31st Aug 2021 08:13
(Alliance News) - Bunzl on Tuesday lifted its interim dividend as profit advanced despite a "reversal" in Covid-19 related sales, with its base business making up the slack.
During the pandemic, Bunzl has benefitted from distributing Covid-19 personal protective equipment to businesses.
For the six months that ended June 30, revenue was GBP4.87 billion, up 0.4% from GBP4.85 billion last year and pretax profit was GBP275.7 million, up 12% from GBP245.4 million.
Bunzl declared an interim dividend of 16.2 pence, up 2.5% from 15.8p paid out last year.
Chief Executive Officer Frank van Zanten said: "Whilst we are now seeing a reversal in Covid-19 related sales, this has been more than offset by the recovery experienced in our base business over the first half. The group's performance over the first half and the excellent underlying revenue growth we have delivered over a two year period demonstrate the resilience of our diversified portfolio.
It did flag up supply chain issues within its results, however. It noted supply chain challenges in areas such as North America, Mexico and Australia.
Separately, Bunzl said it completed two further acquisitions. In July, Bunzl completed the acquisition of Proin Pinilla, the largest independent safety distributor to end-users in Spain, with a focus on personal protection equipment and specialising in workwear. The business generated GBP15 million of revenue in 2020, it said. In addition, Bunzl completed the acquisition of Arprosa in July, which also distributes PPE to end-users in Spain. The business generated GBP7 million of revenue in 2020.
Bunzl shares were down 3.2% in opening trade in London.
Here is what you need to know at the London market open:
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MARKETS
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FTSE 100: up just 0.71 of a point at 7,148.72
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Hang Seng: up 0.8% at 25,730.40
Nikkei 225: closed up 1.1% at 28,089.54
DJIA: closed down 55.96 points, or 0.2%, at 35,399.84
S&P 500: closed up 0.4% at 4,528.79
Nasdaq Composite: closed up 0.9% at 15,265.89
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EUR: up at USD1.1828 (USD1.1788)
GBP: up at USD1.3789 (USD1.3752)
USD: down at JPY109.85 (JPY109.92)
Gold: up at USD1,815.70 per ounce (USD1,807.81)
Oil (Brent): up at USD73.25 a barrel (USD72.28)
(changes since previous London equities close)
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ECONOMICS AND GENERAL
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Tuesday's Key Economic Events still to come
11:00 CEST EU flash estimate euro area inflation
09:55 CEST Germany labour market statistics
09:30 BST UK monetary & financial statistics
09:00 EDT US monthly house price index
10:00 EDT US consumer confidence index
16:30 EDT US API weekly statistical bulletin
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China's services sector contracted in August for the first time since the start of the pandemic while factory activity slowed further, data showed, as domestic coronavirus travel curbs hit demand for transport and tourism. The non-manufacturing purchasing managers' index, a key gauge of activity in China's services and construction sectors, fell to 47.5 in August from July's 53.3, the National Bureau of Statistics said. The measure for factory activity, manufacturing PMI, came in at 50.1 in August from July's 50.4. Anything above 50 indicates expansion, while below that figure points to contraction. China's economic recovery was dealt a blow in the summer by its largest coronavirus outbreak for months as authorities locked down millions and curbed travel during the peak summer tourism period.
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President Joe Biden announced he will address the nation Tuesday on the final US exit from Afghanistan after 20 years of war against the Taliban. "Tomorrow afternoon, I will address the American people on my decision not to extend our presence in Afghanistan beyond August 31," he said in a statement shortly after the Pentagon announced that the final US military plane had flown out of Kabul. Biden's statement praised the military for carrying out the evacuation of final US troops, diplomats, and nearly all Americans, as well as tens of thousands of Afghan allies who worked for or fought alongside international forces in the war. Biden repeated assurances by US and international officials that the Taliban have agreed to allow those groups to keep leaving now that they are in complete control of Kabul, including its airport.
