Alpha Airports Share Discussion Threads

[jeffian] 29/1/2005 11:23

Yes, dwelshmafia, but it could be the same story as in September, October and November of 2004?


wellsi,

no profit warning is good, but I think most will accept that the tsunami was an 'exceptional' event. Also, to get this in perspective, £2.5m represents approx 1.5p earnings per share. AAP made 5.3p last year and analysts' forecasts before this warning were for 7.7p in 2005 and 8.35p in 2006 so whilst 'below expectations' at least profits are likely to continue to move forward in real terms. Perhaps this is why the price has remained relatively strong after the initial shock (or maybe it's dwelshmafia's bid theory!)

Regards, Ian

[dwelshmafia] 28/1/2005 23:18

volume tells the story???

[wellsi] 27/1/2005 17:51

Not a good RNS

RNS Number:8729H
Alpha Airports Group PLC
27 January 2005

"We therefore expect that Alpha's underlying 2004/5 profit will be some £2.5 million below current market expectations."

[dwelshmafia] 27/1/2005 14:56

look at the past vol ,profits warning only 87 to 90p bid soon

[jeffian] 27/1/2005 11:33

Well, whatever's causing it, I like it! Onwards and upwards, eh?

8-)

(Edit: Ooops! Spoke too soon!)

8-(

Regards, Ian

[jeffian] 26/1/2005 23:21

dwelshmafia,

Servair are part of Air France. They're all but bust. They love the divis but have no money themselves. Why would they bid, pray?

Regards, Ian

[dwelshmafia] 26/1/2005 22:35

from servair in the same busniess as alpha ,will bid for them around 25th of march all they need is just over 1% to launch a bid

[jeffian] 26/1/2005 17:00

Really? From whom? About 60% of the total equity in the hands of 4 shareholders (Servair 27%; Schroders 19%; Fidelity 12%; UBS 4%). I suppose that cuts both ways - could either be a defensive block but also means that a deal with the 2 main shareholders would pretty well guarantee success.

Regards, Ian

[dwelshmafia] 26/1/2005 12:59

bid comming soooon

[jeffian] 25/1/2005 10:35

Having been knocked a bit by the 'tsunami effect' (they have airport interests in Sri Lanka) these have suddenly started looking a bit perky again and are approaching all-time high. Usually put out a Trading Statement at the end of January; maybe the two things are not unrelated!

Regards, Ian

[jeffian] 05/11/2004 10:57

Looking good. Combination of good air traffic figures and contract wins/acquisitions can only be good news for this company. Recent dealings by large shareholders (e.g. Fidelity) is no bad thing either, IMHO, as the fact that the majority of the shares are held by only 4/5 institutions has limited liquidity in the past, so getting a few shares out of the hands of the big boys to widen the shareholder base could help.

Regards, Ian

[balcony] 28/10/2004 10:18

bought these years ago at mid 90;s,thought we might of seen a bid by now,still hope this will reach £1-25 in the next 12 months.

[shy tott] 28/10/2004 10:10

The retail side will provide the growth for this lot. The situation today means people have to arrive earlier for flights, and have much more time hanging around airports waiting for their flights. More hanging around means more sales in aaps high profit outlets.

[stillbroke] 25/10/2004 12:34

Smaller company = more risk. In the absence of any other news, I'm stumped for answers. Perhaps in-flight catering side not progressing well.

[jeffian] 25/10/2004 10:36

Surely only if it gets reflected in reduced air traffic, stillbroke, and there's no evidence of that at the moment. Rather the opposite looking at passenger figures from BAA, TBI etc. plus they all have to check in earlier for security reasons and spend longer in AAP's shops, bars, cafes and restaurants.

Regards, Ian

[stillbroke] 25/10/2004 10:26

Concerns over oil prices damaging trade? Share price remained oddly cathartic after good results.

[jeffian] 25/10/2004 10:11

Yes it's strange. Whilst the earnings growth is not likely to set the world on fire, on a sub-11 PER and a 4.3% divi yield, it doesn't need to, does it? Anyway, I'm not sure the market has appreciated how fast the retail side is growing and it may yet surprise on the upside. In the past, retail growth in the airports has been disguised by reductions in flight services, but if the latter can hold firm, that retail growth will come straight through to the bottom line. Besides general market weakness, the only theory I can suggest for the recent falls is that a substantial proportion of AAP is owned by Servair and a handful (3?) institutions and maybe one of them is seeking to unload some? (In other words, I have no idea!)

Regards, Ian

[tulk] 25/10/2004 00:16

So ... why it dives?

