Funny old 'week' with Christmas but here is the AIM Prospector story of the week ending December 26th and it is Judges Scientific (LON:JDG).
Judges Scientific (LON:JDG) is a group of scientific manufacturing companies that has been built through a series of astute acquisitions going back more than ten years.
Management has done this so well that 'Judges' has become one of AIM's very most successful companies. Dividends at the firm have risen year-on-year, from 3p for 2007 to 20p for 2013. Obviously sales and profits risen apace to pay this.
This success saw the company earn a significant premium rating, spending the first half of this year trading over 2,000p - as high as 2,400p and frequently 2,300p.
However, the company issued a profit warning in July and half-year results saw the shares fall to around half of the price enjoyed at the beginning of the year.
My point is that the shares spiked up significantly (10+%) on Tuesday, following the announcement of new financing facilities with Lloyds Bank:
http://www.investegate.co.uk/judges-scientificplc-...
All existing term loans, with the exception of the loans granted to the Company's 51% owned subsidiary, Bordeaux Acquisition Limited, have been consolidated into one £11.3 million term loan ... In addition, the Group has entered into a new £10.0 million revolving acquisition facility ... put in place to simplify the acquisition funding process both for "permitted acquisitions", which fall within set criteria, and for larger transactions where the consent process has been streamlined.
purpose being to:
enable the Group to operate its facilities in a more cost effective manner through the optimum application of cash generated from the business. In particular, it will eliminate the need to maintain large unproductive cash balances.
... Finance Director, commented: "... This will facilitate M&A transactions and is testament to Lloyds Bank's long-standing support of the Group's growth strategy".
This announcement suggests that Judges' buy-and-build ambitions are not done and has perhaps forced people to take a look at the company again, leading to Tuesday's big rise. Of course, the market in the shares was likely thinner on that day, resulting in faster price rises, perhaps compounded further if shorts were forced to close?
Anyhow, Stockopedia has Judges Scientific (LON:JDG) on 16.5 times forecasts for 2014 (Dec y/e), falling to 14.7 times for 2015. The market…
