THE DAILY BRIEFING
STANDING DOWN
Yorkshire Building Society boss Chris Pilling is set to stand down after almost five years at the helm.
He will leave at the end of the year and chairman John Heaps has already begun the search for a successor. Pilling said he was aiming for ‘new opportunities that will give me more balance with my family life’.
SALES SOAR
Purplebricks, the online estate agent backed by star investor Neil Woodford has posted a fivefold rise in sales.
Takings hit £18.2m in the year to the end of April, up from £3.4m a year earlier. But it made a loss of £11.9m, compared with £5.4m the previous year, due to the costs of floating and a heavy advertising spend. Shares rose 5.3pc, or 7p to 138.3p.
STELIOS ROW
Under pressure African airline Fastjet urged shareholders to reject calls from tycoon Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou to oust its chairman amid poor trading at the group.
Haji-Ioannou, the airline’s secondbiggest shareholder, wants chairman Colin Child to be voted out at its meeting later this month. Fastjet shares fell 3pc, or 1p to 32.25p.
DIVIDEND RISE
Storage space firm Safestore reported occupancy rates had edged up to 70.9pc with revenue up 10.4pc for the six months to the end of April.
The interim divi is up 20pc to 3.6p. Shares rose 2.25pc, or 7.7p to 350p.
ENGINEERING PROFITS
Engineering consultancy WS Atkins has seen profits rise by more than a fifth and a dividend hike of 8pc.
The FTSE 250 company, which worked on the London 2012 Olympics, reported profits up 23pc to £103.4m in the year to the end of March. It said its UK and European divisions had performed well. Shares rose 5.3pc, or 64p to 1267p.
ENERGY DEAL
An energy firm 35pc-owned by Tesco’s pensions arm could be put up for sale this month.
Greenergy Fuels Holdings has appointed ING to advise it on the sell-off, which is not expected until after the EU referendum. The company, which supplies fuel in the UK and Canada, saw sales last year fall 10pc to £14.1bn due to falling prices.
NAME CHANGE
Online video firm Blinkx is changing its name to Rhythm-One. Bosses at the AIM-listed firm said they were on course for a strong year. Shares closed up 1.34p, or 6.9pc at 20.59p.
EXPANSION PLANS
Tech services company Redcentric reported a 3pc fall in annual profits to £8.4m.
The AIM-listed firm said revenues rose 16pc to £109.5m and the company raised its full-year dividend to 4.5p per share, up 29pc. Redcentric also indicated plans to expand. Shares fell 3.5pc, or 6.5p to 180.75p.