[green sand] 02/10/2004 12:28

Have just culled the following from this weeks IC

"Mr Abbott says Alpha now has a tender pipeline worth £200m - the pipeline is usually worth £40m-£50m.
Profits did grow at Alpha's retail concessions. The company reported that 7.3 per cent more passengers went through the UK's regional airports - Alpha's heartland -and that it managed to squeeze I per cent more spend out of every passenger, despite EU enlargement knocking duty-free sales."

First impressions, good growth potential, nice divi, cash rich, (don't yet understand the reserve release though), 40% ROCE!

So why is the House B predicting a flat year and I am very interested as to why the institutions selling?

Would appreciate any comments

Good Luck

GS

[jeffian] 27/9/2004 10:20

Hmmmmmmm.........some quite chunky trades going through recently!

Regards, Ian

[stillbroke] 23/9/2004 09:04

Alpha Airports Group Plc
Results for the Six Months ended 31 July 2004

Unaudited 23 September 2004

Highlights

• Sales of £239.2m, an increase of 11.9% on the prior year (2003/4: £213.7m),
represents an improvement on the 9.4% underlying growth we enjoyed in the
second half of last year.

• Adjusted pre-tax profit* of £10.6m was up 11.6% on the previous year
(2003/4: £9.5m).

• Profit before taxation increased by 22.8% to £9.7m (2003/4: £7.9m). This
profit includes the gain on disposal of two investments of £0.7m.

• Interim dividend maintained at 1.0p per share (2003/4: 1.0p per share).

• Adjusted earnings per share* increased 7.6% to 3.66p per share (2003/4:
3.40p per share). Earnings per share increased 27.6% to 3.14p per share
(2003/4: 2.46p per share).

• A strong balance sheet with shareholders' funds of £58.6m (2003/4:
£53.3m).


* Adjusted pre-tax profit and adjusted earnings per share are before goodwill
amortisation and exceptional items and are presented to assist readers in
assessing the underlying trading performance.

Commenting on the Interim results, Kevin Abbott, Chief Executive said:

'The underlying growth we enjoyed in last year's second half has continued as we
expected. With further investment across all our businesses together with
significant development opportunities in the UK and internationally, Alpha is
well positioned for ongoing growth.'

[jeffian] 27/8/2004 11:41

Keep an eye on this as we approach the interims. Shares have started to move up and attracted comment (e.g. Independent: "Alpha Airports gained 4.25p to 86.75p on talk that next month's results are set to impress thanks to strong sales growth at the group"). Stonking growth on the airport retail side (with like-for-like sales growing by 10%+ and operating profits from that side growing from £1.9m in 2002 to £5m in 2003) has been masked in previous years by the struggling flight catering business but with the latter stabilised, growing retail profits should really start to shine through. On a historic PER around 12 at current price and net divi yield over 4%, a few more people might sit up and take notice if the bottom-line PBT growth begins to reflect what is really happening in this business.

Regards, Ian

[shy tott] 23/6/2004 09:46

From two weeks ago but worth noting.

LONDON (AFX) - Alpha Airports Group PLC said the current year has started
well, with sales rising by 12 pct in the first 16 weeks.
In a AGM statement, chairman Graham Frost said that after an encouraging
start to the new financial year, the company is "cautiously optimistic that the
growth enjoyed in last year's second half will continue for the remainder of
2004/5, in line with market expectations."
During the period, UK sales rose 8.8 pct, reflecting ongoing strong
passenger growth at the regional airports while international sales were up 28.4
pct, representing a strong recovery from last year when business was adversely
affected by the Iraq War and SARS.
Its airline Flight Services sales rose 9.6 pct while its airport Retail
sales are up 14.6 pct.

[jeffian] 22/6/2004 11:20

From today's Independent (Market Report):
"Talk of strong trading at Alpha Airports pushed its stock 1p higher to 87.5p."

Looking good!

Regards, Ian

[jeffian] 03/6/2004 13:31

Yes, balcony, I've just come back from the AGM where the RNS trading statement was read out and CEO did his usual very thorough presentation (they give shareholders exactly the same presentation they pitch to institutions which is an excellent habit which should be copied by all companies IMHO). Feedback is very positive with flight catering/inflight services moving ahead positively for the first time in ages and airport retailing continuiing to steam ahead. If the market buys the story, shares could be in for a re-rating. Only problem remains how tightly held the shares are (around 5/6 institutions + Servair own the vast majority of the equity) causing liquidity problems. Otherwise, a good long-term hold, I think.

Regards, Ian