Friday, 29 Mar 2024

Spain’s King Felipe invites Socialist leader to form a government

Dixons Carphone Reports Narrower Pretax Loss In H1; LFL Revenue Down 1%

Dixons Carphone plc (DC.L) reported a pretax loss of 86 million pounds for the half year ended 26 October 2019 compared to a loss of 440 million pounds, prior year. Excluding IFRS 16, loss before tax was 64 million pounds, for the period. Loss per share from continuing operations was 6.0 pence compared to a loss of 39.7 pence. Group adjusted profit before tax declined to 24 million pounds from 60 million pounds, previous year.

First half Group revenue from continuing operations declined 4 percent, or a decline of 3 percent in local currency, to 4.71 billion pounds. Like-for-like revenue was down 1 percent for the first half period.

For fiscal 2020, the Group continues to project adjusted profit before tax to be around 210 million pounds. All medium-term guidance remains unchanged.

The Board has declared an interim dividend of 2.25 pence per share. The ex-dividend date is 24 December 2019, with a record date of 27 December 2019.

The Group said it will publish peak trading statement on 21 January 2020.

Jeremy Corbyn votes: Labour leader greeted by crowds as he heads to polling station

The Labour leader, 70, promised higher public spending, nationalisation of key services, taxes on the wealthy and another referendum on Brexit throughout the election campaign. He was spotted walking to his local polling station in Islington, north London to vote.

MORE TO FOLLOW.

Keller Sees 2019 Performance In Line With Market View; Name Michael Speakman CEO

Keller Group plc (KLR.L) announced that its board continues to expect performance for 2019 to be in line with market expectations. Keller also announced separately that it has named its interim chief executive officer, Michael Speakman, to the permanent role with immediate effect.

Keller also has undertaken a review of its strategy, resulting in the group rationalising its geographic presence and exiting certain non-core services. The company plans to make a phased withdrawal from South America, where market conditions remain challenging. The company expects its APAC division to return to profit for the full year. Keller have also commenced a strategic review of Franki Africa activities.

The company expects 2019 net debt/EBITDA to be at or below 1.5x on an IAS17 basis and strong cash flow to result in further deleveraging. The company’s board also confirmed that it intends to maintain the current progressive dividend policy.

Superdry Posts Pretax Loss In H1; Revenue Down 11% – Quick Facts

Superdry plc (SDRY.L,SEPGF.PK,SEPGY.PK) reported a loss before tax of 4.2 million pounds for the 26 weeks ended 26 October 2019 compared to profit of 26.4 million pounds, prior year. Loss per share was 7.9 pence compared to profit of 24.7 pence. Pre-IFRS 16, loss before tax was 1.7 million pounds, for the period.

For the first-half, underlying loss before tax was 2.3 million pounds compared to profit of 12.9 million pounds. Pre-IFRS 163, underlying profit before tax declined to 0.2 million pounds from 12.9 million pounds. Underlying basic earnings per share pre-IFRS 163 was 0.2 pence compared to 11.9 pence.

First-half Group revenue decreased 11.0 percent to 369.1 million pounds from previous year. This decline was driven by declines across all channels. Retail division revenues decreased 11.4 percent to 215.1 million pounds from 242.8 million pounds.

The Board announced an interim dividend of 2.0 pence per share. The dividend will be paid on 24 January 2020 to shareholders on the register at the close of business on 20 December 2019.

Stocks To Watch – Dec. 5 (CMTL, POWL)

What makes these stocks interesting?

Powell Industries Inc. (POWL)

* Q4 net income was $6.5 million or $0.56 per share versus $1.5 million or $0.13 per share last year; Consensus – $0.38/Shr.

* Q4 revenues rose to $148.5 million from $134.9 million last year.

**

Comtech Telecommunications Corp. (CMTL)

FY20, Q2 Outlook

* Comtech updates FY20 GAAP EPS target to a range of $1.28 – $1.42.

* Comtech now sees FY20 non-GAAP EPS to about $1.42 – $1.56 from prior issued range of $1.35 – $1.50; Consensus – $1.38 per share.

* Comtech raises FY20 net sales target to about $712.0 million – $732.0 million from prior range of $710.0 million – $730.0 million; Consensus – $718.78 million.

* Comtech expects Q2 net sales to range from $168.0 million to $170.0 million; Consensus – $173.22 million.

Q1 Results

* Q1 net income was $6.39 million or $0.26 per share versus $3.47 million or $0.14 per share last year; Consensus -$0.16 per share.

* Q1 net sales grew 5.9% to $170.3 million from $160.8 million last year.

***

Spain’s King Felipe invites Socialist leader to form a government

MADRID (AP) — Spain’s King Felipe VI on Wednesday asked caretaker Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez to try and form a government, even though the Socialist leader appeared short of political support.

Sánchez’s Socialist party collected most votes in last month’s general election and has 120 seats in parliament.

But that is shy of a majority in the 350-seat chamber, whose approval Sánchez needs to take office.

Sánchez is trying to negotiate the support of rival parties to end the deadlock. He has already cut a deal with the left-wing United We Can party, which has 35 seats, but needs more votes.

Under Spain’s Constitution, the monarch invites a political leader to form a government. Parliament Speaker Meritxell Batet said the monarch invited Sánchez after consulting with him and other party leaders over two days.

Sánchez has occupied the prime minister’s office and headed the Cabinet since June 2018, being in a caretaker role since snap elections last April and last month resulted in parliamentary stalemate.

November’s snap election was the fourth in four years in the European Union’s fifth-largest economy.

If no party is able to form a government, a fresh election could be held next year.

Related Posts