- Frasers Group H1 24 – 07/12 – has seen some decent share price gains in what has been a challenging year for UK retailers. When the company reported its full year numbers for 2023 back in July, the Sports Direct owner reported a 15.8% increase in revenues to £5.56bn despite gross margins slowing modestly to 42.6% from 43.8% the year previously. Sports retail performed particularly well with a 16.7% rise in revenues, however there was also strong growth in "Premium Lifestyle" helped by the opening of new Flannels stores. With the addition of Gieves and Hawkes and Amara Living management expect further strong growth in this area. The company has also made further strategic investments in the likes of Boohoo and ASOS over the past 6 months as well as already owning stakes in the likes of AO World and Currys. Operating costs were one of the main reasons for the slide in gross margins as they rose to £1.93bn, however profits on property sales helped to offset the hit here. Reported profits after tax rose to £501.3m. For full year 2024 Frasers Group said it expects to see adjusted profits before tax to be in the range of between £500m and £550m.
- Broadcom Q4 23 – 07/12 – has spent most of this year making new record highs, coming to within touching distance of $1,000 a share back in November, after breaking above the previous record highs at $925 set in October. At its previous set of numbers Broadcom reported Q3 revenues of $8.88bn, while profits rose to $10.54c a share, with chip sales accounting for $6.94bn of that figure. In the aftermath of those results the shares dipped a little, after the chip maker projected Q4 revenue of $9.27bn, which while a record, prompted some profit taking. Nonetheless the dip proved to be short-lived as optimism over AI related sales saw buyers come back in. Not even a delay in completing its $70bn merger with VMWare saw the shine come off the shares, with the deal finally completing last month when Chinese regulators finally approved the deal subject to conditions. Full year revenues are expected to come in at $35.8bn and profits of $42.13 a share. Semiconductor sales are forecast to rise to $27.79bn, up from $25.8bn.
