Small Cap Value Report (Mon 7 Dec 2020) - GAW, TED, VTU, VP., M&A
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Good morning, it's Jack and Paul here with the SCVR for Monday.
Although it’s too big to be a company typically covered here (with now a £3bn+ market cap), Games Workshop (LON:GAW) has released its half year update. It’s a particularly interesting company and many will already be aware of its fantastic performance over the past few years.
The group last updated with another ‘trading ahead of expectations’ announcement on a Friday afternoon in early November: unusual timing for an unusual company.
Now the group reveals that half year sales are c£185m (up 25%) and profit before tax is at least £90m (up 52.5%), with a 60p dividend declared for the period. Games Workshop continues to generate impressive growth as it takes its products to new markets. It looks like it will make more in first half profits this year than it did in the entirety of FY19/20.
The shares peaked recently at some £114.60 but have since fallen back to £98.75. If it can turn in a similar performance in the second half and bring in full year profit of £180m then the shares don’t look overly expensive. Apply a 20% tax rate to £180m for profit after tax, divide by the shares in issue and you get around £4.40 in earnings per share, which would make for a PE ratio of 22.5. Not bad at all given the rate of growth.
But the share price has been softer recently, so it will be interesting to see what happens to it this morning.
Anyway, onto the small cap news.
Ted Baker (LON:TED)
Share price: 141.21p (+5.38%)
Shares in issue: 184,605,541
Market cap: £260.7m
Interim Results Announcement for the 28 weeks ended 8 August 2020
The turnaround of Ted Baker (LON:TED) is probably one of the most closely watched stories in retail. If management gets it right, then there could be good upside - but there is plenty of work to do.
On first half progress, CEO Rachel Osborne comments that Ted’s balance sheet is ‘materially stronger than we had envisaged this early in the plan and operational cashflow will be positive for the full-year… and are on track or ahead of our operational KPIs for the first year of our plan.’
There are, however, some legacy issues that are ‘being amplified by COVID-19’, with city centre and travel store performance particularly affected. Group revenue is down 46%, gross margin is down by 550bps, and the group reports a pre-tax loss of £39m. The reported numbers look pretty stark.
Online has been predictably strong year-on-year (up 42%) and there is hopefully some good value in the brand that could translate well into digital retail. Payroll cost savings of £31m and rental cost savings of £7m in FY21 should both help free cash flow generation, which was £19m in the period.
Conclusion
The shares have had a strong run since early November, up from 85p to 140p, so some degree of successful execution was arguably already being anticipated by the market.
The combination of a strong brand and a capital-light digital strategy is promising - if the company can successfully derisk and continue to rationalise its retail estate and drive down costs. On that note, there is probably plenty to do in terms of extricating itself from bad sites and management says that ‘the shape of the estate will remain a lag by FY22’.
And there does appear to be a bit of a mismatch between concrete financial performance in the year-to-date and the related management commentary. Reported loss before tax fell to some £86.4m in the period, compared to a loss of £23.0m in the prior year.
It is upgrading its FY23 guidance to free cash flow generation of at least £30m. Post-placing, Ted has 184,586,562 shares in issue, so that would be about 16p of free cash flow per share. Ted fell a long way, it is still early on in the turnaround, and there has been heavy shareholder dilution. At 140p or so, it feels like a lot is priced in.
But this is a stock where an informed investor can quite reasonably take a much different view. The share price is up slightly on the news, the StockRanks are improving, and there are buyers of this share who can presumably see good upside from here. It also sounds like, strategically, Ted is doing the right thing in bringing in more accessible price points.
A revitalised, online-focused Ted Baker could be a much bigger and more profitable business, but the question is what price to pay to take on the execution risk and, right now, I don’t think that ratio of risk to reward is as attractive as it has been in the past. I’ll be happy to change my mind on evidence of a more entrenched turnaround, and best of luck to holders in the meantime.
Vertu Motors (LON:VTU)
Share price: 27.26p (-2.49%)
Shares in issue: 367,160,497
Market cap: £100.1m
Trading update and acquisition
Vertu Motors (LON:VTU) , the automotive retailer with a network of 146 sales outlets across the UK, says that trading for the nine months to 30 November is ahead of budget and it is now c15% above last year’s adjusted profit before tax level.
While the second lockdown has impacted trade, it looks like business rates reductions, furlough schemes, and internal cost cutting have managed to offset much of the disruption.
The company is very cheap, but then again it barely registers a return on capital and operating margins are extremely thin:
While trading sounds resilient, more time is given to the acquisition of 12 BMW and MINI sales outlets located in York, Sunderland, Teesside, Durham and Malton for £18.7m (together with the assumption of manufacturer used vehicle stocking finance of £8.9m). Also included in the business is a BMW Motorrad motorcycle operation in Sunderland and a used car operation located in York.
The deal includes £16m of freehold and long leasehold properties. Vertu’s asset backing is a plus and gives it funding options, as seen in its decision to finance this deal with a combination of a new £12.76m 20-year mortgage facility ‘secured on the acquired freehold and long leasehold dealership properties at a fixed interest rate of 2.9% for the first 5 years.’
We can see in the graphic above that Vertu trades at comfortably less than tangible book value.
Generating profitable growth appears to be the concern here, given the historically thin operating margins and the currently negative return on equity. Such economics deserve a low price multiple, although that’s not to say there aren’t quality operators in this space.
But take this latest acquisition, for example: for the year ended 31 December 2019, the business achieved revenues of £305m and made a loss before tax of £6.0m. That’s worse than ‘low margin’.
Vertu says it has a clear operational strategy to drive improvements over a three year period and the acquired business is expected to be ‘at least earnings neutral by the year ending 28 February 2023’ and that ‘The incremental return on invested capital is anticipated to exceed cost of capital from FY24.’
Still though, it sounds like a lot of hard graft.
Conclusion
The above aside, Vertu might be worth a look for the patient, value-orientated investor. In such a brutal industry, economies of scale and prudent management could prove to be vital, and it looks like Vertu has both of these.
In fact, Robert Forrester (CEO) says:
As the Group enters its 15th year of trading, this acquisition reflects a further milestone in both its scale and maturity. The Group now represents 32 franchises in the UK, more than any other UK automotive retailer.
So there could be a longer term market consolidation opportunity here. If Vertu can oversee earnings growth and market share gains in a recovering market, with a slight multiple expansion as well, then there is upside potential.
The share price chart doesn’t look too hot right now, but there is asset-backed value here for the patient contrarian and so on that basis Vertu is worth a closer look.
VP (LON:VP.)
Share price: 798p (+5%)
Shares in issue: 40,154,253
Market cap: £320.4m
This is a specialist rental business that aims to deliver sustainable shareholder returns by providing products and services to end markets including rail, transmission, water, civil engineering, construction, house building, oil and gas.
It’s not one I’ve looked at before but I see that the folks over at Equity Development have reinstated forecasts with a target price of 900p versus today’s share price of 798p.
VP (LON:VP.) was founded in 1954 but exited its historically core general plant business to focus on higher return specialist activities in 2000. Since then, it has made a number of acquisitions and now reports across a range of specialist lending operating divisions:
- UK Forks - one of the UK's leading specialist hirers of telescopic handlers and tracked access platforms.
- TPA Portable Roadways - one of Europe’s largest suppliers of temporary access solutions.
- Brandon Hire Station - a leading provider of tools and specialist rental products to industry, construction and home owners across the UK.
- ESS Safeforce - a specialist provider of safety, survey, communications and test & measurement equipment
- Groundforce - the market leading rental provider of excavation support systems and specialist products for the water, civil engineering and construction industries.
- MEP Hire - provides mechanical and electrical press fittings and low level access products to the UK construction, fit out, mechanical and electrical markets.
- Torrent Trackside - specialist suppliers of rail infrastructure portable plant and related trackside services.
- Airpac Bukom Oilfield Services - an international business supporting a wide range of oil and gas markets, servicing well test, pipeline testing, rig maintenance and LNG markets worldwide.
- TR - Australasia's leading technical equipment rental group providing test and measurement, communications, calibration and audio visual solutions.
The StockRanks are middling but the forecast PEG in particular is interesting, suggesting that good earnings growth is anticipated for this company.
It’s classed as a Contrarian stock and the share price is unmoved today, so perhaps this one is not so much on investors’ radars right now.
Highlights:
- Revenue down 24% to £142.1m
- EBITDA down from £51.8m to £34.1m
- EPS before amortisation and exceptional items down from 52.5p to 17.4p
- Statutory loss before tax of £6m and statutory EPS of -17.8p
- Special dividend of 22p
- Net debt reduced by £41.1m to £118.7m
- Capital investment in rental fleet down 45% to £14.6m
No surprises then that business has been heavily impacted by Covid, but the net debt reduction and special dividend payment should allay some fears. That’s nearly £9m in special dividends. Per the company:
In April 2020, as many of our markets closed completely or only operated on severely reduced levels of activity, Group monthly revenues dropped by almost 50% compared with the prior year. On a more positive note, many of our businesses were categorised as essential service providers to such sectors as transport, utilities, telecommunications and health and here we were able to maintain a certain level of business functionality.
I wonder if that special dividend money would be better spent on making up the bulk of the decline in capital investment? On the other hand, perhaps such a disrupted trading environment led management to believe capital investment might not be the optimal use of cash for now.
In fact the company does say:
In response to these sharp reductions in activity the Group ceased all but essential capital investment and recruitment... The Group continues to operate a young, well managed fleet and our rental assets remain of the highest quality and well matched to supporting customers with our long term focus on service and product excellence.
So it sounds like the estate is in good condition.
In terms of outlook, the group says that trading is slowly normalising and the medium term outlook for its markets are positive.
Conclusion
This looks potentially interesting, but there is a fly in the ointment: the Competition and Markets Authority is investigating three businesses within the temporary groundworks sector of suspected anti-competitive behaviour. This includes a part of VP's excavation support systems business ('Groundforce Shorco'), which represents about 9% of group turnover.
Previous accounts included a provision of £4.5m in respect of this matter but this has been increased to £15.37m. The directors consider it highly unlikely that we’ll see further increases in the provision, but this ongoing situation is still something to be aware of.
That aside, VP gets around 40% of its sales from infrastructure, which governments might target in order to boost economic growth post-Covid. So that could be a useful tailwind.
VP generates solid, double digit operating margins and returns on capital. If you compare it to Ashtead for example, you can see it trades on quite modest multiples, so it could be worth a closer look if you are anticipating some form of post-Covid recovery.
UK M&A
A quick word on acquisition activity: some commentators have observed that the UK equity market appears to be cheap at the moment, and it does seem as though we’re seeing more M&A activity.
RSA and Codemasters have recently been bid for, and then today we have two notable announcements: a bid for Imimobile (LON:IMO) by Cisco Systems at a nearly 50% premium here, and an updated bid for Countrywide (LON:CWD) at 325p per share here.
Countrywide shares were trading at less than 50p in April. Congratulations to holders in these companies, but is there more M&A to come I wonder? It’s a tricky thing to anticipate but an intriguing talking point nonetheless.
Disclaimer
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91 comments
Find it surprising that much of the world's trading disputes are driven by agriculture and fisheries - yet we're in the 21st century.
Personally agree with the the stance that we shouldn't give into the EU about fishing in our waters (are they never going to understand the vote was about taking back sovereignty -{ I did vote to stay personally}) . But surely this deal should not be 'hung out to dry' on Medieval industries - if it is (probably driven by France and Spain) then perhaps............
Just seen on the Beeb:-
"Brexit: PM to meet EU chief in bid to save trade deal"
That's the problem isn't it - the PM (like it or not is the elected leader of his people) the EU chief is a bureaucrat - trying to please 27 elected leaders which probably won't agree on anything.
Its a bit of a binary situation but on the basis of "minimize regret" I've sold most of my UK-centric stocks.
GLA
Similar to my thought's EJC - you can only do last minute haggling if you absolutely have the power to shake hands on whatever compromise is made. Although given how often the EU does do last minute compromises, maybe von der Leyen has more (pre-agreed) wriggle room than we think?
I'm certainly not confident of a deal (although I think at worst there will be some form of accommodation by March following a brief period of chaos). Personally I am not steering entirely clear of "UK centric" stocks - that is too broad a category imho - in my view many UK centric co.s will see no immediate impact and the second order impacts will be less than flagged.
It will probably look like I am (massively) underplaying this {maybe so} but for me economic bombshells are ten a penny and I think a lot of the risk is already factored in.
More than ever this is for sure not advice, but just my take on things.
Hi Paul. Re UK M&A activity and the ‘urge to merge’ I did ask a few weeks ago if there were any aspects of the stock reports which would indicate possible acquisition targets and if so, maybe you could cover these in a posting? This received quite a few upticks at the time. Your contributions are hugely valued by a newbie investor like me and I absolutely appreciate you write about what you want, so of course this is only a suggestion.
Hi Paul. Re UK M&A activity and the ‘urge to merge’ I did ask a few weeks ago if there were any aspects of the stock reports which would indicate possible acquisition targets and if so, maybe you could cover these in a posting?
As far as I can tell it's Jack alone today.
Sadly, if it was as easy as ticking off a checklist then we'd all be doing it. The range of M&A is interesting, though - Jack mentioned RSA and Codemasters, Imimobile and Countrywide but you also have the Aa (LON:AA.), Elementis (LON:ELM), G4s (LON:GFS), Goco (LON:GOCO), Hunters Property (LON:HUNT), Mccarthy & Stone (LON:MCS), Mulberry (LON:MUL), Nahl (LON:NAH), Talktalk Telecom (LON:TALK), William Hill (LON:WMH) and probably a few I've missed.
I think you'll struggle to find a lot in common there, but basically the acquirers see value that the market isn't taking into account. With sterling on its knees, the UK market a serial underperformer over the past 5 years and debt cheap as chips it's open season on the UK. You would imagine that once Brexit is either done or not and it's possible to figure out the future shape of earnings there'll be another burst of M&A.
Generally figuring out targets ahead of time is hit and miss - and investing purely on the basis of a bid is foolish. A lot of M&A works because the acquirer can strip out costs and drive up returns in a way that the target can't do on it's own - and that an investor can't predict.
Over time if you buy good companies that generate a good rate of return a number of them will get taken over. It's often a nice bonus (although not always, I'm still cross about Cadbury) but it's never anything more.
timarr
Appreciated Timarr. I am still smarting after selling Mccarthy & Stone (LON:MCS) just days before they were taken over so I share your pain.
Yes, thank you both. That was what i found.
i am struggling to find a Sterling Copper ETF. Could anyone point me in the right direction please.
