Member Info for jange

Negative Points: Viridor's financial performance will continue to be affected by trends in recycling and landfill, observed management. Changes in law, regulation or decisions by governmental bodies or regulators could have a materially adverse effect on the group's financial results or operations. The Group's defined benefit pension scheme had a deficit at 31 March 2012 of circa £75million.

Financial Highlights: Pennon reported an overall profit before tax of £200.5million, up 6.4%. South West Water posted profits of £141.5 million, up 9.8%. Viridor, the group's waste management company delivered profits of £57.6 million, down 8.4%. Full-year dividend up 7.6% to 26.52 penc

Full year results: Full year profits at waste and water group Pennon came in ahead of market expectations, posting a 6% rise in full year profits as strength at its water business helped offset weakness at the company's waste management unit, Viridor. Profit before tax in the year to 31 March was 200.5 million pounds, up from 188.5 million pounds the year earlier. South West Water, the water supply division, saw profit rise 9.8% to 141.5 million pounds. Meanwhile, within waste management, profits, as expected, dropped 8.4% to 57.6 million pounds due to recyclate prices having fallen from their first half 2011/12 peak reflecting world economic conditions. Nevertheless, the company said its growing pipeline of projects could help more than double Viridor's earnings before income tax, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) within the next five years

Pennon Group provides both water and sewerage services via South West Water Limited, along with waste management, recycling and renewable energy via its Viridor business. South West Water holds the water and sewerage appointments for Devon, Cornwall and parts of Dorset and Somerset. Viridor is a leading UK waste management company, handling more than 8 million tonnes of waste per annum. The group's share's are traded on the London Stock Exchange and are a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index.

No dividend payment has been recommended.

As the group looks ahead, it added: "The Board remains cautiously optimistic about prospects for the new financial year. The general economic climate and uncertainty surrounding the euro continues to impact consumer confidence and economic growth in the regions and markets served by API. However, end markets for premium products which drive a significant proportion of sales have so far proved relatively resilient."

Laminates remained the biggest contributor to the full year results. Holographics performed particularly well following growth in target security markets. Foils Americas benefited from an improved sales mix and lower costs. Foils Europe profits fell £0.5m as recovering margins were offset by weaker volumes, especially in the second half. API expects results to benefit from the increased focus brought by the recent establishment of separate management teams for Foils Europe and Holographics, the group explained.

Chairman Richard Wright said was pleased with the results, in spite of the challenging economic conditions and pressures from higher raw material costs. "A second year of strong cash flow has transformed the Group's balance sheet. With a robust pipeline of growth projects and management focus on improving the profitability of the European foils business, the Board is confident of making further progress in the current financial year," he said.

Shares of specialist foils and packaging materials group API shot ahead as it unveiled a massive rise in annual profit and said it is confident of further progress for the remainder of 2012. Pre-tax profit jumped by 77% to £5.1m for the year ended 31 March 2012 while revenues grew 14% to £113.9m. Operating profits for the period advanced by 32% to £6.9m.

Acquisitions made during the year totalled £93m at an average initial yield of 8.5%, while assets under management increased to £275m. The firm doubled its final dividend from 4.5p to 9.0p, taking the total dividend for the year to 15p, compared to 5.5p the previous year.

Whilst investment sentiment remains cautious, we believe there continues to be highly attractive opportunities for well capitalised, specialist and proven investors in UK retail property. Through our strong relationships with retailers, wide network of contacts, market intelligence and focused business strategy we are in a strong position to build on our success and enhance our position as one of the UK's leading retail real estate investors." EPRA earnings per share grew from 6.3p to 17.3p, while EPRA net asset value (NAV) fell by 5.5% to 258p (compared with a fall of 4.5% the previous year), but increased by 7.5% after accounting for one-off costs relating to equity fund raising and purchase costs of 33.5p per share during the year.

David Lockhart, Chief Executive of NewRiver, said: "NewRiver has achieved its objective of establishing a profitable platform with a strong management team that is capable of delivering sustainable growth. Considering the challenging conditions in the wider UK retail environment we have continued to transact on attractive value creating opportunities.

The company prefers to focus on EPRA (European Platform of Regulatory Authorities) which include recurring items only and flow straight through to the total dividend. Coincidentally, this number painted a brighter picture of the company's profits performance, with EPRA recurring profits soaring to £4.4m from £0.9m the year before.

It was a strong year for property group NewRiver Retail, which more than tripled its property income and retains its faith in Britain's battered retail sector. Profit for the year ended March 31st came in at £3.97m (2011: £4.91m) on revenues of £15m compared to £4.78m the previous year.

The broker thinks the shares are "deeply undervalued", but then, it is the house broker. However, the market seemed to agree with the shares surging by more than a third on the day of the results. The company has not declared an interim dividend.

Cook said he could not say much more at the moment but all would be revealed in due course. In the meantime, watch this space. House broker Canaccord Genuity said the figures were in line with forecasts and the company "appears on track to meet full year earnings expectations". The broker is forecasting full year revenues of £12.8m, £9.4m of which is already visible in the order book.

Only about 5% of revenue is currently of a recurring nature. "We are basically a widget supplier. We get an order, we produce it and we move on," Ayres said. Make that a "highly complex, technological widget maker" ... One of the ways it might address the issue is by expanding its customer base beyond government agencies. This is not to say it will be selling its high-end powerful "widgets" to terrorist organisations and suchlike; what the company has in mind is moving into "adjacent markets" where its technology could prove desirable to non-defence based clientele.

Looking ahead, the company is looking to expand its footprint in the USA. It already has an office in Chantilly, Washington DC, where Washington Dulles international airport is based, and plans to open another one near the Mexican border - "the US side," quipped Group Sales Director John Kirtland - soon, which will have a sales facility and maybe some technical support people. The company's position in the Middle East is also improving, but Cook said that relationships with customers in this region had "a long gestation period" which he ascribed to cultural differences. Further down the line, the group would like to address the issue of its somewhat "lumpy" revenue stream.

Furthermore, order intake in April and May really picked up, with the company booking £3.1m versus £1.23m in the corresponding two month period of last year. The group launched a number of new products last summer, and 35% of the group's revenue in the April-May period was from these products, which the management took as a good sign of the shape of things to come. "We are pretty confident of the full year outcome," Chief Executive Officer Mark Cook revealed to Sharecast.

Revenue in the six months to March 31st tumbled to £3.84m from £6.33m at the interim stage the year before, while the group returned a pre-tax loss of £0.14m, versus an operating profit of £0.76m the year before. Earnings per share slumped to 1.18p from 5.03p the year before. That's the bad news. The good news is that the confirmed order book at the end of March was £2.36m, up from £1.07m a year earlier.