I Read The News Today Oh Boy! 4-May-2018

4th May '18 by matylda

9 comments 3572 reads

Morning all!

Numis ( Numis (LON:NUM) ) – 410p – £439.2m – PER 14.8

Results For The 6 Months To End March 2018 – Crazy stuff! Income up 38% to £74.5m (2017: £53.8m) and PBT up 86% to £19.5m (2017: £10.5m) and there’s Cash balances of £82.5m (2017: £71.2m). Look forward to H2 with confidence.

Remains on my Watchlist at 310p and kicking myself for the many times I could have got in on the breakout to new highs here – 3 or 4 times this past 12 months. May well consider paying up, it not, raise my Watchlist price to 380p.

Morgan Sindall ( Morgan Sindall (LON:MGNS) ) – 1322p – £591.4m – PER 9.88

Trading Update For The Period From 1^st January To Date – FY to be slightly ahead of expectations.

This is above my usual £500m Market Cap level but I am just covering here for the first time for my own personal notes – I bought when it when it was below £500m and still hold. Based on this update I will continue to hold.

Minds Machines ( Minds Machines (LON:MMX) ) – 10.1p – £70.7m – PER 6,856

Results For 12 Months To End December 2017 – Maiden year of profitability with retained profit for year of $3.8m compared to a $4.5m loss in 2016. Renewal revenue up 100% to $4.8m (2016: $2.4m) with renewal billings growing 50% to $5.6m (2016: $3.8m). Fixed overheads reduced 19% to $5.3m (2016: $6.5m), Cash balances at year-end improved 4% to $15.9m (2016: $15.3m) – EPS 0.55c compared to 2016 EPS loss of 0.60c.

First time coverage for me and with TTM figures on Stockopedia guiding a -$3,23m this looks like great news. I am Neutral as I am not sure of the term “”retained” profit” - Will observe the price action this morning.

As always, all comment most welcome!

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MrContrarian

4th May '18

My morning smallcap tweet:

Games Workshop (LON:GAW), Anglo African Agriculture (LON:AAAP)

Games Workshop (GAW) YTD slightly ahead
Anglo African Agriculture (AAAP) believes there is no reason in terms of the underlying business for recent SP fall. "Dynamic Intertrade, the main trading operation of AAA, is trading in line with the expectations of the Board." It hasn't moved much for a sub penny sub £1m serial disappointer lossmaking tinpot. What did they expect?

shipoffrogs

"I am not sure of the term “”retained” profit” "

Simply means - profits retained in the company after all deductions, including taxes and dividends.

matylda

Thanks and sorry for perhaps being a bit think here - The difference between "retained profits" and "profits" or let's say "Net Profit" is...

Just the first time I have come across "retained profits".

Wol

Re. Minds Machines (LON:MMX)
Retained profits is a slightly odd wording. Usually this would mean profits made in previous years and brought forward on the balance sheet or profits made in this year and brought forward to next year in the balance sheet. In this case they just mean profits for the year. If you look down to the detailed profit and loss account (quite some way down the RNS) the same figure - £3,814 - is shown as profit / (loss) for the year.
Having said that I also can't make much sense of this RNS. The profit and loss account does show the numbers more clearly than their selection of key information. But even here there are so many one off figures (mainly in the 2016 results) that it is difficult to make sense of the numbers (at least for a bear with no brain like me). On the one hand there really is a maiden profit. On the other hand revenues, gross profit and gross profit margins are down. Maybe Paul or Graham can disentangle this for us. Failing that I will leave well alone - better safe than poor.
And thank you again Matylda for your early morning pick me up. You are on my daily sitting up in bed with my iPad schedule.

andrea34

Thanks Matylda. I don't have anything extra to add really, Fridays are always quiet, though I'll just respond on the ones you have mentioned:

I'm also kicking myself re Numis (LON:NUM) as I was considering them below £3 :-( I find it a bit odd/mean that the dividend is flat.

I also hold Morgan Sindall (LON:MGNS) and am reassured by this update. As I bought just above £14 when the momentum looked good then I'll likely average down on this good news when the price stabilises - I think the price has been held back by worries over performance being hit by the Carillion debacle. Oh, re your £500m cap comment, I'd encourage you when you wish to cover stocks outside the range of the Small Cap Value reports, it means you offer another something extra!

I don't like the look of Minds Machines (LON:MMX) - they take pleasure in harping on about the maiden profit, but revenue is actually down (if renewals are +50% does this mean that new business is way down?), gross profit is down approx 20% (with margin down 10%!), and if one ignores the exceptional restructuring costs of last year then the EBITDA rise is maybe about 30%. Strip out the auction profit (is this a one off, unlikely to happen in future years?), and the underlying business looks like it is less profitable - I read note 24 to do with this auction, and got very confused. The involvement in China and ICANN scares me a bit too. The price is down quite a bit, maybe holders agree with my view... or are scared by the acquisition. I'll avoid.

Have a good weekend all.

garbetklb

LON:NUM - not a share for me. Having worked in the City, I can just imagine all the brokers etc looking at these results and it reinforcing their view that (despite earning a multiple of the average person), they are hugely underpaid........
But, needless to say, when it all goes wrong there is a shrug of the shoulders and it's all put down to "the market".....

Thanks all for the valuable input as always.

Numis (LON:NUM) - I bought in today, I finally took the view that I would rather be in and take a small loss should that be case than be sitting out again wishing I was in.

Morgan Sindall (LON:MGNS) - Already mentioned that I hold from it was sub £500m Mkt Cap.

Minds Machines (LON:MMX) - Most strange, whatever site I look at previous figures and forecasts all differ - Just too much smoke and mirrors there for me - Plus a very valid point on the recurring revenue above which slipped my early morning skim.

A good weekend to all - The weather is fantastic here and a BBQ scheduled for the end of Championship season games on Sunday - Not that I care much as I watched Wolves pick up the trophy the day after Mello :)

Graham Neary

Afternoon, "matylda" - I'm glad to hear the footie was a success! A nice combo of events for you last week. G

Thanks Graham - It sure was a manic few days and nights.

Wishing you a great weekend.

ps - Was just about to post on your SCVR - I reckon, based on my experience, the DPP commentary is spot on.

I Read The News Today Oh Boy! 4-May-2018

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Matylda

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