Big caps round-up: Shell, Lloyds, BG Group ...
Companies covered in this round-up: Astra, BG, BSkyB, Capital Shopping, Centrica, Compass, Intertek, ITV, Kazakhmys, Lloyds Banking, Reed Elsevier, Rolls-Royce, Royal Dutch Shell, Tate & Lyle, Unilever.
An extraordinary number of FTSE 100 companies released updates on Thursday morning. This is a round-up of the key points for each.
AstraZeneca: Revenue for the second quarter was $6,660m, down 18% at constant exchange rates (CER). Core earnings per share (EPS) was $1.53 in the second quarter, a 6% decline using CER.
BG Group: The group has taken a $1.3bn non-cash post-tax impairment on its US shale gas assets. 2012 production exit rate lowered from 750 to 720 kboed (thousands of barrels of oil equivalent per day). Second quarter earnings per share down to 31.6 cents from 33.1 cents the year before.
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British Sky Broadcasting: Full year revenue up 3% to £6,791m from £6,597m the year before. Underlying earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) up 12% to £1,567m from £1,405m the year before. Full year dividend increased by 9% to 25.4p per share. Additional £500m capital return to shareholders via share buy-back.
Capital Shopping Centres: First half like-for-like net rental income down 2.3% year-on-year, with rental increases offset by the effect of lower occupancy following tenant failures. Underlying earnings per share up 1% to 8.1p.
Centrica: Underlying profit before tax rose in the six months to the end of June to £1,258m from £1,144m the year before.
Compass: Expectations for the full year remain unchanged after a "good performance" in the third quarter of the catering group's financial year. Constant currency revenue for the group increased by 7.8% in the quarter compared to the same period last year, with organic revenue growth of 5.7% (5.3% for the nine months to 30 June 2012).
Intertek: Interim profit before tax up 26.6% to £140.0m from £110.6m the year before. Revenue up 29.9%, or 9.9% on a like-for-like constant currency basis, to £991.0m from £763.1m the year before.
ITV: Half-year adjusted profit before tax up 15% to £236m from £204m at the interim stage last year. Interim dividend doubled to 0.8p.
Kazakhmys: "Following the severe weather at the start of the year, we are continuing to raise our output and we remain on track to meet our production targets set at the start of the year. The power business has continued to perform well, reflecting operating efficiency and strong domestic demand," said Oleg Novachuk, Chief Executive Officer, reporting on production in the second quarter.
Lloyds Banking: Group underlying profit increased £715 million to £1,064 million in the first half of 2012, with the fall in income more than offset by cost and impairment charge reductions.
Reed Elsevier: Underlying revenue growth in the first half of the year of 5%, or 3% when excluding the effects of biennial exhibitions. Adjusted earnings per share up 11% to 24.7p.
Rolls-Royce: First half underlying pre-tax profit was up 7% from £595m to £637m, reflecting revenue growth, revenue mix, unit cost reduction and the contribution of recently acquired Tognum.
Royal Dutch Shell: Royal Dutch Shell's second quarter 2012 earnings, on a current cost of supplies basis were $6.0bn compared with $8.0bn in the same quarter a year ago.
Tate & Lyle: Adjusted operating profit for the April to June quarter was in line with our expectations. "Overall, we continue to expect to make progress this financial year while recognising the current level of uncertainty surrounding the wider economy and volatile corn markets."
Unilever: First half underlying sales growth 7.0% comprising volume growth of 2.8% and price growth of 4.1%. Second quarter underlying sales growth of 5.8%. Core earnings per share up 6% at €0.76; free cash flow at €1.5bn.
JH
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