Good morning, it's Paul & Jack here with the SCVR for Monday.

Today's report is now finished.

Agenda -

Vertu Motors (LON:VTU) - 11 month trading update. In line with expectations.

Quartix Holdings (LON:QTX) - 2020 results. Nice company, but looking very expensive now.

Augean (LON:AUG) - FY 12/2020 results in line with expectations. HMRC dispute ongoing. Low PER.

Speedy Hire (LON:SDY) - ahead of expectations full year update from equipment rental and services company. (Jack)

Reach (LON:RCH) - print revenue down, digital revenue up, costs down, but lots of adjustments and moving parts to consider in this print-to-digital turnaround. (Jack)

.


Paul's Section

Vertu Motors (LON:VTU)

(I hold)

39p (Friday’s closing price) - mkt cap £145m

Trading Update

Vertu Motors, the UK automotive retailer with a network of 147 sales and aftersales outlets, announces the following update with regards to the five-month period to 31 January 2021 (the "Period") ahead of its preliminary results for the year ended 28 February 2021 to be announced on 12 May 2021.
Trading Update: Trading in line with Analysts' forecasts
"I am pleased to report that the Board expect the trading result for the year ended 28 February 2021, at an adjusted profit before tax level, will be in line with current Analysts' forecasts of around £23m.

I’m not sure why Vertu has put out such a detailed update for 11 months trading? Companies normally do a full update like this at the year end, for 12 months trading.

I won’t labour on this update, as it’s in line with expectations. That’s encouraging to me, given the 5 month period includes 2 lockdowns.

Some noteworthy points -

Taxpayer support of £8.2m, which constitutes more than a third of the FY 02/2021 adj profit. It’s important to remember that, as support is phased out, companies will have to win more business to make up the shortfall. So we cannot just assume this is the low point for profitability. That’s a general point, not company specific.

Sterling has strengthened a lot recently. This is mentioned by Vertu as a positive, as it will make cars more affordable to UK buyers. This is also a helpful tailwind for other companies which import goods, e.g. eCommerce, retailers, etc.

Vertu has embraced an omni-channel sales approach,…

Unlock the rest of this article with a 14 day trial

Already have an account?
Login here