Sumus Share Discussion Threads

[bisiboy] 05/6/2007 18:27

these look extraordinary cheap to me, i just couldnt resist and have picked a few up
does anyone follow this!

[sailing john] 05/6/2007 08:12

Interim results

Sumus Plc ('Sumus' or the 'Company'), the AIM listed holding company for IFA
businesses providing investment and financial advisory services and network
support services to IFA firms, today announces its interim results for the six
months ended 31st March 2007.


Highlights


Revenue up 100% to £14m (2006: £7m)
Profit from operations up 47% to £436,000 (2006: £297,000)
Profit before income tax up 40% to £550,000 (2006: £393,000)
Basic earnings per share up 37% to 1.37p (2006: 1.00p)
Cash flow from operating activities up 187% to £997,000 (2006: £347,000)
Interim dividend up 45% to 0.32p (2006: 0.22p)
Substantial cash resources of circa £3.5m available to fund further strategic
expansion
First time contribution from FSAS of £6.7m revenue and £115,000 profit from
operations
Brunel Funds launched on 1st March 2007 and have already attracted over £2m

[oregano] 10/4/2007 13:43

good summary article from Growth investor. cheap if they deliver on forecasts.



Sumus goes for growth
Companies: SUMU
09/02/2007
Independent financial advisers (IFAs) are living in a fast-changing environment, as demographic changes, market forces and regulation combine to demand greater professionalism and financial strength in a sector once noted for its mavericks. Allan Rosengren, chief executive of Sumus, which provides a range of services for a network of 315 IFAs around the country with 150,000 clients and £4.9 billion of assets, says 'there are key changes coming to our market' and argues this is a state of affairs from which the Bristol-based company stands to reap healthy growth and profits.




Growth by acquisition and organic development, based on providing increasingly bespoke services to the higher-margin, wealthier end of the IFA market, is the watchword at Sumus. It was floated on AIM two years ago following a £2.5 million placing at 40p by broker Hoodless Brennan (now HB Corporate). Sumus is the holding company for the Falcon Group, founded by Rosengren 24 years ago with finance broker Julian Telling, who is now group operations director.

Rosengren and Telling remain key shareholders, with 34.4 and 25 per cent respectively of Sumus, which has already chalked up average revenue growth of 25 per cent a year since 1994 and lifted profits 34 per cent to £840,000 pre-tax in the year to last September on turnover 21 per cent ahead at £15.2 million. Last summer the company bought leading Scottish IFA network Financial Services Advice and Support (FSAS) for up to £2 million in shares and cash and has more than £3 million cash available after setting aside £1 million for capital adequacy. It is seeking further acquisitions, perhaps in the Midlands.

Sumus has some £2 billion of funds 'under advice' and is now adding another ingredient to the mix with the launch of Brunel Funds. This will offer asset management
to its client base in conjunction with fellow AIM counter Premier Asset Management.




Strategy
Rosengren says Brunel will be a 'fund of funds', investing in other funds with a distribution arm going for funds yielding four per cent or more and a growth arm pitching for those backing international equities. With Premier (whose funds under management exceed £1.5 billion) providing management, Brunel is targeted at 'private clients, self-invested pension funds, ISA transfers and offshore bond investors' and may invest no more than 15 per cent of funds with any one manager and no more than five per cent in any one fund.

Sumus will benefit from a five per cent pricing spread and share a 1.5 per cent annual management fee with Premier, says Rosengren. With investment flows through the group and its network running at £200 million a year, he says 'it would be nice to attract £20 million into Brunel inside a year' and talks of building it to 'maybe £100 million in three years'.

According to Rosengren, adding Brunel is the latest plank in the company's strategy of providing a comprehensive service to IFA groups. Investment business accounts for 52 per cent of turnover, with pensions taking another 24 per cent, followed by mortgages ranging from commercial deals to first-time home purchases, and the company would like to do more in areas such as insurance and inheritance and other tax planning.

'We collect revenues for IFAs and handle regulatory issues for them,' explains Rosengren, who boasts 'IFAs working with us should see no problems'. The company arranges mandatory professional indemnity insurance cover for all its IFAs, their associations and representative firms and 'they get better terms that way'.

Sumus has, of course, to vet the IFAs who come on to its books. The company thereafter subjects them to an annual test of 'knowledge and competence'.

The market is changing, explains Rosengren, and Sumus has to be alive to that. 'The population is ageing and there is an increase in personal wealth,' he says.

