Apc Technology Share Discussion Threads

[budsman] 22/3/2019 10:52

PJ1 agreed on the dividend - let's focus on debt reduction.

Bud

[pj 1] 19/3/2019 10:03

Many thanks GHF.

I note some loan notes were paid off last year, from what seems excess funds raised for an acquisition. Short term debt of 3.36m is I assume overdraft? So it appears to me the short term debt is an increasing overdraft balance, which is the main reason for the (low) 0.8 current ratio?


I am far from an Accountant but imo the balance sheet does need some serious work. especially from the increasing debtors, although I accept that could be swayed by acquisitions last year (and before?). The debtor figure in 2017 did look unusually low though compared to surrounding years

I for one hope they steer well clear of paying any dividend and concentrate on reducing debt.

[seasidehippo] 19/3/2019 08:51

I thought it unusual that he never bought any shares in the company!! Came across at the AGM as a very quiet personality. Let's wish him the best and move on!!

[terry236] 19/3/2019 08:35

Thanks GHF, appreciate it

[diku] 19/3/2019 08:14

But keep things in perspective...when ever a CEO or FD resigns for what ever reason it is a standard good practise to give him/her good wishes with golden goodbyes if entitled...even if there was a conflict of interest/disagreements they are not going to tell you all...as both parties want to look good for their next projects...have you ever heard of board members within Plc casino markets saying glad the FD or the CEO is gone!!...good riddance...

[playful] 19/3/2019 07:52

Perhaps they already have a suitable replacement within Aspen who can simply step into the role and immediately save us £100K in salary?

[penpont] 19/3/2019 07:32

Thanks for sharing that info GHF.

[playful] 19/3/2019 07:31

Thanks GHF.

Appreciate you keeping us all updated here.

[jailbird] 19/3/2019 07:28

GHF,So you must have been duly concerned about the departure ,Let's see what the results say in MayI have to say there many better investments than choosing this one I am not what percentage returns one hopes to achieve here, but dumping a larger holding is not easy with an illiquid share

[glasshalfull] 19/3/2019 07:20

APC - FD’s departure

Good morning,

I’ve grabbed a quick word with the APC team & came away reassured that there is nothing untoward surrounding Michael’s departure. It was simply put to me as a parting of the waves without any acrimony. They were at pains to confirm absolutely nothing else to be read into the change as today’s RNS implies & that Michael leaves with their best wishes for his future endeavours.

During my call I was delighted to learn that the APC management are very pleased with trading in H1. They have alluded to a positive start to FY19 in 4 updates so far in FY19 (2 during Dec 18; 1 in Jan 19 & of course the AGM statement last month) & there was nothing during my call that indicated there had been any change to this positive start. Indeed one of quotes I’ve taken away from the call was that, “the business is in great shape!”

I posted twice last month in relation to my impression of the business following the AGM (posts 1163 & 1175). As a reminder, APC grew earnings by +59% last year & are forecast to grow EPS by a further +34% this year, leaving the shares on a single digit PER.

Hope this assists & saves any investors from being unduly worried over todays Board change. I’m certainly not 👍🏻

Kind regards,
GHF

[insider6] 15/3/2019 11:58

Another great milestone for APC's lighting group.

hxxps://apcplc.com/news-posts/apc-lighting-installs-1000000th-led-luminaire-and-delivers-ultra-low-failure-rates-of-just-0-2/

Great write up. I million luminaires fitted. Failure rate 0.2% against industry standard of 3%. APC now giving 7 year warranty againsty industry average of 3-5 years.

Copy and paste above to read more.

[insider6] 08/3/2019 13:41

hxxps://apcplc.com/news-posts/led-lighting-still-tops-list-of-energy-efficiency-technologies/

For those unaware EEVS is an APC Technology group company that is the UK's leading professional services provider for energy efficiency. A research partnership between EEVS and Bloomberg New Energy Finance, Energy Efficiency Trends has fast become the sector’s leading source of market intelligence.

Published on Friday, Mar 8th, 2019
LED lighting still tops list of energy efficiency technologies deployed, says quarterly Trends report
LED lighting and lighting controls were still the most popular technologies deployed in energy efficiency projects in Q4 2018, according to the latest commercial energy efficiency trends report published this week by EEVS and BloombergNEF.
The quarterly analysis, which tracks trends in the commercial energy efficiency sector, reported that 65% or projects included lighting efficiency technologies and 52% of project included lighting controls.

Said John Hatt, Contracts Director at APC Lighting:

“This report echoes our own experience within the sector. Despite macro economic conditions, we are still seeing strong interest and commitment to LED lighting within new builds and lighting upgrades. As lighting technologies, including more energy efficient luminaires and smarter lighting controls, continue to deliver significant ROI and energy savings – they remain an obvious investment for companies looking to reduce energy costs and see a quick payback.

