Cost-cuts and a dividend rise lift hopes for Senior

SENIOR swung up on a strong update that saw revenues at the engineering solutions firm rise 4pc to £450.5m in the first six months of the year, although operating profit fell 24pc to £37.5m.

The firm said trading in its emissions control products division, Flexonics, was subdued and there were no signs of recovery yet.

It is focusing on cost cutting including reducing staff numbers and directing production to its more competitive locations such as Mexico and Malaysia.

But the aerospace division is doing well and the firm said it expects a stronger second half of the year. It also announced an interim dividend of 1.95p a share, up 6pc on last year.

The upbeat update pushed shares up 9.8pc, or 20p to 224.9p.

Ferrexpo soared after revealing it had made the final repayment on its £318.2m finance facility. It has been paying back the loan for 24 months. Shares climbed 16.8pc, or 7.75p to 53.75p.

But Keller Group, which specialises in foundations and piling, tumbled. While revenue climbed 12pc to £849.7m in the six months to June 30, operating profit fell 6pc to £35.6m. Keller said it was on track to deliver its medium-term objectives but that performance in Australia, Singapore and Malaysia had been disappointing.

Brokers Peel Hunt cut the shares from a buy and shaved 90p off its target price for the stock to 1140p. Keller acquired two firms in the six months; Brazilian contractor Tecnogeo for £11.8m, and the assets and certain liabilities of Australian marine construction business Smithbridge for £1.8m. Shares fell 10.7pc, or 109p to 910p.

Meanwhile, the taste for takeovers continues. A deal for plastic products firm RPC Group to merge with British Polythene Industries, which was announced in June, has gone through ahead of schedule. In July some 99.9pc of shareholders voted in favour of the deal – just 17 voted against it.

Investors in British Polythene will receive 470p in cash for each share they own as well as 0.6 of a new RPC share, which will start trading today. RPC said in June that the acquisition was an opportunity for it to enter the polythene films market in Europe through an established firm. RPC shares slipped 0.8pc, or 6.5p to 856.5p. Security risk management firm

Red24 climbed as it was revealed iJet was in preliminary discussions to potentially make an offer for the business. IJet, which is also involved in risk management, has until August 29 to either announce a firm intention to make an offer or declare that it does not want to. Red24 rallied 22.9pc, or 4.75p to 25.5p.

Back on the FTSE 100 (down 0.45pc, or 30.48 points to 6693.95) miners took the top spots.

Anglo American advanced 2.2pc, or 18.3p to 848.8p as RBC raised its rating on the stock, while BHP Bil

liton boomed 2pc, or 18.6p to 963.3p despite the oil price slipping slightly to $42.11 a barrel. Associ

ated British Foods, the firm behind Twinings Tea and Primark, climbed as Deutsche Bank upped its rating to a ‘buy’.

It also added 200p to its target price to the stock to 3200p. Shares gained 1.7pc, or 46p to 2737p.

Intertek, which provides testing and certification services, was one of the day’s big fallers. That’s despite the firm reporting that revenues had risen 13.6pc to £1.2bn, and pre-tax profit had leapt 7.3pc to £149.2m in the first half of the year.

The company also said it doesn’t believe Brexit will impact on its growth opportunities, with 92pc of its revenues coming from outside the UK last year.

Investors are set for an interim dividend of 19.4p a share, some 14.1pc ahead of a year ago.

Ian Forrest, investment research analyst at The Share Centre, said that while the firm is relatively defensive and is a worldwide-leader in its field, it does have exposure to commodities and oil which could add an element of volatility to the stock. Shares slipped 2.2pc, or 80p to 3545p.