Broker Upgrades and Downgrades & Key UK Corporate Snapshots 19 November 2015

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Aurum Mining Plc (AUR.L) Announced, in its half year results for six months ended 30 September 2015, that operating loss fell to £89,000 from £172,000 posted in the same period preceding year. The basic and diluted loss per share stood at 0.05p compared to loss of 0.12p reported in the previous year. The company’s cash and cash equivalents stood at £83,000 (2014: £67,000).

Berendsen Plc (BRSN.L) Announced, in its trading update for period from 1 July 2015 to 31 October 2015, that the trading in the period was in line with management’s expectations with higher underlying revenue and operating profit growth since the half year. It sold a site in UK Workwear during the period and the gains of which was largely offset by the £2.1 million closure costs of the Croydon plant which was announced at the half year stage. Workwear made good progress, with Germany revenues, in particular, grew strongly while it increased its market share. The board expects the group to achieve a further year of good underlying progress.

BG Group Plc (BG..L) Announced that the recommended cash and share offer for the Company to be made by Royal Dutch Shell (“Shell”) has received unconditional merger clearance from the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC). The proposed transaction will also require support from both BG Group and Shell shareholders.

Bovis Homes Group Plc (BVS.L) Announced, in its trading update, that the group achieved a weekly private sales growth rate of 20%, ahead of the prior year at 0.62 reservations per site. It has sufficient reservations to deliver the planned volume growth of over 8% in 2015, which represents a record volume of homes for the group, while the construction activity to complete homes targeted for the year is on track. Sales prices continued to be robust and it expects the average sales price for 2015 to be 7% ahead of the previous year. It announced the launch of two new regions in the second half of 2015 to support the growth of the business over the next few years. Its new West Midlands and East Midlands regions have been created by splitting its existing Central region. The recently launched Thames Valley region geared up to deliver its first new homes for which it the secured planning on its first three sites. This new structure provided an improvement in operations focusing on its regional businesses and which will support effective management of its growth strategy. In 2015, it added 25 consented sites and 4,000 plots. The average return on capital employed of the land acquired in 2015 based on investment appraisal at the time of acquisition was 28%.

Caledonia Investments Plc (CLDN.L) Announced, in its half-year results for the six months ended 30 September 2015, that revenue stood at a loss of £46.2 million, compared to £76.5 million in the same period last year. Loss after tax was £55.5 million, compared to £66.6 million. Diluted loss per share stood at 100.7p, compared to 119.3p.

Close Brothers Group Plc (CBG.L) Announced, in its trading update for the first quarter from 1 August 2015 to 31 October 2015 (“the quarter”), that the Banking division continued to deliver solid growth, with the loan book up 2.8% in the three month period to £5.9 billion (31 July 2015: £5.7 billion), reflecting growth across all our lending businesses. Winterflood’s trading has been affected by difficult market conditions since the start of the financial year. Although volumes were broadly unchanged, falling equity markets and volatile trading conditions, particularly in August and September, have resulted in lower profitability compared to the same period last year. Asset Management continued to achieve solid net inflows, although client assets reduced overall due to negative market movements in the period. At 31 October, total client assets were £10.6 billion (31 July 2015: £10.8 billion). The revenue margin has remained broadly stable on the prior financial year. In November it completed the sale of its corporate advice and investment management activities which was announced with the 2015 preliminary results. The disposed businesses had total client assets of £1.3 billion at 31 October.

CRH Plc (CRH.L) Announced, in its interim management statement, that the third quarter trading benefited from continued positive momentum in the Americas where overall economic recovery was driving construction demand. It expects expect full year depreciation and amortisation expense to be in excess of €900 million (2014: €724 million). Net finance costs are expected to be approximately.€400 million (2014: €288 million) reflecting the cost of the increased debt. The backdrop in Europe continues to be mixed but stable. The group continues to maintain a strong focus on prudent financial management, and it remains committed to restoring our debt metrics to normalised levels in 2016. The group reiterates its guidance that 2015 will be a year of growth.

