Results round-up

Redrow surged on Tuesday as the FTSE 250 housebuilder reported a jump in pre-tax profit for the full year as revenue grew and the company lifted its dividend.

For the year to the end of June, pre-tax profit was up 23% to £250m on revenue of £1.38bn, up 20% from the year before and the company hikes its full-year dividend to 10p from 6p.

Legal completions rose 17% to 4,716, spurred by the Help to Buy scheme, and the owned and contracted land bank at the end of June was up 43% to 26,000 plots.

Meanwhile, the average selling price rose 7% to £288,600.

The group said two key measures of its performance, return on capital employed and return on equity, improved to 24.2% from 22.8% and to 26.8% from 26.4%, respectively.

The company said demand for new homes was strong throughout the year, with growth in output benefitting from the government's Help to Buy scheme, which has continued to be a major support not only to Redrow but to the industry as a whole.

Activity in Central London remains sluggish, but Redrow pointed out that its exposure is very limited and all other areas in which it operates – including Outer London – have shown strong growth. The group added that it has seen “very little impact” as a result of Brexit.

Ashmore's full-year revenues and assets under management came under pressure during the company´s last financial year, even as management sounded an optimistic note on the prospects for the emerging market space.

The emerging markets investment manager reported an 18% drop in net revenues to £232.5m for the full year ending on 30 June, alongside a 10.7% fall in its assets under management to $52.6bn.

However, Ashmore chief Mark Coombs emphasised the fund manager´s "consistent investment process" which was designed to look through cycles, adding to risk during weaker markets, which "usually" provided string out performance for clients as markets recovered.

Coombs highlighted the ongoing challenges in the developed world, such as high indebtedness, political risk and reluctance to reform, which were not priced-in. In his opinion, that was reason enough for investors to shift or increase allocations towards the emerging market space.