0.2 pence.

“Our continued growth in emerging markets, a strong sales pipeline and this year’s deployment of our new global ASP (application provider service), XConnect, will support sustained growth in 2011 and beyond,” Chairman Richard Last said in a statement.

For the six months ended June 30, pretax profit before items rose to 1 million pounds from 752,000 pounds last year. Revenue grew 6 percent to 10 million pounds.

Patsystems shares closed at 24.25 pence on Monday on the London Stock Exchange. (Reporting by Tresa Sherin Morera in Bangalore; Editing by Vinu Pilakkott)

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BP’s Hayward to be offered role at TNK-BP: report

July 28, 2010 By Leave a Comment

(Reuters) – BP Plc Chief Executive Tony Hayward is to be nominated for a board position at its Russian venture TNK-BP when he steps down from his current role, Sky News reported, citing sources.

TNK-BP declined to comment on the Sky News report on Monday when contacted by Reuters.

BP is expected to install American Bob Dudley as CEO, sources close to the company said, replacing Hayward who has come under fire for his gaffe-prone handling of the worst oil spill in U.S. history.

Dudley, the U.S. executive managing the response operation to the spill in the Gulf of Mexico, is poised to get the top job in the next 24 hours, a move that could soften U.S. criticism of the British oil major.

Shares in BP closed up 4.6 percent at 417 pence, valuing the business at about 80 billion pounds ($123.6 billion).

(Reporting by Rhys Jones; Additional reporting by Vladimir Soldatkin; Editing by David Holmes)

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UPDATE 1-Cello Group sees double-digit oper profit growth in H1

July 23, 2010 By Leave a Comment

(Reuters) – British market research firm Cello Group Plc (CLL.L) said it would show double-digit operating profit growth in the first half, driven by rising income from its international blue-chip client base, particularly from the United States. The company, which carries out direct marketing campaigns and user satisfaction surveys, said it had good revenue visibility for the next quarter and that it was optimistic for a good full-year outcome.

Cello said income from UK clients had held up well, with several notable private sector wins.

However, there are likely to be further declines in UK public sector income over the coming months as expected, it said.

“The like-for-like income growth achieved, combined with a lower cost base as a result of proactive action taken in 2009, are expected to lead to a healthy improvement in profitability in 2010,” the company said in a statement.

Cello Group shares were indicated up 1.4 percent at 36 pence at 0642 GMT. (Reporting by Tresa Sherin Morera in Bangalore; Editing by Unnikrishnan Nair)

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UPDATE 1-Great Portland’s assets up as rebound slows

July 23, 2010 By Leave a Comment

LONDON, July 22 (Reuters) – British landlord Great Portland (GPOR.L) said on Thursday its asset values had risen in its first quarter to end June, at the same time noting a slowdown in the volatile London property market’s rebound. In an interim management statement, Great Portland Estates Plc said its portfolio valuation had risen 4.6 percent since March 31 on a like-for-like basis.

Its estimated net asset value per share was 295 pence at June 30, up 4.2 percent in the quarter.

The company said it had completed 165 million pounds ($250.1 million) of new property deals over the past three months.

Chief Executive Toby Courtauld said London’s property investment markets had continued to recover during the quarter, noting this was at a lesser pace than the “unsustainably” high rates of the previous two quarters.

“We expect this less urgent mood to persist for the balance of the year, with investors looking to rental growth to support further price increases,” Courtauld said in the statement. “Whilst we expect sentiment to remain relatively volatile in the near term, looking two or three years ahead, we maintain our confidence in London as a global financial centre,” he said.

Courtauld sees rents rising over this period, citing a prospective supply-demand balance that favoured landlords. (Reporting by Andrew Macdonald; Editing by David Holmes) ($1=.6598 Pound)

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UPDATE 1-Kingfisher says cost cuts help offset weak sales

July 23, 2010 By Leave a Comment

LONDON, July 22 (Reuters) – Kingfisher (KGF.L), Europe’s biggest home improvements retailer, said it was on track to meet first-half profit expectations, with cost cutting and business improvement measures offsetting a dip in underlying sales.

