LONDON -- The FTSE 100 (INDEX: ^FTSE) has made small gains today, up 0.41% to 6,405 points. Though Japan was positive overnight, with the Nikkei hitting a new five-year high, some major FTSE companies are trading ex-dividend today, holding the U.K.'s top index back a bit.
But we have plenty of individual companies on the up. Let's take a look at three setting new records.
Rolls-Royce (RR 1.29%)
Rolls-Royce Holdings has been a pretty solid investment over the past five years, and its share price has climbed further since the start of this year, closing on a new 52-week high yesterday of 1,043 -- and it's another 1.3% higher today, at 1,057 pence.
Full-year results released last week revealed an 8% rise in underlying revenue to 12.2 billion pounds, with pre-tax profit up 24% to 1.4 billion pounds. That enabled the company to lift its dividend by 11% to 19.5 pence. After all that, the shares are on a price-to-earnings ratio based on 2013 forecasts of 16, which many will see as modest for a strong company.
Legal & General (LGEN +0.78%)
Legal & General shares are on a 52-week high of 157 pence as I write, having gained about 25% over the past year, in line with a number of recovering financial shares. Expectations for 2012, which include a 13% rise in earnings per share, put the shares on a P/E of only 11, with a dividend yield of 4.9%.
Results are due on March 6, and judging by November's third-quarter update, full-year expectations should be met. With further earnings growth forecast for the next two years dropping the P/E to 10 by December 2014, is there are bargain here? That's for you to decide.
Invensys (LSE: ISYS)
Shares in Invensys soared 50% in November when the engineering and software specialist announced the planned disposal of Invensys Rail for 1.74 billion pounds, and they've carried on climbing since. The price today has reached a new 52-week high of 363 pence for a 12-month gain of 65%.
January's third-quarter update told us that the firm's good start to the year was continuing and that it expects performance for the year as a whole to improve. The disposal of Invensys Rail is on course for completion in the second calendar quarter this year.
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