It’s been a largely sideways week for the FTSE 100 (FTSEINDICES: ^FTSE), with the index of top UK shares down just 27 points since last Friday to 6,666 as the punters can’t decide whether to cheer the economic recovery or rue the approaching end of economic stimulus. Either way, there’s been no real movement over the past few weeks, though some are hoping for a year-end rally to push the FTSE to new heights.
Still, if capital gains are erratic, there’s still the fallback of dividends to see us through. Here are three FTSE companies that have promised more cash this week:
Aberdeen Asset Management
Investment firm Aberdeen Asset Management (LSE: ADN) has had a great year, with net revenue up 24% to £1,078.5m and underlying profit up 39% to £482.7m — and that led to a pretty impressive 44% jump in earnings per share, to 32.5p. Net cash is up by 60% to £426.6m with assets under management growing 7% to £200.4bn.
The result of all these big numbers has been growth of 40% in the share price over the past year — plus a full-year dividend rise of 39% to 16p per share, after the final payment was upped by 41% to 10p. That’s a total yield of 4.2%.
easyJet
It’s been a cracking year for easyJet (LSE: EZJ), too, and full-year results heralded a payout bonanza. The total annual dividend is up 56% to 33.5p per share, and there’s a special dividend of 44.1p per share into the bargain which will return an additional £175m to shareholders. The regular dividend is in line with the company’s policy of paying out a third of its annual pre-tax profit.
That profit came in 51% ahead at £478m, after revenue grew by 10.5% to £4,258m with earnings per share up 62% to 101.3p.
And as well as that 2.6% dividend yield, investors have seen the value of their shares double over the past 12 months.
Daily Mail and General Trust
Daily Mail and General Trust (LSE: DMGT) shares are up 70% over 12 months, and there’s a 2.5% dividend yield to add to that after the firm upped its full-year total by 6.7% this week to 19.2p per share — there’s a final 13.3p to add to the interim payment of 5.9p.
The firm saw underlying revenue up 2% and adjusted pre-tax profit up 10% to £282m, with net debt reduced by £40m during the year to £573m and £69m of the firm’s planned £100m share buyback completed.