Happy to be proved wrong but I don't think there is a £ copper ETF. I have £COPA
Why do you need it to be in £?
I was looking at Wisdomtree Commodity Securities ETC (LON:COPA) but that is $s, but "This stock is quoted and traded in British pound"
herbie, yes it does trade in Sterling, thanks again.
I hold Global X Copper Miners that have done incredibly well. I buy them through Eqi. Quoted in dollars of course.
They don’t call Games Workshop “plastic crack” for nothing!
Vp (LON:VP.)
Seems an interesting franchise. Looked at it this morning. Note that the Stockopedia earnings expectations seem to be overcooked relative to both H1 2021 results and Equity Development forecasts for 2021 and 2022. There's fairly complex normalisation to do with these earnings though due to exceptionals (CMA provisions) and the netting of ongoing capex, PPE sales, depreciation and amortisation.
Pretty aggressive cash management in the half. Working capital made a +£37m contribution to OpCF compared to -£20m H1 2020. Also saved c.£11m on capex compared to prior half year....this may be investment delayed rather permanently skipped given their capital intense biz. Add they have provisioned c.£15m for CMA resolution (inc new £10.5m this half) which is assumed to be current liability (ie with 1 year).
I struggle to see why now is the time for 20p (£8m) special dividend...business may have been resilient during covid period but its hardly sparkled. Headline debt has come down due to working capital and capex moves....really just another sort of debt! Throw in the provision for CMA to be made good in cash and that's more owed!
Overall, I wonder if the Exec Chair (ex CEO) who owns 50% of the company needed £4m extra for himself?....note that he also already pays himself >£1m a year too (base 500k plus extras...more than the CEO). Bit cynical but the 20p doesn't look prudent.
Corporate governance -> CEO was the CFO to the current Exec Chair when he was CEO. Two NED and they've both been on board for a long time and not independent.
Overall, it looks like a decent business operationally and may have recovery upside and good long term franchise...but aspects of the way its run don't seem right. I'm maybe being a bit harsh...I'd quite like to like VP but I feel it needs a much cheaper price to make the risks stack up
Boohoo (LON:BOO) I read yesterdays article on BOO which was interesting, but what I found more interesting were the comments below it ... this is one that gained the most 'support':
First time Ive ordered from them its just arrived and its going back!!!! One up from loo roll absolutely shocking!!!!! 361 agrees and 24 disagrees ... not good
I'm long.
Was that on the SCVP? - if so I must have missed it.
See posts 1 and 11
Confused by the votes down? What have I done?
Possibly by showing that you had not read the earlier posts which had already answered your question. This suggests you are on the new site using one of the six combinations that made you not see the the other posts before writing yours.
In turn I got thumbs down for referring to posts one and eleven forgetting that they are not numbered on the new site so you need to set yours to:
Sort by Oldest Replies Unthreaded
and look at the first and eleventh posts to see what I mean.
This plethora of ways of viewing is a pain - people talk about posts "above" or "below" which is not how others may be viewing them and there have been many complaints about people not saying which company they are talking about (also causing thumbs down) because they are using "threaded" and think it is obvious.
Thanks - have to say I was mystified by 1 & 11.
Daily mail on sunday
Oh Holy Smoke!!!
International Personal Finance (LON:IPF) has been upgraded from SR87 (Friday) to SR97 today, also showing a SR rise of 23 in the last 30 days, receiving the coveted "Super Stock" status.
Share price is testing 99p on unconvincing small volume.
Broker target is still 202p. 1 Buy and 2 Strong Buys.
Full Year Earnings pencilled in for 24th February.
35% of my portfolio is invested in this stock, with a +45% gain due to averaging down during the crisis. On tenterhooks.
I have enjoyed watching Sdi (LON:SDI) break through an all time high and also the 100p mark. A good acquisition although I was a bit surprised to see them issue more shares to do so. I am surprised they didn't use debt from the bank.
I have enjoyed watching Sdi (LON:SDI) break through an all time high and also the 100p mark. A good acquisition although I was a bit surprised to see them issue more shares to do so. I am surprised they didn't use debt from the bank.
Maybe it's a sign they think the equity is fully valued? It also incentivises the recipients which bank debt will not.
All the best, Si
With the possibility of a no-deal looming I wonder if Paul or Jack might care to speculate on the effect of this on the small cap companies covered here. No doubt there will be winners and losers. Any thoughts on what sort of shares it might be prudent to avoid in such an outcome and which might benefit? It would be nice to have some sort of contingency plan in place.
I have avoided all UK based companies this year that require physical goods to be transported either from the EU or out of the EU.
Clearly their will be an impact on some other companies but I think they will be the biggest impact. Already the building industry seem to be having issue with deliveries with the ports being out of capacity
If a no deal means there are less imports and exports won't any problem at the ports soon be solved unless you are thinking in terms of large stocks of goods going nowhere because of the paperwork. I understand that Boris has already said that in the event of a no deal 80% of imports will come in without any duties which should help. Anyone trading with countries outside the EU will, of course, already be well aware of the paperwork required.
