In the context of its "challenging trading and economic conditions", the fairly flat market response which greeted Jardine Lloyd Thompson' s (JLT) full-year results should probably be seen as a plus. Indeed, there were several strong sources of encouragement for the insurance broker on these numbers, not least of which was a slight gain in underlying pre-tax profit to £173m.
Excluding the big investment in the US speciality division - which booked a $37m (£27m) loss in the period - underlying earnings would have actually edged up 5 per cent to £200m, reflecting favourable currency movements and a decent performance from the JLT reinsurance business. The UK employee benefits division, which needed restructuring after struggling in the first six months of the year, saw an improvement in margins and now promises "a return to growth in revenues and profits". A target to nearly double the division's trading profit margin to 15 per cent in 2018 sounds like a big task, but with the US business set to remain loss-making until the following year, every little helps.
Panmure Gordon is asking for full-year underlying pre-tax profits of £216m and EPS of 63.2p, rising to £246m and 73.1p in 2018.
JARDINE LLOYD THOMPSON (JLT) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ORD PRICE: | 1,038p | MARKET VALUE: | £2.27bn | |
| TOUCH: | 1,037-1,040p | 12-MONTH HIGH: | 1,070p | LOW: 789p |
| DIVIDEND YIELD: | 3.1% | PE RATIO: | 27 | |
| NET ASSET VALUE: | 150p* | NET DEBT: | 141% | |
| Year to 31 Dec | Turnover (£bn) | Pre-tax profit (£m) | Earnings per share (p) | Dividend per share (p) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2012 | 0.88 | 152 | 46.7 | 25.5 |
| 2013 | 0.98 | 155 | 46.6 | 27.2 |
| 2014 | 1.10 | 160 | 47.9 | 28.9 |
| 2015 | 1.16 | 155 | 48.6 | 30.6 |
| 2016 | 1.26 | 135 | 38.6 | 32.2 |
| % change | +9 | -13 | -21 | +5 |
Ex-div: 30 Mar Payment: 4 May *Includes intangible assets of £645m, or 295p a share. | ||||
