The Morning news update with Hargreaves Lansdown, Genus and Goals Soccer Centres

FTSE 100

Hargreaves Lansdown (HL.) – pre-tax profits up by 7% at £209.8 million in the year to June, dividend up by 8% at 32p per share.

Ashtead (AHT) – pre-tax profits up by 33% at £120.4 million in the three months to July.

FTSE 250

Galliford Try (GFRD) – has been appointed to two new contracts in the affordable housing sector worth a combined £106 million.

Genus (GNS) – pre-tax profits down by 8% at £39.3 million in the year to June, dividend increased by 10% to 17.7p per share.

Also, announces a new strategic agreement with River Stone Farm to become the group’s first commercial multiplier in China. Under the deal Genus’s porcine genetics division, Genus PIC, will exclusively stock and sustain Riverstone’s new pig production project in China, with a total anticipated herd size of 24,000 sows. 

Small caps

Goals Soccer Centres (GOAL) – Underlying pre-tax profits up by 9% to £4.4 million in the six months to June, dividend maintained at 0.675p per share.

Nationwide Accident Repair Services (NARS) – has signed a major new contract with Allianz Insurance, in which Nationwide will be one of two preferred suppliers for vehicle accident repair and repair management services across the UK. The deal is estimated to be worth approximately £10 million per annum once fully implemented.

FastJet (FJET) – fastjet operations in Tanzania carried a total of 65,489  passengers and achieved a load factor of 79%.  Compared with the same month last year, the number of passengers carried has increased by 98%.

SQS Quality Software Systems (SQS) – Adjusted pre-tax profits increased by 86.7% to €8.5 million in the six months to June

Amara Mining (AMA) – announces further encouraging diamond drill and reverse circulation results from its 2014 drilling programme at its Yaoure Gold Project in Côte d’Ivoire.