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Business, Finance, Occupation & Industry

FTSE Shares That Soared This Week

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By Alan Oscroft, The Motley Fool

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LONDON — The FTSE 100 was more upbeat this week, after a number of positive earnings reports from some of the U.K.’s biggest public companies helped send it up 140 points (2.2%) to 6,426. That’s still some way down from the five-year high of 6,534 points that the index of top U.K. stocks set on March 12, but it’s a nice pullback from recent falls.

Here are four of the companies that gave the FTSE a boost this week.

Standard Life
Insurer Standard Life led the FTSE 100 with a rise of 53 pence (16%) to 387 pence over the week, after the company announced that its total assets under management rose 7% to 233 billion pounds during its first quarter. The company also told us business was doing well in Canada, saying it “remains well placed in the growing pension market.” Forecasts for the full year put Standard Life on a P/E of 15, just slightly ahead of the FTSE‘s long-term average of around 14, and there’s a dividend yield of about 4% expected.

ARM Holdings
A bumper set of first-quarter results sent the price of chip designer ARM Holdings soaring on Tuesday, and it ended the week up 106 pence (12.2%) to 979 pence. Earnings per share surged by 58% to 5.31 pence, after the number of ARM-based chips shipped during the quarter climbed by 35% to 2.6 billion and helped push revenue up 28% to 170 million pounds and pre-tax profit up 44% to 89.4 million pounds. CEO Warren East told us that “ARM‘s royalty revenues again outpaced the wider semiconductor industry.”

Lloyds Banking Group
Lloyds Banking Group, which is the result of a series of mergers of Lloyds Bank, Trustee Savings Bank, and HBOS, announced on Wednesday that it is to split off the TSB arm again. A total of 632 of Lloyds’ branches will be rebranded as TSB Bank, and the new division will be floated on the stock market. The cooperative had originally agreed (in non-binding terms) to acquire the branches, but Lloyds confirmed that it has pulled out of the deal. Lloyds stock gained 5.4 pence (11.4%) to 52.9 pence by the end of Friday.

Associated British Foods
Associated British Foods, which owns the successful Primark clothing chain, pleased the market with an upbeat first-half report, sending its stock up 78 pence (4.2%) to 1,925 pence. The six months to March 2 saw revenue up 10% to 6,333 million pounds, with adjusted EPS up 22% to 41.9 pence, and the interim dividend was lifted by 10% to 9.35 pence per share. These results, according to the board, “exceeded our expectations at the start of the year.”

What now?
Dividends form a core part of many a successful long-term portfolio. Whether you need that income to live on, or want to reinvest it for the long term, there’s nothing wrong with collecting robust and attractive payouts. And that’s what the Fool’s

Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance

Business, Finance, Occupation & Industry

Should I Buy Barclays for My ISA?

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By Tony Reading, The Motley Fool

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LONDON — If you’re looking to tuck some money away for a few years, then it can make sense to invest in growth stocks — companies whose earnings should rise faster than average.

It’s important to identify where the growth will come from. For example, a company could:

  • be in a new or expanding market, such an ARM
  • be entering foreign markets, such as Unilever
  • be growing market share, such as Associated British Foods‘ Primark fashion chain
  • be in a cyclical industry on the upturn, such as house building
  • be a turnaround or recovery story, such as AstraZeneca or BP

Does Barclays  have any of these characteristics?

Turnaround
First, Barclays is a turnaround story. The strategy review from new boss Antony Jenkins was something of a damp squib; nothing like the scythe that John McFarlane took to Aviva. Mr Jenkins‘ intention seems to have been more to restore Barclays’ tattered reputation.

But the transformation story has much further to run. Sky News reported that Mr. Jenkins told investors he envisaged a bank with 100,000 employees rather than its current 140,000.

Out of the doldrums
Secondly, banking is in the doldrums. Partly that’s the poor state of the economy, and partly it’s because bankers loaded their balance sheets with dodgy assets. However, those issues should gradually improve. 

Barclays currently trades at 0.6 times its book value. A well-run bank in a decent economy should be valued at double that multiple.

To boldly go
Thirdly, Mr Jenkins has identified where he is going to invest: geographically in the U.K., U.S., and Africa; segmentally in U.K. mortgages, Barclaycard, and wealth management. In the long term, those businesses, especially within Africa, should power Barclays’ growth.

These are three reasons why Barclays has great upside potential. But beware — with the massive overhang of debt in developed economies and the eurozone primed to blow up over the smallest spark, it could be a bumpy ride.

ISA time
Whether or not you fancy Barclays, it’s worth thinking about investing in an ISA before the deadline of 5 April. With shares sheltered within ISAs, you don’t pay any capital gains tax, and the dividends aren’t liable to additional income tax. You also don’t declare ISAs on your tax form, either, saving you paperwork. There’s more information about ISAs here.

For an opportunity with a lower-risk profile than Barclays, I recommend you read about this company. It has survived bigger changes in its industry than the banks have undergone, yet it hasn’t made a capital call on its shareholders in more than 70 years. It has increased or held its dividend every year since 1988, too.

Earnings per share have gone up by 44% since 2009, and there could be considerable value that isn’t reflected in the share price. That’s why it’s the Motley Fool‘s Top Growth Stock for 2013.

You can learn more by downloading this free report by clicking here.

The article Should I Buy Barclays for My ISA? originally appeared on Fool.com.

Tony owns shares in Unilever, Associated British …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance

Business, Finance, Occupation & Industry

Associated British Foods Falls on Analyst Downgrades

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By Sam Robson, The Motley Fool

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LONDON — Shares in Associated British Foods  dropped off today as the market opened, as Evolution Securities downgraded the company to an “underperform” rating.

The investment banking firm isn’t the only one that has concerns over ABF recently. In a research note to investors at the beginning of the month, analysts at Barclays Capital reiterated an “overweight” rating on the diversified international food, ingredients, and retail group; Nomura reiterated a “neutral” rating on ABF‘s shares in mid-February; while Jefferies Group reaffirmed a “hold” rating late last month.

ABF has had to face some negative headlines over the last month, having to forcibly deny allegations that it is illegally or immorally avoiding paying millions of pounds worth of tax in Zambia. Elsewhere, it has been slated by the charity Oxfam, as it was billed as the least ethical food and drinks company, with its supply chain slammed, in particular, for a lack of transparency. 

Associated British Foods fell 21p, or 1%, to 1,845p after impressive growth so far in 2013 that had seen the multinational company’s share price put on over 300p, boosted by its Primark brand seeing “exceptionally strong” sales.

ABF was one of the FTSE 100’s best performers last year; a forecast yield of 1.7%, as well the company’s three-fold increase in share price over the last five years, gave Associated British Foods its name as a growth share favourite.

If you’re unsettled by ABF following analysts’ downgrades, you could do worse than to check out our latest free report, “The Motley Fool’s Top Growth Share For 2013.“ The company our analysts have pinpointed has lifted its earnings per share by 46% since 2009, and owns subsidiaries that might carry “considerable value” not reflected within the shares. Just click here to get your copy delivered to your inbox immediately.


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The article Associated British Foods Falls on Analyst Downgrades originally appeared on Fool.com.


Sam Robson does not own shares in Associated British Foods. The Motley Fool recommends Associated British Foods. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

Copyright © 1995 – 2013 The Motley Fool, LLC. All rights reserved. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

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Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance