Portmeirion (LON:PMP)
- Share price: 925p (-3.4%)
- No. of shares: 10.8 million
- Market cap: £100 million
Good morning - Graham here, and I'm kicking things off today with this homeware manufacturer and distributor.
It has a heritage dating back to the 1960s and has been listed on the stock market since 1988, so in theory that should make it a relatively safe place to invest.
2016 was difficult for it, however, as sales suffered in South Korea, India and at home in the post-referendum UK. Pre-tax profit declined from £8.6 million to £7.8 million despite the impact of a home fragrances acquisition (£17.5 million deal size).
But management insisted that the outlook for 2017 was positive, and that the challenges would be overcome. Which brings us to today's first-half update (six months to June).
PBT forecasts for the full year remain in line with market expectations:
The Group is pleased to announce that total Group sales are up 16% for the six months ended 30 June 2017 relative to the same period last year, although 2016 only included two months of Wax Lyrical sales from its acquisition in May 2016. Excluding sales from Wax Lyrical, on a translated currency basis total Group sales are 3% ahead of last year and on a constant currency basis, excluding Wax Lyrical, total Group sales are 1.9% down on last year.
1.9% like-for-like, constant currency sales shrinkage is perhaps a little disappointing, and so the share price is down a few percentage points.
Edit: Martin in the comments has helpfully pointed out that these H1 numbers are noticeably worse than numbers given for the first four months of the year in the AGM statement. So trading looks like it has softened on a comparative basis over the past two months.
As you can see from the Stocko charts below, analysts have been forecasting net profit and EPS to increase this year, after the dip in 2016, with the help of the Wax Lyrical acquisition.
Note also the PE ratio range; so far this year, the share price has produced a PE ratio range of 12.3x to 16.6x. 2013 and 2014 had somewhat similar ranges.
The current PE ratio is just below 14x, close to the middle of the range, and with like-for-like sales growth being where…