The firm, which runs market leader B&Q in Britain as well as the Castorama and Brico Depot chains in France and elsewhere, said on Thursday sales at stores open at least a year fell 0.8 percent in the 10 weeks to July 10, its fiscal second quarter.

That compared with analysts’ forecasts for a broadly flat outcome and follows a 1.8 percent drop in the first quarter.

Underlying sales in Britain fell 4.4 percent, hit by a drop in demand for kitchen, bathroom, bedroom and building products as cautious consumers shy away from large purchases.

But that was partly offset by a 2.6 percent rise in underlying sales in France and a 0.8 percent increase in other international markets, which include Poland and China.

Kingfisher, which runs over 830 stores in eight countries, also said gross profit margins rose in both Britain and France, lifted by cost cutting and moves to buy more products centrally, and directly, from cheap manufacturing centres like Asia.

“While we remain cautious about the outlook for consumer spending, we are confident that the strengths of the group and our well established self-help initiatives leave us well-placed to continue our good progress over the balance of the year,” Chief Executive Ian Cheshire said.

Kingfisher shares have lagged the STOXX 600 European retail index .SXRP 4 percent this year. They closed at 223.5 pence on Wednesday, valuing the firm at 5.2 billion pounds ($8 billion). (Reporting by Mark Potter; Editing by James Davey

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UPDATE 1-Hilton Food sees progress in H2 on volume growth

July 23, 2010 By Leave a Comment

(Reuters) – Meat-packaging firm Hilton Food Group Plc (HFG.L) said on Thursday it continued growing volumes in the first half and that it would make further progress in the second half.

The company, which caters to international food retailers like Tesco (TSCO.L) and Ahold (AHLN.AS), said trading for the 28 weeks ended July 18 was in line with its expectations, driven by volume growth across both Western and Central Europe.

Hilton Food also said raw material pricing remained relatively stable across most of its markets.

The company said it remained on schedule to start production at its new facility in Denmark in the second quarter of 2011.

“We will continue looking to grow our business with our existing customers and also by exploring geographic expansion prospects,” Hilton Food said in a statement.

Shares in the company closed at 250 pence on Wednesday on the London Stock Exchange. (Reporting by Tresa Sherin Morera in Bangalore; Editing by Unnikrishnan Nair)

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UPDATE 1-Dairy Crest sales stoked by cheese and butter

July 21, 2010 By Leave a Comment

LONDON, July 20 (Reuters) – British food manufacturer Dairy Crest (DCG.L) said it had traded well and in line with internal hopes in its first quarter, driven by growth in sales of key brands such as Cathedral City cheese and Country Life butter.

The firm said on Tuesday its key brands division, which also includes Clover and St Hubert Omega 3 spreads and Frijj yoghurt, increased sales 3 percent in its first quarter.

Dairy Crest said it had made good progress with sales of liquid milk to major retail customers, particularly sales of milk in bags, using its patented jug, Jugit.

The firm has a national distribution deal with J Sainsbury (SBRY.L), the UK’s third largest supermarket, has started a trial with Tesco (TSCO.L), the nation’s largest retailer, and is also increasing sales to doorstep customers.

Dairy Crest also said it was making good progress on reducing costs and debt and was “well placed to deliver over the rest of the year.”

Shares in the group closed Monday at 394.4 pence, valuing the business at 526 million pounds ($804.1 million).

(Reporting by James Davey, editing by Matthew Scuffham)

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UPDATE 1-William Hill says World Cup offset weak Ascot

July 21, 2010 By Leave a Comment

LONDON, July 20 (Reuters) – British bookmaker William Hill (WMH.L) said first half earnings would be fractionally higher on the year before with the soccer World Cup offsetting the company’s worst ever results from horseracing at Royal Ascot.

William Hill, which has around 2,300 betting shops in Britain and Ireland, said it expected earnings before interest, tax and amortisation to be around 135 million pounds ($206 million) in the first half, compared with 134.6 million the year before.

