Edison Investment Research

William Hill (WMH); plan to double profits by 2023

Adjusted operating profit was down 15% to £233.6m, in line with expectations

William Hill is in the early stages of a goal to double profits by 2023. This involves opening up multiple US states as they create regulatory environments following the Federal ruling in May 2018, developing the online business, and managing down the UK retail estate, accelerated by the burdens of the £2 stake limit and increased remote tax imposed by the 2018 Triennial Review.

7digital Group (7DIG); agrees settlement terms with Juke Entertainment

Juke has agreed to write off all interest payments and £250,000 from the convertible loan note

7digital has reached a settlement agreement with Juke Entertainment. Based on the agreement, the company accepted a settlement of, and release from, all outstanding contracts and commitments relating to the Juke music service, for an immediate payment by Juke of €4m.

London Stock Exchange Group (LSE); revenue increases 8% to £1,911m for FY ended Dec 2018

Strong growth across core business divisions

The London Stock Exchange reports it has driven strong operational and financial performance for its financial year to Dec 2018. Total income increased 9% to £2,135m, while adjusted operating profit and EBITDA increased by 15% to £931m and 17% to £1,066m, respectively. Adjusted EPS grew 17% to 173.8p.

Rolls-Royce Holdings (RR); posted pre-tax profit loss in 2018 of £2.9bn

The group has taken an exceptional charge of £790m to cover the anticipated costs of problems with its Trent 1000 engines

Aero-engine maker Rolls-Royce Holdings plunged to a £2.9bn full-year pre-tax loss in 2018 on revenues up from £14.7bn to £15.7bn. The loss compares with a £3.9bn pre-tax profit in 2017.

PPHE Hotel Group Ltd (PPHE); meets expectations for 2018

Maturing assets (Waterloo and Park Royal) predictably drove H2 profit in London

PPHE has again come up trumps. Not only did it more than match our expectations for 2018 but has confirmed an extensive investment programme, including notable news of advanced negotiations to enter the lucrative New York boutique market.

Mercia Technologies (MERC); Oxford Genetics announces six licencing deals

The rest of the projects are confidential agreements with major pharmaceutical companies

Oxford Genetics, in which Mercia holds 40.5% direct equity stake, has signed six licensing deals for its scalable gene therapy manufacturing technologies in the past year. Noteworthy projects include the agreement with Aldevron to bring Oxford’s Lentiviral Plasmids to market, and the collaboration with Sphere Fluidics to accelerate the development of automated microfluidic systems for rapid and high-throughput gene editing.

Telford Homes (TEF);strategic and trading update reveals PBT for FY19 at £40m

Telford Homes released a trading update today. The company expects PBT to be around £40m and NAV per share is anticipated to be approximately 330p as at 31 March 2019. The group will be focusing on build-to-rent, which is expected to exceed 50% of the development pipeline before the end of 2019 and increase thereafter.

ITV PLC (ITV); confirms it is close to a strategic partnership with the BBC

Advertising revenues were up 1% across the group

Broadcaster ITV has confirmed a strategic partnership, saying it is close to a deal with the BBC to launch BritBox, a video-on-demand competitor to Netflix. The news came alongside full-year results showing pre-tax profits up by 13% to £567m on revenues 3% higher at £3.2bn.

Marks & Spencer (MKS); reveals plans for a strategic partnership with Ocado

M&S is financing the deal with a £600m rights issue

Marks & Spencer and Ocado have revealed plans for a strategic partnership to deliver groceries that will see M&S pay £750m for a 50% share of Ocado’s UK retail business. M&S is financing the deal with a £600m rights issue and says it also plans to cut its dividend by 40% to “a sustainable level”.

Law Debenture Corp (LWDB); reports strong performance in its Independent Professional Services busin

Normalised EPS grew 9.2% to 7.87p (2017: 7.21p)

Law Debenture, a UK-based investment trust, reported strong performance in its Independent Professional Services (IPS) business, whose revenue increased by 9.0% to £29.6m. The total proposed dividend increased by 9.2% to 18.90p per share for FY18. NAV stood at 614.07p as of 31 December 2018.