UBM

UBM: Interim results for the six months to 30^th June 2014 have been announced. These are the first results under the stewardship of Tim Cobbold, who is generally well regarded from his time at De La Rue. Later this year he will host a Capital Markets Day to unveil his long term plan for the group, so that may herald changes. For now though, the interim dividend has been raised 1.5% to 6.8p, going XD on 22^nd August. This is only around a quarter of the total dividend expected for the year. FactSet have the full year dividend consensus forecast at 27.67p, covered 1.7x by earnings per share of 47.12p. With net debt to EBITDA at 2.2x at the interim stage, with 101.8% cash conversion, the dividend looks safe enough. There are no near term debt re-scheduling issues and a manageable IAS19 pension deficit of £23.5m. At the current price (1/8/14) of 620p, the dividend yield of 4.5%. So overall, a well established company with a decent yield at an interesting stage of its corporate development under new leadership.

These comments are not a personal recommendation to deal. Any investments can fall as well as rise in value, so you could get back less than you invest.