Taylor Wimpey TW It is difficult to say whether Taylor Wimpey is living in cloud cuckoo land, never never land or is taking a leaf out of the Oscars book and moving into La La land. Its main proposition is that price rises are healthy for its customers, so in 2016 it did its best to ensure that its customers were kept very healthy with increases of 10.9% in average selling prices, despite cost increases being kept to a mere 3-4%. In the true caring spirit which imbues all housebuilders, it intends to ensure that customers will face more price increases in 2017, when it expects to see a repeat of the 3-4% increase in building costs.
TW claims that the year to 31st December produced an excellent performance and that 2017 will see a continuation of robust trading and levels of demand. 2016 revenue rose by 17.1%, profit before tax by 21.5% and basic earnings per share by 19.9%
Croda International CRDA delivered record profits in 2016 with adjusted profit before tax rising by 13.2%, accompanied by robust sales growth of 15% and relentless innovation. Ordinary fividends were increased by 7.2% on top of June’s special dividend. Currency movements were responsible for much of the growth.
GKN plc GKN saw 2016 sales improve by 22% and both reported profit before tax and earnings per share rose by 19%. Fokker put in a strong performance in its first full year of ownership. The dividend is to be increased by 2% and further growth is expected in 2017
Fresnillo FRES Everything came good for Fresnillo in 2016, with record silver production, gold production exceeding revised guidelines, higher metal prices and the devaluation of the Mexican Peso all helping to ensure a strong performance. Total revenue for the year to the end of December rose by 31.9% and profit before tax by 238%. The final dividend is to be 21.5 cents per share.
Virgin Money Holdings VM. Market beating growth in the mortgage, savings and credit card businesses made 2016 another very successful year for Virgin, with a rise of 33% in underlying profit before tax.
Babcock International BAB Trading has been inline since the 1st October and the order book has been strong.