12 December 2019 – trading update
The group has issued a positive trading update for 2019 with the results for the year expected to be in line with expectations, whilst cash flow in the fourth quarter of the year has continued to be strong. The APAC business will return to profitability in 2019 following its successful restructuring and the group now has a more focused strategy which will drive the withdrawal from non-core markets. The group will return surplus cash to shareholders to maintain an efficient balance sheet and this is expected to lead to dividends of 40p for 2019 and 44p for 2020 putting the shares on an attractive yield. We maintain our recommendation of BUY.