Conduit Share Discussion Threads

[12at] 16/10/2013 16:35

thank you Rivaldo for you're reply.

I think i need more patience with CRE, it's just hard to be when my other holdings & the markets are on the up.

But if we break 100 support i'd be gone.

[rivaldo] 03/10/2013 15:31

Hi 12at. Forecasts are for 12.1p EPS this year. If the fast-improving trend in the last IMS is continued, a P/E of 12 would seem reasonable for a share price of around 150p.

The interims will be out next month, so perhaps we'll get a run-up in the share price before then.

[12at] 01/10/2013 12:53

Where do others see CRE by year end?
I've been holding CRE a few months and it's been a bit of a let down.

How much growth do you realistically see in the short-medium term?

thanks

[woodcutter] 26/9/2013 14:36

topped up another 4K shares.

Chart looks healthy, flag forming, MACD bouncing off the zero line and bollingers tightening so less volatility and it looks ripe for a move, just hope it's up and not down:-)

Not quite ready to commit to building a sizeable stake yet just nibbling will need to see the interims first.

Woody

[rivaldo] 23/9/2013 08:02

The free float in CRE has always been small, making CRE a fairly volatile share at the best of times.

So £0.5m of buybacks is starting to become a relatively material sum.

CRE have another two months of buybacks to go before the interims, so will hopefully continue at this pace.

[sheyac] 23/9/2013 07:56

Isn't that tiny relative to the total amount in circulation? At £1 a share the value is only £0.5m compared to the market cap around £60m.

[rivaldo] 23/9/2013 07:31

Another 67k shares bought in just announced:



That's 422k now in total, so beginning to be a decent amount bought back.

Hopefully this will be followed by positive new flow - without there being many shares around.

[smithie6] 18/9/2013 10:22

CRE still looking good value at current price...

+ve news from CRE and other companies in the sector

----

BTW
have gone short on VOD (large dir. sales recently....and imo margins under pressure and poor trading in Spain, Portugal, Greece, Ireland, Italy etc)

Update
now closed since started going up....
moved to short the DOW....going nicely so far

[rivaldo] 11/9/2013 11:22

Liberum have today reiterated their Buy and 125p target:



I hope this replicates IAE, where Liberum initiated coverage yesterday and this morning IAE made a terrific announcement :o))

[rivaldo] 09/9/2013 07:38

Good to see the buybacks continuing - another 20k just announced:

[ianpalmer2012] 02/9/2013 21:29

AGM tomorrow, possibility of a trading update?

[madengland] 27/8/2013 16:59

Look forward to reading chimes outlook tomorrow. Service sector hotting up, does not seem to be priced in. Hopefully Syria won't go pear shaped, for the people more than the stock markets

[madengland] 26/8/2013 08:37

Quite like these two sentences....In a challenging market I think this is an impressive first quarter performance, which we?ve achieved by expanding our services, winning new clients and investing in our staff ? at the same time as improving our margins.As we see confidence return to the UK economy, we expect growth to return to the market research sector and we are well placed to achieve strong half- and full-year results.Wonder how much margins have been improved and how much further they will do on the back of new momentum being seen. All positive noises are good news

[smithie6] 22/8/2013 21:46

assuming that marketing sciences is the new name for what was Insight division
then very good news.....noting that Insight had struggled over past years...after the bosses all left !..(but not apparently last year..with high growth according to news item)

----

update
from July RNS
Insight

"The division has reported an increase in like-for-like revenue compared with the same period last year, highlighting the continued recovery and growth of the division. This has been driven by the additional revenue generated from using innovative research technologies and digital platforms for data collection."

which ties up with good trading news posted by Riv.

..good news....taken a while to happen (2/3 years I think)....(often/normally does in business)....and nice to see...

noting that in last annual report the Insight Division reported PBIT of 1.4M versus 2.1M in the prior year....pretty bad fall....so looks like expected to bounce back this year.....a sceptic may say that not difficult to rise back up after falling so much before !...if hit 1.8M PBIT it would still be lower than 2 years ago PBIT of 2.1M !....
but maybe we should grateful for small mercies...

(Vodafone are a client.....rather large, mega turnover and lots of customers...so they could easily spend a fair chunk of money on insight into their customers...and not blink ...)
---

update
and Insight can increase PBT by 1/2M from 1.4 to 1.9M....thats a helpful % of CRE total PBT.

[madengland] 22/8/2013 09:07

Riv, thanks for post. Bit thumb twiddling between now and November results I guess, unless Havas awake or other sector news. Others have edged up further that said, so cre does look possible for another 15% in the absence news but who knows

[rivaldo] 21/8/2013 08:32

Very interesting news from CRE's Marketing Sciences subsidiary:

hxxp://www.mrweb.com/drno/frmemail/appointment2639.htm

"Marketing Sciences sees turnover growth in Q1
By Jane Rudling. Filed in About Us | Home
Tags: development

At Marketing Sciences we can sometimes be a bit too modest, but we wanted to shout about the fantastic start to the financial year we have had.

We are absolutely delighted to report a significant growth in turnover for the first quarter of the financial year, up 30% on the same period last year. This comes shortly after posting record turnover growth of 28% for the financial year ending 2013.

