Quadnetics Share Discussion Threads

[jswift] 05/8/2010 20:07

OK- now 20% +, they must like the company?

[jswift] 03/8/2010 19:25

Agree- good intrims- does any one know if Goldman Sachs are buying these shares (18%+) for their own account or a fund which they manage?

[yoyoy] 02/8/2010 08:54

Good interims posted last week.

£170k buy just gone through. Back on the move up IMHO

[the analyst] 26/7/2010 15:02

Cheers,

That's one of the things that put me off IND - in general I prefer a share where there hasn't been a heard of avid followers. Does seem to cause instability with quite a few of these well-followed shares...

[yump] 26/7/2010 14:22

I'm not very familiar with IND - remember looking at it back in 2007 when it had already flown to a quite a toppy p/e if I remember correctly and that scared me off. Perhaps they've reached that critical size of company where it becomes quite difficult to grow and the share price goes into a period of adjusting to that with a cycle of new hope for growth and then disillusionment.

Those vertical jumps with smallish companies when they start posting high growth often seems to make a mess of the share price for a few years - I guess after the heights, nobody can really work out what its worth or how it should be rated.

Hoping that QDG can grow reliably at some point from a much smaller base and that the growth doesn't all come in one burst !

Plus IND seems to have had a big following over the years, which may have contributed to the big changes in rating.

QDG pretty quiet so far.

[the analyst] 22/7/2010 21:10

I agree with you on that one, yump

On a different note, I'm finding it interesting to see the disparity in performance between QDG and IND so far during 2010 - any thoughts on that?

[yump] 22/7/2010 18:11

As this isn't exactly a traders or popular stock, I'd guess at it being a bit 'leaky', judging by the timing and significance of the rise.

[yump] 16/7/2010 10:43

I'd missed the oil/gas orders - thanks for reiterating.

Yep, once you get into the health, safety and legislative area with some highly rated products, its not exactly a licence to print money, but its getting there.

[yoyoy] 15/7/2010 17:18

my notable items

"The momentum of increased sales was particularly strong towards the end of the period across all divisions"

"7 major orders from the oil & gas industry for explosion rated CCTV,
many incorporating Synectics command and control software". (Could be compulsory in future. Demands from governments and insurers)

"Combined technology supply (Synectics Network Systems) and systems
integration (Integration & Managed Services Division) for three city centre
security systems". (Necessary if we have fewer cops on the beat)

infact the more you read it the more there are.

Looks like a re-rating

[yoyoy] 15/7/2010 17:09

only time will tell.

latst TS was June, update due 28th July

"Quadnetics Group plc

("Quadnetics", "the Group" or "the Company")

Post-Close Trading Update


Quadnetics Group plc, a leader in advanced surveillance technology and security
networks, provides an update on trading following the end of the 12-month period
to 31 May 2010.

As previously announced, the Company has changed its year end from 31 May to 30
November, and the current financial year therefore encompasses the 18-month
period ending 30 November 2010.

The Board is pleased to report that trading in the second six months of this
extended financial year has been, as anticipated, much stronger than in the
first six months. Underlying profits* for the 12 months to 31 May 2010 are
expected to be in line with market expectations.

Exceptional reorganisation costs of approximately �GBP900,000 have been incurred in
the same period, being predominantly the final elements of the Group
restructuring described in last year's annual report. No material further
reorganisation costs are anticipated in the remainder of this financial year.

Consolidated net cash balances as at 31 May 2010 were approximately �GBP4.8
million.

During the second six months of the financial year there were substantial
improvements in the performance of the Synectics Networks division in the Middle
East, as the benefits of the restructuring of Synectics' activities in that
region began to come through, and in the US, where business in the casino
security market has picked up markedly after many planned projects were delayed
during the recession. Synectics Mobile Systems also delivered much better
performance, due mainly to increased sales to its rail and defence customers.

