Market News - Page 804

Interim results

Camellia Plc (AIM:CAM) announces its interim results for the six months ended 30 June 2016.

Malcolm Perkins, Chairman of Camellia Plc, stated:

“Profits for the first six months of the year are substantially higher than the same period last year, once again demonstrating the strength in the diversity of the group.”

“Underlying progress was made by all of our businesses, however a number have faced truly challenging conditions either due to weather or markets and the outlook for the group continues to be mixed. In addition, unpredictable weather makes crop volumes hard to predict and has a consequential effect on prices. In the short term the depreciation in sterling against most of our operating currencies in the agricultural division is likely to have a positive impact on our full year results. In the UK, the lowering of the interest rate will inevitably have a detrimental impact on our banking operations and the continuing uncertainty following the EU referendum vote has triggered a slowdown in our engineering businesses. It is too early, and there remain too many uncertainties, to make any prediction for the full year.”…

Unconditional Development Agreement now in place with Aberdeen City Council for the development of their new Exhibition and Conference Centre
Henry Boot PLC announces that late on the 23 August 2016, Henry Boot Developments Limited, the property development arm of the Group, concluded unconditional agreements with Aberdeen City Council for their new exhibition and conference centre, four-star hotel and energy centre. …

Half Yearly Financial Report for the Period ended 30 June 2016

Highlights

Continued improvement in dividend cover increasing to 88.7% from 80.6% as at 2015 year end.
1.4% Net asset value total return
5.3% dividend yield on period end share price
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The Conygar Investment Company PLC (“Conygar”) is pleased to announce that it has been granted detailed planning permission by Carmarthenshire County Council for its 9.96 acre development site in Cross Hands, South West Wales.
The fully serviced site was acquired from Sainsbury's in October 2015, with consent for a 90,000 sq ft store and the revised application was submitted in April 2016.
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Background

The influence of sentiment and interest rate expectations dominated financial markets over the period under review. Widespread uncertainty initially prevailed as falling oil and commodity prices coupled with anxiety over potential higher short term interest rates induced significant market volatility. Constant evidence of lower than expected global growth and benign inflation contradicted consensus opinion of the need for tighter policy. The UK's Referendum on Europe produced a result unanticipated by pollsters or the markets, and an immediate period of market turmoil ensued, the most important outcome of which, for the Company, has been a sharp deterioration in the value of Sterling. For now, policy makers have reacted by retreating from any imminent policy tightening and offering conciliatory statements on monetary policy. Consequently, bond yields have sunk to even deeper historical lows and a tentative mood of optimism has returned to financial markets….

Manchester Building Society's 2016 Interim Results
The Directors of Manchester Building Society (the “Society”) announce that the Society is in the process of preparing its accounts for the 6 months ended 30 June 2016 and plan to issue them before the end of September.
The Directors expect that the accounts will show that there will be a loss for the 6 months. This is largely due to professional costs incurred in exploring options to secure the future of the Society given its Common Equity Tier 1 (“CET1”) regulatory capital position and the ongoing run-off of the balance sheet. In addition, the Society has continued to incur costs in pursuing its claim against Grant Thornton LLP, the Society's previous external auditors.
The Directors expect that as at 30 June 2016 the Society will have met its Individual Capital Guidance (“ICG”) set by the Prudential Regulation Authority but will not meet the qualitative standards for the level of CET1 regulatory capital.
In such circumstances, article 141(3) of the Capital Requirements Directive IV, as a capital conservation measure, prohibits a distribution in connection with CET1 capital and Additional Tier 1 instruments. This would prohibit the payment of interest on both tranches of the Society's Permanent Interest Bearing Shares (“PIBS”).
As a result, the Directors expect that the PIBS coupons, scheduled to be paid in October this year, will not be paid.
The Society's liquidity position remains strong.
The person responsible for arranging the release of this announcement on behalf of Manchester Building Society is Christopher Gee, Society Secretary.
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Results
We saw many positive developments, notably 7% growth in our own beer volumes and our spirits volumes were up by 60% in the first six months of the year. Turnover grew by 7% although our first half operating profit was behind that achieved in 2015. This was as anticipated and included in our AGM statement. We have noted in previous years that as our profits arise more in the second half of the year, the first half result can be quite volatile.
The main reasons for the lower first half result were the expansion of our shop and managed house retail operations, where earnings tend to be stronger in the second half of the year, the increased investment that we have made in marketing and the decline in the Sterling exchange rate.
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11 August 2016
This announcement contains inside information
Young & Co.'s Brewery, P.L.C. (“Young's” or “the Company”)
Board changes
Young's today announces the following changes to its Board of directors.

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