Ian Pollard – Intercontinental #IHG; Year Of Excellent Progress, Divi Up 10%

Intercontinental Hotels Grp IHG presents a jargon riddled preliminary report for the year to the 31st December which makes for difficult reading, not  made any easier by giving its readers a choice between Segment results and Group results. which excludes exceptional items, except for basic earnings per share. Group results show a 6% rise in […]

Ian Pollard – Second Class Performance From First Group #FGP

First Group plc FGP The year to the 31st March saw adjusted operating profit fall by 10% on a constant currency basis and a statutory loss before tax reflected in part, the onerous provisions of the contracts on Trans Pennine rail franchises, carefully omitting to mention that these onerous provisions were not forced on the […]

Ian Pollard – Glencore #GLEN Strongest Performance on Record

Glencore GLEN claims that its 2017 performance was the strongest on record with industrial adjusted EBITDA rising by 60% and basic earnings per share by 310%, helped by rising commodity prices which are completely outside the control of the company and a strong unit cost performance for which it must be given credit. Net debt […]

Weak Sterling Helps Save The Day For First Group

First Group FGP claims a significant improvement in operating results for the year to 31st March despite a mixed trading environment and with the benefit of a large helping hand from favourable currency movements. Profit before tax increased by 34.4%, earnings per share by 24% and statutory operating profit by 15.1%. Revenue was up by […]

First Group (FGP) – Excuses, Excuses

First Group’s interim results were bad enough with adjusted profit before tax down 32.7% and operating profit by 14.7% for the six months to the end of September. Unbelievably the third quarter seems to have got worse, with what passes for management, being forced to produce what must be one of the longest list of […]