Kingfisher FY Adj. Pre-tax Profit Rises; LFL Sales Up 9.9%

Kingfisher PLC (KGF.L) said it has delivered a very strong financial performance for the year ended 31 January 2022. Adjusted pre-tax profit increased 20.9%, reflecting higher retail profit and lower net finance costs. Retail profit were up 16.7% in constant currency, driven by strong growth in UK & Ireland and France. Sales increased 9.7% in constant currency, driven by strong demand across both retail and trade channels. Like-for-like sales were up 9.9%, for the period. Looking ahead, the Group said it is comfortable with the current consensus of sell-side analyst estimates for fiscal 22/23 adjusted pre-tax profit .

Fiscal year adjusted pre-tax profit increased to 949 million pounds from 786 million pounds, prior year. Adjusted earnings per share was 34.8 pence compared to 28.5 pence.

Statutory pre-tax profit was 1.01 billion pounds compared to 756 million pounds, last year. Earnings per share increased to 39.8 pence from 27.9 pence. Sales increased to 13.18 billion pounds from 12.34 billion pounds, previous year.

The Board has proposed a final dividend per share of 8.60 pence. This results in a proposed total dividend per share of 12.40 pence in respect of fiscal 21/22, which is 50% higher than the prior year. The final dividend will be paid on 27 June 2022 to shareholders on the register at close of business on 20 May 2022.

Softcat HY Profit Rises – Quick Facts

Softcat plc (SCT.L), UK provider of IT infrastructure products and services, reported that its profit attributable to owners of the company for the six months to 31 January 2022 rose to 52.02 million pounds or 26.0 pence per share from 46.23 million pounds or 23.2 pence per share in the previous year.

Operating profit was 64.1 million pounds, up 12.4% from the prior year, reflecting the 11.7% increase in gross profit and 11.2% rise in operating costs.

Revenue grew to 770.93 million pounds from 576.99 million pounds in the previous year.

The company now believes that the outturn for the full year will be ahead of previous estimates.

Softcat announced the appointment of Lynne Weedall as an independent non-executive Director of the Company and chair of the Remuneration Committee with effect from 3 May 2022.

The company declared an interim dividend of 7.3 pence per share compared to 6.4 pence per share paid last year. The interim dividend will be payable on 13 May 2022 to shareholders on the register at the close of business on 8 April 2022.

Symrise Submits Binding Offer To Acquire SFA Romani; Announces Full Acquisition Of Groupe Neroli

Symrise (SYIEY.PK,SYIEF.PK) said it has submitted a binding offer to acquire 100% of R. Romani – Société Française d’Aromatiques or SFA Romani, a family-owned fragrance house specialized in high-end fine fragrance products. The company would acquire SFA Romani from its current owners, the Romani-Caruso family, Keensight Capital and Sofipaca.

Symrise also submitted a binding offer to fully acquire Neroli Invest DL or Groupe Neroli. Last November, the company had announced a joint venture with Groupe Neroli. Now, it decided to fully acquire the shares.

“These two acquisitions represent another step forward in strengthening Symrise’s fine fragrance business and are fully in line with our strategic objective to accelerate our growth in this business area”, said Ricardo Omori, Global SVP Fine Fragrance of Symrise AG.

Pre-market Movers: ENSV, ZH, POLA, HUSN, MOR…

The following are some of the stocks making big moves in Tuesday’s pre-market trading (as of 07.10 A.M. ET).

In the Green

Enservco Corporation (ENSV) is up over 16% at $3.95
Zhihu Inc. (ZH) is up over 13% at $2.94
Polar Power, Inc. (POLA) is up over 12% at $3.69
Alibaba Group Holding Limited (BABA) is up over 8% at $112.61
KE Holdings Inc. (BEKE) is up over 8% at $13.20
VNET Group, Inc. (VNET) is up over 7% at $6.70
Itaú Unibanco Holding S.A. (ITUB) is up over 7% at $5.82
Tencent Music Entertainment Group (TME) is up over 6% at $4.96
NIKE, Inc. (NKE) is up over 5% at $137.85
Youdao, Inc. (DAO) is up over 5% at $8.73

In the Red

Hudson Capital Inc. (HUSN) is down over 12% at $2.31
MorphoSys AG (MOR) is down over 10% at $6.38
Cyren Ltd. (CYRN) is down over 10% at $8.17
Okta, Inc. (OKTA) is down over 9% at $153.83

European Economics Preview: Germany PPI Data Due

Producer prices data from Germany is due on Monday, headlining a light day for the European economic news.

At 2.00 am ET, Destatis is scheduled to issue Germany’s producer prices for February. Producer price inflation is forecast to rise to 26.2 percent year-on-year from 25.0 percent in January.

At 3.30 am ET, European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde is set to speak at event of Institut Montaigne.

At 5.00 am ET, retail sales data is due from Poland. Economists expect retail sales to climb 16.7 percent on a yearly basis in February after rising 20.0 percent in January.

Why Sonoco Is Rising In Pre-market?

Sonoco (SON) said it now expects first-quarter base earnings to be in a range of $1.70 and $1.80 per share which is approximately 35 percent above the previously issued guidance range of $1.25 and $1.35 per share. Sonoco expects its operating results to be significantly better than previously expected due to strong price/cost recovery across most of its businesses. Operating results also are benefitting from the acquisition of Ball Metalpack, and stronger than expected demand in both Consumer Packaging segment and All Other group of businesses.

The company projects first-quarter GAAP earnings to be in a range of $0.80 to $0.90 per share.

Shares of Sonoco were up 3% in pre-market trade on Tuesday.