Results round-up

Housebuilder Crest Nicholson has bounced back from a drop in the demand for houses post Brexit-vote by achieving its £1bn annual sales target for the year end.

The FTSE 250 company recorded statutory revenues of £997m plus £3.3bn through joint ventures for the 12 months ended 31 October 2016, a rise of 24% compared to revenues in 2015.

Profit after tax rose 27% to £195m, which was slightly short of market expectations of £196m due to higher admin costs.

Crest upped the volume of homes it built by 5% to 2,870 and the gross development value of land pipelines was up 2% to £10,646m.

Forward sales at mid-January were £533.3m, 4% ahead of the previous year, securing 37% of this year’s forecast.

The company’s balance sheet also improved with return on capital employed at 31.3% compared to 26.8% in the previous period and net cash at year-end at £77m, up from a net debt of £30.6m in 2015.

The board hefted the total dividend up 27.6p, up 40% on the previous year, with earnings coverage at 2.25 times.

Consumer goods firm PZ Cussons, which produces Imperial Leather soap, reported a 38% drop in pre-tax profit for the first half of the year, due to challenging conditions in Nigeria in Australia, while it maintained that it is on track to meet full year expectations.

For the six months ended 30 November 2016, revenue before exceptional items slipped 2% to £378.2m, or 2.6% on constant currency, compared to the previous year.

This resulted in a 4.5% fall in pre-tax profit before exceptional items, or 55% on constant currency, to £40.2m. But pre-tax profit, after exceptional items, dropped 37.8% to £24.9m.

Profits in sterling were only “slightly lower” with a pre-tax profit and exceptional item of £40.2m, despite a challenging macro environments particularly in Nigeria, the company's largest market.

In Nigeria, liquidity remained poor with the exchange rate weakening on both interbank and secondary markets, due to low oil prices, the country’s main export, which reduced Nigeria’s income. The company said it remains “well placed” to deal with these challenges with strong local brands and local manufacturing for products and an extensive distribution network. It said that as Nigerian consumers are under significant inflationary pressure, the company is able to tailor product sizes to meet demand.

Revenue from Nigeria in the period fell 14% to £135.7m, or just 0.4% on constant currency.

Elsewhere, in Australia there were “tough” trading conditions with higher levels of promotions required to maintain volumes, and there were lower levels of profitability in the first half. New product launches and margin improvement initiatives are planned in order to improve profitability.

IG Group posted a strong set of interim results, though profits were limited by significantly increased marketing spending and developed new lower-risk products to assimilate to the tighter regulatory environment.

The effect of the marketing spend was evident in a 22% year-on-year increase in active customers, new client numbers rising 59% and revenue in the second quarter reaching a record £133.4m, up 23% on the prior year.

For the half year to 30 November net trading revenue climbed 14% to £244.9m as

With the increased marketing leading to a 23% rise in operating costs, profit before tax rose only 6.7% to £105.2m and diluted earnings per share by 7.8% to 22.55p.

An interim dividend of 9.42p per share is intended.

IG admitted to a new uncertainty of outlook created by a number of regulatory developments after the end of the period.