Dear All, I'm afraid the RSS feed I used to get RNS information is still broken (returning news for the incorrect date) so I still cannot include reliable news / reporting information on the heatmaps. Apologies (yet again!).
Here are my heat maps for today (prices as at ~10am).
Overall state of the market by ICB Industry classification:
Key to the Industry heat map contents:
SVCR world filtered to 'interesting' instruments ('interesting' means: reporting soon or recently; trending; breaking out; increased volatility - volume / ATR up; moving more than a 20d EMA of the ATR):
Big movers today in the SCVR world (moving more than 20d ATR EMA against either yesterdays close, or today's open):
Small Caps breaking out today:
And finally the key to the heat map contents:
The heatmaps are ordered by Stock Rank™, and are limited to the top 75 instruments.
The heatmaps are images and will be resized by your browser to fit your screen. If the heatmaps images are too small to read on your screen, right-click on the image and select 'Open image in new tab'. This will open the heatmap in a new tab in your browser where they can be zoomed as necessary.
I use heatmaps a lot and generate many (from my own application and database) to help focus my research. I use them to help me quickly find instruments which pass my basic 'tradeable' criteria (a 'T' in the top-right of the heatmap, meaning: profitable; low-debt; reasonable liquidity), have a high Stock Rank™ and Quality Rank, and are trending (Tr+ or Tr++) or breaking out (Br+ or Br++) ideally on increased volume (V+). I then research the identified instruments in more depth using the Stockopedia StockReports.
How (or indeed if) you use these heatmaps is up to you, I contribute these SCVR related ones here in the hope that others may also find them interesting or useful. I aim to post sometime in the morning when I can, but sometimes work / family and other priorities get in the way.
greensiax
Thanks for the write up Paul & Jack.
Out of interest, is anyone hedging positions in respect of Brexit outcome this week? Clearly its a very company specific outcome, exports to Europe etc.
I'd imagine the FTSE will be mixed on the back of a no deal/weaker pound, benefiting the large percent of international earners. Clearly a no deal with hit growth as well so this would act as a drag.
I'm not hedging, but I am waiting nervously to see what the Brexit outcome is. I am intending to take a spread bet position on the FT100 in order to take advantage of the combined Santa / Covid recovery rally, but I want to see what happens with Brexit before committing.
Cheers John, would that mean you're not fully invested at the moment or you just want some extra leverage?
I am pretty fully invested, as you surmise I am looking for a bit of extra leverage to create some cash outside my ISA and my SIPP.
No deal and sterling weakens, ftse goes up as it's cheaper for non-gbp investors. If there's a deal, ftse goes up on relief, finality. Et-ceteris-paribus.
Appreciate there has not been much interest here in Accsys Technologies (LON:AXS) but this share - has shot up steadily over the past month from 90p to 135p today - Up 7.5% - Long time coming but maybe people now climbing onto its future potential for profit and a very green one at that ?
Any thoughts / news Ive missed today
(Yes - I am long )
re Accsys Technologies (LON:AXS), I don't know any better either. It is a thin market, with some big investors in for the long haul. As you know, the company is now moving from FCF negative to FCF positive, and there is the big Hull plant coming onstream this year, as well as the new capacity in Eindhoven. Personally I like companies like this, which can sell everything they can make.
Re AXS. Its a great product. A wood with a 50 year warrantee for use above damp levels and 25 years immersed in damp conditions is an extraordinary invention. They have just done a deal to make MDF actually waterproof too without harmful chemicals. The bulk of their wood is sourced from New Zealand. Treatment with acetic acid gives softwood the characteristics of hardwood, and is actually more stable than many hardwoods. Can produce a great finish painted or natural. There are now quite a few UK joinery companies making windows and doors with this material. Has been 20 years in development. I have seen reviews from people using the timber for decking when it first came out, claiming that it rotted within 6 years. That is unlikely to be the case now. Have seen it used to clad the outside of buildings as a substitute for cedar. Looks stunning. The commerciality of it is difficult to asses for a number of reasons. The building industry takes for ever to accept new products, but they couldn't supply the whole industry anyway. Interesting to see what happens to price of the timber as it increases in popularity. Also with treatment basically basically with strong vinegar I don't know what would stop a big far eastern company producing something similar. Certainly Stock report still values it cautiously at the moment.
On Accsys Technologies (LON:AXS) and IP
Made me look - latest 6m results
Intellectual property
Accsys continues to invest heavily in growing, researching, developing and protecting its valuable portfolio of intellectual property and confidential information. We have recently reviewed and implemented new improved procedures seeking to safeguard as much as possible our proprietary information and are working with teams across the Group to ensure better understanding of, and training on, our confidentiality protocols.
