Recent articles for private investors with a focus on dividend announcements
RPC Group Finals 2011/12 - dividend announced
RPC GROUP PLC Preliminary results for the year ended 31 March 2012
Serco Acquisition Vertex's UK public sector BPO operations
Serco Group plc (Serco), the international services company, today announces that it has acquired Vertex Public Sector Limited, the UK public sector operations of Vertex Data Science Limited, for cash consideration of £55.5m.The acquisition brings additional skills and capabilities to support expansion into new areas of middle and back office support and adds further scale to our recently created Global Services division.Vertex Public Sector provides high quality Business Process Outsourcing (BPO)services to UK local and central government. Major customers in local government include Westminster and Thurrock councils, and in central government include the Child Maintenance and Enforcement Commission (CMEC) and Job Centre Plus. Its 3,000 employees handle approximately 4.5 million citizen interactions a year.The business provides multi-channel contact centres, shared transactional services and ICT services. In particular, it brings deep skills and capabilities in areas such as HR and payroll, revenues and benefits, complex case management and administration services.The acquisition considerably increases our market presence and further improves Serco's position for large scale outsourcing opportunities. We expect it to enable us to provide additional services into existing local government customers and to enhance our ability to secure further wide-ranging strategic partnerships such as those achieved with local authorities in Glasgow,Hertfordshire and Peterborough. The Vertex operations also bring significant experience and scale to leverage in future opportunities within the central government market, as well as the potential transfer of capabilities to private sector customers.The pro forma financial result for the year to 31 March 2012 for Vertex Public Sector Limited was approximately £110m of revenue and £8m of Adjusted operating profit.Christopher Hyman, Chief Executive of Serco Group plc, said: "This acquisition enhances the range of services we offer to the UK public sector as they seek to reduce costs whilst continuously improving outcomes for citizens. We are pleased with the important customer relationships it brings and the opportunity to extend and expand these. The newly added skills and capabilities will also help Serco address future prospects in both the local authority and central government markets. Following recent significant contract wins, this is another important step for our BPO strategy and the development of our Global Services business. This business will have annual revenues of over $1bn and approximately 50,000 employees offering a diverse range of middle and back office services to both public and private sector customers."
Rolls Royce Acquisition
Rolls-Royce to acquire Aero Engine ControlsRolls-Royce, the global power systems company, announces today that it willacquire the 50 per cent of shares it does not already own in Aero EngineControls (AEC) a joint venture with Goodrich Corporation. AEC was establishedin January 2009 to combine the engine controls businesses of the two companies.The joint venture principally designs and manufactures engine control systemsincluding electronic engine controllers, fuel pumps and fuel metering units fora wide range of Rolls-Royce engines and for a number of other programmes.Engine control systems play an increasingly important part in enhancing thefuel efficiency and overall performance of modern jet engines. This acquisitionwill give Rolls-Royce full ownership of a critical capability that conferscompetitive advantage.AEC employs around 1,400 people and has sites in Birmingham, Derby, and Belfastin the UK and in Indianapolis, USA.The transaction has been agreed with United Technologies Corp (UTC), which isin the process of acquiring Goodrich. The acquisition of the remainder of theshares in AEC by Rolls-Royce will only proceed once the acquisition of Goodrichby UTC is complete and once any necessary antitrust approvals are obtained.The transaction will have no material impact for Rolls-Royce on the currentyear's financial performance.
Great Portland Estates acquisition
Great Portland Estates plc makes £39.0 million purchase in St James's from Henderson Global Investors
Burberry Final Results 2011/12 - dividend up 25%
“Burberry has completed another successful year, with revenue up 24% and adjusted profit before tax up 26%. An intense focus by our global teams on business, brand and culture in recent years has resulted in a strong foundation across channels, regions and products. While we remain vigilant about the external environment, we will continue to invest in front-end opportunities within our brand, digital and retail strategies, to drive sustained, profitable growth and enduring customer engagement over the long term.” - Angela Ahrendts Chief Executive Officer
Halfords 2011/12 Final Results - dividend maintained
Halfords Group plc Preliminary Results Financial Year 2012
Tate & Lyle Final Results
TATE & LYLE PLC
ANNOUNCEMENT OF FULL YEAR RESULTS
For the year ended 31 March 2012
Continuing operations£m unless stated otherwise
2012
2011
Change(reported)
Change(constantcurrency)
Sales
3 088
2 720
+ 14
%
+ 16
%
Adjusted results
Adjusted operating profit
348
321
+ 8
%
+ 11
%
Adjusted profit before tax
323
263
+ 23
%
+ 26
%
Adjusted diluted earnings per share
56.4p
45.7p
+ 23
%
+ 25
%
Statutory results
Operating profit
404
303
Profit before tax
379
245
Profit for the year (on total operations)
309
167
Diluted earnings per share (on total operations)
64.3p
34.7p
Cash flow and net debt
Free cash flow
79
178
Net debt
476
464
Dividend per share
24.9p
23.7p
+ 5.1
%
Halma Acquisition of SunTech
Halma, the leading safety, health and sensor technology group, today announces the acquisition of SunTech Medical Group Limited ("SunTech") on 31 May 2012.
