BAE Systems noted £21.3bn in sales during 2021 and expects the group’s sales to grow 2-4% in 2022.
The defence company reported an underlying EBIT of £2.2bn and an underlying EPS of 47.8p last year, and now the group is expecting 4-6% growth for both EBIT and EPS.
For 2022, the group predicts a Free Cash Flow of greater than £1bn and assumes that the cumulative Free Cash Flow between 2022 and 2024 of more than £4bn.
All of the guidance predicted by BAE Systems is based on an exchange rate where £1 is equivalent to $1.38.
If the present dollar rate holds, earnings will be hampered, with EPS sensitivity of about 1p for every 5 cent change.
The group is continuing to mitigate the main financial implications following the group’s recommendations.
BAE Systems expects a solid year of order intake, and order flow has been positive thus far, particularly on its long-term programmes.
The majority of the orders they have received have a long cycle, which will help the group meet its growth targets in the next years and there is a pipeline of opportunities across all industries to strengthen the growth prospects.
The forecast for spending in the United States is optimistic for BAE Systems. On March 9, the bill for the Fiscal Year 2022 Omnibus Appropriations was signed into law.
Many of its essential programmes, such as combat vehicles, the F-35 and other electronic warfare programmes are funded in this $743bn budget for FY22.
The President’s request for $773bn for the Department of Defense in Fiscal Year 2023 is well-matched with the present US National Defense Strategy readiness and modernization priorities of the US military services.
The Defence Command Paper in the United Kingdom reaffirmed pledges to large long-term programmes in sophisticated warships, submarines, and combat aircraft design and manufacturing, providing for long-term investment in these critical sovereign capabilities as well as substantial support for the cyber domain.
BAE Systems can support its UK customer’s objectives, and the opportunity pipeline is positive, with domestic, export, and collaborative potential highlighted.
Europe
In Europe, Germany’s large increase in defence spending is critical for long-term defence funding.
Other countries are growing or are projected to increase their defence budgets in response to the threat environment, and NATO countries are moving closer to, if not already at, their 2% GDP pledges.
Through BAE Systems’ positions on the Eurofighter Typhoon, the group’s participation in MBDA, its BAE Systems Hägglunds and Bofors companies in Sweden, and through US Foreign Military Sales, the group remain well positioned in the region.
Rest of the World
In the Middle East, BAE expects defence and security to remain a top concern due to its long-standing connections with governments and companies, as well as prolonged regional volatility and the nature of the group’s long-term contracts.
Renewals of existing long-term support contracts are progressing as planned, and BAE Systems continue to pursue several opportunities with current clients.
Through its Australian business, which is already expected to grow significantly owing to the group’s contracted roles and through export prospects from its UK, US, and Australian businesses to the area, BAE Systems’ portfolio is well-positioned to profit from increased defence spending in the Asia Pacific.
The Board of BAE said that the 2021 final dividend of 15.2p will be paid with shareholder approval on 1 June 2022 and the group’s interim results are expected in July.
Allegra Dawes, Senior Analyst at Third Bridge, said, “BAE reconfirmed their guidance for 2022 despite supply chain and logistical challenges. The company projects sales growth between 2-4% and earnings growth between 4-6% compared to 2021.”
“Defence spending across BAE’s key geographies is set to increase in coming years which will provide positive momentum for current and future program development.”
Regarding the Russi-Ukraine war, Dawes thinks that it is “unlikely to have a dramatic impact on demand for BAE systems” and added that their experts do not foresee “major capital investment any time soon.”
Dawes also said that Third Bridge’s experts predict “more countries committing to meet NATO’s defence spending target of 2% of GDP,” however, those countries, such as the United Kingdom would want to keep those capabilities within their borders.
BAE Systems’ shares have fallen 0.65% to 760p despite the company stating unchanged guidance for 2022 in their latest trading update.
MIGO Opportunities Trust present at the UK Investor Magazine Investment Trust Conference May 2022.
We were delighted to welcome managers Nick Greenwood and Charlotte Cuthbertson to discuss their ‘trust of trusts’.
MIGO Opportunities Trust plc (MIGO) is a closed-end investment company, specialising in deep value opportunities and special situations within the Investment Trust universe. The Trust seeks to exploit pricing inefficiencies in overlooked and unloved closed-ended funds often found in the darker corners of the Investment Trust market.
