Ian Pollard – Housebuilders In Cloud Cuckoo Land

Bovis Homes BVG delivered a total of 1,580 completions in the half year to the 3oth June, slightly ahead of  expectations and an increase of 4% on the previous year. Average selling prices for private houses only managed by a whisker to avoid falling into negative territory at £335,000 compared to last years £334,700. The […]

Ian Pollard – Sainsbury’s Investment in Price Cuts Pays Off

Sainsbury J SBRY First quarter sales for the 16 weeks to the 30th June saw a continuation of the improving volume trend which became evident in the second half of last year. Like for like retail sales grew by 0.2% excluding fuel and grocery sales rose by 0.5% helped by online grocery growth of 7.3% […]

Ian Pollard: Winnstay Benefits From Agriculture Recovery

Wynnstay Group WYN the first half year to the 30th April was seen as  encouraging as the long awaited upturn in the agricultural sector kicked in and farm gate prices continued to recover, Growth was seen in both divisions and revenue from continuing operations rose by 10.3%, profit before tax  by 15.7% and earnings per […]

Ian Pollard: Aveva In Either A Profit Or Loss Situation – You Choose

Aveva Group AVV There are now so many ways of calculating profits that the figures have become almost meaningless and companies have the freedom to chose between  profit before tax, on a diluted, adjusted, normal or  statutory basis and the difference between these four can be and often are enormous. Companies can elect the headline […]

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: Marks & Spencer Group #MKS Writes Its Own Obituary

 Marks & Spencer Group MKS – Results for the year to the end of March read like an obituary for what was once a great British retail institution. It matters not where you look, Clothing & Home, Food, International, Marks is in retreat on all fronts, exiting international markets, reducing selling space, and expecting further closures […]

Ian Pollard: Countryside Properties, Robust & Excellent

Countryside Properties CSP The half year to the 31st March saw excellent progress and robust trading in all regions.  After strong growth the interim dividend is to be increased by 24% with reported revenue rising by 14%, operating profit by 19% and basic earnings per share by 23%. National Grid plc NG produced a strong […]

Ian Pollard – Next #NXT Saved By Online Growth

Next NXT Full price sales for the 14 weeks to the 7th May have risen by 5% compared to last years figures mainly due to online sales jumping by 18.1% whilst retail fell foul of the high street malaise with a fall of 4.8%. First quarter sales were better than expected helped by the recent […]

Ian Pollard – Old Year jottings..New Year fears

The city still slumbers on and only next week will it begin to wake up to the first of the disasters which it will have to face in 2018. That will naturally be the Nightmare on High Street as our major retailers also wake up to the fact that whilst Britain was still playing at […]