Iomart Share Discussion Threads

[imranawan] 10/12/2014 17:06

johnv I would tend to agree as he very rarely seems to lose money on most shares. I guess he's just very disciplined and sticks to his trading plan.

[johnv] 10/12/2014 16:56

I bet NT tells us he sold at 1400hrs. Hmmm

[cutlosses] 10/12/2014 16:24

NT comments today.
"Iomart put out half-year, it looks reasonably on track to me though one or two slight question marks over customers coming in and out caused a fall.

I suspect this will get taken out so I've stuck with it, in a profit still from one trade and a loss from the other. Still, I made a great gain on the last bid offer so hoping for the same again. Both The Times and Investors Chronicle comment on how cheap it looks now, any price under 200p looks cheap for this now."

[shakeypremis] 10/12/2014 14:10

Again, it's following the overall FTSE pattern again, just like it did yesterday, just like it did during the recent downturn on the FTSE in October where it went down to 170p. It will be interesting to see if this goes much lower, but I reckon this will rise again once when the FTSE reverses.

[paleje] 10/12/2014 11:50

IC have an article on them today -



Clear skies at iomart
Shares in iomart (IOM) tumbled a fifth after the company disappointed investors with organic growth in hosting revenues of just 8 per cent, down from double-digit growth a year ago. On the bright side, it posted a 28 per cent increase in operating profit to £6.2m.

The outsourcer - which saves small- and medium-sized enterprises the costs, complexities and security risks of storing and hosting their own data - stands to be a major beneficiary of trends such as 'big data', the 'Internet of Things' and cybersecurity. "We're selling peace of mind," says chief executive Angus MacSween. Indeed, companies that have shunned outsourcing due to concerns over data security are gradually realising "that particular emperor has no clothes".

But that doesn't protect the company from the rapacious growth of cloud services from the likes of Amazon and Microsoft. Iomart's strategy is to offer hybrid solutions that incorporate elements of its larger rivals' offerings. It has already partnered with Microsoft, Dell and EMC, gaining a foothold in the enormous US market in the process. Management warns that paying subscription fees will push operating costs up, but expects lower capital spending and depreciation charges to leave iomart's excellent margins intact.

Broker finnCap expects full-year pre-tax profit of £17.1m, giving EPS of 12.7p, rising to £20.2m and 15p in 2015 (from £14.6m and 10.9p in 2013).

IC VIEW:
Shares in iomart trade on 14 times forecast earnings, which looks cheap given the company's strong growth profile and exposure to several fast-growing markets. Buy.

[gerri-c] 10/12/2014 08:40

Again, some obviously taking the opportunity of buying or adding at these levels. Meanwhile, business continues apace:-

[macarre] 09/12/2014 22:05

If indeed a bid offer comes in at 300p as some predict, we are looking at a 66% upside from where the share price is at today.

[shakeypremis] 09/12/2014 16:32

To be honest this could go back up when the FTSE starts going up again. It could be that ridiculous. Bad day for markets everywhere has not made the drop any smaller here.

[cutlosses] 09/12/2014 14:01

28% growth but 20% fall in SP???? If I could understand this I might cut my losses, but will hope it picks up again. Might even provoke another bid.Good luck to anyone getting in at this price.

[aishah] 09/12/2014 13:18

Hosting firm iomart saw shares dip c19% this morning after its H1 cloud growth figures came in below expectations. Organic growth in its “Cloud Hosting” business was 8% - below the 12% management was hoping for.

There was a mix of reasons for this. Some contracts came to an end, some customers left/were acquired earlier in the year – all of which impacts the recurring revenue for the remainder of the year. Indeed, estimates from the financial analyst community suggest iomart’s hosting business will achieve c8% growth for the full year.

The added challenge for iomart is that because it is operating in the busy cloud market and because it is a public company, a very bright spotlight is being shone on its performance (the same is true for AWS, Google, Azure et al). So when a target isn’t met, industry watchers and share traders get very jittery. However, the cloud market and industry is developing at a very rapid rate. Suppliers are trying to get their heads around revenue models, go-to-market strategies, new partnerships and so on, while buyers are trying to understand just how their cloud strategies should look. Ups and downs are therefore to be expected. What is without doubt is that the market for cloud services continues to grow faster than most other areas of the IT services market.