The growth in lighting controls is very significant. Whilst current LED luminaries are typically 50% more efficient than the LEDs of 5 years ago, daylight sensors, presence detection and timed dimming can typically deliver a further 80% reduction in energy usage particularly within 24/7 settings of industrial buildings, warehouses, car parks and retail spaces – so it is no surprise that the report reflects the dominance of both LED and controls.”

[fibs] 01/3/2019 10:34

Hi all,

I've got more feedback from IR:


"Dear Enrique,

Thank you for your e-mail.

We appreciate the reasoning behind your questions and can confirm that the vesting stages between a market cap of £9.1m and £40m are based on percentages of the growth in market cap with higher percentages available at the upper levels of market cap. Not all LTIPs have been allocated at this stage, but in any case the maximum dilution under all option schemes cannot exceed 15%. In fact in the data given in the accounts you can see that only 8.5% of dilution would occur at the maximum level.

Also note that, If the target is reached, there is a staged vesting of the awards as shown in the note to the accounts: on 31 August 2020 (50%), 2021 (25%) and 2022 (25%), so dilution in any period is limited.

Hopefully this allays your expressed concern about the example of issuing £3.3m worth of shares at £10m market cap.

These awards accrue only if the EBITDA target is reached for the year ended 31 August 2020. You will appreciate that we cannot share this target figure with you as we are not able to publicise forward-looking figures of this nature.

We hope this will help your understanding, but you will appreciate that we will not be able to go into any further detail on this question.

Many thanks for your interest and support."


I asked as Harrogate suggested and got some useful feedback. I still think IR should provide more details but it is what is.

I won't bother IR again but I suggested they could add more details on the financial report this year. We will see if they do.

Thanks GHF and Harrogate for your help.

Regards,
fibs

[glasshalfull] 01/3/2019 09:48

Good morning folks,

Just a snippet from me in response to the share options & subscription of shares by the Chairman & CEO.

Interesting to observe that the Chairman has taken his ENTIRE accrued fees in shares. Tony has never taken any cash from of the business SINCE APPOINTMENT IN FEB 2017 & in addition has invested about c.£250k in that time.

Quite a vote of confidence in the company.

In addition the CEO made a small subscription for shares in addition to his LTIP award. So - as I mentioned a few days ago - I feel the management of APC are completely aligned with shareholders.

As a result of the share awards I see Roger Robinson has required to RNS this morning as his holding has fallen below the % threshold. No shares sold...simply announcing due to the increased number of shares in issue.

Kind regards
GHF

[playful] 27/2/2019 17:23

A new product line added to our lighting range..

[wanttowin] 27/2/2019 14:56

My apologies rinson, I misunderstood the detail.

[rinson] 27/2/2019 11:40

Read the RNS again. Chairman taken shares in lieu of payment for two years. CEO purchased around 80,000 plus received a substantial award as part of a performance award.

[wanttowin] 27/2/2019 11:16

They are not buying them rinson, they are being issued by the company.

[rinson] 27/2/2019 11:04

Director And CEO buying shares today! Must be a very positive outlook.

[fibs] 26/2/2019 12:00

Thanks Harrogate. That's a good point. I've send another e-mail to IR and asked as you have suggested. We will see what happens.

Kind regards,
fibs

[cheshire man] 26/2/2019 11:56

Just be pleased we are finally going north :-)

[macarre] 26/2/2019 11:53

Pleased to share price move finally. Wonder what may have triggered it though?

[harrogate] 26/2/2019 11:39

Hi fibs. I thought I would have a look at your point. I do agree there is a missing piece in note 17 to enable us to know what you want to know. I do think it is a reasonable assumption though that the value of shares to be issued of the £3.4 Max moves in a straight line from nil at £9.1m MC (as adjusted for raises) to £3.4m at £40m. Why not ask that specifically? Like GHF I tend to not worry about this as long as management do the business. Hope that helps

[fibs] 26/2/2019 09:43

Hi GHF,

I understand your point but in 18 months time when this options start to vest the share price could be 22p, 12p, or who knows, they could stay where they are today. And with the information available there is nothing that tells me that £3.3m worth of shares (to say any amount) cannot be granted with a market cap of 9.0m wich is a massive dillution for current share holders. Yet, IR's aswer is "It's not practical to provide further meaningfull information"

On the note and and also on IR's email they mention there is an additional condition besides the market cap based on "a minimum financial result in 2020". That's all the detail provided. Can't they share more details about those minimum requirements?

Also, and here I might be getting a bit paranoic, but in FY results 2018 page 38 you can see that all the options granted up to 2017 where granted for a specific number of shares while in 2017 they grant a GBP amount (£3.4m being the max). Why that change? Is it common practice to grant shares based on a GBP amount rather than a fix number of shares? Doesn't this create a missalignment of interests between the BOD and investros since the BOD would be interested in keeping the share price as low as possible, since a lower share price will provide the BOD a major % of the company and major dillution for current holders?

I've only been analizying companys for a few months now. I don't know what is common practice and what is not. It gives me the impression tha vesting requirements have been vaguely defined for the convenience of the BOD.

Thanks for your input.

Regards,
fibs