He sees 'a shift towards multi-affluent rich private clients and corporate business'. In turn, this means moving away from the old 'transaction-based' business formula, by which clients were encouraged to trade in order to generate commissions, and towards a 'fees-oriented' system, by which wealthy clients pay for regular advice and action when it is appropriate, and the scale of fees depends on results.

This, in turn, should lead to further consolidation in the IFA sector. 'There are efficiencies in size,' maintains Rosengren, 'and companies must be able to meet capital adequacy standards' now demanded by the regulators.




The purchase of FSAS – for up to £2 million if targets are met and bringing another 160 IFAs, £10 million-plus turnover and £700 million assets – is a case in point. Sumus is clear this will not be its last acquisition.

Buying other companies is a sensitive matter in what is quintessentially a 'people business', with no shortage of large egos. 'Handling people is of prime importance,' stresses Rosengren, 'and it is vital to realise that before you do a deal.

'There is a need to be highly selective about your relationships.' This is where Sumus' long experience comes in handy: 'We've done it for 20 years,' says Rosengren.

Management
Helping 'bed down' FSAS within the Sumus group involved putting Sumus finance director Peter Smith in charge of finance at the newly acquired company, appointing FSAS co-founder and commercial director Andrew Snowball to a non-executive Sumus main board seat and making Rosengren executive chairman of the subsidiary.

It was Rosengren's original meeting with Julian Telling in the early 1980s which led to the creation of the company. Rosengren, who is seen as having been responsible for attracting high-quality financial advisers to the group in the first place, handles strategy and future direction, while Telling looks after compliance, risk management, administration and group marketing.

In December, Paul Bradshaw, chairman of Nucleus Financial Group and non-executive director of Merchant Investors Assurance, took over from Michael Innes as non-executive chairman. An insurance industry veteran, Bradshaw, who was one of the founders of Skandia Life, brings to Sumus his experience of running Skandia as well as Scottish Amicable International and more recently Abbey's international insurance and asset management operations.

Finance director Peter Smith, an accountant and ex-partner of KPMG, was previously group finance director at leading upholstered furniture maker Christie-Tyler Group. Since then, he has been in private practice, most recently in corporate finance.

Prospects
Sumus shares have so far been disappointing performers, falling to 28p last May amid uncertainties about the sector. But more recently they have staged a recovery to
around 45p, prompted by encouraging annual figures and the company's present plans.

The acquisition of FSAS has helped Sumus more than double the number of IFAs it serves from 131 to 315, though the group's buoyant pre-tax profits to September only reflect two months' contribution from the Scottish concern. Earnings rose 18.5 per cent to 2.11p a share and the board proposed a 29 per cent dividend increase to 0.68p a share.

The company pushed operating margins up from 3.9 per cent to 4.1 per cent and net operating cash flow increased from £270,000 to £1 million. House broker HB Corporate sees pre-tax profits rising 67 per cent to £1.4 million and earnings gaining 58 per cent to 3.33p a share on doubled turnover of £30 million, helped by a full year's contribution from FSAS, with more than £1.6 million pre-tax on the cards for 2007-08.

If HB analyst Philip Smith is right, Sumus should be able to lift its operating margins again to 7.6 per cent in the next financial year and increase year-end cash by £1.6 million to £4.9 million. That should be ample to meet capital adequacy requirements and fund further expansion.

The recent increase in bank base rates has prompted questions about how the company's target markets would be affected by a climate of rising interest rates. Rosengren argues it should not have much immediate impact on the high-rollers Sumus' clients are seeking to tap, except if rates continued to rise so steeply
as to hit the property investment market severely.

On HB Corporate's forecasts, Sumus' shares at 45p, sport a prospective price, earnings ratio of 13.5, which is hardly demanding by sector standards. Moreover, if the process of consolidation gathers momentum, the company could one day find itself a target as well as an acquirer.

[greengiant] 12/2/2007 09:57

VAL - Looking good for a further rise, word on the street in that things are going better than anticipated and this will be reflected in the AGM statement. However this is only heresay, AGM will tell

;-)

gg
PS - No shares availble

[valija] 09/2/2007 16:00

Hi everyone my first posting on this share although have held for 2 years. Up 10% today anybody know why? trading looks quite thin, must be something in the wind?

