As owners and prospective owners of these companies we try and keep investors abreast of the major developments in the shares they own. In the short term movements in the stock market are essentially random so seeking explanations for sudden moves can be a frustrating exercise. However, over the long term the steady flow of dividends into a portfolio should ensure a consistent satisfactory return which is why our news summary focusses on this aspect.
These comments do not constitute advice.
The Munro UK Dividend Fund is committed to exercising its powers of corporate governance as an agent of the ultimate owners of these assets through the Stewardship Code. If you become aware of an issue that you would like us to vote on please let us know by emailing us at enquiries@themunrofund.com.
Friday 17th May
Intertek saw organic revenue for the period grow 7% at constant exchange rates.
Ocado Group and Morrisons have announced a 25 year agreement to license certain technologies, logistics and distribution services to enable Morrisons to launch and develop its online grocery business.
Thursday 16th May
Bovis Homes Group reported 989 private net reservations, a 26% increase year on year. The board attributed this to an 11% increase in the average number of active sales outlets.
Afren stated that post-tax profit was 28% to $35m, with a realised oil price of $107.
Antofagasta saw group revenues decrease to $1.504bn for the 3 months ending 31st March, down from $1.762bn in the same period last year. The company saw an increase in gold and copper volumes offset by lower realised prices.
Travis Perkins announced that total revenue for the four month period ending 30th April was 1.2% lower than the corresponding period last year.
Soco International saw a 60% increase in the number of barrels of oil equivalent per day when compared to the same period last year, the average for the reporting period was 18,538 boepd.
Inchcape reported group revenue for the first four months of 2013 was £2.158bn, up 4.5% in actual currency.
SIG stated that group sales per day from continuing operations fell by 4.0% in constant currency.
Dixons announced that full-year underlying pre-tax profit for the group is expected to be at the top end of the market expectations of £75m to £85m.
Hikma is expecting branded revenue growth to be around 11% in 2013, on a constant currency basis.
Aviva reported operating capital generation for the group of £0.5bn.
Euromoney reported that statutory profit before tax was £42.7m for the six months ending 31st March. The interim dividend for the period was 7p per share.
Invensys is recommending a total dividend of 4.6p per share for the year, up from 4.4p in 2012. Operating profit was £131m, up from £93m in the previous year.
Amlin wrote £1.542bn of gross premiums for the four month period ending 30th April.
National Grid is recommending a full-year dividend of 40.85p, up 4% from the previous year. Pre-tax profit was £2.742bn, up 6% on the previous year.
Thomas Cook announced that first half earnings before interest and taxes improved by £58.7m to £(197.5)m compared with the same period last year. The company also raised £425m from a fully-underwritten placing and rights issue, comprising of 87,591,241 Placing Shares at 137p per share (£120m) and a 2 for 5 Rights Issue of 401,556,476 New Ordinargy Shares at 76p per share (circa £305m).
Cairn reported a net cash position of $1.5bn as at 31st March.
Vedanta will pay a full-year dividend of $0.37 per share, up 6% from the previous year. Revenue for the group was $15bn, up 7%.
Marston's PLC reported group revenue of $358m, up from 342m in 2012. The interim dividend was 2.3p per share, up from 2.2p in the same period last year.
Wednesday 15th May
ITV stated that total revenue for the 3 months ending 31st March was £666m, up from £652m in the same period last year.
easyJet reported a pre-tax loss of £61m for the six months ending 31st March, an improvement of 45.5% from the same period last year.
Restaurant Group stated that trading for the first 19 had total sales 11% ahead of the previous year and like-for-like was 4.5% ahead.
Compass Group announced pre-tax profit of £611m for the six months ending 31st March, up 8.1% from the same period in the previous year.
Land Securities Group reported a full-year pre-tax profit of £533m, up 3.4% from the previous year. Full-year dividend per share is up 0.8p to 29.8p.
London Stock Exchange Group said that adjusted pre-tax profit was down 5% to £380.7m.
Further to yesterday's announced from Severn Trent, the Board has informed the Consortium that it has rejected the proposal.
Tuesday 14th May
Vodafone is set to receive a special dividend of £2.1bn in June 2013 from its 45% stake in Verizon Wireless.
Hochschild announced that its 2013 production target is maintained at 20m attributable silver equivalent ounces.
BG Group stated that capital expenditure for current investment programme in 2013-24 is approximately $12bn per annum.
Enterprise Inns said that profit after tax was £25m for the first half, this is down from £53m in the same period last year.
Babcock will pay a full-year dividend of 26.3p per share, up 16% from the previous year. Profit before tax was £224.6m, up 30%.
