Ian Pollard – Sainsbury #SBRY, Asda & Walmart – Merger Banned To Prevent Price Increases

J Sainsbury  plc  and Asda. The proposed merger between Sainsbury”s and Asda has been prohibited by The Competition and Markets Authority  in its final report published today.  As a result, Sainsbury’s, Walmart and Asda have mutually agreed to terminate the transaction.The reasoning behind the prohibition is that the proposed merger would result in increased prices […]

Ian Pollard: Stagecoach Pleased With Operating Loss of £6.2m (Unadjusted)

Stagecoach Group plc SGC  is pleased to report positive half-year financial results, ahead of expectations, at least according to the Chief Executive, David Griffiths. These included a total unadjusted operating loss of £6.2m compared to a profit of £114.8m profit for 2018, which may lead the more cynical to comment that some people are easily […]

Walker Greenbank Hikes Interim Dividend by 25.5%

Walker Greenbank WGB benefited from three factors which helped sales to increase by 29% in the half year to the 31st July, enabling the interim dividend to be increased by 25.5%. The first was a strong contribution from Clarke & Clarke, acquired in October 2016 and which produced sales of £10.3m out of a total […]

Bunzl – 24 years of Dividend Growth

Bunzl plc BNZL is increasing its interim dividend by 8% giving it a 24 year track record of dividend growth. Revenue for the half year to 30th June rose by 7%, adjusted profit before tax  by 5% and adjusted earnings per share by 7%, all at constant exchange rates. Like for like revenue growth increased […]

Pearson Gives Notification of Exit & Other Nonsense

Pearson PSON has brought out a new literacy programme which management has obviously not read.  Had it done so they could have written their 9 month interim management statement in something like English instead of nonsense such as “some 3,600 Full Time Equivalent employees have been notified of exit.” – and this from a purveyor […]