Woodford stalwarts post revenue growth
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Two of the favourite holdings of Invesco Perpetual’s Neil Woodford have reported increased revenue in their latest results.
Pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) saw sales increase by 4% to £7.1 billion during the three months to September 30, while revenues at British American Tobacco (BAT) jumped 7% in the first nine months of the year.
Woodford holds both stocks in his £10.5 billion Invesco Perpetual High Income and his £8.4 billion Invesco Perpetual Income funds.
GSK is the High Income fund’s second largest holding, accounting for 8.16% of the portfolio, while BAT makes up 6.01%. In the Income fund, 8.13% of the portfolio is allocated to the pharmaceutical company and 5.11% is in the tobacco firm.
In its third-quarter financial results, GSK says operating profit before major restructuring amounted to £2.2 billion, up 3% on the same period in 2010. The company also increased its dividend by 6% to 17p and raised its share buyback expectations to up to £2.3 billion for 2011.
Andrew Witty, the firm’s chief executive, says: “Today’s results show that we are delivering on our strategy to generate sustainable sales growth, enhance cash generation and improve returns to shareholders.”
At BAT revenues rose in the first nine months of 2011, despite cigarette volumes dropping 0.6% year-on-year to 523 billion. Sales fell in the Americas and Western Europe but increased in Asia-Pacific, Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa
Nicandro Durante, the chief executive of the company, comments: “While the challenging economic conditions continued to impact consumers in some markets, other markets are showing signs of recovery.”
Both stocks are common holdings among retail managers. GSK is owned by Adrian Frost’s £3.7 billion Artemis Income, Richard Plackett’s £1.3 billion BlackRock UK Special Situations and Anthony Nutt’s £2.2 billion Jupiter Income funds.
Mark Lyttleton’s £980m BlackRock UK Dynamic and Sebastian Lyon’s £1.4 billion Troy Trojan hold BAT in their top 10s.
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