Recent articles for private investors with a focus on dividend announcements
Investors Chronicle dividend of the week - 14/10/2013
Investors Chronicle – Dividend of the week – Number fifteen
Ted Baker increases 2013 interim dividend by 20.3%
Group Revenue
£155.2m
£118.6m
30.9%
Profit Before Tax, Bonus provision and Exceptional Costs
£12.5m
£9.4m
33.0%
Profit Before Tax and Exceptional Costs
£11.6m
£9.4m
24.3%
Profit Before Tax
£11.6m
£7.8m
49.7%
Adjusted Basic EPS
20.2p
16.8p
20.2%
Basic EPS
20.2p
13.9p
45.3%
Interim Dividend
9.5p
7.9p
20.3%
Tesco holds 2013 interim dividend at 4.63p
£1.6bn trading profit - reflecting good progress in UK and challenges in Europe
James Halstead increases 2013 final dividend by 9.1%
Revenue slightly reduced at £217.1 million (2012: £226.3 million) - down 4.1%
Profit before tax £41.2 million (2012: £42.7 million) - down 3.5%
Earnings per 5p ordinary share of 14.8p (2012: 14.7p) - up 1%
Final dividend per ordinary share proposed of 6.0p (2012: 5.5p) - up 9.1%
Strong cash inflow from operations of £42.1 million (2012: £37.3 million)
Nil net gearing
Investors Chronicle dividend of the week - 30/09/2013
Investors Chronicle – Dividend of the week – Berkeley Group holdings
Premier Farnell maintains 2013 interim dividend at 4.4p
FIRST HALF HIGHLIGHTS- Group H1 sales per day up 0.9% versus prior year. Sales excluding Raspberry Pi declined 1.4% as overall market conditions remain subdued.- Excluding Raspberry Pi, year on year sales growth was stable through the period in our main MDD business as Continental Europe, Asia Pacific and Emerging Markets offset weakness in North America and the UK.- Year on year sales growth trajectory in MDD Other and Industrial Products divisions slowed, primarily due to strong comparators last year.- Activity levels across the period reflected normal seasonality.- Operating margin improved through the period to 9.5% from adjusted Q4 levels of 9.2% reflecting initiatives to optimise business performance towards our targeted range.- Gross margin of 37.7% was down 0.3 percentage points from the fourth quarter but stabilised through the period.- Operating margin improvement came from management of costs and the benefit of the strategic efficiency actions taken at the end of the prior year.- The Group has made further progress with key initiatives that underpin the three pillars of our strategy.- Active customer base grew 2.7% (excluding benefit of Raspberry Pi).- New web platform implemented in Canada with roll-out across North America underway.- Investment in inventory continued in line with plans.- Sales of development tools and kits which are critical to early stages of design grew 42.0% year on year.- element14 Community now has 200,000 registered users globally.- Cash performance reflected our planned investment in inventory to further support customers' requirements as well as investments in Raspberry Pi and inventory for Akron Brass following a major contract win in India.- The Board has approved an interim dividend of 4.4p per share (2012/13: 4.4p).Commenting on the results, Laurence Bain, Chief Executive Officer, said:"Our core business has delivered a stable performance overall despite the mixed conditions that have impacted some developed markets such as North America and the UK. Focus on optimising performance saw the Group's industry leading operating margin improve from the levels experienced at the end of the prior year, making progress towards our targeted range.Our customer-centric strategy has attracted more customers to our business and provides the Group with greater opportunity as market conditions improve. Progress in the Emerging Markets, where sales growth outpaced our target, exemplifies this approach. We continue to enrich our customer proposition through investments in inventory and our new web platform, making good progress through the first half this year in the execution of these plans which are driving record levels of customer satisfaction and service performance. We remain confident in our ability to implement our strategic vision.Looking ahead to the second half, we continue to have limited forward order visibility and current market conditions remain variable.However, with our proposition benefitting from the first half inventory investments and initiatives taken to optimise business performance, we expect to continue to grow our active customer base, gain market share and drive financial performance."
City of London Investment Trust increases 2013 full year dividend by 4.1%
Net asset value total return of 23.8%.
Investors Chronicle dividend of the week - 16/09/2013
This week we are not going to use the DividendMax tools to produce long lists, shortlists, Optimised yields, etc, but I am just going to write about the world’s greatest company and why I think investors should tuck it away for the long term with near guaranteed high returns in both income and capital through consistently high dividend increases.
JD Wetherspoon maintains 2013 interim dividend
FINANCIAL HIGHLIGHTS
52 weeks to 28 July 2013
Before exceptional items
52 weeks to 28 July 2013
Excluding week 53
Ÿ Revenue £1,280.9m (2012: £1,197.1m)
+7.0%
+9.3%
Ÿ Like-for-like sales
+5.8%
Ÿ Operating profit £111.3m (2012: £107.3m)
+3.7%
+6.0%
Ÿ Profit before tax and exceptional items £76.9m (2012: £72.4m)
+6.3%
+8.8%
Ÿ Earnings per share (excluding shares held in trust) 46.8p (2012: 41.3p)
+13.3%
Ÿ Earnings per share (including shares held in trust) 44.8p (2012: 39.8p)
+12.6%
Ÿ Full year dividend 12.0p (2012: 12.0p)
Maintained
After exceptional items
Ÿ Operating profit £91.5m (2012: £93.8m)
-2.5%
Ÿ Profit before tax £57.1m (2012: £58.9m)
-3.0%
Ÿ Basic earnings per share 38.3p (2012: 35.6p)
+7.6%
Kier increases 2013 full year dividend by 3%
Underlying pre-tax profits of £63.4m (2012: £70.0m) and underlying EPS* of 136.2p (2012: 156.8p) in line with expectations
Next increases 2013 interim dividend by 16.1%
NEXT has made good progress in the first half. Sales were 2.2% ahead of last year, driven by a combination of additional NEXT Retail selling space and increased online sales through the NEXT Directory. Operating profits were at the top end of our expectations, up 7.2%. Strong cash generation enabled us to buy back a further £170m of our shares which, together with a lower tax rate, resulted in EPS growing much faster than profits.
Hilton Food Group increases 2013 interim dividend by 7.4%
Good progress made with the new joint venture in Australia
Investors Chronicle dividend of the week - 09/09/2013
Investors Chronicle – Dividend of the week – Number Ten
Hargreaves Lansdown increases 2013 full year dividend by 31%
Hargreaves Lansdown grows revenue, profits, assets under administration and active client numbers to new record levels.
Restaurant Group increases 2013 interim dividend by 17%
The Restaurant Group plc operates over 400 restaurants and pub restaurants throughout the UK. Its principal trading brands are Frankie & Benny's, Chiquito and Garfunkel's. In addition it operates a Pub restaurant business and a Concessions business which trades principally at major UK airports.
Chesnara increases 2013 interim dividend by 2.5%
Chesnara today reported interim results for the half-year ended 30 June 2013. The Group remains committed to offering shareholders an attractive long-term income stream arising from the profits of its life assurance businesses.
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