Communisis Share Discussion Threads

[masurenguy] 01/6/2016 13:14

The shareprice has dropped 20% since the St Ives profit warning on 25th April. The trading volumes during this period have been paltry with an average daily volume of 116,000, which is more 50% below the average daily trading volume of 243,000 over the past 3 months.

The absence of any comment on current trading at the AGM 3 weeks ago did not provide any market reassurance following the St Ives profit warning and this probably helped to contribute to the slow drip of small PI sells which has such a disproportionate impact upon the shareprice. Today is a good example with the price dropping by 4% on the back of just 15 transactions totalling 58,000 with an average transaction size of just circa 3900 shares.

The interims are due in circa 9 weeks (4th August) but in the meantime the absence of any further comment should be indicative that nothing material has changed since the outlook statement contained in the year end results that were published at the beginning of March. "We are encouraged by increasing demand for the Group's integrated marketing services. In 2016 contract wins, together with our new business pipeline, position Communisis for another year of profitable growth. The Board is focussed on the creation of value; meaning bottom-line profit translating to improving free cash flow and progressively lower debt." Peter Hickson 3/3/16

[edmundshaw] 26/5/2016 17:18

Well I added under 40p, it seems a bit of a harsh price. Of course there are risks. But 40P?? Crazy.

[rivaldo] 26/5/2016 15:21

New tip for CMS - can't fault his enthusiasm. "Pile in" everyone!



"4 dividend stars you probably haven’t heard of!
By Royston Wild - Thursday, 26 May, 2016

Marketing marvel

I reckon investors should take advantage of heavy share price weakness at Communisis (LSE: CMS) and pile into the marketing services play.

Communisis boasts an enviable client list featuring the likes of Barclays, Centrica and Legal & General, and is steadily expanding its global footprint to keep business renewals and new contract wins from major blue chips flowing in.

With earnings tipped to keep rising, and Communisis generating shedloads of cash — free cash flow doubled in 2015 — the City has pencilled-in dividends of 2.4p and 2.5p for 2016 and 2017.

Consequently Communisis sports giant yields of 5.8% and 6.2% for these years."

[serratia] 25/5/2016 10:31

The price at July 1994 was 82p but if you bought in December 2009 it was 13p. It was last at this price in November 2012.

[isis] 25/5/2016 10:14

Well there seems to be plenty of jobs there with plenty of spiel:-

[jakedog2] 25/5/2016 09:46

10d volume v last 3 month volume is -74%

[isis] 24/5/2016 14:50

Makes you wonder who's side the LSE is on - certainly not shareholders.
I would like to see quarterly results like the US let alone an IMS.

gooing backwards like AIM.

[speedsgh] 24/5/2016 14:43

I think the point here is that, whilst they are no longer REQUIRED to release an IMS, this does not PREVENT them from doing so. Bearing in mind that investor confidence in the company would appear to be at a low ebb, it would surely have been prudent to have released a simple one liner alongside the AGM result saying that trading is in line or words to that effect. By not doing so has needlessly introduced more uncertainty at a time when uncertainty in the wider sector (cf recent SIV trading update) and economy (Brexit etc) is already rife.

It also gives the impression of poor communication from a company which is supposed to be a communications specialist. Not great in terms of reputation and/or expectation management.

Of course, in the long run I'm sure it'll make diddly squat difference :o)

[sharw] 24/5/2016 14:16

It is not just CMS. Aviva (number 25 in FTSE100 the last time I looked) put out the following earlier this year:

"In November 2014, the Financial Conduct Authority removed the requirement in the Disclosure and Transparency Rules to publish quarterly interim management statements (IMS). After careful consideration, the Board has determined that Aviva should no longer provide IMS disclosures for 1Q and 3Q, with immediate effect".

The CMS AGM statement (at least in 2014) doubled as the IMS.

As I understand it the board are obliged to put out a statement if they become aware that trading has diverged significantly from market expectations so it is reasonable to assume that no statement = in line.

[edmundshaw] 24/5/2016 13:59

On reflection, I can only think there is something stopping them telling us about trading. Hopefully something potentially good so they cannot announce anything, but it could be something that might turn bad, and they don't want to hold a hostage to fortune... At all events, perturbing.

[essentialinvestor] 24/5/2016 11:57

Is JTcod still holding?, I paid a lot less attention to him when he
started using "we" in his posts.

[zho] 24/5/2016 11:18

>>Why do management just let the price slide like this?>>

I hope isis is right when he says that the implication of there being no trading update is that trading is in line with forecasts. That said, last year’s AGM statement didn’t say much more than that trading was in line with the Board’s expectations, and I can’t see any reason not to add a line like this to this year’s AGM statement: it wouldn’t even have cost the Company anything.

I emailed the Company Secretary (the point of contact for IR) and copied in Andy Blundell to suggest that they might have missed an opportunity to reassure the market but didn’t receive a reply. Disappointing.

[bigdazzler] 24/5/2016 11:05

You think this is crazy, this judging on the trend channel can potentially drop a lot more.

It's lucky it's got the backing of some decent funds at the moment.

[edmundshaw] 24/5/2016 08:33

This is crazy. Why do management just let the price slide like this? They are not going to make friends with the institutions this way.

[isis] 23/5/2016 13:42

I'm supposinig if they are inline they felt no need to as in previous years - well I hope so.

[zho] 23/5/2016 13:04

Has anyone else attempted to ask the Company why they decided against a trading update around the time of the AGM?

[isis] 23/5/2016 12:16

They need better news flow - never seems to be much news on the website either.

[edmundshaw] 23/5/2016 11:56

Hm, under the open offer price of 2013 now.

Wonder if Bremain will mean a FTSE rally?

[cwa1] 23/5/2016 11:25

Just had a few, looks decent value at 38'ish IF the market doesn't know more than we do(of course it does!) Good fortune to holders.

[taurusthebear] 23/5/2016 11:09

Interesting markdown...

[edmundshaw] 18/5/2016 10:15

The CEO no longer cares for PIs, he has said as much and now only spends time with institutions who do a basic but generally competent(?) level of research (rather than next to none or a lot (tto much?)). As interim management statements are no longer mandatory, a lot of companies are now forgoing the bother of them. Not sure if those two facts are related, but there they are...

[zho] 13/5/2016 17:34

Riv,

>>There wasn't a statement the previous year>>

As far as I can see, there were interim management statements in April or May in each of the years from 2010 to 2014, all around the time of the AGM.


Cutlosses,

>>What " form" are you referring to Sphere?>>

Results for 2013 and 2014 followed January updates saying that trading had been in line with management expectations. Unfortunately, profits turned out to be something like 10% lower than brokers' estimates and so understandably from my point of view, the market reacted as if CMS had missed forecasts.