Dart Group Plc (DTG.L) Announced, in its half year results for six months ended 30 September 2015, that revenues rose to £1024.0 million from £902.2 million posted in the same period preceding year. The company’s profit before tax more than doubled to £147.1 million from £72.4 million reported in the previous year. The basic earnings per share stood at 79.82p compared to earnings of 38.93p reported in the previous year. The company further stated that the board has declared an interim dividend of 0.90p per share to be paid on 1 February 2016 to shareholders on the register at 4 January 2016.

Domino’s Pizza Group Plc (DOM.L) Announced that Paul Doughty, Chief Financial Officer, has tendered his resignation and will step down from the Board at the end of the calendar year. The company has started a process of recruiting his replacement and will update the market accordingly. In the meantime David Wild, CEO will assume responsibility for the Group’s finance activities, supported by the internal team.

Electrocomponents Plc (ECM.L) Announced, in its unaudited half-year financial report to 30 September, 2015, that revenue stood at £626.5 million, compared to £616.4 million in the same period last year. Operating profit stood at £22.4 million, compared to £59.7 million. Profit after tax was £13.7 million, compared to £42.2 million. Diluted earnings per share stood at 3.1p, compared to 9.5p. The proposed interim dividend is 5.0p per share (2014: 5.0p).

Euromoney Institutional Investor Plc (ERM.L) Announced, in its unaudited preliminary results for the year ended 30 September 2015, that its total revenue stood at £403.4 million, compared to £406.6 million in the preceding year. Profit after tax was £105.7 million compared to £75.9 million. The company’s diluted earnings per share was 83.38p, compared to 59.15p. The company also announced that the Chairman of the Board will become a non-executive role. John Botts, the company’s senior non-executive director, will serve as interim non-executive Chairman with immediate effect. A search will be undertaken to identify a new independent non-executive Chairman, following which Mr Botts will return to his role as a non-executive director. Andrew Rashbass will move from executive Chairman to the role of CEO, also with immediate effect. Christopher Fordham, Diane Alfano, Bashar AL-Rehany, Neil Osborn and Jane Wilkinson will not seek re-election as executive directors of the Company at the AGM in January 2016. Their executive responsibilities within the business will remain largely unchanged and they will continue as members of the company’s Executive Committee. John Botts will replace Andrew Rashbass as Chairman of the Nominations Committee until an independent non-executive Chairman has been appointed. Mr Botts will also remain Chairman of the Remuneration Committee while the search for the new non-executive Chairman is conducted. Christopher Fordham will step down from the Nominations Committee with immediate effect.

Falkland Islands Holdings Plc (FKL.L) Announced, in its half year results for six months ended 30 September 2015, that revenues fell to £17.7 million from £18.2 million posted in the same period preceding year. The company’s profit before tax rose to £1.4 million from a profit of £1.2 million reported in the previous year. The basic earnings per share stood at 9.5p compared to earnings of 7.5p reported in the previous year. The company further stated that the board has not declared any dividend for the period. The company’s cash and cash equivalents stood at £10.7 million (2014: £4.1 million).

Frontier IP Group Plc (FIPP.L) Announced, in its preliminary results for year ended 30 June 2015, that revenue stood at £1.59 million, compared to £0.79 million in the same period last year. Operating profit stood at £0.65 million, compared to £0.03 million. Profit after tax was £0.65 million, compared to £0.03 million. Diluted earnings per share stood at 2.71p, compared to 0.13p.

Galliford Try Plc (GFRD.L) Announced that its Partnerships business has been appointed to two new significant affordable housing contracts and two new major housing frameworks. Firstly, continuing a successful relationship with the ExtraCare Charitable Trust (ECCT), Partnerships has been contracted to build its eighth extra care village at Hughenden Valley in High Wycombe. The £45 million village will contain 260 one and two-bedroom apartments situated around centralised health and leisure facilities and will be surrounded by landscaped gardens. Secondly, Partnerships has been chosen by Birmingham Municipal Housing Trust (BMHT) to construct a new 116-home development at Jarvis Road in the north of the city. The £16 million scheme will create 58 affordable homes and 58 for open market sale. Additionally, Partnerships has been appointed to the North Yorkshire County Council’s Extra Care Housing Programme Framework. The new framework has an anticipated value of up to £650 million over a six-year period, with a potential four-year extension, and features six named contractors in total. Finally, Partnerships is among the contractors selected for the Hyde Housing Group Main Contractor Framework Agreement. The overall framework is anticipated to be worth up to £1 billion, with Partnerships selected for five out of the eight lots available.