ICAP will pay a dividend of 22p per share, this is unchanged from the previous year. Profit before tax and exception items was £284m, down 20%.
British Land stated that its full-year dividend will be 26.4p per share, an increase of 1.1%. UK occupancy is at 97.1% with rents in administration at 0.9% of total rent. Underlying profit before tax was £274m, up 1.9%.
Balfour Beatty said that their order book was £16bn at the end of march, this is a 5% increase since the year-end.
The Board of Severn Trent announces that it has received an approach with a view to making a proposal from a consortium made up of Borealis Infrastructure Management Inc., the Kuwait Investment Office and Universities Superannuation Scheme Limited (together, the "Consortium"). This may or may not lead to an offer being made for Severn Trent.
Monday 13th May
Interserve has acquired an 85% share in an Omani oil and gas services business, TOCO, for £28m.
Dignity has stated that its underlying operating profit was £25.4m for the 13 week period ending 29 March, an 8.5% increase on the previous year.
Rank announced that total continuing revenue for the 18 weeks to 5th May had increased by 2%, with like-for-like revenues down 2%.
Lonmin stated that platinum sales were 326,142 ounces, up 2.4% on the prior half-year. Underlying profit before tax was $89m, up from $6m in the previous half.
Glencore Xstrata released its first combined production report for Q1 2013: copper 537k Metric Tonnes, Zinc 610k MT, Lead 158k MT, Nickel 51.3k MT, Gold 578k oz.
Petropavlovsk has estimated a total cash saving of $160m being made in 2013.
Friday 10th May
International Consolidated Airlines announced an operating loss before exception items and tax of E278m.
Ferrexpo stated the production of iron ore had decreased 2% from Q4 2012 to Q1 2013, production was 7.142m tonnes.
Derwent London revealed that the group had let out 268,000 sq. ft. in Q1 at an annual rent of £3.5m.
BBA Aviation reported an increase in revenue by 3% for the four months ending April 2013.
F&C Asset Management said that AUM had increased to £98.8bn, up from £95.2bn in December.
TUI Travel announced a loss before tax of £346m in the first half, this is an improvement of 6% from the same half in the previous year.
BT said that group revenue before tax £2.501bn for the year ending march 31st, an increase of 2% from the previous year. The full-year dividend was 9.5p per share, an increase of 14% from the previous year.
Catlin Group stated that net premiums had increased 12% and a year-to-date total investment return of 0.5%.
Thursday 9th May
Wm Morrison said that total sales excluding fuel were up 0.6% (down 0.3% including fuel).
Spirax-Sarco announced that sales for the previous four months have increased 6%.
Tullett Prebon reported that revenue for the four months to April was £293m, which is 4% lower than the previous year.
Beazley stated that premiums have increased by 11% to $518m, previously $465 in 2012.
IMI said that group revenues for the first four months to April were down 1% on a reported basis.
Hammerson reported that occupancy across the portfolio was 96.6%.
Experian announced that group revenue was $4.7bn, up from $4.5bn in 2012. The full-year dividend of 34.75 US cents per share is up 9%.
ENRC has noted the announcement by Alexander Machkevitch on 19 April that he is in the preliminary stages of forming a consortium to assess a potential offer for the Company, the Board of ENRC reiterates the fact that it has not received any proposal which could result in an offer or possible offer for the Group.
Barratt reported a 9.7% increase in the net private reservations to 0.68 per week per active site. Forward sales up 28.5% to £1.013bn, at the same point last year they £788.6m.
Wednesday 8th May
JD Wetherspoon announced that like-for-like sales had risen 6.3% in the 13 weeks ending 28th April.
Network Rail reported that the group's order book has increased to £2.5bn, of which over 90% is repeat orders.
Drax stated that fixed price power sales for 2013 are 23.3 TWh at an average of £51.6 per MWh.
Dechra announced that group revenue for the three months ending 31 March was 14.6% ahead of last year.
Resolution reported the value of new business for the group was up 9% to £38m.
Next said that brand sales excluding VAT for the first fourteen weeks were up 2.2%.
J Sainsbury announced that underlying profit before tax was up 6.2% to £756m.
Sage stated that underlying pre-tax profit was £184.9m. Dividend per share for the first half will be 3.69p per share.
CSR reported that underlying profit for the first quarter was $12.6m.
Intercontinental Hotels announced that the Revenue per available room for the first quarter was up 3.1%.
HSBC revealed that pre-tax profit for the first quarter was $8.434bn.
Tuesday 7th May
Hiscox reported that insurance premiums have increased by 12.3% to £506.1m.
Friday 3rd May
Renishaw announced that pre-tax profits for the quarter ending 31 March was down 23% to £16.5m.
