Mainstay of the British High Street Marks & Spener issued its full year results this morning. The company was hit hard by a cyber attack last April and that took a material toll on H1 performance although the note highlighted a theme of recovery moving into the latter part of the year. Food sales were up both in absolute terms and also with growing market share, but other channels contracted. Regardless, overall revenues were up almost 25% and the dividend was raised by 16.7%. The Marks & Spencer share price added around 4% at the open although gave back some of those gains in the first few minutes of trade.
FTSE250 listed industrial product and service provider RS Group released full year numbers this morning, noting another strong year. Operating profits added 2% and the divided was increased by the same amount, although the company also announced a share buyback of £100m. Management have confidence that the positive trends established in the last reporting year are now embedded and whilst there’s a note about the potential risk of geopolitical disruption, the robust structure of the business may well outweigh this. The RS Group share price was up more than 8% in early trade.
Full year results were also out from the water utility Severn Trent, where revenues added 16.6%, adjusted EPS rose by 64.5% and shareholders were rewarded with a 3.5% increase in the dividend. The company did invest £1.9bn worth of capital in the period, reducing pollutions by 35%, whilst bill support to customers of £127m was also issued, but that needs to be set against the fact almost £400m worth of dividends were paid out. The Severn Trent share price was up around 3% shortly after the open.
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Final Results - - Marks & Spencer Group (MKS)