Genus Plc (GNS.L) Announced, in its trading update for the period from 1 July 2015 to 18 November 2015, that the company performed in line with expectations during the period under review. Adjusted profit before tax for the four months to 31 October 2015 increased in constant currency compared with last year’s performance. Volumes grew in porcine but were lower in bovine. Revenues reduced in constant currency primarily as a result of anticipated lower porcine genetic nucleus revenues following the exit of the Génétiporc nucleus in the prior period. As expected, actual currencies were a material headwind in the period. The company continued to make progress towards its strategic objectives during the period under review, and is trading in line with expectations for the financial year 2016.

Grafton Group Plc (GFTU.L) Announced that it had signed an agreement to acquire Isero BV, the leading specialist distributor of tools and fixings that trades from 38 branches in the Netherlands. The company also mentioned that it will announce its trading Update at 7.00am on Tuesday, 12 January 2016 and final Results for the year ended 31 December 2015 at 7.00am on Tuesday, 8 March 2016. Additionally, there is an Interim Management Statement at 7.00am on Tuesday, 10 May 2016, coinciding with the AGM to be held later that day at 10.30am.

Grainger Plc (GRI.L) Announced, in its audited preliminary results for the year ended 30 September 2015, that its reported revenue stood at £244.1 million, compared to £319.1 million in the preceding year. Profit after tax was £42.7 million compared to £74.7 million. The company’s diluted earnings per share was 10.3p, compared to 17.9p. It also announced that it has agreed with its partner, Heitman, to bring forward their exit from their German joint venture (“MH Grainger JV Sarl”, the “JV”) and sell it to a large German investor, for a total consideration of c.€136 million (c.£97 million).

Ideagen Plc (IDEA.L) Announced, in its trading update for the six months ended 31 October 2015, that trading in the first half of the year remained strong. Revenues and adjusted EBITDA are expected to be significantly ahead of the same period last year and in line with market expectations. Following the successful integration of the Gael and EIBS businesses in the prior year, the group expects to show underlying organic core revenue growth of approximately 6% for the period. The board is pleased to announce that the group has just received an Award Decision Notice for its SaaS-based GRC platform, Enlighten. The Award Decision Notice is from a public sector organisation and is expected to be worth £4.9 million over 5 years. The company maintains a strong balance sheet with no debt and cash balances at period end of £5.4 million (31 October 2014: £2.8 million). The company also announced the launch of its new corporate website at www.ideagen.com, reflecting the integration of the acquired businesses and the amalgamation of several previous sites under the one domain.

Investec Plc (INVP.L) Announced, in its unaudited combined consolidated financial results of the company and Investec Limited for the six months ended 30 September 2015, that interest income stood at £849.82 million, compared to £912.65 million in the same period last year. Operating income stood at £949.90 million, compared to £886.11 million. Profit after tax was £216.77 million, compared to £130.02 million. Diluted earnings per share at 19.1p, compared to 11.0p. The board has declared an interim dividend of 9.5p.

Johnson Matthey Plc (JMAT.L) Announced, in its half year results for the six months ended 30 September 2015, that revenues rose to £5,755.1 million from £4,799.9 million recorded in the same period a year ago. Profit after tax widened to £279.3 million from £172.8 million. Working capital improved by £386 million and cash flow conversion was 71%. The board has agreed a special dividend of 150.0p per share in addition to the interim dividend of 19.5p per share.

Leed Resources Plc (LDP.L) Announced, in its final results for year ended 30 June 2015, that net loss rose stood at £23,000 compared to net income of £9,000 posted in the same period preceding year. The company’s loss before tax stood at £0.291 million, compared to a loss of £0.236 million reported in the previous year. The basic and diluted loss per share stood at 0.01p compared to a similar loss in the previous year. The company’s cash and cash equivalents stood at £0.663 million (2014: £1.5 million).

