Member Info for jange

The supplier of gas, electricity, telephony and broadband services said that the number of services it supplied was up by 18% to 1.38m and its customer base was above 415,000. It's churn rate - the proportion of customers leaving the firm for other suppliers - fell to 1.4% a month from 1.7% the previous year.

Utility services provider Telecom Plus is targeting a 20 per cent increase in customers this year after reporting record revenues and profits. The firm reported full year pre-tax profits up 11.8% to £30.7m, while revenues went up 12.6% to £471.5m, both in line with expectations. Earnings per share were up 12.3% to 33.8p and the company pushed up its full year dividend 23% to 27p.

The acquisition brings with it 90 structural professionals who develop, distribute and support the Bocad products. Bocad has offices in Belgium, Germany, Malaysia, Canada and France and has a worldwide user base in Oil & Gas, Power, Marine and Fabrication markets.

According to AVEVA's statement: "the combination creates a unique end-to-end offering for engineering design, as well as adding best-in-class structural detailing functionality to the AVEVA Engineering & Design product portfolio."

Bocad provides a suite of applications for the design, detailing and assembly of structural steel and other materials, which AVEVA believes directly compliments its own 3D software. Richard Longdon, Chief Executive of AVEVA said: "This acquisition further extends AVEVA's position in the Engineering & Design market providing the most comprehensive 3D design software for plant and marine."

AVEVA, the engineering software provider, has acquired the Bocad group of companies, significantly strengthening its three-dimensional (3D) structural detailing capabilities for the plant, marine and fabrication markets. The €17.5m (£14m) purchase was made on a debt free/cash free basis which has been settled from existing cash resources.

The firm also announced that Chairman John Manser would retire next year after the company's AGM. He will be succeeded by Jonathan Lane, currently the firm's executive Deputy Chairman.

Of this, £1.5m, representing 1.9% of commercial ERV, was held for or under refurbishment and £1.6m, equivalent to 2.0% of commercial ERV, was available to let. It warned that refurbishment projects meant that properties producing a gross income of £1m per annum would have to be vacated until the summer of 2014.

Like-for-like rental income grew by 3.5% compared with the first half of last year while rents receivable across the group rose by £3.7m to £40.3m. The company declared an interim dividend of 5.95p per share, an increase of 8.2% on last year's interim dividend of 5.50p. Vacant commercial space in its wholly owned portfolio amounted to £3.1m of earnings rental value (ERV), equivalent to 3.9% of commercial ERV.

However, the firm, which owns 500 properties in some of the most sought after retail destinations in West London, said it had been hit by a drop in its property revaluation surplus as well as losses on financial bets. Taking these factors into account saw the company's profits fall 62% to £38.1m.

"London's reputation as a destination of world renown continues to grow, and this summer's major events - the Queen's Diamond Jubilee and the Olympics - will put the city firmly in the world's spotlight," he said. "These events are a unique opportunity for London to promote its many attractions to a global audience.

The company said that in the six months to the end of March adjusted pre-tax profit was up 15% to £16.1m, with net property income rising 10% to £35.5m. Chief Executive Brian Bickell said that throughout the first half of the financial year Shaftesbury's portfolio had been virtually fully let as demand for West End locations remained healthy.

The West End has defied the retail slump and continues to be busy and prosperous, according to Shaftesbury, the London property firm. The news is in marked contrast to retail news from the rest of the UK, where high streets have been hit hard by the financial crisis.

Strong operational cash generation was seen in the half year period, with £104.9m free cash after investments, although this fell significantly short of the £179.7m generated in the same half the previous year.

The interim dividend was increased by 11.1% to 1.5p per share (2011 H1: 1.35p). The company has advanced £87.2m of new buy-to-let loans, with a pipeline at March 31st of £103.1m.

The interim results cap a remarkable recovery for a company which more or less had to go into hibernation during the credit crunch, when the wholesale funding markets dried up. Terrington believes that the group's "strong combination of attributes" leaves it well placed to continue to develop its lending activities. Paragon is also eyeing further earnings-enhancing portfolio investments

Nigel Terrington, Chief Executive of Paragon, said: "We have delivered a further period of top-line revenue growth, driven by the success of our loan portfolio acquisition business, Idem Capital, together with continued low bad debts and costs. The group is well capitalised, has a term-funded balance sheet, has strong operational cash flow and is highly regarded for its track record as an originator and servicer of mortgages and consumer loans."

Interest receivable increased from £127.8m to £144.6m, while earnings per share jumped 17.5% from 9.7p to 11.4p. During the six months, the group achieved strong growth in profits, invested significantly in portfolio acquisitions, increased buy-to-let lending and completed its first securitisation since 2007. This was also the first period since the first half of 2008 during which total loan assets have increased, with new additions exceeding back book redemptions.

Buy-to-let mortgage specialist Paragon Group has experienced its first period of loan book growth since the height of the credit crunch in 2008. For the six months ended March 31st, profit before tax rose 13.4% year-on-year from £39.5m to £44.8m, driven primarily by profits from acquired loan portfolios. Operating income was £82.3m, up 10.5% compared to the same period the previous year, at £74.5m. Operating expenses rose by the same percentage, from £22.8m to £25.2m.

"Looking ahead, we remain confident that our investment portfolio is of sufficient quality to perform resiliently. Cash flows are generally predictable and, whilst it is acknowledged that the valuation of the portfolio is in part correlated to the rates that apply to long-dated government debt, we are not anticipating significant fluctuations as a consequence," Picken said.