Below is a selection of the morning's key market news, earning reports & trending stories - see more here.
-
Melrose (MRO) said it has found “no black hole” in GKN since its controversial takeover earlier this year.
In its first financials since the takeover, Melrose said GKN offers an “outstanding opportunity which is meeting the Board’s expectations” and that “no black holes” have been found.
Overall, adjusted revenue was up to £3.1bn from £1.1bn prior to the merger, and adjusted operating profit was up to £280m from £141m.
These numbers were above City expectations.
Chairman Christopher Miller said: “Whilst we are still in the early days of our GKN ownership, significant progress has already been made. We have significantly reduced central functions and agreed strategic plans with operational management, who are now focused on implementation.”
“We moved quickly upon taking control to decentralise GKN and empower the operational management teams in accordance with the Melrose model. Plans have been agreed and are now being implemented to realise the full potential of GKN's world leading, but currently underdeveloped, businesses.”
-
EasyJet (EZJ) has seen passenger numbers climb by 5.6% in August compared to the previous year.
Around 8.6m passengers flew on EasyJet in August, with total passengers for the 12 months up to August 2018 totalling 84.1m.
This is up 5.8% compared to the last August, where 79.5m passengers flew with the airline.
-
Solid final results for Go-Ahead Group (GOG) saw the transport operator post a pretax profit increase of 6.5% to £145.7m.
This was led by a growth in its bus operating profits to £91.4m from £90.7m.
Rail operating profit declined from £59.9m to £44.5m however, due to the expiry of the London Midland franchise in December 2017.
The company also said it was “sorry for the significant disruption” that was caused with the Thameslink and Great Northern timetable changes.
-
The new boss at Dixons Carphone (DC.) warned that profits would be lower than expected, and today the company announced flat like-for-like revenue for the 13 weeks ended 28th July.
Group online revenue however was up 13%, and the group maintained its full year guidance of around £300m.
Chief Executive Alex Baldock said: "First quarter performance was in line with expectations. We've maintained or grown our leading market positions, and our full year PBT guidance of around£300m remains unchanged.
“We've made good progress in setting a clear long-term direction for the business, one that sharpens our focus on the core, and that better joins up both our offer to customers and our business behind the scenes. I look forward to giving a fuller update on our plans and progress in December."
-
After results from housebuilders Barratt Developments and Berkeley Group, Bovis (BVS) today reported a strong first half of the year.
Pre-tax profits rose by 41% in the first half of the year and total completions grew by 4% to 1,580.
Revenue inched up 1% to £432.2m as the company confirmed it has 96% of sales secured for 2018.
Greg Fitzgerald, Chief Executive said: "We delivered a strong performance in the half with a more than 40% increase in profits.
“This reflects the excellent progress made across all business areas over the past 18 months and a step change in the quality of the homes we are building and level of service we are providing our customers.”
