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Building materials supplier Travis Perkins saw like-for-like sales fall back in the group's second quarter (to end-September), as the group struggled with the poor weather and the competing attraction of the Olympics. Total sales in the quarter were down 2.4% year-on-year, although the group noted that the quarter this year had one less trading day. Like-for-like sales per trading day were down 3.5% on the corresponding period of last year. "Trading improved in September after the uneven and fragile trading conditions experienced so far this year, and our continuing tight management of costs and efficiency gains from self help projects mean we remain on target to meet market expectations," said Geoff Cooper, the group's Chief Executive. Group Financial Director, Paul Hampden Smith, has announced his intention to retire from the board early next year.
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On Friday, builders' merchant Travis Perkins issues an interim management statement, and Panmure Gordon is expecting the group to have made further progress, despite tough market conditions. The broker thinks the key issues will be: Spending outlook - public versus private and housing vs commercial; Weather, Jubilee/Olympics disruption; Competitive environment post corporate activity in sector.
Most traders and investors will view Travis Perkins (TPK) as on par with plumbers merchant Wolseley (WOS), but the building materials group has in fact delivered a markedly better fundamental performance in recent years, largely due to the former’s U.S. exposure. Although there was no special dividend to match the one from Wolseley this month, in July Travis revealed that profits had soared 25%. Group revenues had slipped 0.7%, largely due to dire summer weather, but with shares up some 20% since the interim profits stage, the markets clearly believe forecasts from the group that it will meet full year expectations for 2012.
Arthur Davidson, the Divisional Chairman of Specialist Merchanting at builders' merchant Travis Perkins, sold two lots of 5,000 shares on Friday. In the first tranche, the director sold the shares at 1,085.23p for a total of £54,262, and in the second the other 5,000 at 1,089p for £54,450. Following the sale Davidson holds 36,558 shares in the company, equal to less than 0.1% of the total share capital. The stock has performed well over the past four months, up from around 900p at the start of June. Over the past year shares have risen almost 43%, equal to 326p. In the six months ended June 30th pre-tax profit after exceptional items rose from £129.2m to £162m. The company said at the half year point that it is confident of meeting full year expectations for the 2012 financial performance
Arthur Davidson, the Divisional Chairman of Specialist Merchanting at builders' merchant Travis Perkins, sold two lots of 5,000 shares on Friday. In the first tranche, the director sold the shares at 1,085.23p for a total of £54,262, and in the second the other 5,000 at 1,089p for £54,450. Following the sale Davidson holds 36,558 shares in the company, equal to less than 0.1% of the total share capital
The wife of Paul Hampden Smith, the Finance Director at Travis Perkins, has sold 11,000 shares in the builders' merchant in two tranches. The first round of shares, totalling 6,000, were sold for 1,096.77p, while the remaining 5,000 were traded in for 1,098.26p. Sarah Hampden Smith pocketed a total of £120,719 from the transaction, and left her husband with a beneficial interest of 233,710 shares. On Monday the pair also announced the sale of 20,000 at 1,090p. At its last results, announced towards the end of July, the company said pre-tax profit rose 25% in the first six months of the year despite construction being hampered by the wettest three months since records began. Reported pre-tax profit after exceptional items rose to £162m for the six months ended June 30th compared to £129.2m the same time a year earlier. Group revenue climbed 2.7% to £2.41bn and was down 0.7% on a like-for-like basis.
Geoff Cooper, the Chief Executive of builders' merchant Travis Perkins, has sold a chunk of shares just a week after the firm's Finance Director ditched a similar sized stake. CEO Cooper, who joined the company in February 2005 and was appointed Chief Executive a month later, sold 51,776 at 1,091.93p a pop, pocketing a total of £565,358. Having sold 14,465 shares in his own name and the rest in his wife's, Copper now holds a beneficial interest of 132,190 shares.
Panmure Gordon kept its "buy" rating for Travis Perkins (TPK) with an increased target price of 1,200p, from 1,050p. The builders merchant's strong performance in difficult markets has impressed the broker, Travis having reported top quartile operating margins for a number of years. Panmure noted that the firm achieved this through a combination of organic and acquisitive growth. With a number of its smaller competitors struggling, the broker believes that this is a good opportunity for the business to gain market share. Travis Perkins shares advanced by 13p to 1,094p.
Paul Hampden Smith, the Finance Director at building merchant Travis Perkins, has sold 51,994 shares at 1,061.00p in the name of his wife, Sarah. The sale, which earned the director a tidy £551,656 and leaves him with a beneficial interest of 264,698 shares, came less than a fortnight after the firm said pre-tax profit rose 25% in the last six months despite construction being hampered by the wettest three months since records began. Reported pre-tax profit after exceptional items rose to £162m for the six months ended June 30th compared to £129.2m the same time a year earlier. Group revenue climbed 2.7% to £2.41bn and was down 0.7% on a like-for-like basis.
Nice increase in the divi thank you...onwards and upwards
Outlook and Strategy Latent demand in the markets we serve continues to increase because in the current economic climate many projects are being scaled back or deferred until lead indicators show that prospects are improving. In its most recent forecast the Construction Products Association ("CPA") estimated that construction volumes will fall by around 4.5% this year a significant movement from its expectation in the spring. The sectors most affected are non-private RMI, commercial and industrial and infrastructure. It is now clear that the economic recovery is going to be delayed with expectations being that markets will remain relatively flat through 2013 before growth returns in 2014. In the second half of 2012 lower inflation may help consumer confidence and the lagged effect of increased housing transactions in the first half should manifest itself in the final quarter. Our focus on improving operating margins and increasing return on capital has been rewarded during the first half and we believe that it will enable us to continue to outperform our overall market for the rest of the year. Overall our outlook for the year remains unchanged as we expect our gross margin and overhead actions to mitigate the slightly weaker market volumes and we remain confident that based upon our best view of the information available to us our results will meet the 2012 full-year consensus expectations.
