Computerland Uk Share Discussion Threads

[diogenesj] 07/7/2004 22:04

Computacenter's results were disappointing and the shares fell, so it probably isn't that (unless holders decided to switch into something better and chose CPU).

[robbiegoodwin] 07/7/2004 17:16

I believe a larger competitor Computacenter reported yesterday and it could be a reaction to this.

[johnroger] 06/7/2004 16:51

Sudden jump today against market trend.
Any ideas?

[johnroger] 02/7/2004 13:29

IC continues buy rating


2 July 2004

COMPUTERLAND UK (CPU)

This record set of results marks the fourth consecutive year of growth in sales, profits and earnings at ComputerLand. And with conditions continuing to improve, it looks as though the good times are set to keep rolling.

The main driver behind the company's recent success is the fact that managed service revenues surged ahead by almost 50 per cent, to £6m, reflecting new business gained and a full-year's benefit from contracts won in 2003. Encouragingly, ComputerLand's pipeline of new bids is good and management expects to win several new managed-service contracts this year.

As ever, project service revenues also increased, helping to offset a weak performance from ComputerLand's hardware maintenance revenues. Here, the company suffered due to competitive pressures, which pushed sales down from £5.9m to £5.4m.

However, last year's £1.7m acquisition of Information Technology Solutions has resulted in greater scale and broadened the offering in this sector, as well as helping it to reduce costs. But product sales continued to suffer from price deflation so, despite increased volumes, turnover remained flat. Broker Charles Stanley forecasts pre-tax profits of £2.3m and EPS of 15.9p.



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Ord price: 194p Market value: £20m
Touch: 190-197p 12-month High: 219p Low: 142p
Dividend yield: 2.3% PE ratio: 14
Net asset value: 42p* Net cash: £7.5m
*Includes intangibles of £1.479m, or 15p a share



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Year to Turnover Pre-tax Earnings Dividend per
30 Apr (£m) profit (£m) per share (p) share (p)

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2000 28.3 -0.2 -1.4 2.10
2001 36.9 0.3 2.4 2.10
2002 37.6 0.6 4.7 2.20
2003 54.8 1.5 10.5 3.30
2004 55.8 1.9 13.6 4.35
% change +2 +26 +30 +32

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Last IC view: 30 Jul 2004Ex-div: 4 AugPayment: 7 Sep


This remains a well-run business that is benefiting from strong growth in all areas. We recommended buying the shares at their current price of 193p (30 January 2004), and this set of results illustrates why they are still attractive. Buy.

[diogenesj] 01/7/2004 18:11

Thanks, RG. Hoped for a little more, but plenty of time for upgrades, I suppose.

[robbiegoodwin] 01/7/2004 15:11

Charles Stanley's latest forecasts

2005 EPS 15.9p DPS 5.05
2006 EPS 17.89p DPS 5.30
2007 EPS 19.43p DPS 5.70

The bonus is that if you buy now your still entitled to the final dividend of 3p per share making the yield for this year look very attractive.

[diogenesj] 24/6/2004 13:59

Nice results, and better than forecast. Strong cash position and confident statement by the chairman on current trade and prospects for this year.

[robbiegoodwin] 24/6/2004 11:34

Agreed, excellent results. The problem seems to be the next jump up with CPU, hopefully this will give them the all important momentum.

[johnroger] 24/6/2004 08:39

LONDON (AFX) - Computerland UK PLC year to April 30 2004
Sales - 56.43 mln stg vs 54.84 mln
Pretax profit before goodwill - 1.92 mln stg vs 1.51 mln
Pretax profit - 1.86 mln stg vs 1.51 mln
EPS before goodwill - 13.6 pence vs 10.5
EPS - 13.2 pence vs 10.5
Final div - 3.0 pence vs 2.2
Total div - 4.35 pence vs 3.3

[johnroger] 08/6/2004 21:36

Results due June 24th

[robbiegoodwin] 30/4/2004 07:23

The company is confident of meeting market expectations for the y/e 30th April 2004. A lot of people have tipped this company and their updates should drive the share price forward.

[diogenesj] 27/4/2004 15:33

All I can tell you is that the most recent forecast on Company Refs, by the house broker Charles Stanley and dated 6/2/04, is for normalised earnings per share of 12.4p (+20%) for the year to 30 April 2004 and 15.6p (+23.4%) for the following year.

Most smaller companies' share prices have been a bit weak recently, but if they can hit these forecasts the shares look cheap to me.

At 193.5p, the prospective PE is now 15.6x at 30 April and 12.4x for 2005.

[robbiegoodwin] 27/4/2004 12:57

Year end on the 30th April 2004, this usually brings with it an interim announcement on how the year has gone. Does anyone have any relevant information? I have noticed the trades have been very negative recently.

[diogenesj] 17/3/2004 21:22

Hmm, there may be some reason for it, but at the very least it indicates that he doesn't think they are likely to go up much in the immediate future.

Shouldn't attach too much importance to a single director selling, of course, but in this case only 3 have any shares at all: Lawless (now 60k); BJ Martin 56k; and G Gilbert 38.7%. If Gilbert starts to sell it may be time to run for the exit.

In the meantime, the chart doesn't look too promising, but if the current forecasts are to be believed the shares are still very good value imo, on a prospective PE of under 13 for the year to 5 April 2005.

[robbiegoodwin] 17/3/2004 20:50

Simon Lawless has offloaded 60,000 shares, half his holding. No reason given, hopefully to meet a personal expense or institutional demand. Any comments welcomed.

[diogenesj] 01/3/2004 17:55

There seem to be a lot of smallish sales: I wonder if some rag that tipped it last year has now advised taking profits? If so, I suspect the readers will regret it.

[robbiegoodwin] 01/3/2004 17:08

Nice to receive the dividend today, however, not so nice to see the share price drop 14p. Does anyone know of a reason why?

[diogenesj] 12/2/2004 17:55

Many thanks, RG. I feel encouraged enough to top up my holding.

[robbiegoodwin] 12/2/2004 09:30

I have been in touch with Charles Stanley and these are amended figures after the recent acquisition.

[diogenesj] 10/2/2004 14:10

RG: logged into my account with the appalling TDW and there it is: Charles Stanley, dated 6/2/04, 12.35p for 2004, 15.63p for 2005. I'd swear it wasn't there when I checked earlier this morning.

Anyway, those are certainly very encouraging figures and make the shares look cheap again. Thanks for pointing them out.

[robbiegoodwin] 10/2/2004 13:51

I have spotted this on the brokers forecasts on TD Waterhouse, I believe the forecast is from Charles Stanley & Co. I will see if I can get hold of it.

[diogenesj] 10/2/2004 11:44

Could you tell us where that forecast comes from, RG?

[robbiegoodwin] 10/2/2004 09:24

Brokers Forecasts have been uplifted and project EPS for 2005 of 15.63p compared with 14.7p previously. This puts them on a p/e of 12.5 for 20%+ growth. Good value.

[robbiegoodwin] 01/2/2004 12:56

The Business has rated this a buy. Andrew Griffiths has written the article and has long been a follower of the company. The increased exposure the company is getting should hopefully bring some new investors in and break the all important trading range.

[robbiegoodwin] 30/1/2004 17:14

Thank you for this johnroger, have a good weekend.

Robbieg