LONDON -- The FTSE 100 (INDEX: ^FTSE) is remaining stable around yesterday's close, up just seven points to 6,111 as of 7:35 a.m. EST. Miners have held the index back today after Rio Tinto's boss departed as a result of a shock 9 billion pound writedown.
But while the FTSE is pausing for breath, there are companies reaching new record prices every day. Here are three doing well this week.
Tate & Lyle (TATE -1.86%)
Tate & Lyle reached a new high point of 803 pence this morning but has since fallen back to 793 pence. That's a gain of 15% over the past year, coming after the firm recorded several years of rising earnings and dividends -- but the price rise has eroded the dividend yield, with last year's 24.9 pence payout representing 3.5%.
Analysts are forecasting 26.3 pence this year for a yield of about the same, and it should be about twice covered by earnings. But with no earnings growth expected, the shares are on a forward price-to-earnings ratio of approximately 14.
Marston's (MARS -1.79%)
Marston's shares ended yesterday on a new high of 129.3 pence and are up a fraction to 130 pence at the time of writing. Shares in the brewer have had a good run over the past year, putting on nearly 40% since last summer, with the gains cemented by strong annual results for the year to September.
Group revenue climbed 5.5% to 719.7 million pounds, and underlying pre-tax profit was boosted by 9.2% to 87.8 million pounds. Underlying earnings per share rose 9.8%, allowing the company to pay a final dividend of 3.9 pence per share (up 5%) for a total of 6.1 pence. And even after such a good year, the shares are still only on a forward P/E of 10 based on forecasts for September 2013, with a dividend yield of 5% expected.
Goodwin (GDWN 0.78%)
Goodwin shares closed the day yesterday by matching the 52-week record they set last week. The price is now up about 65% over the past 12 months. In fact, shares in the small-cap engineer have had a good run since the depths of the recession, having just about tripled since early 2009.
There are no forecasts currently available for the company, but based on earnings per share from the year ending April 2012, the shares are on a P/E of almost 17. There isn't much debt on the books, but it has crept up a little over the past couple of years.
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