Ashoka India Equity Inve... Share Discussion Threads

[mbmiah] 02/7/2014 07:41

Nothing to excite the market here, well not in a positive manner sadly.

[werty5] 02/7/2014 07:41

Yep agree with what has been posted it is a bit of a dull affair. I don't think we will see much of Pico's so called hot money but you never know someone might see something different in the statement.

[muscletrade] 02/7/2014 07:36

There is a lot of stuff to wade through this morning but for me the most important two paragraphs are copied below.

As handset and network testing revenue last year were £113.2 then high single digit increase (say 8%) would make revenue £122.3m. I think consensus is about£125.
Having said that, I like the fact that while they are being modest re revenue growth(which is more like recovery rather than growth) they expect "significant rebound in profitability"
We also have lots more cash in the bank, strong cash generation, and possibly a buyout somewhere.(speculation).


"As we saw last year however, markets can be unpredictable in the short-term, with continued industry consolidation and ebbs and flows in the pace of technology developments that drive purchasing in Handset Testing in particular. Handset Testing also retains a trading bias to its second and fourth quarters, whilst both businesses by their nature have short order books. This is why we remain conservative with our short-term guidance, which is towards the lower end of a wide range of current market expectations at this early stage of the year.

Overall, we expect the coming financial year to be one of recovery with Group revenue percentage growth in high single digits and similar growth rates expected from both businesses. With continued focus on cost control and the benefit of operational gearing, we expect a significant rebound in profitability in the coming year".

[matt123d] 02/7/2014 07:35

July 2 (Bloomberg) -- Anite FY sales GBP109.2m vs est. GBP122.7m.FY Ebitda GBP24m vs est. GBP27mPretax profit GBP14.9m vs est. GBP18.8mReports final div. of 1.265p/shr, unchanged y/yRemains conservative with S-T guidance, which is towards the lower end of current market expectationsFor FY15, market currently expects Ebitda of GBP34m (range GBP28.6m-GBP39.1m) on sales of GBP127.2m: Bloomberg data

[prokartace] 02/7/2014 07:34

I am expecting a weak opening

[pmj35] 02/7/2014 07:24

nothing to excite or exceed expectations - consolidation,line in the sand etc before a better year ahead with the promise of enhancing shareholder value.
Probably drift lower over the coming months.

[werty5] 02/7/2014 07:23

Have not had time to read whole statement yet but after a very brief look it seems to be a bit of a mixed bag. Revenues down on previous year well we were all expecting that but trade picking up and ahead of same period last year which is ok except last year was not great. Did not like the comment about trade performing towards lower end of expectations for this period in my view that could easily slip. But overall the board remain bullish long term and if you are prepared to ride the peaks and troughs I expect there's money to be made just a question about how long you are prepared to give it.

[skinny] 02/7/2014 07:21

Financial highlights (adjusted) 1
· Revenue £109.2m (2013: £113.1m)
· EBITDA £24.0m (2013: £35.5m)
· Operating profit £15.3m (2013: £29.7m)
· Operating margin of 14% (2013: 26%)
· Profit before tax £14.9m (2013: £29.5m)
· Diluted adjusted earnings per share 3.9p (2013: 7.1p)
· Closing order book up 14% to £30.9m (2013: £26.9m)
· Strong operational cash conversion
· Net cash of £6.1m (April 2013: net debt £0.9m)

Statutory results
· Revenue from continuing operations £109.2m (2013: £113.1m)
· Profit from continuing operations £7.8m (2013: £15.6m)
· Profit from discontinued operations £4.5m (2013: £3.7m)
· Profit for the year £12.3m (2013: £19.3m)
· Basic statutory earnings per share from continuing operations 2.7p (2013: 5.5p)
· Diluted earnings per share from continuing operations 2.6p (2013: 5.1p)

Dividend maintained
· Proposed final dividend 1.265p (2013: 1.265p)
- total dividend 1.84p (2013: 1.84p)

Operating highlights1
· Results in line with expectations
· Handset Testing - progressive improvement in second half
· Network Testing - strong performance throughout year
· Maintained strong R&D investment £20.8m (2013: £18.9m)
· Travel disposal 29 May 2014 for total consideration £45m
- £43.3m cash received on completion
- Travel revenue £20.5m (2013: £19.4m); operating profit (before share-based payment charge) £5.5m (2013: £4.8m)

Current trading
· Trading ahead of the same period last year

[rathlindri] 02/7/2014 07:17

Thoughts, anyone??

[irenekent] 01/7/2014 16:12

Once again one & all we live in anticipation. Tomorrow will bring more of the same or a takeover announcement. We live in hope!

