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Summary
- Unilever has reduced its quarterly dividend payout to £93p.
- BP Plc reported strong half-yearly results with growth in the operating revenues and reduction in net debt.
- XPO Logistics has completed spin-off of its global logistics business, GXO logistics, into a separate listed entity.
The UK reported a decline in new cases of coronavirus on a weekly basis. UK’s health secretary, Sajid Javid, has announced specific changes in the NHS coronavirus app. Currently, the app looks at contact dating back five days of the person who is tested positive and notify the people who are in close contact. From now onwards, it will look at contacts dating back just two days which will reduce major disruption to businesses and protect those at higher risk.
Last week UK government decided to ease restrictions for travellers from the United States and European Union. This decision has boosted the UK’s travel and tourism industry. The airlines business saw a 300% increase in bookings to American destinations as per Airlines UK, the trade body for the UK registered airlines.
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Let us look at 3 FTSE listed companies that are buzzing today:
Unilever Plc (LON: ULVR)
The company is one of the foremost suppliers of daily consumer care products. Unilever Plc has over 400 brands that are used by over 2.5 billion people every day worldwide.
Unilever Plc has reported €25.8 billion in revenue during the first half of this year with a 5.4% rise in sales growth.
Unilever Plc’s quarterly dividends were reduced to £36.93p per share compared to the last quarter dividend of 37.1p per share. The current dividend will be paid on 8 September 2021, which makes the annual dividend yield 3.59%.
The company has been a consistent dividend payer, which has attracted investors who invest for the regular dividend payout.
Shares of Unilever Plc trades at GBX 4,150.50, up by 0.42% on 3 August at 9.30 GMT+1 with a market cap of £107.56 billion. In the last one year, the stock has given a negative return of 9.24% to its shareholders.
BP Plc (LON: BP.)
The company has oil and gas operations in close to 80 countries. It has proven reserves of 18 billion barrels of oil equivalent. The company has a greater focus on reducing carbon emissions to translate into an integrated energy company.
The company reported an operating cash flow of USD 11,520 million in the first half of 2021. BP Plc posted strong results due to strong momentum in the customer business and the start of four major projects during the second quarter of 2021. The company has successfully reduced its net debt to USD 32.7 billion (H1 2020 Net debt: USD 40.9 billion).
BP Plc shares trade at GBX 297.75, up by 2.76% on 3 August at 9.30 GMT+1, with a market cap of £58.66 billion. In the last one year, the stock has given an 8.36% return to its shareholders.
XPO Logistics Europe SA (LON:0M1O)
American-based XPO logistics operates as a freight transportation company engaged into small freight transport and truck brokerage service in over 18 countries.
XPO Logistics has completed the long-awaited spin-off of GXO Logistics, which focus on global contact logistics. The company announced a spin-off in December 2020, when XPO has planned to list two separate publically traded companies on the New York Stock Exchange. GXO Logistics begin its trading on NYSE under the ticker name GXO which will handle the global logistics group, while XPO Logistics will focus on truck brokerage transportation service.
