The Elders Ltd (ASX: ELD) share price has zoomed up 10% to $8.15 to kick off the trading week as it handed down its FY18 results.
How come?
According to the results, Elders underlying NPAT is up 9%, or $5.3 million, on FY17 to $63.7 million with underlying EBITDA jumping 5% to $74.6 million and a fully-franked final dividend of 9c per share declared.
Elders CEO attributed the strong results to the company's Eight Point Plan with its retail business posting a $14.5 million margin improvement – driven by acquisition growth in horticulture and organic growth in Southern Australia.
The strategy did see costs rise from $13.8 million to $280.4 million, but this included acquisition costs for Kerr and Co Livestock and TitanAg.
Who else is on the gains?
Elders is joined by Lynas Corporation Ltd (ASX: LYC) around the top of the S&P/ASX 200 gains list today with Lynas' share price up 5% to $2.30, but Healthscope Ltd (ASX: HSO) takes out the top gong – up 11.3% to $2.31 after announcing a takeover proposal from Brookfield Capital Partners.
