Ian Pollard – Dixons Hit By Challenging Mobile Profitability

Dixons Carphone DC has found UK mobile profitability challenging during the half year to the 28th October to such an extent that it needs addressing which is really as good as admitting that they have not bothered to do so yet. Black Friday trading was at record levels in all geographies, without any explanation as […]

Countryside Props. Slashes House Prices

Countryside Props CSP did what for a house builder, is the  unthinkable, it slashed its average selling prices with the result that for the year to 30th September, completions rose by 28% overall and the forward year end order book stood at a record level. The rise in completions was 17% in the partnership division […]

BHP – 2017 Dividends Increased by 177%

BHP Billiton BHP benefited in 2017 from a substantial reduction in exceptional losses which fell from $6.4b in 2016  to $842m. as the Samarco dam failure in Brazil weighed less heavily on the company. The year to the 30th June turned out to be a very strong financial year with free cash flow at $12.b., […]

Corporate news review Tuesday 15th August 2017

Hargreaves Lansdown HL. reports net FY new business of £6.9bn, AuA up 28% to £79.2bn and active clients up 118k to 954k. PBT is up 21% to £265.8m, and HL raises its dividend by 20% to 29p per share. John Menzies MNZS says it has enjoyed a positive first half, with underlying PBT up 36% […]

Wood Group weak in the East

by Ian Pollard Wood Group plc WG has faced continued challenges in its core oil and gas markets in the 6 months to 30th June, with weak activity in the East more than offsetting a robust performance in the West. The first half is down on that of 2016 and is weaker than hoped for […]

Hothschild Enjoys Boom In Mining

Hochschild Mining HOC has returned to profit and produced an exceptionally strong set of first half results, especially for a company in the beleaguered mining industry. Last yea’rs first half loss of $43.4m was turned into a profit of $60.3m after silver production of 17m ozs exceeded expectations with a rise of 31% and gold […]

Not Again – More Unspecified “Challenging Conditions”

More and more Boards and CEOs seem to be waking up to the fact that if they claim to be operating in “challenging conditions” it makes their performance and governance, good or bad, look even better than it really is. What they forget is that some of us, perhaps even some shareholders, would like to […]