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| Share Name | Share Symbol | Market | Type | Share ISIN | Share Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Broker Network | LSE:BNH | London | Ordinary Share | GB00B00GD538 | ORD 2P |
| Price Change | % Change | Share Price | Shares Traded | Last Trade
|
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0.00 | 0.00% | 595.00 | 0.00 | 01:00:00 |
| Bid Price | Offer Price | High Price | Low Price | Open Price | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Industry Sector | Turnover | Profit | EPS - Basic | PE Ratio | Market Cap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| - |
| Last Trade Time | Trade Type | Trade Size | Trade Price | Currency |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| - | O | 0 | 595.00 | GBX |
Broker Network (BNH) Share Charts1 Year Broker Network Chart |
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1 Month Broker Network Chart |
Intraday Broker Network Chart |
| Date | Time | Title | Posts |
|---|---|---|---|
| 12/3/2011 | 19:02 | Broker Network Holdings PLC | 1,603 |
| 16/1/2006 | 17:52 | Broker network charts and news 2005 | 482 |
| 13/8/2005 | 11:25 | Broker Network Holdings PLC | 624 |
| 13/3/2005 | 17:23 | Broker Network holdings PLC | 14 |
| 05/1/2005 | 17:37 | Broker Network | 130 |
| Trade Time | Trade Price | Trade Size | Trade Value | Trade Type |
|---|
| Top Posts |
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Posted at 14/11/2007 14:58 by geovest kenlum, I'd rather see the share price double over the next 2-3 years than a quick 20% profit. Remember, even at the current share price it is only trading on a forward PE of around 14 and I expect that the actuals will again exceed forecasts.Today's rise may be in anticipation of a trading update seeing that the half-year ended 31 October. |
Posted at 03/11/2007 14:56 by lomax99 The FT's weekend share section had the following:'Good value with defensive qualities - Broker Network, an independent network for community insurance brokers, has been attracting admiring glances at a time of growing pressure on premiums. Three weeks ago, the company said it had received an approach, causing its shares to jump 9 per cent on the day. Eleven days later the offer - from a mystery party, rumoured to be rival Towergate - was rejected. The share price of the company, which has a market capitalisation of £77m, is now sitting below where it was before the bid announcement. It is, however, unlikely to stay depressed for long. Broker Network has defensive qualities. By attracting smaller insurance brokers to its network, members get a slightly higher commission rate on sales, while larger insurance companies can outsource work through the organisation. As a result, full-year 2007 results revealed sales up 45 per cent at £10.7m and group pre-tax profits doubling to £4.8m. But risks remain. The retail business leaves it open to the full risks of insurance underwritten by those members, higher costs and cash-flow drain. The shares trade on 11 times prospective earnings for 2008, however, and still look good value.' Not sure about the comment about being left open to the 'full risks of insurance underwritten', surely it is the insurer who bears the end risk - unless they have laid it of with re-insurance themselves - i.e. not BNH? (or is this article just referring to the Lloyds operation? |
Posted at 01/11/2007 14:08 by lomax99 I note that that well know basket case Erinaceous (ERG) has just lost another 20 staff, this time on the Insurance side with the staff grabbing a life raft offered by Towergate. Towergate were rumoured to be the party interested in BNH, I doubt that the extra 20 staff will provide enough of a distraction - however if they do come back with an improved offer for BNH it needs to be at least 40%+ higher than they existing share price, hopfully they will have lost interest..... |
Posted at 23/10/2007 08:27 by stegrego supreme mo - 7p as a percentage of the share price has been reducing all the time -for instance - 7p at a 200p share price is exactly the same as 14p at a 400p SP Its the percentage spread and not the value of it that you should look at |
Posted at 16/10/2007 10:44 by geovest Galwebay, yes the BNH share price went down after float, but the profitability continued to rise throughout, which is the big difference in my view. I continue to keep an eye on Cobra as a competitor to BNH and to see how they develop, but the recent results were very disappointing. Cobra added quite a lot of cost in the run-up to listing and I don't expect full year results to be good either. |
Posted at 16/10/2007 10:34 by galweybay thanks geovest and noted but dont forget BNH went through a rocky period just after their floatation when share price went down to about 60p after floatation price was pitched at 71p. interesting but lets wait and see what happens |
Posted at 11/10/2007 08:41 by dreggspicker Jolly good find Geo, double edge sword buying brokers out, may cost a lot to acquire more of them from now on, but this has got to mean BNH share price is still way too low, and if we get a surprise bid, there's no way we are going to go cheap |
Posted at 06/8/2007 13:46 by david77 Blame me for today's drop. I had been buying AIM listed shares to get the lower CGT rate after a year or two. I had loads of IFL International Ferro Metals - but they have said that they will be moving to the main market soon - so I opened a spread-bet a/c to hold IFL - effectively. You bet on the IFL share price instead of buying the shares - a nonsense but don't blame me.The upsides are that there is no CGT on gains and the margin requirement is just 25% - they let you spend 75% of your cash meaning that you can buy three times as many shares. The downsides are that you cannot offset spreadbet loses against gains on shares and when the market takes a wobble, you must have cash to meet falls in the underlying share prices. I have been guilty of over-trading - buying all that I can afford and not keeping a cash pot to cover losses. I have held BNH shares over a year so suffer a lower CGT bill on this share compared with most of my holdings - so I have been selling BNH to build a cash pot to cover potential losses on spreadbets. I hope that I don't need to spend the cash pot - but I now know that I can meet any margin calls if I have to. So nothing wrong with BNH - except that I might need the cash. |
Posted at 28/7/2007 05:29 by lomax99 Tipped in this months SCSW.Broker Network Holdings (BNH; 377p) is enjoying a strong run helped by a trading statement from the company which said that results for the current year are running ahead of expectations. The nature of the business - offering a range of corporate services such as commercial insurance services and a network for insurance brokers - might not be immediately obvious as a growth share investment, however since its flotation in May '06, Broker Network has seen its shares rise steadily. The crown jewel in the group's business is its support services arm which operates a network of insurance brokers, all operating within the BNH framework. As chief executive Grant Ellis points out, most of the network members are small insurance brokers typically in the provinces and will place mostly commercial lines, such as arranging insurance cover for commercial premises and fleets of vehicles. These, unlike personal insurance, are not heavily commoditised and are increasingly traded electronically over the web which increases their margins. There are four such networks in the UK and BNH is one of the longer established. Ellis says the system works like this: as an independent insurance broker, you undertake to pay £95 a month to BNH. You also pass all your insurance business premiums through BNH. BNH places the insurance business with the giants such as Allianz, AXA, NIG, Norwich Union, Royal & Sun Alliance and Zurich. The members receive enhanced commission from the insurance companies because BNH's larger size enables it to obtain preferential rates. On average a broker will typically be generating an average commission of 13% of the insurance premiums but Ellis says that by becoming part of his network they can increase this more or less immediately to 15%. Also, since BNH deals with the placing of the insurance, this greatly reduces the credit risk of the individual members. In 2006, BNH deducted 1.4% of the premiums from its members and, in return, provided members with a number of valuable support services, including centralised back-office IT support, marketing assistance, training and compliance support. In addition to receiving money from its members, BNH also received 1.1% of the premium directly from the insurer. That might not sound too startling but last year, BNH had a total gross written premium through the group of almost £355m. In addition, the cost of running the network is largely fixed whilst insurance premiums tend to "repeat" every year, so unsurprisingly operating margins on this side of its business are c.50%. There are two factors in particular that have had an electrifying effect on group profitability recently; Ellis says the first part is that BNH has recently negotiated improved commission earnings from the insurers which have risen from 1.1% to 1.5%. The second element is that more brokers are joining the system. BNH has already grown its network to 165 members and has been adding at a rate of around 24 a year. Last year, the new members added an average of £90,000 revenue at only a marginal cost. Ellis has recently doubled the sales team to six individuals and allowing for a 6-9 month lead time whilst these new individuals are trained, hopes to rachet up the new membership rate. This comes at a time when BNH is already sufficiently large that it can offer a material advantage over those retail brokers who are not members creating a "virtuous circle." The target is to reach 500 members. Alongside operating its network, BNH has also been buying broking firms outright where the opportunity presents itself. There are believed to be somewhere between 4,000 and 5,000 small owner-managed brokers in the UK and Ellis believes that around 2,500 fit his acquisition criteria in terms of size and profile. BNH presently owns 17 insurance brokers with a placing capability of c.£85m. It has historically been buying commercial insurance brokers on around 4 or 5x prospective earnings although prices have hardened recently as other consolidators have entered the space. In spite of this, Ellis is on the lookout for further acquisitions on this side of the business; with debts of £12.4m and strong cashflow, there is headroom to spend a further £10m. That said, nothing large is planned and BNH has historically been buying small brokers where often only 50% of the consideration is paid upfront with the remainder on a two year earnout. Broker Cenkos is looking at eps of 26.7p for the year ended on 30 April with 34.9p for the current year underway. That assumes two small acquisitions this year but leaves the shares looking reasonably priced on a PE of 10.8. Results on 13 September; buy. |