[picobird] 01/7/2014 15:00

Last year it was held at the LSE. ( not the London School of Economics)
No tea & biscuits for me, I live some considerable distance away.
GLA

[2flatpack] 01/7/2014 14:51

pico
I hope we are all happy bunnies tomorrow.
Enjoy your coffee and biscuits but you know they are not free.
Cheers

[prokartace] 01/7/2014 14:43

where is the meeting?

[werty5] 01/7/2014 14:27

For every buy there has to be a sell. Not much sign of the hot money yet, lets see what tomorrow brings.

[picobird] 01/7/2014 13:37

Got 2 mill in buys- strange.
Mind you the MM's will walk the price to get stock.
Personally I am a very happy bunny & look forward to tomorrow.

See you all at the analysts meeting, normally about 8.30 am. Free coffee & biscuits.

[prokartace] 01/7/2014 13:20

Its as usual. The market has no confidence in the expectations of the management when they forecast earnings.

[rathlindri] 01/7/2014 12:00

From todays shareprice movement it would appear the market doesn't expect anything too exciting tomorrow.......I am living in hope rather than expectation. Good luck to us all here one and all!

[mbmiah] 01/7/2014 08:30

Tomorrow is the big day - prelim results out according to the website. Fingers crossed all, we need this to be a good one.

[picobird] 30/6/2014 16:02

Just a quickie regarding what a company is allowed to say regarding future prospects. In many respects they are gagged from being too optimistic. This is an accountancy standard which helps prevent the company from dropping itself into legal hot water.
Been reading the Spirent notice of H1 results due 31/07/2014. It's a bit silly reading it, then it goes on about the future.

This document may contain forward-looking statements which are made in good faith and are based on current expectations or beliefs, as well as assumptions about future events. You can sometimes, but not always, identify these statements by the use of a date in the future or such words as "will", "anticipate", "estimate", "expect", "project", "intend", "plan", "should", "may", "assume" and other similar words. By their nature, forward-looking statements are inherently predictive and speculative and involve risk and uncertainty because they relate to events and depend on circumstances that will occur in the future. You should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which are not a guarantee of future performance and are subject to factors that could cause our actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by these statements. The Company undertakes no obligation to update any forward-looking statements contained in this document, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

So do not expect Anite to be too open about their rosy future, they have to be mega careful.

[picobird] 28/6/2014 17:05

Been looking into this new ex Agilent test & measurement company.
Agilent have been good at theory but not so good at making money from their R & D.
It looks to me after studying the management structure that they offer no competition in 4g Lte.
They have been told by their parent company to stand on their own two feet & be more aggressive in pricing their products.
They seem to have lost their way in 4g.
Rather doubt that anyone in the new company has any idea on how to focus, let alone buy another company like Anite.
They will need advisors to determine their direction.

That begs the question 'how long will Spirent last'.
They too seem to have lost their way. Old habits die hard & they have lost their ideas man - the old CEO. He had to go simply to carry the can for the other board members !

Anite seem to be forging a rather nice position for themselves, especially as they are deemed the leaders to take the industry into the world of 5g.

I have just discovered that the reason for the new Agilent company is to allow Danaher to take Keysight over. That makes a lot of sense as the new management of Keysight amount to little more than window dressing.
The worrying aspect to this is whether Anite might consider another MBO for their wireless business in view of the low/ undervalued standing of the company at the moment. Thankfully, it seems doubtful even though in theory it would make sense.

[muscletrade] 27/6/2014 09:01

Interesting...maybe.
Northland have jumped next weeks gun and reiterated their BUY and 120p target this morning.

[picobird] 27/6/2014 08:19

95p short term & 108p medium term targets.

Notice Agilent are spinning off their test & measurement division this year into a wholly owned subsidiary called Keysight Technologies.
I can understand that because Agilent are huge. When we had a partnership agreement with them they were useless & we ditched them. That was a few years ago.
They are rolling in funds & would dearly like to acquire Anite. They become fully autonomous in November 2014.
Looking to me as if the test & measurement industry could be looking to consolidate. Could develop into a bum fight for Anite - just speculating.
All this becomes possible from the middle of next week.

[davalew] 26/6/2014 18:22

95 seems to the resistance point. I'm hoping that Pico's insight is going to carry the share price beyond that.

[picobird] 26/6/2014 13:15

True, but then it is what a lot of punters regard as ' just technical blah blah '.
What it actually does is demonstrate that Anite is ahead of the competition.
More like bread & butter news. In fact it shows that their products are wanted more & more = more profit.
Next week will be a turning point. Lots of news.

[rathlindri] 26/6/2014 11:47

The lab test in Taiwan doesn't seem to be helping the shareprice unfortunately pico.