Accsys’s patent portfolio totals 330 patent family members, covering 27 distinct inventions in over 40 countries. Over 60% of the patent family members have now been granted, including 17 of the 27 distinct inventions in Europe, USA or China. By using a combination of patenting and know-how we continue to invest in the generation and protection of core technologies associated with our current and future plants for the production of Accoya® and Tricoya® wood products.
Our principal trademark portfolio covers our brands Accoya®, Tricoya®, the Trimarque device and Accsys®, protected by registration in over 60 countries, with recent trademark activity focused on increasing the strength of those brands, and securing protection for the new corporate logo and our ‘changing wood to change the world’ strapline.
Accsys continues to maintain an active watch on the commercial and IP activity of third parties to ensure its IP rights are not infringed, and to identify any IP which could potentially hinder our commercial activity. Accsys has recently conducted an additional worldwide patent search which has reconfirmed our freedom to operate position, as we continue our Accoya® joint venture in the United States and our plans for a Tricoya® joint venture in Malaysia.
This is the most interesting thing I have seen for a while.
Trouble is 10% up on the day...
More bids today I see. Well done to anyone holding Imimobile (LON:IMO) A higher offer today for Countrywide (LON:CWD) at 325p per share. This stock was just 60 pence in June. Is there anything better in the stock market than holding a stock where multiple bidders keep pushing the price higher and higher? Will we yet see 400p? Maybe.
First half results of VP, the equipment hire group, might be worth a glance. Pre-tax profits down two thirds to £8.6m, on a 24% decline in revenues, to £142m. The chairman, who controls 50.3% of the company, says that business is “gradually recovering” towards prior year trading levels. The good news is that it is paying a 22p special dividend. The bad news is that it has more than tripled its provision, against a long running Competition and Markets Authority investigation into suspected anti-competitive behaviour in its temporary groundworks sector, which accounts for 9% of turnover. It has added another £10.87m to the existing £4.5m provision. Perhaps this helps explain why VP is trading at a substantial discount to Speedy Hire (LON:SDY), a similar sized competitor, which has lower returns on capital and operating margins.
Thanks Paul for your note on GAW. It was one of the first shares I bought a few years ago on joining Stocko. I am sure many of us hold it and are grateful for your comments even if it now a rather bigger company.
Well I suspect the Uganda Asian, immigrant story is authentic, what an amazing group of people those 60K kicked out by Idi Amin have turned out to be.
But yes, pat on the back for Boohoo (LON:BOO) marketing manager!
M&C Saatchi (M&c Saatchi (LON:SAA)) have returned to the AIM this morning after announcing no changes to 2019 accounts. The price is up 40% as of 8:44am. Has the market factored in the likely share dilutions from the put options scheme, which I have to confess I bought prior to Paul's deciphering (and warning) in October?
Intrigued whether to sell out now, or hang on for the ride as it's only a small position. (I hold)
General question for those who hold Sylvania Platinum (LON:SLP).
Did you get your dividend on Friday, mine appears to have gone AWOL, but I am using AJ Bell.
Yes, I use HL.
Yes got my SLP dividend Hargreaves Lansdown
Yes I received the Sylvania Platinum (LON:SLP) dividend on Friday, but I am with HL.
I am still with AJB whilst in the process of moving to IG. Needless to say they never fail to disappoint as I hold Sylvania Platinum (LON:SLP) and I have not received my dividend either.
I detect a bit of a vendetta against £AJB! I have held the shares since the IPO and am very happy with their performance and the platform in general which I use on a daily basis though not as a day trader. It would seem from their recent results and the customer retention figures quoted that there is only a very small minority who are unhappy and take their business elsewhere. As regards the Sylvania Platinum (LON:SLP) dividend that was paid into my account today. For me receiving the dividend after the weekend is not a big issue. I guess if someone has millions of shares and wants to reinvest immediately on Friday or buy a big ticket item over the weekend (!)it might be but sadly I don't have that quantity of shares!
Yes. With II.
I got mine on Friday and I use ii.
I do not know if this will help but, we received our Dividend from one platform, Fidelity on Friday. We hold at our dealing account with HSBC where the shares are recorded as held via 'Depositary Interest' due to the foreign element and that Dividend has not yet shown up. So we anticipate it will arrive sometime this week after 'translation' to the jolly old £
with HL in several puts, dividend received in all
I have only ever used x-o.co.uk and have always received dividends on time. And no probs with other services like Open Offer participation. Very good service I have found. Plus maybe the cheapest execution fees I think? No Jarvis Securities (LON:JIM) position.
Gloucester Bob
I checked at 18.00 on Friday and it wasn't there. However 20 minutes later I re-checked and the dividend had been paid. I use Halifax.
I don't hold Sylvania Platinum (LON:SLP) , however I was due to be paid for Riverfort Global Opportunities (LON:RGO) on Friday. I have that holding split across AJ Bell and IG. The money appeared on Friday in my IG account. Still to appear at AJ Bell.
The way their recent email tried to skirt over the 20% increase in custody fees was also to my mind thoroughly dishonest. Seriously considering moving my account.
yes with Equiniti
Yes, with Share Centre
Yes, the Share Centre had passed the cash to my account on Friday.