It is also worth mentioning that following the news that Host Europe had terminated iomart takeover talks, iomart explained to us today that a formal offer was never made and that the companies were “a million miles away from getting a deal done”. However, we certainly wouldn't rule out interest from other parties in the future.

For the record, iomart’s top line (i.e. inorganic) growth in the six months to the end of September was 28% (to £31.5m). The cloud hosting segment accounts for £26m of that. Adjusted EBITDA margin increased to 44%.

Been adding here today. dyor

[macarre] 09/12/2014 12:46

Wonder if NT stoploss has been triggered. Will know tomorrow hopefully.

[fruitninja84] 09/12/2014 12:40

Management here pay them selfs a fortune in wages shares ect.. A lot of greed here imo and not enough for holders . Tiny divi but hopes of a bid. I should of known better then try catch this falling knife back in oct, was up 12% yesterday down 8 today.

[stegrego] 09/12/2014 12:34

Read that organic growth was expected at 12 but came in at 8.

Still don't see that as a reason for 20 per cent off.

[gnnmartin] 09/12/2014 12:01

Thanks from me too imranawan. The 8% organic growth is the part that comes nearest to 'disappointing'. Other bits (big boys entering cloud, big difference between adjusted and statutory profits) are not new news. I think that the focus Quindell, Blinkx and others has increased awareness about how easy it is to generate the appearance of strongly growing profits, especially for an acquisitive company.
Nigel Martin

[supersturrock] 09/12/2014 10:32

As I see it, adjustments mainly focus on amortisation of intangible assets following acquisitions.

[pcourt] 09/12/2014 10:27

Apparently Google will be Public Cloud not Private. Still huge need for Customers to have their own infrastructure mainly for Security and Resilience. ..I can't see much threat here....

[devoncop] 09/12/2014 10:18

Thanks Imranawan

As I said I am in at 187 but do appreciate your analysis of the figures.

I would look for at least 10 to 15% gain from here making up a proportion of today's loss short term but see the point you are making re organic v aquired growth.

[imranawan] 09/12/2014 10:13

Thanks pcourt, and I think the reason you saw on Twitter also played a significant part in the fall. I think the fall in share price is probably overdone, based on an initial analysis of the figures.

[pcourt] 09/12/2014 10:10

Hi Imranawan, some good points there - thanks

[imranawan] 09/12/2014 10:01

I think the outlook statement was pretty vague, and the disparity between statutory EPS (4.25p) and adjusted EPS 6.15 has contributed to the fall. Broker consensus forecasts projected EPS of 13.1 for 2015, so if you take the adjusted EPS figure they are on course to deliver. However, based on statutory EPS for the full year, the current PER looks stretched.

Also whilst I agree the overall headlines look good, it appears the majority of growth in revenues has come from Redstation Limited and BTL which were both acquisitions in 2013. Organic growth equated to an increase of 8% in revenues (I've pasted the relevant section from this mornings IMS):

Overall revenues from our operations grew 28% to £31.5m (H1 2014: £24.6m).

Our Hosting segment grew revenues by 37% to £26.1m (H1 2014: £19.1m). The majority of this increase was due to the contribution for the full six month period from the acquisitions of Redstation Limited and BTL in September 2013. Organic growth in the period was 8%.

I have no position in the stock, but am just trying to understand what caused the fall this morning.

[pcourt] 09/12/2014 10:00

Apparently Google have moved into Cloud Storage ...might justify bit of selloff but overdone

[pcourt] 09/12/2014 09:55

Most sensible reason i saw on twitter - many traders may have been positioned before for Takeover News....when that failed to happen, they closed Longs. Stoplosses then triggered and panic set in....

[raysor] 09/12/2014 09:51

Oska, either get a new trading platform or ignore buy/sell. Bargains are not reported/recorded as buys or sells by LSE.

[arc en ciel] 09/12/2014 09:48

The results published today seem excellent in every regard with solid progress of around 25% in revenues and profits and reasonable debt reduction. So why did the shares fall 17%? Was the market expecting more?

[gnnmartin] 09/12/2014 09:46

I'm puzzled too by the drop. The results looked ok to me: I expected the gentle rise to continue. I haven't read all through the rather lengthy report to see if there are some negatives tucked away. Disappointing. I look forward to listening to TWs bearcast to see if he sheds any light on the drop.
Nigel Martin