The FTSE 100 (FTSEINDICES: ^FTSE) and new highs are rarely mentioned in the same breath these days, now that the UK’s top index has fallen for five weeks in a row — and with a further fall of 21 points so far this week to to 6,531, it could be set to extend that to six weeks. It’s a far cry from those naive days in May when the FTSE reached a 13-year high of 6,876 and we all thought everything was lovely.
Are there any shares at all reaching new highs? Well, there’s precious little in the FTSE 100, and we really need to move down the size scale to find anything impressive:
DCC
DCC (LSE: DCC) shares reached a new high of 2,930p today, though by afternoon the price had dropped back to 2,902p for a 13p gain on the day.
The Ireland-based sales, marketing and distribution group only applied to move to the London Stock Exchange from the Irish Stock Exchange in February, and entered the FTSE 250 on 21 June. Since then it has seen its share price rise 366p (14.3%) to reach today’s record.
Forecasts for the company’s first year on the FTSE suggest a P/E of 15 by March 2014 and a dividend yield of 2.7%, with predictions for a year later indicating 14.3 and 2.8% respectively.
Genel Energy
Genel Energy (LSE: GENL) shares hit a 12-month closing high yesterday of 1,073p. The price is back a little from that today, at 1,044p, but it’s still up 30% since a year ago — and that’s nearly treble the FTSE’s gain of around 11% over the same time.
Genel, which delves for oil and gas in Kurdistan, has some nice forecasts ahead of it with profits just having started to come good. Earnings are expected to more than double by the end of December, with a further 76% growth predicted for next year.
That’s all figured into the current valuation, unsurprisingly, with a P/E of 27 for 2013 falling to 15.2 for 2014.
ICAP
Our third for today, ICAP (LSE: IAP), has soared nearly 45% over the past 12 months, hitting a high of 432.5p today where it stands as I write.
Even after that rise, the wholesale electronic broking firm is still offering a handsome dividend yield. If forecasts are to be believed, we should see a yield of 5.3% by March 2014 from shares on a P/E of only 13 — at March 2013, before the price climbed, shareholders were treated to a very nice 7.6%.
There’s more growth expected for the following year too, dropping the P/E to 12 and lifting the dividend to 5.5%.