Man Group stated that their funds under management was $54.8bn as of 31 March, down from £57bn from 31 December.
RBS reported a pre-tax profit of £826m, this compares to a loss of £2.227bn in the fourth quarter of 2012. The net attributable profit to shareholders is £393m, or £194m after accounting for impact of own credit adjustments.
Thursday 2nd May
Randgold announced that total sales of gold was 188.7 koz for the quarter ending 31 March. Shareholders have approved a 25% increase in the dividend.
Inmarsat said that total revenue (excluding LightSquared) was up 2.4% to $310.8m, previously $303.5m in 2012.
Lancashire Holdings stated that profit before tax was £78.9m. The final dividend per share for 2012 was $0.10 with an additional special dividend per share of $1.05.
Schroders announced that profit before tax £115m, and that total funds under management had increased from £212bn to £236.5bn since 31st December 2012.
BG Group revealed that earnings were down 3% to $1.2bn for the first quarter.
Legal & General stated that total assets under management was up 9% to £441bn.
Millenniun & Copthorne said that profit before tax was down 34.7% to £16.9m in the first quarter.
Smith & Nephew had revenues of $1.08bn for the three months ending 30 March 2013, this is an increase of 1% from the same quarter last year.
BSKYB announced total sales of £1.848bn for the quarter, an increase of 7.8% from the previous year.
Shell stated that sales for the current quarter were $112.bn. Dividend per share is 45c.
Wednesday 1st May
Melrose Industries has agreed to sell Truth Hardware for £129m.
Tyman has raised £73m via a fully underwritten placing and open offer to fund the acquisition of Truth Hardware.
Henderson Asset Management reported an increase in AUM of £3.2 billion to £68.9 billion in the first quarter.
Meggitt announced that it expected mid-single-digit revenue growth this year.
Spirent Communications reported a 60% decrease in operating profit to £10.5m in the first quarter.
Home Retail Group declared a final dividend of 2p a share to make a total of 3p for the year, down from 4.7p. Profit for the year was £94m, up from £72.8m last year.
Tuesday 30th April
Imperial Tobacco increased its interim dividend 11% to 35.2p. It reported a profit for the period of £636m, down from £836m.
Stagecoach reported that current trading remains good and its prospects remain positive.
Cranswick has acquired East Anglian Pigs Ltd.
Lloyds Banking Group announced a statutory profit before tax of £2,040m in the first quarter, up from £280m last year.
Heritage Oil reported a net profit of $910m for 2012, up from $135m in 2011.
BP announced an underlying replacement cost profit for the first quarter of $4.2 billion, up from $3.9 billion last year. It expects to return $8 billion to shareholders through a share buy-back programme.
Monday 29th April
Xstrata will be delisted from the London Stock Exchange on 1st May. Consequentially, Glencore will have an increase in it's total number of shares in issue.
Aberdeen Asset Management stated that its underlying profit before tax had increased 37% to £222.8m in the six months to 31 March. The dividend per share is up 36% to 6p.
Vedanta Resources announced that cash profit was down 99% to INR 230m (£2.7m).
Rentokil said that adjusted profit before tax was down 13.1% to £10.6m.
Greggs stated that own shop like-for-like sales in the first 17 weeks was down 4.4%.
Greene King announced that retail like-for-like sales were up 2.2% in the 51 weeks to 21 April.
Friday 26th April
Ultra Electronics has said that restructuring continued during the first half of 2013 and will include a £2.4m cost in the TCS radio business.
Rotork reported an increase of revenue by 5% in the first quarter. The order book now stands at a record £218m, 20% higher than year end.
Colt announced that revenue for the quarter ending 31st March was £392.1m, down from £397.3m in the previous quarter.
WPP said that revenues were up 6% at £2.5bn.
Thursday 25th April
St James's Place announced that funds under management was up £4.2bn in the quarter to £39bn.
Go-Ahead Group has said that revenue is up 9% year-to-date.
Kazakhmys released a production report for the first quarter, the outputs were: Copper cathode at 73 kt, Silver at 3,361 koz, Gold at 24 koz, Zinc 32 kt.
Filtrona announced that revenue for the quarter was up 12% compared to last quarter.
Berensden reported that revenue up 5% for the quarter compared to the same period last year.
Taylor Wimpey have said that the company's total order book now stands at £1.2bn, up 27% from the year-end and up 18% from the same point last year.
Unilever has highlighted that underlying sales have grown by 4.9%. Quarterly dividend is up 10.7% to E0.269.
British American Tobacco has said that revenue has grown 1% (constant currency: 5%). Cigarette volumes decreased by 3.7% to 160bn.
