This week carries high stakes for UK stock market investors. Because a slew of companies are set to release financial results.
Today (4 August), companies reporting include BP (LSE: BP.), Keller Group (LSE: KLR), and Filtronic (LSE: FTC). Let’s see how these companies have been performing lately.
BP
BP’s half-year results were pretty good, with profits and cash flows up sharply year on year. That was to be expected after the spike in oil prices earlier this year though.
For the period, underlying replacement cost profit was $8,930m versus $3,734m a year earlier. Operating cash flow was $13,718m versus $9,105m.
On the back of this performance, the company was able to further reduce its debt. At the end of June, net debt stood at $22,251m.
It also increased its dividend by 4%. For Q2, the payout was 8.66 cents per share.
Are the shares worth considering today? They could be – I see appeal from both a geopolitical risk-hedging and an income-generating perspective.
That said, oil stocks are notoriously unpredictable. So, with BP, we need to be prepared for share price volatility.
Keller
Shares in ground foundations specialist Keller – which I highlighted in early June as an opportunity to consider – have had a great run recently. Since that article, they’ve jumped about 30%.
Do today’s half-year results justify that gain? I think so.
For the half year, revenue was up 11.1% year on year at constant currency to £1,608m. Meanwhile, underlying diluted earnings per share was up 22.4% to 120.1p.
Notably, the company hiked its H1 dividend by a massive 57% to 28.7p – that signals confidence from management. It also paid down a ton of debt over the period.
Is it too late to consider buying here? Not at all.
At current levels, the stock doesn’t look expensive. Today, the forward-looking price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio is only 12.
I expect the company to continue doing well in the years ahead on the back of the US infrastructure boom. As businesses build data centres and manufacturing plants, Keller should benefit.
This industry is cyclical though. So, an economic slowdown is a risk.
Filtronic
Finally, turning to Filtronic – a UK engineering company that counts SpaceX among its customers – its results, for the year to 31 May, look a little underwhelming. Here, revenue was £55.5m compared to £56.3m last year.
Note that the consensus revenue forecast was £56.2m. Therefore this was a top-line miss.
Profit for the year was £4.6m versus £14m a year earlier. Meanwhile, diluted earnings per share was 1.78p versus 6.05p in FY25.
