FTSE 100 Stuck In March Range, Results Round Up May 18th

After a couple of indifferent days the FTSE 100 is stuck back in the range that held it trapped during March. Oil continued its climb toward $50 but halted, Gold still holds above $1250, whilst Technology Hardware & Equipment and Mobile Telecommunications are the leading sectors in the UK during early trading on the 18th May.

There’s been some company results reported to the markets today. Here’s some short snapshots of what was released.

SABMiller PLC (SAB) reported a drop in full year profits from $4830M in 2015 to $4074M for 2016. Also down was revenue to $19,833M from $22,130m in 2015. Dividend was hiked by 8%.
Alan Clark, Chief Executive, said: “These are good results. We grew EBITA across all regions and our group EBITA margin improved through the year, on an underlying basis.” and, “As noted through the year, the strengthening dollar against our operating currencies had a material negative impact on reported results.”

Burberry Group PLC (BRBY) announced preliminary results for the year ended 31 March 2016. Revenue was £2.5bn, down 1% underlying, adjusted profit before tax down £35m to £421m. However it was also announced that full year dividend is at 37p, up 5%, and a share buyback of up to £150m is going to commence in 2017.

Christopher Bailey, Chief Creative and CEO, stated: “While we expect the challenging environment for the luxury sector to continue in the near term, we are firmly committed to making the changes needed to drive Burberry’s future outperformance, underpinned by strong brand and business fundamentals.”.

Marston’s PLC (MARS), the high quality pub and beer business, announced a turnaround in their Interim results for the last 26 week period, with a profit before tax up 11.8% to £33.1 million. This compares to a loss of £27.5M in 2015. Revenue was also up 11.5% to £428.7 million. They stated that operating profit was able to grow by 16% due to the Thwaites acquisition.

Ralph Findlay, CEO stated: “We are encouraged by our first half performance and are on track to meet our expectations for the year. In pubs, we have driven our growth by the organic development of pub-restaurants and franchise-style p