Croda said that pre-tax profits for the first quarter were up 6.5% to 65.1m.
Playtech announced that total revenue for the quarter was £87.5m.
AstraZeneca said that revenue for the first quarter was $6.385bn, down 12% at constant exchange rates. Profit after tax was $1.011bn, down 27%.
SVG Capital highlighted an increase of 13% in net asset value per share to 443p.
Cobham announced that the total order book was stable at £2.4bn.
Monday 22nd April
Spirent Communications has said that revenues have fallen by $20.6m to $96.8m in the first quarter.
Friday 19th April
Euromoney has acquired a 75% stake in the Centre for Investor Education (CIE). Based in Melbourne, CIE is an Australian investment forum for senior executives of superannuation funds and global asset management firms.
Anglo American provided an update of production results: Kumba Iron Ore up 2% to 10.3 MT, Metallurgical Coal up 23% to 4.6 Mt, Thermal Coal up 6% to 3.9 Mt, Copper production up 1% to 170.4 Kt, Nickel production down 48% to 6.2 Kt, Platinum down 2% to 583 Kt, Diamonds up 3% to 6.4m Carats, Phosphates up 15% to 284.4 Kt.
William Hill has announced that group revenue grew by 15% and operating profit up 8%.
Spectris reported that sales for the three months ending 31 March declined 8%.
RPS Group acquired Knowledge Reservoir for a maximum consideration of $20m (£12.8m).
Thursday 18th April
GKN have announced in an interim management statement that the Group's revenue for the first quarter is up 9% on the same period last year to £1.89bn and profit before tax is down 4% to £119m.
Rexam have released an interim management statement confirming that the Group has been trading in line with expectations the for first quarter of the year.
Persimmon is currently trading well with total sales 11% up on last year for the first 15 weeks of the year. The Group have announced it's intention to declare a dividend of 10 pence per share for 2014 which will be subject to shareholder approval.
Debenhams have announced in the interim results for the six months to 2 March 2013 that profit before tax was down 5.4% to £120.3m. The Group have declared an interim dividend of 1 pence per share.
SABMiller have released a trading update for the the year ended 31 March 2013, the Group have performed in line with expectations and revenue for the year was up by 7% on last year.
Fresnillo have reported an increase in production of silver in the first quarter by 2.6% to 10.1m ounces. Gold production fell in the period by 3.5% to 117,500 ounces.
Diageo have released an interim management statement in which they report 5% net sales growth.
Wednesday 17th April
Bunzl reported that first quarter revenue is up 10% compared to the same period last year, in constant currency.
Hargreaves Lansdown announced a record level of Assets under Administration of £35.1bn, an increase of £4.7bn in the three months to 31 March. Year-to-date revenue is up 24% to £216.6m.
Marston have released a trading update stating that despite the recent cold weather affecting trading across the estate full year expectations remain unchanged.
Hunting provided an update on trading for the first quarter of the year, across the Group performance is in line with expectations and the balance sheet remains strong.
Smiths News reported results for the interim period ended 28 February 2013, revenue increased by 1.3% to £904.7m and profit after tax increased to £14.1 from £13.8m. The Group will pay an interim dividend of 3 pence per share, up 7% on the same period last year.
Hochschild is on track to achieve its full year production target of 20.0m attributable silver equivalent ounces in 2013.
Moneysupermarket.com released an interim management statement stating that Group revenues and EBITDA for the first quarter were, respectively, 13% and 31% ahead of the same period last year.
Burberry announced underlying revenues for six months to 31 March 2013 were up 9% to £1,116m.
Tesco have reported a reduction of 51.5% in profit before tax to £1.96bn for the year ended 23 February 2013. Final dividend maintained at 10.13 pence per share, giving full-year dividend of 14.76 pence per share.
Tuesday 16th April
Rio Tinto provided an update of first quarter production: iron ore shipments +7%, while production of iron ore is up 4%, copper up 26%, aluminium up 6%, coking coal down 3%, semi-soft and thermal coal up 28%, titanium dioxide up 14%.
The company is also estimating that 2013 copper production at Kennecott Utah Copper will be approximately 100,000 tonnes less than previously expected. It is interesting to compare this figure with the consensus forecast of a surplus in the copper market by 102,000 tonnes.
Michael Page International announced that year-on-year gross profit for the group was down 6.7% to £126.8m for the first quarter.
The Munro UK Dividend Fund monthly fact sheet is available by clicking the following link - Latest Monthly Fact Sheet - or link to our Archive of Monthly Fact Sheets.
Alternatively apply to receive emailed Munro Fund Fact Sheets by following the link.
Follow us on 