Meggitt Plc (MGGT.L) Announced that it has won a sole-source contract from The Boeing Company to provide the Cargo Smoke Detection System (CSDS) for the Boeing 777X aircraft. Production will start in 2017 from Meggitt’s facility in Simi Valley, California to meet entry into service in 2019.

Poundland Group Plc (PLND.L) Announced, in its unaudited interim results for the six months ended 27 September June 2015, that its reported revenue stood at £561.1 million, compared to £528.2 million in the preceding period. Profit after tax was £3.8 million compared to £7.1 million. The company’s diluted earnings per share was 1.51p, compared to 2.85p.

QinetiQ Group Plc (QQ..L) Announced, in its interim results for the half year ended 30 September 2015, that revenue stood at £370.9 million, compared to £365.6 million in the same period last year. Operating profit stood at £48.9 million, compared to £48.0 million. Profit after tax was £42.0 million, compared to £38.2 million. Diluted earnings per share from continuing operations stood at 7.1p, compared to 5.9p.

Royal Dutch Shell Plc (RDSA.L) Announced that its recommended combination with BG Group plc (“BG”) has received unconditional merger clearance from the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (“ACCC”). Together with the previously announced clearances in Brazil and EU, three of the five pre-conditions to the combination have now been satisfied. The two remaining pre-conditional clearances are from Australia’s Foreign Investment Review Board (FIRB) and China’s Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM). The filing process in China continues to progress well and the combination remains on track for completion in early 2016. Separately, the company announced the Reference Share Price of $24.519 in respect of the third quarter interim dividend of 2015, which was announced on October 29, 2015 at $0.47 per A ordinary share (“A Share”) and B ordinary share (“B Share”) and $0.94 per American Depository Share (“ADS”).

Royal Mail Plc (RMG.L) Announced, in its half year results for the six months ended 27 September 2015, that reported revenues fell to £4,395 million from £ 4,478 million recorded in the same period a year ago. Profit after tax narrowed to £116 million from £125 million. The board has declared a dividend of 7.0p per share for the half year ended 27 September 2015.

Senior Plc (SNR.L) Announced, in its trading update for the four months since 1 July 2015 (the “Period”), that in the Aerospace Division, activity in the Group’s most important market, large commercial aircraft, increased with Boeing and Airbus delivering a combined 448 aircraft in the Period, 2% ahead of 2014. However, at the same time, there have been reducing levels of activity in the regional, business jet and commercial helicopter markets. Margins in the aerospace division have been impacted in the Period due to costs associated with temporary activities to protect customer schedules together with continuing declines in income received from machined waste aluminium, as revert prices continued to fall. In the Flexonics Division, growth in North American heavy truck production has slowed in the Period and demand for agricultural and mining vehicles continues to be weak. Industrial markets, particularly oil and gas related, have continued to weaken, compounded by de-stocking across the sector. On 30 October 2015, Senior issued $80 million (£52.6 million) of new loan notes through a private placement offer. The issuance consists of two tranches, carrying a weighted average fixed coupon rate of 3.67% per annum, with $20 million maturing in October 2022 and $60 million maturing in October 2025. The Group now has committed borrowing facilities of £261.4 million, with a weighted average maturity of 3.9 years. This represents an increase in maturity profile of 1.5 years. The Group remains well positioned for the future as new Aerospace and Flexonics programmes and products enter production, albeit certain of our end markets are likely to remain challenging in 2016. Senior’s continuing investment in state-of-the-art production equipment, and new facilities in Asia and Mexico is helping the Group to remain highly competitive. Together with the Group’s cash generative nature and solid funding position, this gives the Board confidence in the long-term prospects for the Group. Additionally, the company also announced that it has entered into an agreement to acquire 100% of the issued share capital of Steico Industries, Inc from its majority shareholder Mr Troy G. Steiner and two other minority shareholders for a cash consideration of $75 million (£49.3 million) on a debt free/cash free basis. In addition, it has agreed to acquire Steico’s trading facilities from Oceanside Industrial Properties LLC, for $15 million (£9.9 million).

