Touchstone Grp Share Discussion Threads

[deucetoace] 27/6/2007 10:23

The increase in costs is explained in the body of the announcement - in part due to more R&D on their own software products which they write off in full (unlike many other software companies who amortise such costs), in part recruiting of staff including more project managers to manage the larger projects that they are taking on etc...

[mrdynevor] 27/6/2007 09:59

The resuls look OK apart from an increase in costs that has supressed the profit figure.

I would like to know why there was an increase in costs that was not reflected in increase in sales. Quite often this can be attributed to recruitment of staff that take a while to become chargeable & costs due to integration of acquistions.

Until this is resolved the shares are going to mark time. owever, I do not think that anything is seriously wrong.

[nickcduk] 27/6/2007 09:11

I thought the results were a little uninspiring. I would expect the shares to drift lower over the coming months as I can't see many buyers lining up to buy over the summer period.

[diogenesj] 27/6/2007 08:48

Ouch - probably overdone indeed, but painful.

[stegrego] 27/6/2007 08:21

Agree is probably overdone - but i dont see this going anywhere anytime soon.

[sundance 13] 27/6/2007 08:19

Tried to pick some up at 195p, but market wouldn't let me buy in volume either ! At least not online.

[jak1] 27/6/2007 08:18

What a shocker...

[sundance 13] 27/6/2007 08:18

Tried to sell first thing but couldn't, as suspected price would drop a bit today (circa 10 - 20p), was comfortably in profit so thought I'd take the money and run.

Price now down nearly 20% ! Now in loss ! Looks way overdone to me. Statement not fantastic but this is still a growth company on a single digit PE for 2007/8.

Contract delay likely to impact H1 only, no change to full year figures or long term outlook. Why a 20% fall for a share on a relatively low rating already ??

Don't understand the stock market sometimes.

[stegrego] 27/6/2007 08:13

Am out - was bloody hard to sell any and the price moved 30p against me in the time i was on the phone.

Didnt like the statement at all or the figures come to that

[welsheagle] 27/6/2007 07:47

Consensus forecast was for eps of 17.9p, so in line.

[hazelton] 27/6/2007 07:36

Touchstone Group plc
Preliminary Results for the year ending 31st March 2007


Touchstone Group plc, the AIM-listed provider of business software solutions and
consultancy services, announces preliminary results for the year to 31 March
2007.


Highlights:

• Turnover including acquired operations increased by 31% to £30.2m (2006:
£23.1m)

• Turnover excluding acquired operations increased by 25% to £27.9m (2006:
£22.3m)

• Adjusted Operating Profits (before amortisation of intangible assets - '
amortisation') increased by 12% to £2.81m (2006: £2.51m)

• Profit on Ordinary activities before taxation and after amortisation are
level with last year at £1.1m following an 18% increase in amortisation.

• Basic Earnings per Share before amortisation increased by 14.9% to 17.86p
(2006: 15.54p). Fully diluted Basic Earnings per Share after amortisation
increased to 2.69p (2006: 2.24p)

• Professional fee income has grown by 41% to £13.3m (2006: £9.4m) and now
represents 44% of total operations (2006: 41%)

• Microsoft Dynamics trading increased by over 50%, now representing over
57% of total turnover (2006: 50%)

• Two acquisitions successfully completed during period and performing
in-line with expectations

• An increased final dividend of 2.7p to make a total of 4.2p per share for
the year (2006: 4.0p).



Commenting, Keith Birch, Chief Executive Officer, said:

'Increasing project sizes, the benefits of owning software for specialist
markets and a comprehensive solution portfolio have helped grow Group-wide order
books which are ahead of last year. Turnover since the year-end is ahead of the
comparative period last year and sales pipelines are healthy, this despite
delays with some recently won large projects. Whilst these delays have had an
impact on current trading the Board is confident that these projects will
commence shortly and will benefit second half trading.

'We have 25 years of consecutive turnover growth behind us and significant
potential ahead. The Board is delighted with last year's performance and looks
forward to another year of progress. '

[welsheagle] 24/6/2007 19:37

Touchstone Group PLC
05 June 2007



Date: 5 June 2007
On behalf of: Touchstone Group plc ("Touchstone" or the "Group")
For immediate release



Touchstone Group plc
Notice of Preliminary Results

Touchstone, the AIM listed provider of business software solutions and
consultancy services, will announce its preliminary results for the year ended
31 March 2007 on Wednesday, 27 June 2007.

[tole] 15/6/2007 07:52

Renette Youssef appointed as Director of Group Marketing for Touchstone Group

14 June 2007: Leading IT consultancy and software solutions company, Touchstone Group, quoted on the London Stock Exchange AIM market (LSE:TSE), has appointed Renette Youssef as Director of Group Marketing. Youssef joined Touchstone Group in 2004 as Group Marketing Manager from leading address management technology company QAS, where she headed up Asia Pacific marketing. Youssef has been responsible for developing and deploying Touchstone Group's recent re-branding.