The momentum of increased sales was particularly strong towards the end of the
period across all divisions. Notable contract wins in the six months included:

- �GBP1.7 million full security system for the new Pembroke gas-fired power
station in Milford Haven;
- Combined technology supply (Synectics Network Systems) and systems
integration (Integration & Managed Services Division) for three city centre
security systems;
- Major upgrade to the East Coast Mainline security system;
- 3-year contract with Stagecoach for on-bus security systems, with an
anticipated value of �GBP3.7 million;
- $1.5 million analogue-to-digital upgrade of Stratosphere Casino in Las
Vegas (plus letter of intent for an additional casino from the same group);
- Follow-on orders for on-board CCTV on the Docklands Light Railway; and
- 7 major orders from the oil & gas industry for explosion rated CCTV,
many incorporating Synectics command and control software.

Overall, the Board is pleased with the progress the Company is now making
following the major restructuring completed by the new senior management team
over the past year. Apart from the lower fixed cost base, an important objective
of the restructuring was to increase dramatically the focus on cross-selling the
Group's technology, systems integration and service capabilities across its
three major specialist customer sectors: high security infrastructure
protection, mobile surveillance and oil & gas. The tangible benefits of these
efforts are now evident, and we are confident they will provide the catalyst for
a trend of increasing margins and quality of earnings over the coming years.

Quadnetics will issue a second interim report, covering results for the 12
months to 31 May, on or around 28 July 2010.

[yump] 15/7/2010 16:26

..or then again, perhaps there is 'something going on'.

[yump] 15/7/2010 08:04

Doesn't seem to take much to move it, judging from the past tail-offs followed by a jump, which seem to be a pattern. Probably just oversold, given the much more positive outlook.

[jswift] 09/3/2010 14:03

Hi- seems to be going up with very little volume- any views?????

[davebowler] 03/3/2010 14:26

Cheap shares are scarce

Richard Beddard from
03.03.10 12:01 Money Observer article




There are a number of reasons I was choosier at the end of last year with additions to the Thrifty 30 portfolio. First, many companies choose the end of the calendar year as their financial year end, which means there was a dearth of reports to refer to as the rush of annual reports happens in the first four months of the new year. So with fewer companies to choose from, perhaps the quality suffers, but by the time you read this that shouldn't be a problem.

Second, cheap shares are scarcer. The FTSE All-Share index closed the year about 50% higher than its March lows, which makes me yearn for those days of panic again.

Currently, the average long-term price/earnings ratio of UK shares is about 14. That's not expensive. Two years ago the p/e was more like 20 (in March, it was just eight), but it means there are many companies that are too pricey for a thrifty portfolio.

I can afford to be choosy too. Having added 16 companies, the majority of berths in the Thrifty 30 are full. I'd only want to fill them all if the market was very cheap and that opportunity has gone for now. Keeping some cash will reduce losses if share prices crash again and give me the firepower to buy cheap companies. It means sacrificing some profit if the market goes up from here, but in the long term the Thrifty 30 will do better if I behave contra-cyclically - buying on the lows, in other words.

Our trio joining the in-crowd

Quadnetics (QDG) makes and markets surveillance equipment such as CCTV cameras, video recorders and the software and hardware that controls and links them to other systems such as alarms. In the 1990s it was a struggling conglomerate, but it shed its aerospace and engineering interests. However, after a promising couple of years, growth has stalled, which is something its new chief executive hopes to put right.

Alumasc (ALU) is a collection of companies that make building materials for big developments and housebuilders. It has a wide product range, from solar shields and 'green roofs' made from growing plants, to mundane manhole covers and toilet cubicles. Not surprisingly, scaffolding sales and other premium building products have been hit by recession, but its more exotic sustainable energy management category grew. Diversity seems to be its strength.

Civil engineer Waterman (WTM) helped rebuild post-war Britain and develop the City of London. More recently, it has clung on to the coat-tails of globalisation, going wherever there's a construction project to manage, design or plan. As much as it's grown through these building booms, it's also cut back sharply during the contractions that followed. This time is no different and Waterman, to a greater extent than Alumasc and Quadnetics, has cut staff and restructured in the recession.