[greengiant] 29/1/2007 18:12

Chav - Nothing material 10k more sells than buys - following the steep rise, don't blame people for taking profits.

Personally I will wait for the AGM, which I am expecting a TS which I hope will cause the next leg up

gg

[chavitravi] 29/1/2007 17:37

wHOOPS!! WHATS HAPPENED TODAY? I was going to come in on this one.

[abubryn] 26/1/2007 12:21

Nice when a plan comes together ,it looks like they are being rerated? stalked ? or there are some directors buys yet to report ?Whichever who cares. North is a nice direction to be going .

[greengiant] 26/1/2007 09:53

Shot through previous high!

Looking good

;-)

gg

[greengiant] 25/1/2007 10:00

Good start to the day again - looking good

gg

[abubryn] 25/1/2007 09:34

Short way to go and will hit an all time high ,that may test it but heres hoping not .Should imagine not many of these shares free floating so not take a lot to move it .Always a good sign to see a share carry on moving up days after results and not just a spike results day and down next .But dont want to tempt fate .

[greengiant] 24/1/2007 08:33

Good to see this one rising again this morning - reminds me very much of BNH 12 months ago.

;-)

gg

[greengiant] 23/1/2007 09:53

Geo - Still in BNH, but nowhere near the quantities I had - been taking profit all the way up. Now down to 20% of my original holding and will continue to sell down - now THAT was an investment.

ABUBRYN - dead right, £10m market cap for a company with £4m in the bank, cashflow of £1m pa and nearly £1m profits pa. No-brainer IMHO.

;-)

gg

[abubryn] 23/1/2007 09:45

Hello Green giant just so you dont feel lonely. I bought a few recently and so i am looking and I am impressed with the results .Not a short term play but could look much better 12 months down the line .

[geovest] 23/1/2007 09:39

Could be interesting, will ahve a peek.

gg, are you still in BNH?

[greengiant] 23/1/2007 07:59

Looks like FANTASTIC results

;-)

gg

[greengiant] 22/1/2007 11:45

Anybody looking at this one? Results tomorrow.

Everything looking good.

gg

[chaweewan] 12/9/2006 13:53

The recent acquisitions cannot be the whole story for today's rise in share price so what more have we

[wormcatcher] 06/6/2006 10:28

Highlights

* Turnover up 34.7% to £6.99m (2005: £5.19m)
* Pre-tax profit up 30.6% to £393,000 (2005: £301,000)
* Interim dividend up 10% to 0.22p (2005: 0.2p)
* Cash resources £4.29m (March 2005: £3.58m) available for business
expansion and development

[wormcatcher] 06/6/2006 10:27

Reasonable results - bought in the other week on the lows - anyone else interested?

LONDON (AFX) - Sumus PLC said it is confident about the future after it reported a 31 pct increase in pretax profit for the six months to March 31 2006.
The group, which provides independent financial advice and IFA support services, raised turnover 34.7 pct to 6.99 mln stg from 5.19 mln.

It recommended a 10 pct increase in the dividend to 0.22 pence from 0.2 pence.

Chairman Michael Innes said Sumus is extremely well placed to gain advantage from current and anticipated market conditions, and maintains its commitment to providing independent financial advice through its wholly owned subsidiary, Falcon Group.

Innes said activity levels have benefited in part from rises in UK and global stock markets. The group has also experienced client demand for independent financial advice relating in particular to pensions and investments, which now comprise around 70 pct of the group's gross [e-mail] AFX News Limited 2005. All rights reserved.The copying, republication or redistribution of AFX News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of AFX News.AFX News and AFX Financial News Logo are registered trademarks of AFX News Limited

[jackcash] 16/2/2006 10:13

Any thoughts on this?
Any aquisitions due?
Profits looked pretty good yet price drifting.

[guru11] 30/12/2005 15:28

That is what happens with no news - shares drift - like IDN did,
the big but is - it doesn't necessary mean that Sumus is not a good stock,
cause when they have results or a share out of favour gets tipped
as we all know - it could fly.

Mind you - just having a look at the year end accounts the pe ratio is 17,
which one would not call cheap for the sector average.

[wormcatcher] 26/9/2005 14:20

Still drifting down - no interest at all, and no news.
Still watching.

[wormcatcher] 08/8/2005 13:28

Am looking at these - not bought in yet but tempted. Dropped steadily since results and results were reasonably good.
Have cash and stated in results that acquisitions are on the horizon.