Tesco: resumes dividend after strong first half.
(CercleFinance.com) - On Wednesday Tesco, Britain's biggest store owner, reported sales and earnings that were up in H1 2017/2018, enabling the retailer to resume its dividend and sending its shares up by almost 2%.
The group said the restoration of the dividend reflects the business' improved performance and its confidence in the plans that it has set out.
The group has set an interim dividend at 1 pence per ordinary share, with Tesco broadly anticipating a one-third, two-thirds split between the interim and final dividend.
Group operating profit before extraordinary items rose by 23.7% to 759 million pounds in the first six months of FY 2017/2018, slightly above an expected 715 million pounds.
Group statutory pre-tax profit jumped to 562 million pounds, compared to just 71 million pounds last year.
First-half sales were up 3.3% to 25.2 billion pounds.
"However, the like-for-like growth in the UK (+2.2%) remains fragile (natural cost inflation above 2.5%) in an inflationary environment," commented analysts at Bryan Garnier, who keep a "sell" rating on the shares at this stage.
Tesco shares rose 1.7% to 193.3 pence after these results, outperforming a flat DJ Stoxx European retailers index.
Copyright (c) 2017 CercleFinance.com. All rights reserved.
The group said the restoration of the dividend reflects the business' improved performance and its confidence in the plans that it has set out.
The group has set an interim dividend at 1 pence per ordinary share, with Tesco broadly anticipating a one-third, two-thirds split between the interim and final dividend.
Group operating profit before extraordinary items rose by 23.7% to 759 million pounds in the first six months of FY 2017/2018, slightly above an expected 715 million pounds.
Group statutory pre-tax profit jumped to 562 million pounds, compared to just 71 million pounds last year.
First-half sales were up 3.3% to 25.2 billion pounds.
"However, the like-for-like growth in the UK (+2.2%) remains fragile (natural cost inflation above 2.5%) in an inflationary environment," commented analysts at Bryan Garnier, who keep a "sell" rating on the shares at this stage.
Tesco shares rose 1.7% to 193.3 pence after these results, outperforming a flat DJ Stoxx European retailers index.
Copyright (c) 2017 CercleFinance.com. All rights reserved.