BEN +1.87%: edged higher today on a decent update, although much of it had been flagged at the December trading update. Since then, shares have rallied ~7% and todays update should see them remain supported. Pre-Provisioning Operating Profit (PPOP) of $435m was ahead of consensus of $398m , while cash net profit after tax (NPAT) of $295m was inline. An interim dividend of 29c was announced, in line with expectations. BEN trades at an Est P/E ~11x, which is slightly below its long term historical avg., and a P/NTA of 0.8x, which is also slightly below its historical avg.
MM is mildly bullish on BEN
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