Tag Archives: Nigel Wilson

Business, Finance, Occupation & Industry

3 More FTSE 100 Dividends Lifted This Week

Leave a comment

By Alan Oscroft, The Motley Fool

Filed under:

LONDON — The FTSE 100 rose another 0.18% today to close at 6,439 points after bouncing as high as 6,460 earlier in the day — just a point short of the 52-week intraday high of 6,461 it set yesterday. The market has been strengthened by a series of upbeat company results this week, with a number of companies paying out bigger dividends.

Against the FTSE‘s average dividend yield of about 3%, here are some companies from the top tier that have all boosted their payouts this week.

Xstrata
Xstrata and Glencore , the two partners in the ongoing FTSE 100 megamerger, both released annual results on Tuesday — and both raised their full-year dividends. Xstrata’s dividend was boosted by 14% to $0.455 per share after the miner reported pre-exceptional earnings per share of $1.24. And Glencore, after revealing EPS of $0.44, announced a $0.1575 per-share dividend, up 5%.

Next year, of course, we should be seeing combined results and a combined dividend. The final steps in the merger have been delayed, but it should all be done and dusted by April 16. Xstrata shares are currently trading at 1,150 pence, with Glencore at 385 pence.

Legal & General
Legal & General Group raised its annual dividend on Wednesday by 20% to 7.65 pence per share, up from 6.4 pence in 2011. That represents a yield of 4.7% at a share price of 164 pence — and after fellow insurers RSA and Aviva cut their final dividends, Legal & General’s is pretty much in line with the sector.

Chief executive Nigel Wilson said, “Our 20% increase in dividend is underpinned by 12% EPS growth and strong cash flow.” Current forecasts suggest a further dividend rise of 7% to 8.2 pence per share for 2013.

Melrose
Final results from Melrose Industries on Wednesday allowed the manufacturing turnaround specialist to lift its full-year dividend by 2.7% to 7.6 pence per share. On today’s 260 pence share price, that’s a yield of 2.9%, which is perhaps not a payout that income investors would dream of, but the share price has quadrupled since early 2009.

Melrose, which buys up struggling companies and revamps them, has been growing its earnings and dividends for years, and forecasts suggest more of the same for 2013 and 2014.

Dividend rises like these three are always welcome, and companies that manage steady payouts form the cornerstones of many a portfolio. Whether you’re investing for income or growth, good old cash is always welcome. And that’s why I recommend the brand-new Fool report “The Motley Fool’s Top Income Share For 2013,” in which our top analysts identify a share they believe will provide handsome dividend income for years to come. But it will only be available for a limited period, so click here to get your copy today.

The article 3 More FTSE 100 Dividends Lifted This Week originally appeared on Fool.com.

…read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance

Business, Finance, Occupation & Industry

Legal & General Group Lifts Dividend By 20% to Yield 4.7%

Leave a comment

By Maynard Paton, The Motley Fool

Filed under:

LONDON — The shares of Legal & General  climbed 1 pence to 163 pence during early trade this morning after the general insurer lifted its full-year dividend by 20%.

A 7.65 pence per share payout was declared for 2012, up from 6.4 pence per share for 2011.

The dividend news accompanied 12-month results that showed annual premiums up 15% to 2.1 billion pounds and pre-tax profits up 9% to 1 billion pounds. The company said sales of individual annuities jumped 26% while investment assets under management advanced 9% to 406 billion pounds.

Nigel Wilson, Legal & General’s chief executive, said:

Legal & General’s double-digit sales growth in 2012 broke records, again demonstrating that customers value our insurance, savings and investment propositions. An uncertain, sluggish economy has had minimal impact. The more important growth drivers for us are ageing populations, falling state spending on welfare and new long-term investment opportunities as banks retrench.

Looking ahead, Mr Wilson claimed Legal & General had the capability and “focused ambition” to grow earnings further during 2013 and beyond.

He also said the insurer would, following the introduction of new pension rules, “auto-enroll” more than 150,000 employees from Alliance Boots, Asda, Co-operative Group, and Marks & Spencer into a new workplace savings scheme.

Based on today’s figures, Legal & General is valued at 12 times earnings and offers a 4.7% income.

Of course, whether this morning’s results, the share-price valuation and the wider prospects for the insurance sector all combine to make Legal & General a buy remains your decision.

However, if you already own Legal & General shares and are looking for an alternative dividend opportunity, this exclusive in-depth report reviews an attractive alternative.

In fact, the blue chip in question offers a 5.7% income and has just been declared the “Motley Fool’s Top Income Stock For 2013”!

Just click here to download the report — it’s free.

The article Legal & General Group Lifts Dividend By 20% to Yield 4.7% originally appeared on Fool.com.

Maynard does not own any share mentioned in this article. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days.

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

(function(c,a){window.mixpanel=a;var b,d,h,e;b=c.createElement(“script”);
b.type=”text/javascript”;b.async=!0;b.src=(“https:”===c.location.protocol?”https:”:”http:”)+
‘//cdn.mxpnl.com/libs/mixpanel-2.2.min.js’;d=c.getElementsByTagName(“script”)[0];
d.parentNode.insertBefore(b,d);a._i=[];a.init=function(b,c,f){function d(a,b){
var c=b.split(“.”);2==c.length&&(a=a[c[0]],b=c[1]);a[b]=function(){a.push([b].concat(
Array.prototype.slice.call(arguments,0)))}}var g=a;”undefined”!==typeof f?g=a[f]=[]:
f=”mixpanel”;g.people=g.people||[];h=[‘disable’,’track’,’track_pageview’,’track_links’,
‘track_forms’,’register’,’register_once’,’unregister’,’identify’,’alias’,’name_tag’,
‘set_config’,’people.set’,’people.increment’];for(e=0;e<h.length;e++)d(g,h[e]);
a._i.push([b,c,f])};a.__SV=1.2;})(document,window.mixpanel||[]);
mixpanel.init("9659875b92ba8fa639ba476aedbb73b9");

function addEvent(obj, evType, fn, useCapture){
if (obj.addEventListener){
obj.addEventListener(evType, fn, useCapture);
…read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance