Topic: JD Sports Fashion PLC Financial Report

Paper details:

The aim of this assignment is to test your knowledge and understanding of key accounting and corporate finance concepts, theories and tools that can be used to critically analyse organisations.
Required: Section A
Introduce the company, about the product or services, location, turnover, number of employees, etc.
You must act as an adviser to an investor and make sure your conclusion is ended up advising the investor.
The report should be maximum 2,500 words which covers the following issues for the last five years:

Section A- 1500 words.
1. Identify the Profits, earnings- discuss, the 5 years trend, economic condition, calculate the ratios and interpret the results for 5 years on the financial performance

2. Identify dividends (including a comprehensive ratio analysis). calculate the ratios and interpret the results for 5 years on the financial performance

3. Financial stability and liquidity (including a comprehensive ratio analysis) calculate the ratios and interpret the results for 5 years on the financial performance

+/-1500 Words
Section B
1. Research the webpage for any information about the company’s performance or any news that has an impact on their performance.
2. Then critically have reflection on the company portrayed by journalists and other financial reports, please make sure you reference where you got the information from.

3. An evaluation of the corporate governance of the company. Identify the number Directors what are their role, Non -Executive Directors, what are their role in the company , address the combine code

4. Identify the asset value per share and the current market share price and assess whether or not your selected company represents an investment opportunity.

+/-1000 words
You can use www.northcote.co.uk, pro-share and the FT to identify companies within their sectoral classifications.
It is essential that all sources of information are correctly referenced using the Harvard system.
Maximum words: 2,500words

Sample report attached
Module: FINM036-AUT
THE NATONAL EXPRESS GROUP FINANCIAL REPORT
INTRODUCTION

National Express Group or “National” as it was initially known, was founded in 1972 by “National Bus Company”, a state owned firm that recognised the need to bring the scheduled bus and coach services together under one brand. The well-known brand name “National Express” was initially introduced in 1974 (National Express Group, 2009). Throughout its history, the Group acquired and purchased numerous large state owned businesses such as West Midlands and Bournemouth Airport within UK (Bournemouth Airport, 2008). The Group became the largest supplier of school bus services in more than 20 states in US (Elsevier, 2001) and in Australia National Express was established as a market leader by acquiring the 57% shares in Australian Westbus, the company that has also been present on the UK market for 25 years (Westbus Ltd, 2014).
First UK based Railway Services were launched in 1996 and in 1997 National Express acquired other railway companies such as Central Trains, Silverlink, and ScotRail (National Express Group, 2009).
Despite the number of successful domestic and international operations, the Group’s financial resources became scarce after overbidding for the National Express East Coast Rail Franchise. The company was made a few offers and was nearly acquired for £765 m. by Spanish CVC Capital Partners (BBC, 2009) whose intentions were to sell the UK based operations (Stagecoach National Express Group, 2009). However in November, 2009 National Express made an announcement about raising additional capital from the shareholders (National Express Group, 2009).
Today, the Group is the leading provider of transport services in the UK and operates in several other countries with 69% of operational profit generated from international operations. (National Express Group, 2009).

FINANCIAL RATIO ANALYSIS

To be able to look into National Express Group performance, it is relevant to analyse the financial documents for the past 5 years. All analysis will be based on examining the financial ratios and their trends drawn from the company’s financial reports. Table 1 below represents the Financial Ratios related to company’s performance for last 5 years.
Table 1. National Express Financial Ratios

PROFITABILITY, EARNINGS AND DIVIDENDS

By looking at the company profitability ratios, it becomes obvious that the attention should be drawn to the Year 2009 when the Operating Profit Margin happens to be the lowest, as shown in Chart 1. In 2008, The Group had a major increase of 11.3% in operating profit however it identified the forthcoming challenges in 2009. “In 2009 National Express faced many challenges and resolved its major issues – reducing debt, ending our rail losses, navigating takeover interest and progressing the refinancing” (Devaney, 2009). Lowest profit margin figure in 2009 is explained by the losses experienced in rail Industry as the operating profit has decreased significantly by the major drop in railway operations from 2008- £81.3m to 2009-£12.0 million. Also, the economic recession processes as well as the departure of the Group Chief Executive both had impact on the company profitability (Boker, 2009). As seen on Chart 1, the Group Operating Profit Margin was 6.2% by the end of 2013, which is less than 2013 Industry Average Figure of 9.2% (CSMarket, 2014). Stagecoach which is the Group’s direct competitor has a slightly improved operation profit margin figure what makes it more attractive in terms of profitability (see Chart 1).
Chart 1 Operating Profit Margin
The Company had to overcome major changes in regards to reducing its debts. Table 2 shows the debt reduction of the Group in 2008 against 2009, where the Group has a positive Funds Flow compared to results generated in 2008. The Group had also managed to cut all costs by £50 million per annum.

Table 2. National Express Debt Reduction 2008 and 2009
Since the structural changes of 2009, the Profit Margin has been increasing (see Chart 1) and in 2011 it reached the highest figure of 7.8% in last five years. This was caused by the fact that the company terminated the East Coast railway operations as they were generating more loss than profit (Maiden, 2010). After 2011, there is a decrease in profit margin growth rate which is explained by the decline of one million in the amount of disabled and elderly passengers that company’s UK coach business carried. This came as an outcome of the Government’s termination of concessionary scheme (Samuel, 2012) which also effected Stagecoach group.
Company Dividend pay-out ratio in Table 1 also reflects the fact of poor performance in 2009, however the Company had restored the Dividends by giving up its East Coast railway operations after 2009 recession and gradually increased Operating Profit (BBC, 2011). Chart 2 displays the trend of dividends paid in past 5 years of company performance.

Chart 2 National Express vs Stagecoach Dividends

Stagecoach Group dividend levels seem to be growing steadily while the National Express Group dividend trend experiences a very slow growth. The same pattern of slow growth can be detected by analysing the NE Dividend Cover Ratio figures in Table 1. The major drop was in 2008 when company experienced increased debt repayments and had to reduce the full year’s dividend by 27.22 pence while introducing 10 pence dividend in order to save £30 million (National Express Group, 2009). In 2009 due to continuing losses in railway operations (Milmo, 2009) caused by economic uncertainties the company had to cancel the dividends. The Group has managed to keep a steady level of retained earnings (Table 1) throughout its 5 year performance and has been successfully increasing the amount of dividends per share paid to the shareholders with the highest figure of 10.00p in 2013.

FINANCIAL STABILITY AND LIQUIDITY

In past five years The National Express Group has maintained the straightforward level of liquidity despite all the economic hardships and turbulences it had to go through in 2009. As demonstrated in Chart 3, the current ratio was showing the low start figure in 2009 and equalled to 0.40, which was due to high level of short-term borrowings.

Chart 3 National Express Liquidity Ratios

In 2010 The Group introduced the improved program of debt handling and significantly decreased the level of borrowings (National Express, 2014), eventually resulting in £481.2 in Current Liabilities in 2013 against £880.8 in 2009. The Company’s direct competitor’s current ratio at the end of 2013 was 0.76 (Stagecoach, 2013) against NE’s 0.60 which puts Stagecoach in a more attractive position on the scale of liquidity. However, due to the nature of the transport industry the businesses of this type do not happen to hold high levels of current assets. That dictates the economy to re-examine and re-adjust the traditional 2:1 approach towards the current ratio within this specific industry type.

Extra attention has to be drawn to the Group borrowings and debt structure which appears to be presented in high figures. In 2009 due to economic recession and high level or borrowings NE had to make plans to give up the East Coast rail operations. Initially, the acquisition of this company was regarded as strong overbid and it was also generating substantial losses (Trotman, 2012). In 2009 the Group had made arrangements to terminate the railway services as part of their new strategy which was aiming at lowering costs and reconstructing the debt structure. One of the company’s close competitors FirstGroup had to make similar arrangements by selling the GBRf Rail for 29.7 Million Euros in order to decrease the debts (Reuters, 2010).

Despite the economic turbulences the company maintains the solid level of financial gearing and the gearing ratio of 2.5 bears steady in past five years, with very minor deviation from industry average of 2.07 in 2013 (SCIMarket, 2014). Compared to the STGC Group’s gearing ratio of 2.6 in 2013 (London Stock Exchange, 2014) and the FirstGroup’s figure of 11.5 (London Stock Exchange, 2014).

Chart 3 demonstrates the relationship of NE gearing rations to Stagecoach and FirstGroup for the past five years.

Chart 3. National Express, Stagecoach and FirstGroup Gearing Ratios

Financial Gearing analysis make it clear that both STGC and NE are consistent in their borrowings and maintain relatively low lever of gearing compared to the FirstGroup, which is represented by considerably high borrowing ratio figures. This is explained by exceeding level of non-current liabilities listed in the Balance Sheet of FirstGroup (London Stock Exchange, 2014). It can be assumed that substantial amount of The FirstGroup’s assets are operated and supported by high levels of financial gearing while NE gearing ratio of 2.5 remains way below its maximum acceptable level of 3.5 (National Express Group, 2014).

After examining the rivals’ Balance Sheets the Stagecoach group has demonstrated a higher level of borrowings. After studying the main bus and coach services providers’ financial documents it is also noticeable that relatively high levels of financial gearing is typical for transport industry. As an example to this statement, in 2010 the company had to launch a £350 million corporate bond issue to cover the £242 million bank debt that was going to reach the maturity very fast (Power, 2010). The National Express Group has managed to re-examine and re-shape its debt policy in past 5 years by cutting down on railway expenses and is now operating on considerably low level of gearing within the transport industry.
A CRITICAL REFLECTION ON THE COMPANY PORTRAYED BY JOURNALISTS AND OTHER FINANCIAL REPORTS

The National Express Group has remained as an industry leading company for many years as over 900 million journeys are being made on the NE’s busses and coaches annually. Although NE has almost always delivered positive results there has been a lot of criticism thrown towards certain aspects of the Group’s performance. The company was attacked by an army of critics in 2009. Some newspapers felt sceptical towards the company for having nearly £1bln in debts and no recovery strategy. Moreover, shortly after the main shareholder withdrew the £765 million from the company, the share prices fell by 26%, wiping £250 million from the Group value (BBC News, 2009). There was a strong belief from certain critics that NE was reaping the profits when the times were good and pulled out from railway operations as soon as the recession threatened the wellbeing of the Industry (BBC News, 2009), leaving the taxpayers to pick up the pieces of what was regarded as a huge mistake made by the NE Group (Heathcoat-Amory, 2009).

National Express operates in several other countries, drawing its main share of operating profit from Spain and The US. Reporters in the US were radical when illustrating the fact that the company had ignored the “Human Capital Management” issues and believe that, that was what effected the Firm’s US operations. And while the Group had claimed that their staff satisfaction statistics showed improvements, it was demanded that NE gave the same rights to the workers in America as they had in The UK and Spain (Moore, 2014).

National Express Group was strongly criticised for handing out large salaries to the board of directors and top level management, while the fares for travel were going up and the level of services was not improving. In 2011 It was announced that The Group Chief Executive was paid 150% of his £550,000 salary to stay in business and Group Finance Director’s salary was £420,000 which equalled to just over a million pounds with bonuses (Rawlinson, 2013).

CORPORATE GOVERNANCE

Like many other companies in the UK, National Express also appears to be the subject to the Corporate Governance Code. The Firm claims to have a deep understanding of the importance of the Code in its day to day operations (Armitt, 2014).The Group’s Governance Code compliance was challenged by one of the Company’s largest US shareholders Mr Elliott, with the share of 17%, who intended to restructure the whole layout of the business by introducing the 3 new non-executive directors while also wanting to increase the operations in the US. PIRC, one of the most influential Governance Code watchers as well as ISS Group, fully supported the current NE management and advised the shareholders to vote against the restructuration led by Mr Elliott (Osborne, 2011).

The Group has very clearly outlined Corporate Governance regulations and has been successfully submitting the annual governance reports with no criticism from the Government. Shareholders hold board meetings 8 times a year where all essential matters are being raised and discussed with the Management. As stated in company 2012 Governance Report the remuneration of the chief executive had to be discussed as a separate matter as it was the deviation from the regulatory procedures. The board however was convinced that for the sake of retention of top Management the company had to alter their remunerations towards the Group CEO (Foster, 2013).

Corporate Governance Compliance was also put at test in 2009, when certain concerns were raised towards the NE Group being “unfair” to the members of staff in Canada and US. The company was put in the position where it had to provide the full report on the escalated matter in which NE claimed that all actions were regulated within the borders of the corporate governance code. The Firm stated that they strive to create an environment that improves and identifies each workers’ importance within the company (Parliament, 2009).

ASSET PRICE OF THE SHARES AND EVALUATION OF THE COMPANY

Despite the negative figures shown in the Table 1, the Net Asset Value per Share remains steady in the last 5 years. In the calculations of The Groups Net Value per Share the intangibles have not been included and that brings all figures into negative values (see Table 1). This can be explained by looking at the nature of transport industry, as most companies are presented with relatively high levels of borrowings and financial gearing. On chart 4, the competitor Stagecoach Group is also presented with the negative value of -24.49p in 2013 against NE’s -65.83p. In 2011 National Express produced relatively improved Net Asset value per Share as the Liabilities were expressed in relatively smaller figures. The chart also shows that Stagecoach appears to be in a slightly better position in terms of Asset Value per Share.

Chart 4. Net Asset Value per Share. National Express vs Stagecoach.
National Express market share price 5 year results in Chart 5 reveals a steady character. The NE Group remains to a be in a slow but steady financial growth stage with share prices fluctuating around 239.2 per unit against Stagecoach market price of 368.3 per unit. At a glance on historic share prices, it could be assumed that Stagecoach could be in a far lucrative position in terms of investment. Despite the fact that there has not been a substantial growth in market price the NE company management claims that the market share price is not the cheapest compared to the rest of the industry (Stanford, 2013). In 2014 the market share price shows the tendency of potential growth as in 2014 the performance results appear to be promising. The NE group is considered to have produced Growth in every country it operates generating the £80 million of free cash flow in the first half of the year, with a full year goal of £150 million. Net debt was reduced by £80 million in the last 12 months. Dividends have also increased by 3% (Deloitte, 2014). The National Express Group has always demonstrated the determination towards creating wealth for their investors and this fact is illustrated by the dividends paid out for the shareholders each year.

Chart 5. National Express 5 Year Market Share Prices
The National Express Group remains on the path to provide the shareholder’s profit, good levels of free cash flow and create business prospects for nearest future. The company’s weakest aspect is high levels of gearing but the debt management structure is very efficient and the amount of borrowings is controlled within sustainability measures. Based on the findings presented in this report, the company can be considered as a healthy business for potential investment.
APPENDIX

The NE Group plc
5 Year Income Statement

Income Statement: 31/12/2013 31/12/2012 31/12/2011 31/12/2010 31/12/2009
(Millions) (Millions) (Millions) (Millions) (Millions)
Revenue: 1,891.30 1,831.20 2,238.00 2,125.90 2,711.10
Operating Profit / (Loss): 117.9 117.6 174.4 85.9 -8
Net Interest: -49.8 -49.2 -46.4 -46 -63.4
Profit Before Tax: 64.4 69.8 129.4 40.2 -83.5
Profit after tax from continuing operations: 58.3 61.3 102.6 62.7 -60.9
Discontinued Operations:
Profit after tax from discontinuing operations: n/a n/a n/a -0.4 8.2
Profit for the period: 58.3 61.3 102.6 62.3 -52.7

The NE Group plc Balance Sheet
National Express Group plc
Group Balance Sheet
At 31 December 2013
2013 2012 2011 2010 2009
£m £m £m £m £m
Non-current assets
Intangible assets 1,223.5 1,262.9 1,212.5 1,284.2 1,349.9
Property, plant and equipment 751.4 787.4 754.5 714.1 672.6
Available for sale investments 7.4 7.1 7.6 7.8 7.7
Derivative financial instruments 18.5 31.1 31.0 7.2 3.3
Investments accounted for using the equity method 5.1 4.4 6.6 6.6 6.7
Trade and other receivables 4.6 5.6 5.9 6.0 4.0
Deferred tax asset – – 2.8 35.2
Defined benefit pension asset 12.6 16.6 18.6 – –
2,023.1 2,115.1 2,036.7 2,028.7 2,079.4
Current assets
Inventories 21.2 19.3 18.8 17.6 16.4
Trade and other receivables 169.9 194.8 248.1 226.8 226.7
Derivative financial instruments 3.1 4.7 21.1 18.3 5.9
Deferred tax assets 16.7 7.8 – – –
Current tax assets 1.6 0.8 0.9 3.4 3.7
Cash and cash equivalents 40.9 72.8 92.5 128.8 105.8
253.4 300.2 381.4 394.9 358.5
Total assets 2,276.5 2,415.3 2,418.1 2,423.6 2,437.9
Non-current liabilities
Borrowings (750.7) (786.8) (718.4) (674.4) (506.1)
Derivative financial instruments (1.6) (2.2) (2.4) (5.1) (11.2)
Deferred tax liability (75.1) (84.8) (95.2) (86.9) (99.0)
Other non-current liabilities (6.5) (5.9) (4.9) (25.2) (21.6)
Non-current tax liabilities – – (5.4) (12.3) –
Defined benefit pension liability (42.7) (35.9) (20.4) (10.4) (54.9)
Provisions (21.4) (28.3) (24.0) (35.7) (22.0)
(898.0) (943.9) (870.7) (850.0) (714.8)
Current liabilities
Trade and other payables (351.6) (348.4) (466.4) (470.6) (467.0)
Borrowings (76.8) (169.0) (54.8) (94.8) (258.4)
Derivative financial instruments (1.9) (3.0) (0.2) (12.4) (36.0)
Current tax liabilities (22.9) (19.9) (19.7) (12.1) (56.8)
Provisions (28.0) (28.7) (40.9) (43.9) (62.6)
(481.2) (569.0) (582.0) (633.8) (880.8)
Total liabilities (1,379.2) (1,512.9) (1,452.7) (1,483.8) (1,595.6)
Net assets 897.3 902.4 965.4 939.8 842.3
Shareholders’ equity
Called up share capital 25.6 25.6 25.6 25.6 25.6
Share premium account 532.7 532.7 532.7 532.7 533.2
Capital redemption reserve 0.2 0.2 0.2 0.2 0.2
Own shares (0.8) (0.5) (14.0) (14.1) (14.6)
Other reserves 46.5 44.2 99.9 125.1 116.1
Retained earnings 282.4 290.7 313.1 263.7 175.8
Total shareholders’ equity 886.6 892.9 957.5 933.2 836.3
Non-controlling interest in equity 10.7 9.5 7.9 6.6 6.0
Total equity 897.3 902.4 965.4 939.8 842.3

National Express Group plc Five Year Summary
National Express Group plc
Five Year Summary
Year ended 31 December IFRS IFRS IFRS IFRS IFRS
2013.0 2012 2011 2010 2009
£m £m £m £m £m

Bus and Coach (non Rail)
Revenue 1746.2 1,636.1 1,549.7 1,488.4 1,521.4
Normalised operating profit* 185.5 185.2 181.8 170.4 147.8
Return on capital (pre tax)** 0.1 10.6% 10.6% 10.2% 9.3%
Basic earnings per share (pence) 20.1p 21.6p 20.7p 18.8p 27.7p

Group normalised*
Revenue 1891.3 1,831.2 2,238.0 2,125.9 2,711.1
Normalised operating profit* 192.9 211.9 225.2 204.2 159.8
Return on capital (pre tax)** 0.1 12.2% 14.1% 13.2% 10.7%
Diluted earnings per share (pence) 21.4p 25.4p 26.9p 23.5p 30.4p

Group Statutory
Revenue 1891.3 1,831.2 2,238.0 2,125.9 2,711.1
Operating profit 117.9 117.6 174.4 85.9 (0.6)
Profit/(loss) before tax 64.4 69.8 129.4 40.2 (83.5)
Basic earnings/(loss) per share (pence) 11.1p 11.8p 19.9p 12.0p (17.6)p
Dividends per share – declared (pence) 10.0p 9.75p 9.50p 6.00p –

Net (debt)/funds
Cash at bank and in hand 40.9 72.8 92.5 128.8 105.8
Other debt receivable 1.0 1.0 0.7 0.7 0.8
Bonds -579.5 (590.0) (583.4) (565.6) –
Bank and other loans -19.3 (114.6) (7.9) (39.8) (687.7)
Fair value of bond hedging derivatives 9.2 23.4 16.4 (1.1) –
Finance lease obligations -132.9 (154.7) (151.3) (131.6) (75.6)
Other debt payable -65.5 (66.1) (0.7) (1.8) (1.2)
Net debt -746.1 (828.2) (633.7) (610.4) (657.9)
Gearing ratio 2.5x 2.5x 1.9x 2.1x 2.5x

* Normalised results are defined as the statutory results before the following as appropriate: profit or loss on sale of businesses, exceptional profit or loss on sale of non-current assets, intangible amortisation, property, plant and equipment impairments, exceptional items and tax relief on qualifying exceptional items.
** Normalised operating profit/capital employed

Stagecoach Financial Information
Income Statement (£ m) 30-Apr-14 30-Apr-13 30-Apr-12 30-Apr-11 30-Apr-10
Continuing Operations
Revenue 2930 2804.8 2590.7 2389.8 2164.4
Operating Profit/(Loss) 200.5 184.3 238.5 190.6 156.2
Net Interest 38.7 37.6 35.5 36 27.9
Profit Before Tax 158 154.3 239.8 191.2 125.9
Profit After Tax 132.5 126.5 188.3 157.9 107.8
Discontinued Operations
Profit After Tax 0 0 0 0 0
PROFIT FOR THE PERIOD 132.5 126.5 188.3 157.9 107.8
Attributable to:
Minority Interests 0 0 0 0 0
Equity Holders of Parent Company 132.5 126.5 188.3 157.9 107.8

Continuing EPS
Earnings per Share – Basic 23.10p 22.00p 29.50p 22.00p 15.10p
Earnings per Share – Diluted 22.90p 21.70p 29.10p 21.70p 14.90p
Earnings per Share – Adjusted 26.00p 24.60p 25.40p 23.80p 18.70p
Continuing and Discontinued EPS
Earnings per Share – Basic 23.10p 22.00p 29.50p 24.60p 15.60p
Earnings per Share – Diluted 22.90p 21.70p 29.10p 24.30p 15.40p
Earnings per Share – Adjusted 26.00p 24.60p 25.40p 23.80p 18.70p

Dividend per Share 8.90p 8.00p 7.30p 2.20p 10.70p

Balance Sheet (£ m) 30-Apr-14 30-Apr-13 30-Apr-12 30-Apr-11 30-Apr-10
Assets
Non-Current Assets
Property, Plant & Equipment 980 989.8 961.6 897.1 786
Intangible Assets 148 157.4 108.9 119.5 115.5
Investment Properties 0 0 0 0 0
Investments 42.8 53.3 56.6 58.1 56.7
Other Financial Assets 0.1 0.4 1.6 20.7 5.5
Other Non-Current Assets 83.2 107.4 33.7 72.4 31
1254.1 1308.3 1162.4 1167.8 994.7
Current Assets
Inventories 24.6 21.1 22.2 26.6 24.1
Trade & Other Receivables 270 240.8 221.6 222.9 201.7
Cash at Bank & in Hand 240.3 262.2 241 358.3 375.7
Current Asset Investments 0.5 2.2 20.8 50.8 25.7
Other Current Assets 0 0 0 0 0
535.4 526.3 505.6 658.6 627.2

Total Assets 1789.5 1834.6 1668 1826.4 1621.9

Liabilities
Current Liabilities
Borrowings -52.6 -65.4 -57.6 -64.2 -50.8
Other Current Liabilities -696.5 -701.4 -623.1 -605.3 -594.3
-749.1 -766.8 -680.7 -669.5 -645.1

Net Current Assets -213.7 -240.5 -175.1 -10.9 -17.9

Non-Current Liabilities
Borrowings -660.2 -747.9 -721 -592.1 -626.1
Provisions -145.4 -154 -161.9 -173.4 -108.2
Other Non-Current Liabilities -155.5 -149.6 -161.7 -145.2 -229.8
-961.1 -1051.5 -1044.6 -910.7 -964.1

Other Liabilities n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a
Total Liabilities -1710.2 -1818.3 -1725.3 -1580.2 -1609.2

Net Assets 79.3 16.3 -57.3 246.2 12.7

Capital & Reserves
Share Capital 3.2 3.2 3.2 7.1 7.1
Share Premium Account 8.4 8.4 8.4 9.8 9.8
Other Reserves 377.7 395.7 420.8 446.7 429.3
Retained Earnings -310 -391 -489.7 -217.4 -433.5
Shareholders’ Funds 79.3 16.3 -57.3 246.2 12.7

Minority Interests/Other Equity 0 0 0 0 0
Total Equity 79.3 16.3 -57.3 246.2 12.7

Ratios – based on IFRS 30-Apr-14 30-Apr-13 30-Apr-12 30-Apr-11 30-Apr-10
Continuing Operations
PE Ratio – Adjusted 14.27 12.5 9.76 10.37 10.53
PEG – Adjusted 2.51 -3.97 1.45 0.38 -0.57
Earnings per Share Growth – Adjusted 5.69% -3.15% 6.72% 27.27% -18.34%
Dividend Cover 2.92 3.08 3.48 10.82 1.75
Revenue Per Share 510.28p 488.81p 405.62p 333.07p 302.21p
Pre-Tax Profit per Share 27.52p 26.89p 37.55p 26.65p 17.58p
Operating Margin 6.54% 6.14% 9.55% 7.76% 5.63%
Return on Capital Employed 21.54% 20.17% 30.14% 21.09% 17.39%

Continuing & Discontinued Operations
Dividend Yield 2.40% 2.60% 2.94% 0.89% 5.43%
Dividend per Share Growth 11.25% 9.59% 231.82% -79.44% 82.91%
Net Asset Value per Share (exc. Intangibles) -11.94p -24.49p -28.85p 17.59p -14.28p
Net Gearing 595.84% 3380.98% -938.22% 121.04% 2371.65%
REFERENCES
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