THE DAILY BRIEFING
PROFITS SOAR Trinity Mirror shares have jumped after the group reported soaring profits and a £10m share buyback.
The publisher of the Daily Mirror and Sunday People made £45.2m in pre-tax profits in the six months to July 3, compared to £12.1m a year earlier. Revenues rose nearly 30pc to £374.7m and debts were nearly halved from £92.9m to £44.9m. It was helped by the acquisition of Local World in October, and it expects to deliver £12m in savings by 2017.
Trinity Mirror announced a dividend hike of 5pc to 2.1p per share, and said it would buy back stock worth £10m to reflect its confidence in its cash flow and generate returns for shareholders.
Trinity Mirror’s strong performance came despite the failure of its New Day publication, which launched in February but folded after 10 weeks. Other challenges faced include its pensions deficit of £426m and its bill to settle claims against the company for phone hacking, for which it has set aside £41m. Shares rose 6.3pc, or 4.75p to 79.75p. SOLAR SCHEME Electric car maker Tesla launched an agreed £1.97bn bid for America’s SolarCity, which makes solar panels.
Tesla chief executive Elon Musk has ambitious plans for carbon-free energy and cars. By combining the two firms Musk thinks there will be savings in manufacturing costs.
Tesla will have to tap investors for more cash to fund the deal. TREATMENT BOOST Health tech company Allied Minds has been given the go ahead for clinical trials for treatments for diseases causing blindness.
The SciFluor division of the firm will test eye drops for patients with conditions such as age-related macular degeneration and diabetic macular edema.
Shares fell 2.4pc, or 8.9p to 361.4p.
TECH DEAL RedstoneConnect has agreed a £12m contract for its tech service.
The AIM-listed firm specialises in so-called smart buildings, which links different systems such as heating, lighting and security to each other over the internet.
The contract will run over five years with an un-named financial institution. Shares rose 7.1pc, or 0.1p to 1.5p. CURRY FAVOUR Indian bank Housing Development Finance Corporation (HDFC) has issued the world’s first ‘masala’ bond in London, raising 30bn rupees (£340m) in the process. WAR GAMES London-listed Gfinity, which runs video game competitions and shows, is to host live events in five cities around the world to launch the latest version of science fiction shoot ‘em-up game Gears Of War.