Investment company Argo’s
(ASX:ARG) profit for the half-year saw an increase of 42.2 per cent to $157.2 million.
This was significantly influenced by non-cash income of $36.1 million due to the demerger of Coles Group from Wesfarmers.
Excluding this one-off income item, Argo’s profit increased by 9.6 per cent on the previous half-year result. A summary of the financial results, excluding the Coles demerger dividend, is provided in the table below.
Argo’s revenue was boosted by higher dividends from BHP, Rio Tinto, CSL, Macquarie Group and Ramsay Healthcare. Profit from trading investments, which includes income from writing options, rose by $4.5 million to $6.8 million.
Argo’s Board was pleased to declare a fully franked interim dividend of 16 cents per share, an increase of +3.2% compared to the previous year’s first half.
Shares in Argo
(ASX:ARG) are trading flat at $7.69.