Superglass Holdings Plc (SPGH.L) Announced, in its preliminary results for the year ended 31 August 2015, that revenue stood at £20.83 million, compared to £23.51 million in the same period last year. Operating loss stood at £9.63 million, compared to a loss of £6.65 million. Loss after tax was £8.58 million, compared to a loss of £6.55 million. Diluted loss per share stood at 6.5p, compared to a loss of 23.4p.

Ted Baker Plc (TED.L) Announced, in its trading update for the 13 week period from 16 August 2015 to 14 November 2015, that retail sales for the period increased by 18.1% (18.1% in constant currency) and average retail square footage rose by 7.0% to 352,382 sq.ft (2014: 329,329 sq.ft). These results benefited from the company’s customer event at the end of the period, which fell a week later last year. This good performance was achieved despite a more challenging trading environment in some of our international markets as indicated at the time of the Group’s Interim Results in October. Its international expansion continued with successful openings in Stansted Airport, Amsterdam, Hawaii, Malibu and Toronto, and further concession openings in premium department stores in Germany, Ireland, Spain, North America and South Korea. Our e-commerce business, which also benefited from our customer event, delivered another strong performance with sales increasing 74.3%. Wholesale sales for the period increased 27.0% (25.1% in constant currency) reflecting strong performances from both our UK and North American businesses. The company anticipate Group wholesale sales for the full year to be approximately 28% ahead of last year on a reported basis. The company’s product and territorial licensees continue to perform well with licensed store openings in Singapore and Taiwan and licensed concession openings in Kuwait and Mexico. The brand continues to perform very well and in line with the Board’s expectations. However, as ever, the full year outcome will be dependent on trading during the important Christmas period.

Vesuvius Plc (VSVS.L) Announced, in its trading update for period from 1 July 2015 to date, that the group experienced headwinds in its trading performance on a constant basis, mainly due to the ongoing weak global steel and foundry markets. Sales for the year to the end of October will be 5.2% below the corresponding period last year at constant currency basis. Although it saw a growth in its steel production in India, it was offset by a decline in China and EMEA regions and the continuing reduced levels in US production volumes. Market conditions in the global foundry industry remained challenging, mainly in mining in the US, Brazil and Australasia. Although there has been some improvement over the quarter in light vehicle production, most notably in North America and Europe, steel foundries predominantly servicing capital equipment continued to be affected by the reduction in capital expenditure in all of its major markets. It expects the adverse market conditions to persist for the remainder of the year. It will continue to face these challenges through a combination of ongoing self-help and enhanced restructuring actions. Overall, it expect the full year performance to be towards the lower end of the range of market expectations.

Vodafone Group Plc (VOD.L) Announced its intention to raise around £500 million of new debt financing through a structure combining the issue of equity-linked bonds (the “Bonds”) with the purchase of cash-settled call options to hedge Vodafone’s equity exposure. Concurrently with the Bond issuance, Vodafone will purchase cash-settled call options on Vodafone’s ordinary shares (the “Ordinary Shares”) from Morgan Stanley & Co. International plc or its affiliates to hedge its exposure to pay cash amounts under the Bonds upon any exercise of conversion rights. Vodafone intends to use the net proceeds of the offering of the Bonds for general corporate purposes and for the purchase of the cash-settled call options. The Bonds will be issued at par. The coupon will be determined via an accelerated bookbuilding process in a range from 0.4% to 1.2% per annum. Vodafone intends to apply for the Bonds to be admitted to trading on the Irish Stock Exchange’s EEA Regulated Market or another recognised stock exchange.

Wynnstay Properties Plc (WSP.L) Announced, in its half year results for six months ended 29 September 2015, that property income rose to £0.860 million from £0.808 million posted in the same period preceding year. The company’s profit before tax stood at £0.405 million, compared to a profit of £0.436 million reported in the previous year. The basic earnings per share stood at 11.8p compared to earnings of 12.7p reported in the previous year. The company further stated that the board has declared an interim dividend of 5.0p per share, which will be paid on 18th December 2015 to those shareholders on the register on 27th November 2015.