Results round-up

Barclays confirmed plans to sell its African business on Tuesday as it announced a drop in full year profit and a cut to the dividend.

For the year to 31 December, adjusted pre-tax profit slipped 2% to £5.4bn and the bank announced a £1.45bn provision for PPI misselling.

Analysts had been expecting Barclays to report a profit of around £5.8bn. In addition, it said it will slash its dividend by more than half to 3p per share this year and the next.

Barclays also confirmed that it will sell its 62.3% stake in Barclays Africa, as it looks to focus on Barclays UK and Barclays Corporate & International. Barclays said the sale, along with its restructuring plan, would boost capital by at least 1 percentage point.

Weak metals prices had a significant impact on Fresnillo in 2015, though the company was appearing strong in its results for the calendar year on Tuesday.

The FTSE 100 company saw adjusted revenue rise 2.5% to $1.58bn, with higher volumes more than offsetting lower metal prices.

Gross profit and EBITDA were $433.1m and $547.5m, which represented reductions of 16.9% and 3.5% respectively. Profit from continuing operations was $200.4m, a reduction of 18.4%.

The company said the devaluation of the Mexican peso against the US dollar positively affected production costs, but also resulted in increased deferred taxes with a negative impact on its effective tax rate.

Net cash from operating activities was $542.9m, against $121.6m in 2014. Fresnillo reported capital expenditures of $474m and an exploration spend of $140m.

The company's board said it maintained financial flexibility, with a year-end cash balance of $500.1m and a net debt position of $296.9m on 31 December.

Fresnillo's basic and diluted earnings per share from continuing operations were 9.4c, and adjusted earnings per share were 6.9c, down 36.1% and 6.8%.

The board recommended a final dividend of 3.35c per share, equivalent to $24.7m.