All three companies look cheap. The priciest is Quadnetics, which costs 12 times earnings averaged over 10 years. The other two are outright bargains with Waterman, for example, costing just four times earnings. However, it is, perhaps, the riskiest because of its debt; a black mark it shares with most of the companies I rejected. It also expects to write off some of the money it's owed or has invested in deferred or cancelled building projects.

Although I'll keep adding shares during 2010, I'll be even more judicious about it.

The market p/e

Just as we can compare the price of a company's shares to its profits or earnings (per share), we can compare the price of a stock market index to the profits of all the companies represented by it to establish whether shares are cheap or expensive.

Since the 10-year average smooths out temporary declines in profits during recessions, and temporarily enhanced earnings during booms, the resulting price/earnings ratio is a more dependable measure than a p/e ratio based on a single year's profits.

Robert Shiller, an American professor, pioneered the "cyclically adjusted price/earnings ratio" for the US stockmarket going back as far as 1880.

My more modest attempt to chart the cyclically adjusted p/e ratio for UK shares starts in 2007. Read more about it in the blog I wrote on the subject.

This article was taken from the February 2010 edition of Money Observer.

[josh devil] 24/2/2010 16:13

CEO buys £60k of shares, institutions got in again 2/3 weeks ago. IMHO this share must be due to show some price growth in the next few months.

May results will be a good guide to future value.

[yump] 04/2/2010 09:14

Yes, here's that article in full for any newcomers who want to read beyond the attention grabbing headline:

Surveillance systems specialist Quadnetics Group turned a £527,000 profit into a £189,000 loss in the first half year.

Turnover at the Warwickshire-based company fell 16 per cent to £29.8 million in the six months to November, partly as a result of delayed orders in the North American gaming surveillance market and the Middle East. Chairman David Coghlan says this was offset by the success of AIM-quoted Quadnetics' new suite of 'Synectics' network and mobile surveillance products and a restructuring set in train by chief executive John Shepherd, who was appointed towards the end of 2008.

Restructuring costs contributed to a halving of cash to £3.4 million at the end of November, but the company is maintaining its interim dividend of 2.56p a share. Quadnetics won £3.7 million of new business with the Stagecoach transport group, £2.1 million with UK Prisons, £1.6 million with Kashagan oilfield and £1.1 million with Nexus Rail during the first half, which the company ended with firm orders down 15 per cent to £22 million, though its prospective order 'pipeline' was up 70 per cent at £52.5 million.

By the end of December firm orders had risen to nearly £29 million, says Coghlan. He argues Quadnetics should now gain from the restructuring programme's cost reduction measures and upturns in the Middle East and North America.

Quadnetics shares, which were as high as 350p over the past two years, now trade at 150p, up from a year's low of 93p. They could rally further if the company's programme succeeds.

[investinggarden] 03/2/2010 16:13

Quadnetics into the red

[davebowler] 21/1/2010 14:06

Quadnetics Group has won a three-year £3.7m contract with Stagecoach to supply and install CCTV on buses.

[b1ggles] 27/11/2009 12:52

And I'm sure it's no coincidence that the 139,800 shares he sold is exactly the same number as was bought by Whitehall Consolidated Ltd, who now own over 12% of QDG, on the same day.

[yump] 27/11/2009 12:43

Oh my god, I didn't know directors were allowed to sell shares in their own companies, I thought they had to keep them for ever to keep shareholders happy.

Oh what a surprise, he's still got 450,000.

C- for you son.
Back to deramping school.

[knarf] 27/11/2009 11:51

director has had enough.

[josh devil] 05/11/2009 17:27

I disagree. They will still report for the same period so will be comparable and there is a strong sense of direction in the statement that has been missing for a while.

[knarf] 05/11/2009 07:36

mmmm,doesnt read very good,lets change the goal posts to make the figures look better,can see these being well down today,not alot of interest in QDG looking at the posts.

[ssords] 09/9/2009 17:28

Yes results not good but do include quite a lot of exceptional costs.
Could not find Chairman's etc reports. Anyone any clues
Ssords

[crystball] 09/9/2009 07:57

A quick scan of results and my gut feeling is that there will be a retrace in share price in the short term.