Results round-up

First-half earnings from Associated British Foods were better than expected thanks to a long-awaited improvement in its sugar business, while its Primark clothing business endured a tough Christmas and was one of several parts of the business hit by currency movements.

Revenues were down 2% to £6.1bn and profits held back to a 3% rise to £486m due to foreign exchange as while profits were well ahead in ingredients and profit margins improved in grocery and agriculture, the translation effect came down hard on Primark and British Sugar.

Earnings per share in the 24 weeks ended 27 February of 46.1p were level with the same period last year, which was better than the small decline that management had forecast.

As currency movements are now expected to be positive for the second half, directors said the full year should only see a "marginal decline" in adjusted EPS.

Ignoring the currency effect, underlying revenue was up 2% and operating profits 5% for the first half, while adjusted profit before tax rose 4% to £466m.

Like-for-like sales at Primark were less than 1% below the previous year, as expected, with total sales increased by 5% at actual rates thanks to increased store selling space but operating profit slipping 3% to £313m, or 1% at constant rates.

The turnaround at British Sugar generated a £6m operating profit from revenue down 9% to £843m, though a considerable swing to a 3% gain would have been the case if currency effects were ignored.

Agriculture revenues were down 15% to £491m and profits down 4% to £22m, while revenues at Ingredients were down 3% £595m but profit inflated 43% to £40m.

The interim dividend was increased 3% to 10.3p per share.

Retirement housebuilder McCarthy & Stone reported a surge in first half revenue as completions and selling prices advanced.

The company posted a 33% rise in revenue to £250.2m as legal completions increased 19% to 923 and the net average selling price pushed up to £253,000 from £226,000.

Meanwhile, pre-tax profit in the six months ended 29 February was flat at £29m due to costs related to the IPO, although underlying pre-tax profit was up 23% to £39.1m. Net debt stood at £23.9m compared with £82m in the same period last year.

The company noted a strong start to the second half, with the forward order book up 26% to around £306m at 15 April, compared with around £243m at 17 April 2015.

McCarthy said its full year expectations remain in line with previous guidance of 20% volume growth and an improvement of approximately 100 basis points in return on capital employed from the 2015 level of 20%.

The company, which listed on the FTSE 250 in March, declared an interim dividend of 1p per share, with an expected final dividend of no less than 3.5p per share.