Good morning! Here is my usual leisurely canter through the morning's small cap results & trading statements.
Daniel Stewart Securities (LON:DAN) - I note that this tiny broker has had its shares suspended due to a failure to publish its report & accounts within six months of the period end date (31 Mar 2014). Can't say I'm surprised - the market cap was only £1.8m (where it's pointless being Listed really), they posted heavy losses in four out of the last six years, there was no dividend, a lousy Balance Sheet, and a depression-inducing client list of very low quality companies - hence a poor reputation. There are too many small brokers around, and all too often they have poor reputations because they are not discerning in terms of selecting decent clients. So seeing a few of the weaker players go to the wall is a positive thing in my opinion, although obviously very unpleasant for the people concerned. But such is life in a competitive world.
Blinkx (LON:BLNX)
Share price: 30.7p
No. shares: 400.5m
Market Cap: £123.0m
Again, not a great surprise, but there's another profit warning from Blinkx. I've never really understood their business model, but it seems to be based on advertising revenues around videos online. I've kept my distance from this share, because when discussing it on Twitter, someone in the industry commented that advertisers tend to allocate a block of money to a campaign of (say) six months. If they are unhappy, they tend to let the campaign complete, but don't then renew. Hence there can be a time lag between losing clients and deteriorating financial performance. Judging from today's statement, it looks as if he was right.
Profit warning - and it looks a bad one too;
As noted in early July, revenue trends slowed considerably in the latter half of the first quarter. These trends continued into the second quarter, amplifying the effects of the seasonally slower summer months. The preliminary first half results, based on unaudited pre-close figures that are subject to change, are expected to be:
H1 2015 revenues of $102 to $104M
H1 2015 adjusted* EBITDA of approximately break-even
Cash and cash equivalents of approximately $115M at the end of the Period
Breakeven, yikes!
My opinion - Blinkx made $15.2m adjusted profit…