AJ Bell still no.
Also hold with AJBell. Still no sign of divi. Thanks for bringing this up, as I normally just trust that divis will appear.
After closing....Dividend arrived from AJBell ! A chunky one it is too...
General question for those who hold Sylvania Platinum (LON:SLP). Did you get your dividend on Friday, mine appears to have gone AWOL, but I am using AJ Bell.
Mine arrived sometime today. This is often the case with overseas domiciled companies, I'd assumed this was something to do with the stock being held as a depository interest. Other than Somero Enterprises Inc (LON:SOM) which was a special case due to their dogged persistence in using 18th century technology (i.e. sending out cheques) I find most dividends arrive within a couple of days of the ex-dividend date.
Although, to be honest, mostly I don't check the dates at all, I'm generally fine as long as they arrive in the correct quarter ...
timarr
I must confess i chased my broker for my Somero dividend only to find it had been paid on time - i had simply neglected to realise that the dividend would be paid in dollars as far as my transaction history was concerned - there it was sat there when i checked my USD transaction history (after chasing them) . Note i bought Somero in GBP currency - so the currency in which you buy the shares won't necessarily match the currency you get your dividend in. I don't know if thats sop with Somero dividends or not.
I'm with AJB and my div has come through today
I'm with AJB and my div has come through today
wow quite slp holders here. Not to rub salt in the wound but I too received my dividends. Another one using x-o
Imimobile (LON:IMO) - for the first time in 52 years of investing I bought a share on Friday (its results were due this morning), thought I should have bought more and hoped to do so but found today it is being taken over by Cisco for a near 50% gain!! It was a new policy to look for a share reporting within a day or two so beginners luck for that method! I normally sell on a takeover offer but have no idea whether anyone else could come in. I suppose not as you don't get much bigger than Cisco.
Gutted as it thought this had a great long term future but at least there’s a decent premium, lovely 50% or so rise
In this Ted Baker (LON:TED) H1 overview video Rachel Osborne, (relatively new) CEO & David Wolffe, CFO give a bit of colour to results. CV19 hit, but online very strong (+41%). Executing Ted’s growth formular: 'to deliver a structurally more profitable business with higher ROCE and higher sustainable free cash flow generation.' The development of franchise and licencing networks is of interest. As Rachel says, TED are developing international markets 'using other people's money.' Video & Podcast.
piworld webinars this week:
Today, Monday 7th December, 12 noon, Tekmar (LON:TGP) H1 results. Ally MacDonald (new) CEO & Sue Hurst, CFO will present results, followed by Q&A. Register here.
Wednesday 9th December, 2pm, Creightons (LON:CRL) H1 results. Bernard Johnson, MD, Pippa Clark, Jt Deputy MD, & Paul Forster, Group Finance and Commercial Director will present results followed by a Q&A. Register here.
Thanks Tamzin. I watched this whilst at the gym this morning and thought this looks good. Then I read Jack's report- so not so sure now!
Hello Tamzin. How do I get hold of the £Tekmar report please. Sorry, missed it. Doesnt seem to be on your site yet.
Super results from Byotrol (LON:BYOT) this morning:
Significant improvement in financial performance:
• Sales trebled to £6.7m compared to £2.2m in H1 2020 (and £6.1m for the full year to 31 March 2020)
• Gross profit on product sales increased to £2.3m from £0.9m
• Adjusted EBITDA * increased to £1.2m compared to a loss of £0.4m in H1 2020
• Net cash and cash equivalents of £1.7m at period end after substantial investment in stock
• Balance sheet strengthened by repayment of all financial debt
All strategic initiatives progressing to plan:
• Completion of licensing-out of Byotrol24 surface sanitizer to Integrated Resources Inc. in the US -expected to provide significant returns to Byotrol for minimal ongoing US costs
• Solvay has globally launched Actizone 24 hour surface sanitizer, referring to it as a "blockbuster technology"
• Grant of £350,000 secured for seaweed research programme
https://www.investegate.co.uk/...
I have found it difficult to work out how to value this share, but am comfortable that they offer good value when they are performing like this.
(I hold).
Agree with you. As you know I also hold LON:BYOT. Performing some simple maths and making profit £2.4m for the year and taking away net cash gives a P/E of 12. Not expensive at all IMO. The big question is this a covid one-off or sustainable? Personally I think it is as it makes most of its money in the professional medical world. I am also intrigued about the licensing in the US - LON:TSTL has been trying this for years and has still not got the OK - working with a licensee may prove a canny move and if it delivers will go to the bottom line.
The share price was near 10p a few months back (on the trading update) and I can see no reason why we won't return to, or exceed, that level soon as investors wake up to the opportunity.
£GAW No longer a small cap but there are probably many holders here from when it was:
Following the update in early November 2020, the Company announces that our preliminary estimates for the six months to 29 November 2020 indicate sales of c. £185 million (2019: £148 million) and profit before tax of not less than £90 million (2019: £59 million).