The UK Investor Magazine thoroughly enjoyed hosting Abrdn’s Standard Life Investments Property Income Trust, and manager Jason Baggaley, at our Investment Trust Conference May 2022.
Standard Life Investments Property Income (SLI) aims to generate an attractive level of income, along with the prospect of both income and capital growth, by investing in a diversified portfolio of UK commercial property assets, primarily in three principal commercial property sectors: industrial, office and retail.
GlaxoSmithKline shares were at a peak of 1,846p just before the pandemic began in January 2020, since then GSK had followed a downtrend up until March 2021.
Economies around the world faced a slowdown in March 2021, which would explain the drop in GlaxoSmithKline shares as well. However, since then the GSK share price has been in uptrend.
GlaxoSmithKline’s CEO did say in their FY21 results that 2022 will be a “landmark year” for GSK but will it cross the 1,900p mark?
Specialty Medicines brought in £3.1bn, accounting for nearly half of the £7bn contributions from Commercial Operations. The category grew by 98%, to sustain an increase across all therapy areas, including Xevudy sales. GlaxoSmithKline received £1.3bn on the sale of Xevudy.
Vaccine turnover increased by 36% to £1.66bn, led by Shingrix which is a shingles vaccine for adults aged 50 and over, in the US and Europe, reflecting robust performance and the advantage of a favourable comparative in Q1 2021, when sales were hit by COVID-19-related disruptions in numerous markets and decreased Centers for Disease Control purchases.
Thanks to Trelegy’s growth in all regions, the antibiotics market’s recovery, and the benefit of a favourable prior period returns and rebates adjustment, which helped to offset the impact of generic competition in the US, Europe, and Japan, GlaxoSmithKline’s General Medicines generated £2.34bn, up 2%.
Consumer Healthcare accounted for the remaining £2.6bn of the group’s revenue, which increased by 14%.
According to the company’s demerging plans, GSK consumer healthcare will become Haleon in July, leaving a biopharma-focused ‘New GSK.’ The separation has been planned since early 2020.
At Haleon, you’ll find Sensodyne toothpaste, Panadol and Advil pain medications, and Centrum vitamins.
GlaxoSmithKline’s total operating profit increased by 65% to £2.8bn in Q1 2021, compared to £1.69bn in Q1 2021, which included a £924m upfront payment from Gilead.
GlaxoSmithKline will propose a quarterly dividend of 14p, down from 19p in the first quarter of 2021.
GSK expects to pay a 27p dividend in the first half of the year under its new dividend policy, with 22p going to the new GSK and 5p to consumer healthcare, which will soon be Haleon.
Outlook
In terms of the forecast for the remaining firm without the consumer health division, the new GlaxoSmithKline expects sales to expand by 5% to 7% at constant exchange rates in 2022, and adjusted operating profit to grow by 12% to 14% at constant currency, compared to 2021.
GSK stated that the company intends to continue delivering on its strategic priorities.
GlaxoSmithKline expects sales of Specialty Medicines to climb 10% at constant currency this year, while sales of General Medicines show a modest dip, assuming global economies and healthcare systems return to normalcy as the year unfolds.
This was “primarily reflecting increased generalisation” of established Respiratory medications, according to GlaxoSmithKline. Sales of vaccines are likely to climb in the low teens for the entire year.
Covid-19 solutions will generate similar sales in 2021, “but at a substantially reduced profit contribution due to the increased proportion of lower margin Xevudy sales,” according to the pharmaceutical company.
Emma Walmsley, Chief Executive Officer, GSK said, “We have delivered strong first quarter results in this landmark year for GSK, as we separate Consumer Healthcare and start a new period of sustained growth.”
“Our results reflect further good momentum across specialty medicines and vaccines, including the return to strong sales growth for Shingrix and continuing pipeline progress. We also continue to see very good momentum in Consumer Healthcare, demonstrating strong potential of this business ahead of its proposed demerger in July, to become Haleon.”
“This is going to be a landmark year for GSK, with a step-change in growth expected and multiple R&D catalysts, including milestones on up to 7 key late-stage pipeline assets,” said Walmsley after GSK’s FY 21 results.
Glaxo Latest News
In late February, GlaxoSmithKline and Sanofi SA planned to provide data for both the booster and phase three efficacy trials which will be used to support regulatory applications for Covid-19.
In the group’s final analysis of the VAT02 booster, the study revealed that it can raise antibodies 18-to-30-fold across vaccine platforms, including mRNA and adenovirus vaccines.
