Associated British Foods
There’s a trading update from Associated British Foods this morning, the company which owns an interesting range of businesses with Twinings Tea at one end of the spectrum, Primark at the other and AB Sugar somewhere in the middle. Revenues are up for the first three quarters by a respectable 3%, but this has been held back by falling sugar prices. Surplus capacity has seen revenue in this sector drop by 17% in the quarter, overshadowing improvements elsewhere. Year to date sales at Primark were up by 6% – clearly there’s still life in pockets of retail.
Persimmon
No signs of a slowdown in the housing market when it comes to Persimmon’s mid-year update which was released this morning. Revenues for the last six months plus forward sales are both up 5% from a year ago, and the bumper dividend payouts to investors continue apace.
easyJet
Solid passenger numbers for June are out from easyJet this morning, painting a similar picture to those of its peer Ryanair which were released earlier in the week. Traffic is up 2.3% from a year ago despite a sharp increase in the number of cancelled flights, whilst the load factor has bumped up to 95.4%. That’s still a little way short of Ryanair’s 96%, but well ahead of global industry averages around the 80% mark.