The company said its over-the-counter retail business had seen a very strong World Cup performance in June but also saw poor horseracing results in the second quarter as a whole, with a relatively weak Grand National in April followed by a loss-making Royal Ascot festival.

“Whilst it was our worst ever Royal Ascot, with a loss on the meeting, the World Cup proved to be one of the best for bookmakers in 40 years,” Chief Executive Ralph Topping said on Tuesday.

The company added that William Hill Online had a strong performance in the half year with total online net revenue growth of about 24 percent and operating profit about 43 percent higher than in the prior year.

Shares in the company closed on Tuesday at 178.9 pence, valuing the business at 1.27 billion pounds.

(Reporting by Matt Scuffham; Editing by Lorraine Turner)

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UPDATE 1-Speedy Hire stays cautious on recovery in UK

July 21, 2010 By Leave a Comment

July 20 (Reuters) – Tool-hire firm Speedy Hire (SDY.L) said on Tuesday it maintained a cautious view about recovery prospects in the United Kingdom for the remainder of this year.

The company, which provides support services to construction, manufacturing, industrial and rail sectors, said the timing of recovery within private sector construction and the government’s autumn spending review will be critical to future performance.

However, Speedy Hire said first-quarter revenue and adjusted pretax profit were in line with its expectations.

The company said it would enhance its banking facilities to invest in its Middle East operations and take a one-time cash charge of 3.5 million pounds in the first half of this financial year.

Net debt at the end of last week closed at 134.9 million pounds ($205.4 million), the company said.

Shares of Speedy Hire closed at 22.5 pence on Monday on the London Stock Exchange. ($1=.6567 Pound) (Reporting by Juhi Arora in Bangalore; Editing by Unnikrishnan Nair) ((juhi.arora@thomsonreuters.com; within UK +44 207 542 7717; outside UK +91 80 4135 5800; Reuters Messaging: juhi.arora.reuters.com@reuters.net))

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UPDATE 1-E2v sees FY performance at upper end of its view

July 20, 2010 By Leave a Comment

July 19 (Reuters) – British electronic component maker e2v Technologies Plc (E2V.L) said trading since March 31 was ahead of last year and it expected performance for the current financial year to be at the upper end of its estimates, helped by strong demand and order book.

The company said its order book for delivery over the next 12 months as on June 30 stood at 146 million pounds ($223.2 million), compared with 127 million pounds last year.

The increase in order book reflects improved underlying demand from certain sectors, e2v said.

Although overdue orders have reduced, they are still at an unusually high level and should return to normalised levels during the third quarter of this financial year, the company said in a statement.

Shares of e2v were up 0.8 percent at 63 pence at 0717 GMT on Monday on the London Stock Exchange. ($1=.6541 pound) (Reporting by Juhi Arora in Bangalore; Editing by Unnikrishnan Nair) ((juhi.arora@thomsonreuters.com; within UK +44 207 542 7717; outside UK +91 80 4135 5800; Reuters Messaging: juhi.arora.reuters.com@reuters.net))

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UPDATE 1-Fenner sees Q3 sales, underlying profit up

July 20, 2010 By Leave a Comment

July 19 (Reuters) – British industrial conveyor belt maker Fenner (FENR.L) said it expected third-quarter underlying operating profit and revenue to be well ahead of a year ago, helped by a recovery in U.S. industrial markets.

The company, whose belts are predominantly used in the mining industry, said while trading in its advanced engineered products exceeded its own view, its seals business benefitted from good levels of demand from the oil and gas sector.

“The conveyor belting division, which was largely unaffected by the economic downturn, has continued to perform well,” Fenner said in a statement.

The company, which generates 75 percent of its revenue from outside Europe, remained confident about its short- and longer-term outlook on encouraging order flows.

Fenner, which raised about 36.3 million pounds via a share placing in April, said it would continue looking for growth through acquisition for its service business.

