1 March 2021 | 07:54am
StockMarketWire.com - Power company Aggreko proposed a final dividend of 10 pence per share for 2020, despite swinging to an annual loss as the company said it was seeing a recovery across its markets following the Covid-19 pandemic impact.
The full year dividend of 15.00 pence was up from 9.38 pence per share in 2019, a year in which the company suspended its final dividend.
The dividend announcement was included alongside annual results showing a fall in profit as revenue was hurt by a pandemic-led weakness in the oil and gas, petrochemical and refining and events sectors and the low oil price environment.
1 March 2021 | 11:54am
StockMarketWire.com - The FTSE 100 was up 1% to 6,550.74 by midday after the big recent sell-off in the bond market eased. US futures pointed to a rebound on Wall Street too.
Other positive drivers for the FTSE included the launch of a new Covid vaccine and progress towards passing a big US stimulus package. The Johnson & Johnson shot, expected to be distributed this week, will be the first single-dose vaccine anywhere on the market.
Halfords, a motoring and cycling products and services provider, upgraded its outlook on profit, citing a strong-than-expected performance during its fiscal fourth quarter of the year. The shares surged 11.7% to 323.5p.