It's worth noting that as recently as 6th Nov, their trading statement estimated PBT of not less than 80m for the same period. That's quite an upgrade in just a month.
My morning smallcap tweet:
IMImobile (LON:IMO) McCarthy & Stone (LON:MCS) Countrywide (LON:CWD) 1pm (LON:OPM) Open Orphan (LON:ORPH) Telit Communications (LON:TCM) Bigblu Broadband (LON:BBB) Actual Experience (LON:ACT) Vertu Motors (LON:VTU), Coral Products (LON:CRU), Hardide (LON:HDD)
IMImobile (IMO) rec offer of 595p, a 48% premium. [SP=404 Cap=332m]
McCarthy & Stone (MCS) increased and final recommended offer of 120p. [SP=115.8 Cap=623m]
Countrywide (CWD) Connells increase offer by 30% to 325p. [SP=255 Cap=129m]
1pm (OPM) changes name to to Time Finance, ticker TIME. [SP=24.9 Cap=23m]
Open Orphan (ORPH) wins 2 contracts. No £££. [SP=23.5 Cap=157m]
Telit Communications (TCM) DBAY bought shares at 195p after offering 190p. Telit says still not enough, were it to increase its offer to 195, and favours u-blox offer of 250p in shares. Talking to both. [SP=193.81 Cap=258m]
Bigblu Broadband (BBB) wins £15m North Yorkshire subsidised contract. [SP=98.5 Cap=58m]
Actual Experience (ACT) wins three-year framework agreement with an American computer technology company for its new Human Experience Management offerings. Co believes they have the potential to be a major global channel partner. No £££. [SP=101.5 Cap=48m]
Vertu Motors (VTU) trading has remained ahead of prior year and original budget. Buys 12 sites, adding BMW and MINI franchises to group. Finaced by cash and £12.76m mortgage on sites. [SP=27.9 Cap=103m]. I hold.
In line: Coral Products (LON:CRU) Hardide (LON:HDD)
Ted Baker (LON:TED), Interim Results Announcement for the 28 weeks ended 8 August 2020
Look quite poor. despite CEO upbeat comments.
Great.
Morning,
To all those interested in £Boo, there was a terrific, lengthy piece in yesterday’s Mail (sorry I don’t know how to link it here) about the Chairman and founder, Mahmud Kumani. He basically showed his human side, and his very personal commitment to Leicester and its people. This came across about as far from a traditional stock market bogeyman as you could get. An excellent move by the marketing department to start to change the ‘Boohoo bad’ narrative with the Daily Mail.
I hold.
Martin
A cynic might think the Mail fell for some good PR after Kumani was shamed into caring more. I hold.
oooh you cynic! Yes totally agree, the article was a masterpiece in making him look about as unlike Sir Philip as one could get!
To link just copy and paste:
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9021749/Boohoo-boss-Mahmud-Kamanis-pain-slave-labour-storm.html
Theres a story in the sun about Sam Helligso celebrating black Friday sales.
The most interesting thing apart from the sun saying shes ‘Boohoo boss’ is quite how tacky these people are almost to the point of parody. Now im a middle aged man, and tacky seems to be the target market, but it still made me chuckle.
Yes, for an idea of the caliber of people you are investing in Boohoo holders That Sun article is a must-read.
TBH what is the crime here apart from social distancing? If we are to use that as a criterion then several high-profile people have guilty and I bet many more simply have not been rumbled.
The party is pretty gaudy of course but that's pretty much in-line with their market. And Misspap appears to be simply one brand of the company, a bit like generalising SDI (LON:SDI) on the behaviour of one CEO of one of their acquisitions.
Morally is it any worse than some of the 'Presidents Club' parties?
Much like an attendee at the Presidents Club I don't think it has much correlation with their business acumen.
I know its terrible, some people are really quite motivated by money and its trappings...says a bunch of investors in the stock market. Yes how crass, how silly is she going to feel for adding fuel (posting pictures onto Instagram herself!) to the current media story du jour of rich or famous people not following Covid rules.
But thanks for pointing this out, as the story points out that her motivation was "I wanted to celebrate a really big week..." (Black Friday presumably).
Yes, for an idea of the caliber of people you are investing in Boohoo holders That Sun article is a must-read.
I think the most depressing thing about the Sun article is that they described Tom Curle as an ex-footballer. I guess if you've only ever had a contract at teams managed by your Dad and played in four games for Mansfield Town , that counts in this day and age. Hardly David Beckham is he?
All the best, Si
Thx for flagging Martin.
I hold Boohoo (LON:BOO)
PS interesting to see he is wearing an Hermes rather than a Boohoo belt!!
Cheers Michael
To be fair, I think he is a little older than the Boohoo Men target audience!
Hi Martin
:-) My tongue was firmly in my cheek.
Personally I am admirer of Mr Kumani for what he has achieved and from where he has come from. The Mail article seemed heart felt but maybe I am naive.
Regards
Michael