In her new role, Youssef will mastermind the Group's evolving vertical marketing strategy, to exploit the company's strengths delivering technologies such as ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) and CRM (Customer Relationship Management) to key business sectors including: Not-for-Profit, Rental, Wealth Management, Financial Services, Hospitality & Leisure, Energy, Commodity Trading and Professional Services. Youssef will also drive Touchstone Group's strong links with its technology Partners including: Microsoft, Infor, Pivotal and Proactis.

Commenting upon her appointment Youssef noted: "Since its incorporation 25 years ago, Touchstone Group has grown continuously gaining an unrivalled reputation for the quality of their solutions, the expertise of their staff and the company's ability to understand and deliver against customers' business needs. It is a company that has earned the respect it enjoys amongst its customers and I am delighted to be taking this success story forward as Director of Group Marketing."

Adrian McNay, Divisional Managing Director, Touchstone Group, added, "We needed someone who understood the fundamental tenets of Touchstone Group's unique proposition across a broad range of market sectors and technologies. Renette has worked tirelessly to build these messages into the re-brand and we expect that, in her new role, her astute insight will have a major and positive impact on the development of the Group's market awareness and brand equity over time."

[tole] 14/6/2007 15:22

Lovely long term chart....

247p might provide the first resistance - coincidentally bouncing back from there today. Though certainly +300p looks well on the cards, especially given the fundamentals.

As picked up from Brewins last note - TSE should be trading towards that of the high end consultants (Axon, Morse, LogicaCMG) trading on over 17x.

A re-rating to a midway point of circa 14x 2008e of 22.5p EPS puts nicely on track for the all-time high of 325p.



free stock charts from www.advfn.com

Still only on a 2008e PER of 10.5...

[britishb] 14/6/2007 11:13

Yes, the free float here is tiny. Any sustained buying will send this through the roof...but then I've been waiting 16 months for that to happen. Results 27th June and then we can start looking at next year's forecast eps of 22p. A very modest forward (considering TSE have net cash, a record order book and are Microsoft's biggest UK reseller) PE of 14 would see us over 300p. Compare with AXON (about the equivalent in the SAP market) on a forward PE of 22. I don't really see why TSE should be rated any less than AXO given 25 years of uninterrupted top line growth. So that would be a share price pushing 500p...

[tole] 14/6/2007 10:58

Rocking up now :)

[weatherman] 14/6/2007 09:48

Looking at the size, the deal could translate into significant work for TSE.

[jm barrie100] 14/6/2007 09:23

Speedy Hire has announced today that it is to acquire of the trade and assets of the tool hire division ('Hewden Tools') of Hewden Stuart Plc, a wholly owned subsidiary of Finning International Inc. for £115m - a transformational deal.

Speedy Hire is a client of TSE's - should be very good news for TSE.

[mrdynevor] 14/6/2007 08:53

God to see this share following the chart.

[weatherman] 13/6/2007 10:24

A nice bit of life today

[hazelton] 10/6/2007 08:01

DiogeneseJ , thanks. I think that clears up a lot of things for me. Charts are my thing but this last year I have become interested in fundamentals and there is only so much that you learn from books. I think that the modern internet tools are tremendous but as you say its a question of knowing what the term actually means to the presenter. It seems to me that different data sources present things with a different 'bias'. I have often felt that the ADVFN net debt figure was fairly harsh and thus a good base to believe and I suppose that their quoting of EPS is in the same vein.

I have been looking to build some AIM holdings that should last a few years for the taxation benefits and so decent low PE companies with pleasant newsflow... I was sure that I bought TSE last year on a PE of 10-12 so was a bit perturbed to find it was now 90 !

I had noticed similar things with a few other companies like MAYG (indeed it is acquisitive) so it explains much to me.

Generally I have not given much importance to intangibles in the balance sheet. Possibly I should take more notice of them ?

Many thanks again.

[diogenesj] 09/6/2007 10:11

Thanks, Hazelton. The fact is they are both right, in some sense. The problem with these summarised figures is that you don't always know what you are looking at.

If you look at the last annual report, you will see that pretax profit was indeed £1.14m. Basic earnings per share were 2.50p, although a more realistic figure is 2.46p (earnings per share as diluted by outstanding options).

If you ignore amortisation of goodwill, you get a 'normalised' earnings per share figure of 15.76p. Amortisation is not a cash item, so it may be realistic to take this higher figure for comparison going forward. However, the basis of this 'amortisation' calculation is not explained in the preliminary accounts. It may just be a prudent write-down, or it may represent a real loss in the value of subsidiaries for which they overpaid in the past.

[hazelton] 08/6/2007 23:42

Diogenese , on this BB if you look at 'financials' and the Key figures at close I see an EPS Basic figure of 2.5 P and similarly in the Fundamentals : year ending 31 Mar 06 1.14 M pre tax and 2.5P EPS. On Digital Look its 1.14 M pre tax and 15.76 EPS. Its probably just a mistake , I wondered if some of this data was hand transcribed ?

[diogenesj] 08/6/2007 23:16

Can you give the figures you see and say which year they refer to?