Member Info for jange

The full year dividend was held at 17.0p.

Profits at Asset Management gained 5% from increasing funds under management and a "competitive" investment performance. The Chief Executive, Stephen Koseff, described the results as "disappointing but reflective of very challenging market conditions"

Specialist Banking has been hardest hit with profits down 30.2% on the prior year at £186.2m as investment and trading income dried up amid the Eurozone meltdown and consequent market volatility. The Wealth and Investment business saw earnings down 4.2% at £38.7m after "restructuring and sales of certain of the operations in the UK and Europe."

Anglo-South African banking group, Investec, saw a disappointing performance from its wealth and specialist banking divisions last year. Profits before tax in the 12 months to the end of March came in at £358.6m, a drop of 17.4% over the previous financial year. The consensus (median) forecasts among investment analysts following the stock had been for profit before tax of £442.8m.

The bank, which was formed from seven different 'cajas' (savings banks) last year, has seen shares fall at a steep rate since last week, when its President Rodrigo Rato resigned and the Spanish government took a 45% stake. Also providing further downward pressure was Exane BNP Paribas which reiterated its underweight recommendation on the stock today and lowered its price target by 52% to €0.95.

Shares were down 20% earlier in the day but losses were pared slightly after the bank released a statement which said: "Depositors at Bankia can be absolutely reassured that their savings are safe." By 15:13 in Madrid, shares were down 11.24% at €1.47, having hit €1.17 earlier in the day.

Shares of troubled Spanish bank Bankia were taking a beating on Thursday on the back of reports that customers are frantically withdrawing funds due to concerns over the lender's finances. According to Spanish newspaper El Mundo, Bankia customers have withdrawn more than €1bn from deposits since the bank was part-nationalised last week.

The outlook for the remainder of 2012 remains in line with that stated in the group's results announcement at the end of February.

It is a different story in the Performance Materials division, where continued strong performance in the Americas and Asia-Pacific has more than offset weak end-market conditions in Europe. As such, the division's first half performance is expected to be well ahead of the equivalent period last year, but slightly below the seasonally stronger second half of 2011.

"The level of on-going, incremental costs to the businesses resulting from any separation will continue to be assessed, but the net present value of these costs (which includes additional head office and taxation costs) is currently expected to be broadly similar to the level of the upfront cash costs," the statement said. In the Engineering Ceramics division, the performance in the first half is expected to be marginally below that seen in the first half of last year, due to the relatively weak performance of the Fused Silica business.

An initial analysis of what Cookson termed "the frictional costs" associated with any separation has been carried out, and initial indications are that the the likely upfront, one-off cash costs of any separation would be in the range of £50m to £70m.

What really seemed to excite the market, however, was the possibility of Cookson splitting itself in to two. The board has instigated a strategy review to consider a number of options for the group. These options include a potential demerger or separation of Cookson's main divisions, given the limited operational or end-market overlap between the Engineered Ceramics division (a ceramic refractory business) and the Performance Materials division (a speciality chemicals business).

The shareholder rebellion came despite a well-received interim management statement from the company which revealed that trading in the first four months of the year had been in line with expectations. Group trading profit was slightly ahead of the equivalent period of last year and management's expectations for the full year performance in 2012 remain unchanged.

At the AGM, the Chairman Jeff Harris said: "The board continues to listen very carefully to views expressed by shareholders and will be taking these into account along with the result of today's vote on the Remuneration Report, as remuneration policy is formulated going forward and we develop future policies."

Materials science company Cookson became the latest company to see a substantial proportion of shareholders vote against the executive pay package at its annual general meeting (AGM). Almost 32%, or 70.5m, of the 220.8m votes cast at the AGM were against the motion to approve the directors' remuneration report.

The broker reckons it will be another year before the group can contemplate resuming dividend payments. It is forecasting flat earnings of £63m profit before tax and earnings per share of 11.3

Like-for-like (LFL) sales in the nine weeks to January 21st, 2012, were up 6.5% on the corresponding period a year earlier, pushing the LFL sales improvement in the first 17 weeks of the group's financial year up to 4.4%. "However, the group cautioned that underlying LFL sales in January were closer to circa 1%," notes Panmure Gordon, " although we believe that partly reflects difficult comps [comparative figures].

Struggling pubs group Mitchells and Butlers, in common with its peers, has been wrestling with rising costs and a challenging consumer environment, but unlike its peers has been doing so without the leadership of a Chief Executive Officer. "We expect the current trading update to be lacklustre given recent weather and tough comparatives," Panmure Gordon said.

The slowdown in UK sales has increased the stock of new vehicles and, accordingly, the group's cash flow is less than previously anticipated.

The 500 vehicles for Azerbaijan that were delayed from 2011 were shipped and paid for in March 2012 and further international orders are anticipated, the firm said.