In addition, two doses of the Sanofi-GSK vaccination in seronegative people exhibited 100% effectiveness against severe Covid-19 illness and hospitalisation in the VAT08 phase three primary series trial.
GlaxoSmithKline and Sanofi’s vaccine has a 75% efficacy rate against moderate or severe Covid-19, and a 58% efficacy rate against any symptomatic Covid-19, which is in line with existing vaccination efficacy expectations, including variations of concern.
Numerous regulatory bodies, including the US Food and Drug Administration and the European Medicines Agency, are currently in discussions with GlaxoSmithKline and Sanofi.
“The evolving epidemiology of Covid-19 demonstrates the need for a variety of vaccines. Our adjuvanted protein-based vaccine candidate uses a well-established approach that has been applied widely to prevent infection with other viruses including pandemic flu. We are confident that this vaccine can play an important role as we continue to address this pandemic and prepare for the post-pandemic period,” said Roger Connor, President of GSK Vaccines.
GlaxoSmithKline at the end of March announced its commencement of clinical development of its second-generation Covid-19 vaccine candidate, CV2CoV, along with CureVac NV, a German biopharmaceutical company.
The company said that dosage has been administered to the first participant in a phase one study of the candidate.
The trial will enrol up to 210 adults and will be conducted at clinical sites across the United States to assess the safety, reactogenicity, and immunogenicity of CV2CoV at doses ranging from 2 to 20 micrograms.
The phase one study’s findings are expected in the second half of 2022.
CV2CoV showed faster induction of greater antibody titers, better immunological memory induction, and superior protective efficacy in preclinical research released in November compared to CureVac’s first-generation vaccine candidate, CVnCoV.
Later in March, the US FDA said the emergency use authorisation fact sheet was updated for Sotrovimab which is an experimental Covid-19 neutralising monoclonal antibody.
The FDA assessed that the sotrovimab 500mg dose is unlikely to be effective against the Omicron BA.2 strain, according to GlaxoSmithKline.
GlaxoSmithKline and Vir Biotechnology are putting together a package of evidence to support a higher Sotrovimab dose for the Omicron BA.2 sub-variant, which they will share with regulatory and health authorities around the world for discussion.
Sotrovimab has been given a marketing licence in the European Union as well as a conditional marketing authorization in the United Kingdom and is approved for emergency use in the United States.
Moving into April, GSK announced the acquisition of Sierra Oncology for £1.5bn which complements its commercial and medical expertise in haematology. It will also support the development of its portfolio of new speciality medicines and vaccines.
The group’s application for the review of kidney disease drug daprodustat was accepted by the FDA later in the same month. The drug is used on patients for the treatment of anaemia of chronic kidney disease.
GlaxoSmithKline Pipeline
GlaxoSmithKline partnered up to develop COVID-19 therapeutics and vaccines which have evolved to multiple remedies being in various stages of development, along with two products approved for use.
The monoclonal antibodies are generated by cloning an antibody that has been exposed to a certain virus in a lab which enables the production of numerous antibodies that will target the virus.
Monoclonal antibodies act in a similar way to the human immune system and could be a useful tool for people who don’t have a robust natural immune response to a virus.
The FDA granted GlaxoSmithKline Emergency Use Authorization for the first of these monoclonal antibodies in May 2021 and the European Commission approved the same monoclonal antibody for use in the European Union in December 2021.
The second antibody developed in conjunction with Vir is also being studied as a therapy option. A phase 1/2 trial is now being conducted in patients with mild to moderate COVID-19.
This deal expands on GSK and CureVac’s existing collaboration to produce up to five mRNA-based vaccines and monoclonal antibodies and CureVac has also received a £130 million equity investment from GlaxoSmithKline.
Apart from Covid medication, GlaxoSmithKline has hundreds of treatments on the market and is in the phase of the study to combat problems from dermatology, respiratory, and bacterial infections whilst also providing preventative vaccines for problems such as hepatitis, tetanus, meningitis and more.
Xevudy is a Covid-19 antibody medication developed by GSK in collaboration with Vir Biotechnology, a San Francisco-based immunology business, however, it is no longer allowed for Covid-treatment in any US region due to the surge of the Omicron BA.2 sub-variant.
GlaxoSmithKline Share Valuation
GlaxoSmithKline shares peaked at 1,846p in January 2020 and reached its lowest point in 2 years at 1,330p in May 2021 over the last 2 years.
GlaxoSmithKline has a lower forward P/E ratio of 14.8x compared to a trailing P/E ratio of 15.9x, suggesting analysts see GSK’s earnings rising in the next year.
Glaxo’s earnings multiples suggest significant value compared to peer AstraZeneca with a trailing P/E of 25.3x and forward P/E of 19.9x.
Glaxo has a good ROCE of 11.1x compared to Astra’s negative reading.
GlaxoSmithKline can cover its dividend by 1.4x with a yield of 4.5%, which gives investors an indication of expected dividend increases in the future. In GSK’s situation, we can see with a cover of 1.4x, greater dividend payouts in the future are possible, but don’t expect fireworks.
However, the dividend yield is way above themarket average meaning the company is good choice for income investors.
In terms of GSK’s broker ratings, Deutsche Bank raised GSK shares to a ‘hold’ and altered its price target from 1,500p to 1,600p. Barclays raised its price target to 1,800p from 1,775p and JPMorgan raised GlaxoSmithKline to a ‘neutral’ rating and increased its target for Glaxo shares to 1,900p from 1,740p.
The FTSE 250 was down 1.3% to 20,235.6 and the AIM was down 0.8% to 1,004.7 in early afternoon trading on Wednesday as investors held their breath for the latest interest rates decision from the US Federal Reserve.
Analysts predicted a 0.5% rise as the country fights to tackle the sweeping levels of inflation spikes across the global markets, with the US struggling under 8.5% inflation and the UK stumbling under a 7% rise in the CPI over April.
The Bank of England is expected to raise interest rates by 0.25% to 1% during its announcement on Thursday, dampening investor enthusiasm in the lead-up to the decision.
Aston Martin Lagonda shares soared 10.1% to 931.7p after the luxury car manufacturer reported a 4% increase in revenue, 18% rise in EBITDA and the appointment of former Ferrari CEO Amedeo Felisa as the new CEO of the company.
Felisa is scheduled to replace former CEO Tobias Moers with immediate effect, and will remain with the group until the end of July to ensure a smooth transition.
PureTech Health shares were up 3% to 174.1p following positive data from the GS200 weight loss drug developed by its Gelesis Holdings entity.
The recent trial results discovered six out of the ten adults on the GS200 treatment achieved a minimum of 5% body weight loss, losing an average of 11% over 24 weeks.
Direct Line Insurance shares fell 5.7% to 240.7p on the back of a 2.4% drop in total gross written premium and service fees to £734.3 million from £752.3 million for Q1 2022 year-on-year.
Tritax Big Box shares fell 4.1% to 213.6p following the company’s heads-up to investors that inflation was impacting its near-term development pipeline.
However, the REIT enjoyed some positive news, with a reported 10.4 million sq ft of take up in Q1 2022, representing a 102% year-on-year rise for the fund management group.
Sunrise Resource shares gained 30.4% to 0.1p in light of discussions with new parties to start a joint development of the CS Natural Pozzolan-Perlite project in Nevada, US.
“The industry in the US is committed to net-zero emissions and our recent discussions have underlined the role of natural pozzolan in meeting these targets,” said executive chair Patrick Cheetham.
Reabold Resources shares increased 26.9% to 0.4p after the company reported a non-binding conditional takeover offer for Corallian Energy, of which it owns 49.9%.
The agreement will see Reabold acquire Corallian’s portfolio of six exploration and appraisal licenses for £250,000.
“We look forward to providing further updates in the weeks ahead,” said co-CEO Sachin Oza.
Atome Energy shares rose 18.4% to 135p following a power purchase agreement for 60 megawatts with Paraguay national electricity company Ande.
The joint-venture will see CAP-XX own 51% of the operation, which is set to commercialise reduced graphene oxide for supercapacitors and other energy storage devices.
eEnergy Group shares plummeted 27.3% to 8.3p after the company confirmed expected revenues and EBITDA behind current market expectations as a result of Covid-19 lockdowns and the energy crisis kicked off by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Joules Group shares dropped 23.8% to 41.8p following CEO Nick Jones’ resignation from the company in light of a poor slate of results in Q1 2022.
The group warned investors of trading disruptions coming over 2022, with Joules reporting a “cautious” near-term financial outlook.
“Building on the strategic progress made so far, over the coming months we will continue to deliver against the clear priorities that the board and I believe will create a strong foundation for Joules to achieve its significant long-term potential, as well as helping the business to navigate the current challenging trading environment,” said Jones.
Boohoo shares fell 12.7% to 69.7p after the fashion retailer announced a 94% plummet in profits to £7.8 million compared to £124.7 million.
The company attributed the tanking profits to high item return rates, dampened consumer confidence and international transaction disruptions.
Kodal Minerals shares declined 11.1% to 0.3p following the mining group’s announced fundraise for its Mali lithium project, which is set to see the company issue 1 billion new shares, with placing shares issued at a price of 0.28p each.
FTSE 100 dropped 0.46% to 7,526 on Wednesday as news of plans for more sanctions from the EU to ban Russian oil make headlines in the attempt to slow down the war in Ukraine.
Brent crude prices rose 3.6% to $108.8 a barrel after European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced the EU’s sixth round of sanctions on Russia.
UBS believes the market is undervaluing the risks associated with energy supply and forecasts Brent crude to trade around $115 a barrel. This won’t help ease the price pressures that are pinching profitability and eroding customer confidence.
Shell and BP shares gained 0.7% to 2,231p and 417p on the back of rising oil prices.
The FTSE 100, UK’s benchmark index weakened further as US Fed rates are expected to increase on Thursday.
Flutter Entertainment shares rose 7.8% to 8,935p after the Paddy Power owner reported a strong first three months of the year for its US business FanDuel and noted a 6% rise in group revenues to £1.57bn. Flutter also noted a 15% rise in average monthly players to 8.9m.
Entain, Flutter’s rival, saw its shares gain 2.2% to 1,525p.
Mining stocks dragged the FTSE 100 down with Rio Tinto shares falling 2% to 5,532p; Anglo American shares down 0.6% to 3,557p and Glencore shares dropping 0.08% to 483p as an outcome of ratings cut from Liberum weighing on the mining sector.
Retail stocks added to the burden by sinking too. Kingfisher shares fell 6% to 238p, followed by Howden Joinery shares losing 3.5% to 699p, and JD Sports shares trading down 3.2% to 130p.
“Household budgets are constrained and while luxury brands serving the very wealthy usually ride out downturns well and cheaper outlets can attract shoppers who are trading down, more premium high street brands look vulnerable,” added Mould.
Admiral shares lost 3.5% to 2,470p after the car insurer’s rival Direct Line Insurance announced that it’s motor new business premiums increased by mid-single digits early in January and were flat through the rest of the quarter.
National Grid shares dropped 0.5% to 1,189p following the announcement that the electricity distribution business will pay just under £15m to a UK regulator after failing to properly advise some of its most at-risk customers.
HSBC shares rose 1.5% to 520p after the lender launched its planned $1bn share buyback.
Coral Products acquired 100% of the share capital of Film & Foil Solutions from two private vendors for 3,000,000 which is to be paid in part payments, on Wednesday.
Coral Products is a specialist in the design, manufacture and supply of plastic products, and has acquired the entire issued share capital of Film & Foil Solutions, a leading converter and supplier of flexible packaging film, from two private individuals for consideration of £3m.
The £3m consideration will be broken into 4 parts, where £1,348,760 will be paid in cash on completion, subject to any adjustment on the preparation of completion accounts.
Coral Products said, £750,000 will be paid by issuing shares in the company at a mid-market price of 15.5p on April 29, 2022.
These consideration shares will be settled from the company’s treasury shares, and the firm will make another notification when that happens.
A twelve-month lock-in period will apply to the consideration shares, during which time they will be unable to be sold or transferred said Coral Products.
Further cash payment of £566,240 to be retained in escrow in the event of a contract dispute and released to the vendors on a pound-for-pound basis upon settlement.
The remaining £335,000 cash payment will be kept in escrow against an insurance claim filed by Film & Foil and will be released to the vendors on a pound-for-pound basis if the claim’s minimum settlement sum is met.
The cash consideration for the acquisition is being met from Coral Products’ existing resources, but, as previously stated, the cash consideration under the sale and purchase agreement may be adjusted following the preparation of Completion Accounts if the net asset value falls below an agreed minimum target. If this occurs, more information will be released.
Film & Foil Solutions reported net assets of £3.37m, sales of £10.1m, and profit before tax of £61,000 in its unaudited financial results for the year ending December 31, 2020.
Film & Foil Solutions expects a loss before tax of £174k for the full year ended December 31, 2021, but an underlying profit of £541k after one-off adjustments.
“This acquisition reinforces our focus on niche, specialist operators in the plastics sector. F&F brings to the group another range of skills and market opportunities,” said Joe Grimmond, Executive Chairman, Coral Products.
“The company struggled following a fire in their manufacturing facility in 2019 but the Directors believe that with this transaction, the F&F management team can once again concentrate their efforts in growing the business. The Board anticipates that the acquisition will be earnings enhancing in its first year.”
The Board of Directors reported at Wynnstay’s Annual General Meeting on March 22, 2022, that trading in the first four months of the new financial year was in line with management expectations across core activities, while fertiliser operations at Glasson continued to see significant one-off gains.
This was due to dramatically rising fertiliser commodity prices, which were triggered by huge increases in the global price of natural gas, which is required to make ammonium nitrate fertiliser for the agricultural and specialist merchanting group.
As a result, the Board now anticipates the group’s pre-tax profits to exceed current market estimates for the fiscal year ending in October 2022.
Commodity price inflation will raise group revenue across all activities, including feed, but it should be emphasised that the group’s absolute unit margin model means that group operating profit will not gain proportionally.
Interim results are likely to be released at the end of June or early July, along with a trading update from the Board.
Rambler Metals and Mining shares were up 1.6% to 28.2p in late morning trading on Wednesday, after the mining firm reported an estimated 428,000 tonnes of In-situ copper and 271,000 ounces of In-situ gold in its Canadian Ming Mine update.
“The addition of gold and silver grades, which predominantly occur in the higher-grade massive sulphides, provide a valuable supplement to the high-grade copper blend that we are targeting from the mine,” said Rambler Metals CEO Toby Bradbury.
“We have embarked on the work of designing and scheduling the life of mine reserves based on first principles, which will form the basis of a new Mineral Reserve Estimate and NI-43-101 report with the objective to complete by the end of 2022.”
Rambler Metals highlighted an estimate of 23.755 million tonnes of measured and indicated resources, grading 1.8% copper and 0.35 grams per tonne of gold.
The group said its inferred MRE included 6.430 million tonnes grading 1.86% copper and 0.38 grams per tonne gold, containing 120,000 tonnes of copper and 78 thousand ounces of gold, at a 1% copper cut-off.
The MRE also mentioned an additional 5% increase of 20,000 tonnes of copper in the measured and indicated categories compared to the previous May 2021 estimate.
Rambler Metals reported that the updated MRE added an 8% rise of an additional 20,000 ounces of gold and 107,000 ounces of silver in the measured and indicated categories from the May 2021 estimate.
The mining company confirmed that all zones at the Canadian operation remained open for extension with further drilling.
“This mineral resource estimate, with copper, gold and silver included, now provides a complete update on the drilling undertaken over the past year from which we had been waiting for precious metals assays,” said Bradbury.
“The copper resource retains the robust 5% increase reported in December 2021, even after mining depletion this year. Significantly, these copper resources include the two new discoveries reported in Q1 2022.”
“While further, closely spaced drilling, will be required to improve the mineral resource confidence level, these new discoveries carry valuable potential as they are close to established infrastructure at higher levels in the mine.”
OSB Group shares were up 0.8% to 563p in late morning trading on Wednesday, after the company reported organic originations of £1.1 billion over Q1 2022 from £1.1 billion in Q1 2021.
The specialist lending and retail savings group announced an underlying net loans and advances increase of 1% to £21.2 billion and a statutory net loans and advances rise of 1% to £21.4 billion, which came in line with management expectations.
The firm mentioned that three-plus months arrears remained stable during Q1, and the company confirmed that its underlying net interest margin in 2022 is currently expected to exceed 2021 due to the advantage of recent base rate rises.
The OSB Group also reported its repurchase of £21.6 million worth of shares as part of its £100 million share buyback programme.
“I am pleased with the Group’s performance so far this year. Application volumes continued to grow during the first quarter in our Buy-to-Let and Residential sub-segments supported by the commercial, semi-commercial and bridging products relaunched in January. Current demand for our products remains robust, building a strong pipeline for the remainder of the year,” said OSB Group CEO Andy Golding.
“Our capital position, secured loan book and proven risk management capabilities position us well to respond to the opportunities and challenges ahead.”
“We remain mindful of the ongoing impact of the rising cost of living and geopolitical uncertainty, however, we will deploy our resources to continue to deliver attractive, sustainable returns for our shareholders across the cycle.”
