Shares of Booker Group (BOK), which supplies convenience stores, have re-rated to a price-to-earnings multiple of 20 times, versus the high 20’s in the not so distant past. Curiously, that comes, in part, as a result of investors – somewhat oddly – perceiving it as an online retailer. More justifiably, markets are cognizant of the fact that the company’s margins did take some damage from the “supermarket wars”.
Nonetheless, the company’s like-for-like sales were 3.6 per cent higher for the 12 weeks to June 20th and the catering sector, which accounts for a third of its sales, is set to grow. There is also every chance for another special return to shareholders of 3.5p this year, to be followed by another payment next July. In any case, the drop in the stock means that it is now offering a yield in excess of 5 per cent. “That looks like a good reason to buy again,” writes The Times’s Tempus.
In its investor day presentation Aviva (AV.) projected that its holding company cash flow – essentially what is available for dividend payments – will reach £800m by 2016, up from £400m last year. However, analysts had been expecting more. The company is trading at a forecast 3.4 per cent dividend yield. That is ahead of the likes of Prudential, but lags Legal&General, Standard Life, Axa or Allianz.
As well, reaching the above target entails a lot of ‘ifs’, such as cost cutting, lowering servicing costs for intra-group debt and better management of existing written business. Even so, on £800m in cash flow, and assuming all of it is paid out, would put the company on a 2016 dividend yield of 5.5 per cent. The possibility is worth the wait, writes the Financial Times’ Lex column.
BUSINESS PRESS HEADLINES:
Qatar Holding is to trim its 15 per cent stake in the owner of the London Stock Exchange by a third ahead of a $1.6bn rights issue by the British bourse to fund its acquisition of Russell Investments. The Middle East investor on Wednesday night instructed Citigroup and Bank of America Merrill Lynch to sell a 4.83 per cent stake in LSE Group in an overnight accelerated bookbuild process. The sale is expected to have been completed by the time the market opens on Thursday morning, with the shares likely to be sold to a broad range of institutions rather than a single buyer. – The Daily Telegraph
Lufthansa may launch low-cost long-haul flights under a new brand as part of plans to attract more price conscious travellers and battle competition from Middle East carriers and low-cost airlines, its new Chief Executive has said. Carsten Spohr, who took the reins of Europe's largest airline by revenue in May, needs to win back investors after a profit warning last month wiped $2bn (£1.2bn) off the airline's market value in a single day. – The Guardian
Nemat Shafik was forced to defend her suitability as the Bank of England’s new Deputy Governor to MPs who questioned whether she had the right “experience” for the job. During a grilling by the Treasury Select Committee ahead of her joining the Bank in August, Ms Shafik, who is known as Minouche, was told she would have a “much wider range of responsibilities than [she] had had historically”. – The Daily Telegraph
Israel intensified its attacks on Gaza yesterday, pounding Hamas targets as leaders warned that a weeks-long ground offensive could soon be under way. Binyamin Netanyahu, the prime minister, said that his security cabinet had agreed to step up military operations after a day when militants in Gaza fired rockets at the reactor where Israel’s nuclear weapons are believed to be made. – The Times
Angry unions rounded on Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY) yesterday after it embarked on a fresh round of job cuts that will take staff losses to just under 30,000 since it was created in 2009. Unite accused Lloyds of “continuous salami slicing”, with details of cuts and redundancies leaking into the market every few months. Its latest cull, part of 15,000 cuts that the bank embarked on three years ago, will hit almost 500 staff. – The Times
Vince Cable has attempted to head off what will be an excoriating attack on him by MPs later this week over the sale of the Royal Mail (RMG) by calling in a former Labour City minister to head an inquiry into government privatisations. The business secretary has called on Lord Myners to look into whether “bookbuilding” is the best way to market the flotation of taxpayer-owned assets — or whether there are better ways of offering shares in the range of state companies due to come to market, including the partially Treasury-owned banks, the Land Registry, the Urenco nuclear fuels company and Eurostar. – The Times