Geoff Cooper, Chief Executive, commented: Whilst weather patterns normally average themselves out over any trading period, it has been difficult to ignore the impact on the results of the first half trading of the wettest 3 months since records began. This has inhibited construction activity and particularly constrained turnover in our heavy-side related businesses in a market already struggling to recover to more normal levels. Despite this, we have, in balancing sales volumes and gross margin, traded sensibly throughout the period across all four divisions, continuing to take like-for-like market share, increasing the Group's gross margin and remaining cautious on costs and capital expenditures. Forecasting remains very difficult while public sector capital construction spending declines and the burden of re-starting growth relies on a private sector recovery. Our strong market positions, track record in managing through the cycle, and overall leading scale in building materials leave us better positioned than competitors to deal with the uncertain outlook. Based on current information, we are happy with consensus expectations for our 2012 financial performance.
OPERATING HIGHLIGHTS · Exceptional Q2 wet weather conditions impacted heavy-side business · Gross margin before synergies increased by 0.5% · Continuing market share gains across our business · Tight cost control, like-for-like overheads flat · Acquisition of Toolstation completed at an expected total cash cost of £107m · Heads of terms agreed for investment in Toolstation Europe
INTERIM RESULTS FOR THE SIX MONTHS ENDED 30 JUNE 2012 SUCCESSFUL TRADING STANCE IN TOUGH MARKETS, GENERATING IMPROVED OPERATING MARGIN BEFORE PROPERTY PROFITS AND STRONG CASH GENERATION; INTERIM DIVIDEND UP 23% FINANCIAL HIGHLIGHTS · Group revenue up 2.7% at £2,412m, down 0.7% on a like-for-like basis · Before property profits adjusted EBITA, up 9.7% to £151m, adjusted PBT up by 7.3% to £137m, and adjusted EPS up 10.7% to 43.5p (note 13) · Reported PBT after exceptional items up 25% to £162m · Free cash flow generated of £99m · Interim dividend of 8p per share up 23%
http://www.investegate.co.uk/Article.aspx?id=201207260700095291I
Not bad end to the week..onwards and upwards.
i think you mean £25.00 not 25p. Wife worked for TP for 15 years then chose voluntry redundency when the brown stuff hit the fan some years ago, after 18 months they came looking for her to be assistant branch manager at a benchmarx, local to us. The manager has just left and she has now applied for the job as manager. She brought loads of these shares in the share save scheme during her 15 years so you can imagine what her price is......well below the presnt level. So if they hit anything near £20.00 again..happy days.
Havnt seen broker target, i personally dont go by much of broker,s figures. More info on development in gravesend would be nice to hear about. They are expanding in my area as well by moving to a massive site.
Nice to see others on this board.i believe share price is heading back to where is should be . Have either of you seen the broker target. Also there is a new development at gravesend in kent,which will have different tp companies all with in one estate regards
Don't know of any reason for the rise over the last few days, wife works for benchmarx, kitchen side of TP and she hasnt any info on why the increase, would like these back to £20.00 ish again
Soggy weather has made life difficult for the building supplies firm Travis Perkins, points out Tempus in the Times. The owners of the Wickes DIY chain may actually have stolen market share from competitors like B&Q but like-for-like sales were down in the last quarter. Trading on ten times 2012 forecast earnings the stock “warrants little more than a hold”.
UPDATE 1-Travis Perkins says winning share as sales rise 14 May 2012 07:37 Says confident of meeting consensus expectations 4 months to April 30 group revenue up 4.4 pct Says winning share in all divisions Says had good Q1 but rain impacted April LONDON, May 14 (Reuters) – British builders' merchant and do-it-yourself retailer, Travis Perkins, said it was on track to meet profit expectations for the year after posting a rise in sales and market share gains in the first four months of the year. The group, which also trades as City Plumbing, Keyline, Tile Giant, Wickes and BSS, said on Monday group revenue rose 4.4 percent in the four months to April 30, with gross margins in line with last year. "Overall at a group level the outlook for the year remains unchanged and we remain confident of meeting consensus expectations," said the firm. Travis Perkins said it continued to gain like-for-like market share in all of its four divisions – general merchanting, specialist merchanting, plumbing and heating, and consumer. Like-for-like sales were up 2.6 percent in general merchanting but down 5.2 percent in the consumer division. "After a good first quarter, record levels of rainfall contributed to a weaker performance in April and the early part of May where activity levels at sites continue to be impacted by the very wet weather," added the firm. Net debt was reduced by 50 million pounds ($80 million) in the period to 583 million pounds and the firm said it was on track to meet its 450 million pounds year-end net debt target. Shares in Travis Perkins, up 16 percent over the last six months, closed Friday at 992 pence, valuing the business at 2.42 billion pounds. ($1 = 0.6212 British pounds)
Panmure Gordon retained its "buy" stance on Travis Perkins (TPK) with a target price of 1,050p. The builders' merchant is expected to report continued momentum in its first quarter, following strong full year results for 2011 which showed pre-tax profit growth of 37% to 296.7 million pounds. However, the broker noted difficult trading conditions, impacted by UK public sector spending cuts and lower residential spending. Panmure forecasts full year pre-tax profits of 320 million pounds for 2012, rising to 340 million pounds in 2013.
One for the diary Travis Perkins will announce an Interim Management Statement on Monday 14 May 2012 for the period 1 January 2012 to 30 April 2012.