Amec expands in Australia
AMEC expands its Environment & Infrastructure service offering in Australia
SABMiller 2011 Final Results - dividend improved
SABMiller drives strong results in developing markets
United Utilities Final Results 2011/12 - dividend increase announced
Further customer service improvements delivered: significantly improved Ofwat SIM scores
Met regulatory leakage target for sixth consecutive year
On track to meet regulatory outperformance targets
Continued progress on capex programme: invested £680m, an increase of 12% on prior year
Underlying operating profit of £594m down £2m reflecting higher infrastructure renewals expenditure
Robust financial position: substantially repaid all term debt due in 2010-15 period
Final dividend of 21.34 pence per share, an increase of 6.7% in line with policy
First Group Final results 2011/12 - dividend announced
FirstGroup PLC Final Results for the year to 31 March 2012
Daily Mail & General Trust half yearly results
SOLID UNDERLYING PERFORMANCE; FULL YEAR OUTLOOK UNCHANGED- Solid Group revenue performance, up 3% on an underlying basis.- Underlying operating profit flat; reported Group profits in linewith expectations.- Good performance from B2B; underlying revenue up 9% andunderlying profit up 14%.- Resilient revenues at Associated: strong digital advertising (up21%) and circulation (up 4%), offsetting print advertising decline (down 10%)- Northcliffe operating profit up 34%.- Profit before tax lower due to various one-off items.- Active portfolio management; targeted acquisitions and disposalof non-core assets.- Net debt up £90m to £809m, but is expected to reduce in thesecond half.- Outlook for the year remains unchanged.- Dividend increased by 6%.Martin Morgan, Chief Executive, said:"We have delivered a solid underlying performance in the first half reflectingthe strength of our B2B companies and the resilience of our national consumertitles. As expected, disposals and certain one-off factors have led to lowerreported half year results.Our international B2B companies have increased their underlying revenues andprofits by 9% and 14% respectively. Their reported results were lower due tothe impact of disposals and a low biennial half year for the events business.Our UK consumer businesses have experienced more challenging conditions,although underlying revenues were only slightly down. Within Associated,circulation and digital revenue growth largely offset print advertisingweakness. Consumer first half profits were also affected by increased digitalpromotional activity which we expect to be less pronounced in the second half.We have continued actively to manage our portfolio of businesses and have madeseveral acquisitions and disposals during the period and into the second half,to improve the overall quality and growth prospects of the Group. Thecontinued growth of our B2B companies and more positive momentum expectedwithin our consumer operations in the second half of the year means that weexpect to achieve growth in earnings* for the full financial year, compared tothe equivalent figure last year."
Marks & Spencer Final Results
Marks and Spencer performed well in a challenging economic environment and made good progress in delivering our strategy
Vodafone Final Results 2011 - boost final dividend over 50%
Vodafone announces results for the year ended 31 March 2012
British Land Final Results 2011/12 - dividend announced
THE BRITISH LAND COMPANY PLC FULL YEAR RESULTS
Rolls Royce Contract
21 May 2012 ROLLS-ROYCE WINS $136 MILLION CONTRACT TO SUPPLY INDUSTRIAL TRENTS TO DOLPHIN ENERGY LTDRolls-Royce, the global power systems company, has been awarded contracts worth$136 million to supply technology and long-term services support to DolphinEnergy Limited which transports natural gas from Qatar to the United ArabEmirates and Oman via a 364 km subsea pipeline.Andrew Heath, Rolls-Royce, President - Energy said: "I am delighted thatRolls-Royce technology has again been selected to support the Dolphin GasProject, one of the largest cross border energy infrastructure projects everundertaken in the Middle East. The supply of three new Rolls-Royce Trent gasturbines to Dolphin Energy is testimony to the six units already installed onthe project. To date, these have recorded over 150,000 operating hours,transporting billions of standard cubic feet of gas to meet the energy needs ofthe UAE and Oman."Rolls-Royce will supply Dolphin Energy Limited with three industrial Trent gasturbine compression packages. The three new Trent units, each rated at 52megawatts, will join six similar Rolls-Royce packages that went into service atDolphin Energy's Gas Processing Plant in Ras Laffan, Qatar in 2006.In addition to selecting Rolls-Royce energy technology, Dolphin Energy Limitedhas signed a TotalCare® long-term equipment service agreement designed toincrease equipment availability and reliability.The equipment will be manufactured and packaged at the Rolls-Royce facilitiesin Montreal, Quebec, Canada and Mount Vernon, Ohio, U.S.A.Delivery of the packaged units to Ras Laffan will be in the second and thirdquarters of 2013.
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