Three developing stories at the UK stock market open. See the Companies Reporting diary.
1. Travis Perkins struggles amidst internal woes and sluggish market
Full year results from Travis Perkins LON:TPK are out this morning with the company noting revenues down 4.7% and adjusted operating profits down by 23.2%, resulting in a 19.4% reduction in the dividend. Despite cost discipline, price deflation is taking a toll on the business and management acknowledge that work is needed to ensure the company better caters for the needs of customers and suppliers alike.
Clearly the news comes at a challenging time for the UK construction market, but on the assumption that the recovery will soon kick in, there’s optimism over the medium-term outlook. Whether shareholder support that today is another matter.
2. Big Technologies announces £10m contract win
Big Technologies LON:BIG issued a short statement this morning regarding a contract win for electronic monitoring services in Northern Ireland. Whilst the contract value is reported as being only £20m over the next 10 years, against the company’s market cap of £200m this does look meaningful and even more so on the basis it’s a new customer.
3. Capita secures £100m contract extension
Keeping with Northern Ireland and Capita LON:CPI has announced a £107m contract win with the state education authority. It will see Capita continue to deliver managed IT services to all 1,104 schools across Northern Ireland, extending the existing relationship – which has been in place for 13 years – for at least a further two years, with optional renewal contracts beyond that, too.