Shares in the company were up 0.3 percent down at 216.5 pence at 0721 GMT on Monday on the London Stock Exchange. (Reporting by Aditi Samajpati in Bangalore; Editing by Unnikrishnan Nair)

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UPDATE 1-SThree profit falls; makes strong start to H2

July 20, 2010 By Leave a Comment

July 19 (Reuters) – British recruiter SThree Plc (STHR.L) posted a 35 percent drop in first-half adjusted pretax profit, due to a reduction in permanent placements, but said it made a strong start to the second half as some of its markets started improving.

The staffing company, which counts finance, oil and gas, and pharma recruitment among its niche areas, said although some markets staged a robust recovery, others were still subdued by normal standards.

“Having a strong sense of where the market is heading remains difficult, but on the basis of the currently available data we remain cautiously optimistic,” Chief Executive Russell Clements said in a statement.

For the six months ended May 30, the company said its pretax profit before exceptional items fell to 7.3 million pounds ($11.2 million) from 11.2 million pounds last year.

Revenue fell 21 percent to 221.7 million pounds, while permanent placements fell 14 percent to 2,842.

The company maintained its interim dividend at 4 pence.

SThree shares closed at 293 pence on Friday on the London Stock Exchange. ($1=.6541 POUND) (Reporting by Tresa Sherin Morera in Bangalore; Editing by Unnikrishnan Nair)

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UPDATE 1-Kewill says eyeing acquisitions; still in offer talks

July 20, 2010 By Leave a Comment

(Reuters) – British software firm Kewill Plc (KWL.L) said on Monday it was looking to expand geographically through acquisitions while still remaining in offer talks.

In May, the company received an approach that valued the software provider to freight forwarders, distribution firms and express parcel groups at 116.8 million pounds ($178.6 million). [ID:nSGE64D0DE]

Kewill said it traded in line with its own view since end-March and continued to get new customer contracts.

While the sales pipeline remained solid, the longer sales cycles were in line with the difficult economic environment, it added.

Shares in the company closed at 112.50 pence on Friday on the London Stock Exchange. ($1=.6541 Pound) (Reporting by Aditi Samajpati in Bangalore; Editing by Unnikrishnan Nair)

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GDF working on $9.8 bln bid for Int’l Power-paper

July 19, 2010 By Leave a Comment

July 18 (Reuters) – French energy group GDF Suez (GSZ.PA) is working on a 6.4 billion pound ($9.8 billion) cash bid for Britain’s International Power (IPR.L), in the latest twist in a long-running courtship, the Mail on Sunday said.

The newspaper, citing unnamed sources, said GDF had met advisers NM Rothschild [ROT.UL], Goldman Sachs (GS.N) and BNP Paribas (BNPP.PA) over the move, adding it had the backing of the French government, its 35 percent shareholder.

Talks between the two groups over the 420 pence a share proposal were at an initial stage after discussions that lasted several months broke down in January, the Mail on Sunday added.

GDF Suez, International Power and Goldman Sachs declined to comment. NM Rothschild was not immediately available for comment, while BNP Paribas could not immediately be reached. (Reporting by Mark Potter and Victoria Howley; Editing by David Holmes) ($1=.6519 Pound)

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UPDATE 1-Smiths News 19 weeks revenue up 37.7 pct

July 16, 2010 By Leave a Comment

(Reuters) – British newspaper and magazine distributor Smiths News Plc (SNWS.L) said on Thursday its revenue for the 19 weeks to July 10 rose 37.7 percent, helped by the acquisition of book wholesaler Bertrams and contracts received in 2009.

However, the company said newspaper like-for-like sales fell 4.5 percent, partly due to promotional price discounting by the tabloids, while magazine like-for-like revenue was down 1.6 percent.

Smiths News expects the relocation of Bertram Library Services to Norwich from its existing site in Leeds to be completed early in the next financial year. This will reduce costs, it said.

The company. which continued to trade in line with expectations, also said it was operating well within its bank facilities.

Smiths News shares closed at 111 pence on Wednesday on the London Stock Exchange. (Reporting by Tresa Sherin Morera in Bangalore; Editing by Vinu Pilakkott)

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