Updates from RBS, Travis Perkins and Just Eat
A 7.6-point drop for the FTSE 100 on Monday taking the index to 6,688.6. Intertek Group soared more than 11% to 2721p on robust quarterly revenue numbers while Rolls-Royce was up almost 6% to 841p as US activist investor ValueAct exerted its grip on turnaround hopes for the struggling aerospace player. BA owner IAG climbed 3%; the start of the week saw AngloAmerican and BHPBilliton take close to 4% dips, to 779p and 1137p.
The Dow Jones saw a 91-point drop to 17,598.2 as energy companies again - particularly Chevron and ExxonMobil - took the heat from the sliding price of oil: crude slumped to its lowest level since early spring.
The most significant news this morning is RBS: shares in the bank have been sold onto institutional investors by the Treasury at approximately 330p per share, around a 7% discount. Just over £2bn was raised on the back of 630m shares sold.
The taxpayer's stake in RBS should now fall to around 73.2%. Originally RBS was bailed out with more than £45bn of taxpayer's cash back in 2008-2009 at more than 500p per share on average. It's likely George Osborne will want to sell 75% of RBS in the current election term.
Meanwhile autumn will bring more stress tests on the banking industry plus scrutiny from the competition watchdog - reason enough, the Government may have reasoned, to get some shares into private hands.
We shift the attention next onto Travis Perkinswith revenues climbing 7.8% to £2,943m for the first half of the year; operating profit climbs 5.7% to £185m. Basic earnings per share climb 1.6% to 51.3p.
The interim dividend is upped 20.4% to 14.75p, reflecting confidence in future growth prospects claims Travis Perkins and it anticipates full year results in line with previous expectations - including low double-digit profit growth.
"Our key strategic priorities are unchanged," it says, "modernising General Merchanting, transforming Wickes and completing the Plumbing & Heating re-segmentation programme."
Lastly, Just Eat claims revenues up 54% to £107.8m (H1 2014: £69.8m), up 58% on a forex-neutral basis says Just Eat with orders up 52% to 41.9m (H1 2014: 27.5m); like-for-like orders climb 47%.
Underlying earnings surges up 62% to £25.8m (H1 2014: £15.9m). Basic earnings per share is up 42% to 1.7p (H1 2014: 1.2p); adjusted basic earnings per share climbs 41% to 3.1p (H1 2014: 2.2p).
"I am particularly pleased," says boss David Buttress, "to see the results of our mobile strategy which has already created a much improved experience for our app and mobile users."
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