STV, Camellia and Allied Minds

“The FTSE100 recovered from a shaky start to go back over the 6800 mark in lunchtime trading although it was still down on the day as several blue chips went ex-dividend,” says AJ Bell Investment Director Russ Mould.

“Glasgow-based broadcaster STV’s first half profits rose by nearly 50% following major contributions from digital earnings and regional airtime revenues. Productions revenue more than doubled to £3.5m having fallen 56% last year to £1.7m. The group’s resilience to fluctuations in national advertising sales is underlined by a high consumer margin being maintained despite a 1% reduction in national airtime revenues. The regional sales market continues to grow, up 24%, and sponsorship revenues rose by 4%. The board has recommended a 33% increase in the interim dividend.

“Agriculture, engineering and banking group Camellia swung back into the black in the first half but has not made any prediction for the full year as it faces too many uncertainties. The depreciation in sterling against most of its operating currencies in the agricultural division is likely to have a positive impact on the full year results.  But the Bank of England’s decision to cut interest rates will have a detrimental impact on Camellia’s banking operations and the continuing uncertainty following the EU referendum vote has triggered a slowdown in the group’s engineering businesses.

“Allied Minds was a lunchtime faller after losses rose and revenues fell in the first half of the year. The group, which aims to transform academic discoveries and US government research into commercial product breakthroughs, invested $31.8m into new and existing subsidiary businesses in the six months to the end of June while three subsidiaries raised an additional $99.2m in funding from investors. Its shares were down by more than 5.5%.”

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