Abramovich gets £100m in steel maker’s dividend

Some would say Roman Abramovich, one of Russia’s richest men and the owner of a £308m superyacht, has had his fair share of fortune in this life, but the oligarch once again landed on his feet yesterday.

The Chelsea FC owner now looks set to add around £100m to his £6.4bn fortune after steel maker

Evraz, in which he owns a 31pc stake, announced a £331m interim dividend in its six-month figures – its first payment since 2014.

What’s more, the news comes just days after it was revealed that Abramovich may be headed towards a costly divorce from his third wife, Dasha Zhukova, after almost a decade of marriage.

evraz announced a dividend of $0.30 a share in its first-half results yesterday as higher coal and steel prices pushed total earnings up 100pc to £890m.

The firm stopped paying dividends in 2014 as part of a drive to reduce debt. Shares increased by 2.1pc, or 5.5p, to 270.8p.

meanwhile, the FTSE drifted further away from record highs yesterday, falling 1.4pc, or 108.12, to 7389.94.

It was dented by a number of firms which began trading without a dividend. These included

BT, which fell 4.6pc, or 14.4p, to 298.9p, Royal Dutch Shell, which was down 2.2pc, or 49.5p, to 2163.5p, and Lloyds, down 3.1pc, or 2.1p, to 64.83p.

Furniture maker DFS Furniture sank after an uncertain UK economic environment and unexpected general election results – combined with hot weather – led punters to spend less on big items like sofas.

Revenues in the second half of its trading year fell 4pc on the pre- vious year due to ‘very challenging’ conditions, resulting in growth of just 1pc over the 12month period ended July 29.

The group warned that earnings will be at the low end of the £8287m range given as part of a profit warning two months ago. Shares sank 8.5pc, or 19.5p, to 211p.

Bakery chain Greggs was riding high after a tasty upgrade from analysts at Berenberg.

With Greggs maintaining strong growth over the first half of the year, Berenberg said that the company was well placed to deal with its tough consumer environment and expects it to rapidly increase shop numbers.

As a result, it upgraded Greggs to ‘buy’ from ‘hold’ and increased its price target by 27pc to 1300p. Shares in Greggs rose 5.1pc, or 57p, to 1174p.

Despite posting a strong set of results, brick maker Ibstock was the FTSe 350’s worst performer after its chief executive and chief financial officer sold a combined £10.8m worth of shares.

It posted a 2.7pc jump in profit over the first half to £38.9m, while revenues rose 8.7pc to £228.3m. But shares slipped after chief executive Wayne Sheppard sold 2.5m shares at 241p each – totalling £6m – while finance boss Kevin Sims also sold 2m shares at 241p, netting £4.8m

Ibstock shares dipped 6.2pc, or 15.4p, to 232.5p. Global recruitment firm Page

Group slipped after reporting a 2.3pc drop in profits at its UK business to £73m in the first half of the year.

The group put this down to uncertainty stemming from last year’s Brexit vote, which it says has affected its clients’ decisionmaking. Shares fell by 2pc, or 10.1p, to 490.4p.

HC Slingsby, which makes hand and pallet trucks to help with lifting in warehouses, rose by a staggering 247.4pc, or 117.5p, to 165p yesterday as it returned to profit.

After posting a £400,000 loss in the first half of 2016, the firm made £100,000 in the first six months of 2017 after cutting costs and reviewing its marketing strategy.