Education Development Share Discussion Threads

[res1606] 04/3/2008 13:50

Welcome back...

[cockneyrebel] 04/3/2008 13:49

Been buying these for the past week, added another 10K today. Have my wadge load now so don't mind revealing my hand now :-)

Very cheap imo.

CR

[res1606] 04/3/2008 08:49

Aset Group acquisition after year end spent most of it.

[penpont] 04/3/2008 08:38

Yes, underlines the value here. Brokers are surely being ultra cautious with what amounts to recent eps upgrades of only 5%ish. I'm expecting futher positive trading news throughout the year.

Incidently, the company watch article at post 194 above suggests the company has used up all it's cash - my understanding was it still had the majority of the £3m available?

[res1606] 04/3/2008 08:25

Huge vote of confidence from the Chairman who you should note was a founder of BPP. Last time he bought 500k at 10p they quadrupled over the next three or so years. That was a £50k purchase. Today he has spent £85k!

[rcktmn] 04/3/2008 07:12

Education Development Intl PLC
04 March 2008



4 March 2008


EDUCATION DEVELOPMENT INTERNATIONAL PLC

Director/PDMR Shareholding


Education Development International plc ('EDI' or the 'Company') announces that
it has today been notified that Richard Price, Chairman and Non-Executive
Director, today purchased 200,000 Ordinary Shares in the Company at 42.5 pence
per Ordinary Share.

Following the above purchase, Mr Price has an interest in 700,000 Ordinary
Shares in the Company, representing approximately 1.2% of the Total Voting
Rights.

[bookworm1] 03/3/2008 15:11

res106: Only the admin functions are being centralised. It has been on the cards for some time know. The savings are not as great all that plus the company has to absorb the lost contract worth £900k. The main focus is on getting the sales and marketing function working because that is where the real growth in profits will come from. Hopefully they are starting to get this right now.

[bookworm1] 03/3/2008 14:44

Thanks rcktmn agreed but it is nice to hear the reasons for buying this share reiterated and that if anything they just keep getting better. Good shares are having their P/E's rerated down so they are not necessarily falling in price but neither are they rising. My only concern is that there seem to be quite a lot of other companies that provide similar products and services and trying to sort out which does what and is or is not a threat is quite difficult.

[rcktmn] 03/3/2008 13:00

Nothing new but came in this am from Company Watch

EDI: earning full marks

With four profit upgrades in the space of seven months, you might expect the shares of Education Development International (EDI) to be trading on a pretty rich multiple.

But despite a recent trading update, which prompted the firm's broker, Brewin Dolphin, to up its pre-tax profit forecast for the current year from £2.8 million to £2.9 million, the shares sell for less than 8.5 times prospective earnings. For a business that doubled earnings in 2006/07 and looks like achieving more than 25 per cent growth in 2007/08, that is a mean rating.

EDI grew out of a dot-com disaster called Global Online Assessment for Learning and it has since been transformed under chief executive Nigel Snook. The technology it inherited remains one of the keys to its success.

There are three areas to EDI's business. In the UK, it is accredited by the government to award vocational qualifications such as NVQs, delivered by further education colleges and other training providers. Increasingly, students are assessed online, which is a big plus for EDI's margins. The firm helps professional organisations, such as accountancy bodies ACCA and CIMA, run their foundation-level qualifications.

EDI is a business growing at 20 per cent or more a year. It could get even better if government moves to promote more employer-sponsored apprenticeships and other training programmes bear fruit. In a recent announcement, the government pledged an extra £250 million to aid skills training. The likes of EDI can help employers tap that money by providing a package that gives their in-house programmes official accreditation. EDI's chances of success here have been boosted by last year's acquisition of another accredited awarding body, ASET Group.

Area number two for EDI is its international exam board business, London Chamber of Commerce and Industry International Qualifications (LCCI). The business is big in South East Asia and parts of Europe (Germany in particular) and is growing at five to ten per cent a year.

Finally, there is a support services operation, the core of which is an electronic platform, i-assess, which allows professional bodies to run their own online assessments. Most of the contracts here are of several years' duration and are low maintenance.

EDI made three acquisitions last year and Snook is clearly looking for more. Last year's deals used up what was a mounting cash pile but, with strong cash generation, the company could well have £1 million in the bank again by the September year-end. Of course, that won't happen if it buys another business before then – which seems highly likely.

Brewin Dolphin is now looking for earnings of 5.7p next year, which would drop the multiple to just 7.4. The shares performed strongly in 2007 but still look to have a long way to go on a two-year view.


Recommendation: Buy
Ticker: EDD
Sector: General retailers
Listing: AIM
Mid-price: 42.25p
Market cap: £24.3m

[madtim] 29/2/2008 19:57

Thats made my mind up hold out for more!

[bookworm1] 29/2/2008 11:25

Thanks gac no changes to the targets but very bullish about the company.

[gac100] 29/2/2008 11:10

New brokers notes from

Brewin Dolphin

BUY: target price 50p
"Our target price represents only 10x current year EPS and we believe that forecast risk remains on the upside."
2008 forecast
PBT up to £2.9m (from £2.8m)
EPS (fully diluted) up to 5p (from 4.8p)
2009 forecast unchanged "for now": EPS 5.7p

Redmayne Bentley

BUY: target price 56p
"... forecasts for both revenue and pre-tax profits have been increased for the current financial year to £21.0m and £2.85m respectively (previously £20.5m and £2.7m) ..."
2008 forecast EPS 5p
2009 forecast EPS 5.6p

[bookworm1] 29/2/2008 10:58

and despite ending of a five year contract worth £900,000..

[penpont] 29/2/2008 08:06

So without having even reached the half year stage they can say they will beat FY eps - that is very encouraging. Something around the 5.5p range looks poss for this year, so a short term price target in excess of 50p, even in these poor markets, seems well justified.

[gac100] 29/2/2008 07:14

Nice detailed update ...

... with the best being saved for last:

"The early integration of the ASET business will bring additional benefits
during the second half of this year and on into 2008/09. As result of this and
the other positive factors reported here, we expect to exceed market
expectations for the current year."

[gac100] 28/2/2008 16:42

Update tomorrow then - let's hope its a good 'un!

[res1606] 26/2/2008 22:23

Trading update by 29th Feb.

[madtim] 26/2/2008 21:35

crikey these have moved up again,how much further do you think they can go?

Got an urge to sell cant make my mind up!

[res1606] 18/2/2008 09:38

Melorio (MLO) update of relevant to EDD? Strong trading to Dec07.

[bookworm1] 14/2/2008 10:20

Its all in the Brewer Dolphin report dated 22nd Nov 2007:

ASET Group Limited
The acquisition of ASET Group (19/11/07) looks a good strategic fit. ASET was
acquired for an initial consideration of £2.5m (£1.7m cash, £0.8m shares) with a further £0.4m dependent on performance criteria. ASET's strengths (which include good relationships with further education colleges and employer focused
qualifications) are stated target growth areas for EDI. We believe that there will be immediate synergistic gains and further cost savings to come. ..

..We anticipate an update on the progress of the integration of the business in the New Year.

[rcktmn] 14/2/2008 10:03

Yep, it's looking good!

[res1606] 14/2/2008 09:50

Market betting on good news.