With our core strengths in FMCG and retail research, we have increased turnover by expanding our digital and qualitative services and investing in our new sensory testing lab in Westerham, Kent.

A number of new business wins, including frozen food specialist Iglo Group (formerly Birds Eye), energy company Shell and windows specialist VELUX, have helped drive expansion.

In a challenging market I think this is an impressive first quarter performance, which we've achieved by expanding our services, winning new clients and investing in our staff – at the same time as improving our margins.

We're experiencing strong demand for in sensory and shopper research and we want to build on this and capitalise on the investments we've made. Digital is becoming more and more important in the research mix and, with one of the largest tablet-equipped field force in the UK, we're helping our clients to take advantage of the commercial benefits new technology is offering.
As we see confidence return to the UK economy, we expect growth to return to the market research sector and we are well placed to achieve strong half- and full-year results.

With hundreds of tablet-equipped researchers across the country, Marketing Sciences has delivered more than one million interviews over the past year for the UK's largest retailer, Tesco. If you didn't see our blog post about this at the time, have a quick read here, as it's an impressive achievement!"

[rivaldo] 15/8/2013 07:51

Someone's keen - a pre-open buy already today at 109p.

[madengland] 14/8/2013 11:10

Added a few at 108.27......I am expecting us 150+ by yr end without a bid from havas.

[madengland] 14/8/2013 09:51

Thanks again Riv. Interesting advice, wait for upside in numbers before buying.....by which time investors will miss the big gains. Oh well, I'm quite happy adding at this level awaiting numbers

[rivaldo] 14/8/2013 08:13

Another early rise - and a buy at the full 109p ask.

Plus a new positive article on CRE:

hxxp://www.shareprophets.com/views/1284/creston-plc-continues-buying-back-shares-a-value-sign

"Creston plc - continues buying-back shares; a value sign?

By Steve Moore - Monday 12 August 2013

Post a trading update at the end of last month, marketing services group Creston plc (CRE) has continued to buy-back shares – a further near £100,000 worth at approaching 103p each. There has also been an update from researcher Edison, so is there value on offer? The following reviews...

As I updated at the time, the trading update saw the company in confident mood - see HERE. Edison subsequently updated that "emphasis on the group's digital capabilities is building stronger market traction" but that "the rating is yet to reflect its improving business profile and stronger balance sheet". This is despite the researcher noting "the Sanofi (account) loss has been factored into our model, but we have so far made limited assumptions on the amount of revenue likely to be generated from the new Government Procurement Service, likely to become a top five account within three years".

With information from its Insight division enabling a more valuable, differentiated offering and positive forecasts for growth in ad spend in the company's main markets of the UK and US, Edison considers a share price of just over 120p (backed by a discounted cash flow analysis) fair – noting that while some level of discount is justifiable on the grounds that growth has not yet come through to earnings and acknowledging some execution risk, the discount is currently "over-large".

At a current 103p, the shares trade on a prospective price-earnings multiple of around 8.5x, yield approaching 4% and there is also now a solid balance sheet position. This looks a pretty attractive mix but it still looks prudent to wait for some delivery in hard numbers of the growth upside talked of before suggesting that there is strong value on offer here."

[rivaldo] 13/8/2013 14:27

No probs. Moving smoothly back up now.

[madengland] 12/8/2013 11:58

Thanks Riv, an impressive campaign indeed!

[rivaldo] 12/8/2013 09:32

Wow - CRE's Nelson Bostock are managing the ongoing PR in EMEA for a $1 BILLION campaign by HTC fronted by Robert Downey Jr (you must have seem one of his adverts already)....

This is a campaign designed to go on for the next 2 years at least.

Great stuff:

hxxp://www.tuicool.com/articles/fUZvyyE

"'Hold This Cat': HTC and Robert Downey Jr. kick off $1 billion 'Change' campaign (video)
来自A306;Engadget Mobile | 时间A306;2013-08-12 15:01:00 | 相似991;章(1)

HTC INSPIRES CONSUMERS TO BE THE CHANGE MAKERS WITH NEW CREATIVE BRAND PLATFORM

Robert Downey Jr. ushers in record investment and Change brand positioning

Taipei, Taiwan - 12 August 2013 –HTC, a global leader in mobile innovation and design, today unveiled its most ambitious campaign to date.

etc"

[smithie6] 12/8/2013 09:12

free shares in CRE ??
----

BTW according to my calcs. for each 1 share in WESP costing 55p you get 47p of shares in NBI (WESP has 2M NBI shares after selling 200k not long ago)

and 48p of shares in other stuff....like, CRE, SWL, blue chips fund.....

so...for 8p you get 48p of other stuff

looks like a cheap deal to me

could argue that the CRE shares are thrown in for free....
WESP has 3M CRE shares (WESP has 18M shares, share price to buy is 55p)
31% of WESP share price of 55p in CRE shares or 17p per WESP share or 18% of the NAV

(partly cheap imo since WESP have a poor track record over last 15-20 years....will it always be poor ? or is it hitting a better patch ??
...-ve factors include that controlled by LFI...and that is controlled by 1 family, includes LFI Chairman)

...(key factor of course is whether the other stuff then goes up in value, stays the same....or goes down..)