Posted at 26/6/2007 15:20 by geovest My views on Cobra. Please note that these are my views and opinions only and the information should not be viewed as advice or relied apon. Please do your own research. I've tried to be as accurate as possible, but no guarantees.I worked my way through the prospectus and even though it said 'Final version' it wasn't as it still didn't tell me how many shares were to be placed and at what price and what is the resulting Director's shareholding will be. It did tell me that the directors will sell some 5.387m shares in the process. The press said that they intend to raise £10m, probably including Directors sales. The prospectus states they will use £2.73m to repay loan notes relating to previous acquisition (from directors by the looks of it), £1.2m to repay debt and the rest for working capital and acquisitions. The group consists of: Cobra Network Established in 2003, now around 100 members with combined premium income generated of £350m. Cobra Insurance Brokers Directly owned brokers generating commission income. Truman Lincoln, BKG Ins Brokers, BKG Corporate risks (all network founding members) Cobra Corporate Solutions Handles complex risk placements for the network Cobra London Market Wholesale insurance broker Cobra Underwriting Agency Underwrites risks for the network. Expects to underwrite £8m in 07 and £18m in 08 Cobra Financial Services Independent Financial Adviser Cobra Insurance Management Admin services to the group Financials: (The group was incorporated from 06. Figures for 04&05 are aggregated results of all companies in the group) 2004 2005 2006 Revenue (£m) 5.755 8.625 8.956 Operating Profit 0.948 2.087 0.612 Profit before tax 0.625 2.087 0.612 Profit 0.385 1.413 (0.01) EPS 1.1p 4.2p 0.0p Cash generated from operations 518 873 (289) Shares in issue before placement & listing: 36.15m The results for 06 were unimpressive to say the least. Management blames it on increased cost to support and grow the network (even though this is not reflected in income growth!) and exceptional integration cost bringing the group together. Cash flow was poor in both 05 and 06. Comparison with Broker Network Holdings The two compete directly for Network members and direct acquisition of Brokers and both operate nationally, but the core base of Cobra is Southern and that of BNH is Northern. There are however some very distinct differences in the operating models of the two groups on the Network side. Please note that I have gathered the following information from various sources and it may not be totally accurate, but it gives an idea of how they operate. Network Revenue: Cobra BNH Monthly Membership fee No £95 pm Share of Base Commission No +- 10% Over-riding Commission Yes Yes Profit share commission Yes Yes Bonus target over-rider Yes ? Marketing Allowance Yes ? Shortfall Fees (Member penalties) Yes No The big difference is that BNH takes a share of the underlying commission which explains why BNH in 2006 generated network revenue of £7.3m from 155 members compared to Cobra £2.7m from 100 members. The Network business is FAR more profitable than the direct broking business and explains why BNH if more profitably by a considerable margin. Cobra network on the other hand generates revenue from over-riders, target bonuses and profit shares. The problem is that if you set aggressive growth targets and penalties for not achieving targets, it normally results in pressurised members writing poor quality business, which erodes profitability, impacting on profit share commission. Both underlying broker businesses have been operating for many years. BNH was established in 1994 and have a long history of strong organic growth, increasing substantially over the last 3 years since listing. Cobra Network was formed in 2003 and has grown very aggressively since then, but they have grown expenditure much faster than revenue and profitability suffered. In Nov 2005 Cobra had 86 Members and said it would grow this to 125 and Premiums to £500m by end of 2006. We are now halfway through 2007 and they have only grown to 100 members and £350m Premiums. It may therefore be argued that Cobra management over-promise and under-deliver, compared to BNH management that under-promise and over-deliver. Cobra's stated acquisition objectives are to finance acquisitions mostly with share issues (this dilutes the equity of current holder) and use deferred consideration extensively (this can be good, but generally makes acquisition cost more and result in more dilution for existing shareholders). BNH on the other hand tend to buy outright using cash generated from the operation and moderate debt, with no dilution to shareholders. Conclusion: Cobra may be more aggressive in its business strategy, but in my opinion, BNH have the better operating model, producing higher profit margins and better cash flow. They also have a better track record of profitability and delivering on forecasts. I will keep an eye on Cobra to see how it develops, but will not invest for now. My money stays with BNH. |
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