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Rescuers in boats, helicopters and high-water trucks brought hundreds of people trapped by Hurricane Ida's floodwaters to safety after the storm swamped the Louisiana coast and ravaged the electrical grid. Residents living amid the maze of rivers and bayous along the state's Gulf Coast retreated desperately to their attics or roofs and posted their addresses on social media with instructions for search-and-rescue teams on where to find them. More than 1 million homes and businesses in Louisiana and Mississippi - including all of New Orleans - were left without power as Ida, one of the most powerful hurricanes ever to hit the US mainland, pushed through on Sunday. The damage was so extensive that officials warned it could be weeks before the power grid was repaired.
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BROKER RATING CHANGES
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SOCGEN RAISES INTERCONTINENTAL HOTELS TO 'BUY' (HOLD) - PRICE TARGET 5710 (5836) PENCE
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JPMORGAN INITIATES BRIDGEPOINT WITH 'OVERWEIGHT' - TARGET 600 PENCE
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CITIGROUP STARTS BRIDGEPOINT WITH 'NEUTRAL' - PRICE TARGET 513 PENCE
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COMPANIES - FTSE 100
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GlaxoSmithKline and its South Korean partner SK bioscience said they have started a phase 3 clinical study of SK's Covid-19 vaccine candidate GBP510 after positive interim phase 1 and 2 results. Glaxo said the randomised, active-controlled global trial will enrol around 4,000 participants from a range of countries and will aim to evaluate GBP510's safety and immunogenicity compared the AstraZeneca/Oxford University Covid-19 vaccine. The study will be one of the first global phase 3 trials to compare two different Covid-19 vaccine candidates. GBP510 is a self-assembled nanoparticle vaccine candidate targeting the receptor binding domain of the SARS-CoV-2 Spike protein, combined with Glaxo's pandemic adjuvant technology, Glaxo explained.
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COMPANIES - FTSE 250
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Computacenter said trading has continued to be robust across all of of its geographies in July and August to date. The computer services provider said the "exceptionally good performance" in the second half of 2020 makes a more difficult comparison than it experienced in the first half of this year. However, even with a flat performance in the second half of 2021 compared to the second half of last year, the company said it would finish the year 10% ahead of current market expectations for the group's full year 2021 adjusted pretax profit. It posted adjusted pretax profit of GBP200.5 million in 2020. "Whilst visibility in our business is never perfect, given the momentum in the business, a substantial order backlog, the successful acquisitions and a strong forecast we will endeavour to beat last year's second half performance, not just match it," the company said.
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COMPANIES - MAIN MARKET AND AIM
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Old Mutual reported profit for the first half of 2021 amid almost tripled revenue. The Cape Town, South Africa-based insurer said it swung to pretax profit of ZAR7.09 billion, about GBP351.8 million, in the six months to the end of June from a loss of ZAR6.58 billion posted a year earlier. Old Mutual said net earned premiums rose to ZAR35.61 billion from ZAR35.33 billion year-on-year, while investment return surged to ZAR75.78 billion from a loss of ZAR758 million. As a result, total revenue and other income was ZAR120.17 billion in the first half, nearly triple the ZAR43.11 billion posted a year ago. The company declared an interim payout of 25 cents a share, having not paid an interim dividend a year earlier. Old Mutual paid a dividend of 35 cents a share for the whole of 2020.
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COMPANIES - GLOBAL
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Apple on Monday announced it is buying classical music streaming service Primephonic and will launch an app dedicated to the genre. Apple did not disclose how much it paid for Europe-based Primephonic, which confirmed that it is becoming part of the iPhone-maker's music service. "We felt compelled to develop a streaming service that truly gets classical right – so that's what we did over the last three years," the Primephonic team said in the post. "But to fully achieve the next phase of our mission, we need to bring our classical streaming expertise to millions of listeners worldwide." Primephonic will go offline on September 7, with subscribers being offered six months of free use of Apple Music, according to the companies.
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Tuesday's Shareholder Meetings
APQ Global Ltd - AGM
Edge Performance VCT PLC - AGM
Iomart Group PLC - AGM
Just Group PLC - GM re share issue
Puma Alpha VCT PLC - AGM
RUA Life Sciences PLC - AGM
Rutherford Health PLC - AGM
Vietnam Holding Ltd - EGM re tender offer
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By Lucy Heming;Â [email protected]
Copyright 2021 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.
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