Huntsworth Share Discussion Threads

[andrewhbruce] 02/8/2005 15:37

hi wheally

glad the board took note of my earlier missive!!

in for some more now............lets hope the "miles to go" is north not south!!

ab

[whealan] 02/8/2005 12:10

ItO
See the other new thread for the Times article incl p/e ratios etc.
The FT this morning said " Small-caps: Huntsworth heads higher after strong trading, By Chris Flood.
"A very strong trading update pushed Huntsworth 8.5% higher to 96p. The public relations group said interim pre-tax profits, due in October, would be comfortably ahead of market expectations - around £5.5m - after strong trading across the group, while cost savings from the recent merger with Incepta were expected to be higher than the £2.5m initially estimated. Huntsworth also said it was close to completing a strategic review that is expected to lead to the sale of some of its marketing services and specialist advertising businesses for around £60m. Roddy Davidson of Altium Securities is forecasting earnings growth of 55% over the next three years, and reiterated a "buy" recommendation with a target price of 130p."
This share has miles to go IMHO.

[its the oxman] 02/8/2005 09:09

whooosh 105p mid - think were going places now.

[laddi] 02/8/2005 01:49

Following yesterday's results that exceeded market expectations:

Huntsworth (HNT) Buy Recommendation The Times 2 Aug:

Huntsworth

HUNTSWORTH is rather larger than it used to be, after a merger with the public relations rival, Incepta. Although Incepta, the owner of the Citgate network, was larger, the combined business took the Huntsworth name, and the company is now worth £180 million.
A trading statement today reveals that public relations has performed well this year, unlike many other parts of the media industry, suggesting that PR is an area that companies are loath to cut back. Even UK consumer public relations has held up, although many consumer advertisers are reining in advertising budgets to deal with the softening of demand on the high street. Helped by that resilience, Huntsworth now reckons that it can beat the consensus for the first half, and probably the year as a whole.

Better than expected cost-savings will also help. The combined company had planned to find £2.5 million of synergies; it now reckons that is conservative, through slashing head office costs and bringing together each side's international operations. The saving sounds modest, but in the context of £17.5 million of pre-tax profits being forecast for this year, and £27.5 million in 2006, it's a handy sum.

What also helps is that in investors' eyes, PR is a relatively unloved business. Many media stocks trade on multiples of earnings that run into the high teens or even the low twenties. At last night's 96p, Huntsworth is trading on 11 times this year's earnings, a figure that drops further for 2006. The value is compelling: buy.

[its the oxman] 01/8/2005 22:52

anyone got any broker price targets or new eps no.s?

[tamaybroke] 01/8/2005 17:46

Bridgewell reiterate's overweight for HNT,9.47am this morn.

[its the oxman] 01/8/2005 16:08

120p near term would do me fine but i agree as upgrades come through the shares could go much higher (and could always be subject to bid speculation at any time).

[laddi] 01/8/2005 14:59

pull back from £1 area was just short term based on spike on low vol from Media Square talks terminating. These shares will easily return to the £1 plus range. IMHO they will head comfortably higher by October time when the results and details of the strategic review are revealed especially under the solid foundations of today's really good news. I would expect another move up if further talks to offload parts of the group take place in the Autumn.

Incepta shares have fallen from the equivalent of just over the £2 level (in HNT price terms) in the last 12 months and the company is genuinely moving into a positive part of it's cycle so my view is that the shares will head back towards this £2 area in the next 12 to 18 months.

[its the oxman] 01/8/2005 14:11

some decent size buys today 1.3m and 800,000 at 97p earlier.

[its the oxman] 01/8/2005 14:02

mid cap play - and looks pretty undervalued to me - consensus forecasts from TD Waterhouse suggest 8.5p eps and 1.5p div for 05 and 10p eps and 1.55p div for 06 prior to todays very positive trading update which talks of the numbers being comfortably ahead of forecast. i'm looking for a move toward 120p come results. any other views welcome.

[its the oxman] 01/8/2005 13:58

new thread with charts. For those interested, Huntsworth, the international public relations group completed its merger with Incepta on 29th April 2005.

Today Huntsworth claims to be 'a world class communications group with public relations at its core, global in scale but rooted in domestic excellence'. Having some of the world's leading PR agencies and offering expertise across a number of sectors including consumer, finance, public affairs and technology together with an integrated healthcare offer.

Check out the Huntsworth website for some of the latest analyst research at

www.huntsworth.com/investors/analysts.asp

[its the oxman] 01/8/2005 10:45

yep - and about time this went up - hoping for more to come now.

[laddi] 01/8/2005 10:41

excellent news today on results and cost cutting

[ridicule] 14/7/2005 13:57

thanks JIMCAR. No it does note say much.

[jimcar] 14/7/2005 12:29

The old HNT shares were 10p each and the new are 50p each so I would presume that it is a 5 old for 1 new share consolidation. Doesn't say much for their PR skills though does it.

[ridicule] 14/7/2005 11:30

Does anyone know the consolidation ratio? I find it amazing that neither the statement today or the AGM statement does not contain this information

[whealan] 08/7/2005 14:38

Empirestate.
Nice to know there are other shareholders alive on this thread. Patience will have its (very substantial) rewards in a couple of years I believe. ADYOR, IMHO etc etc.
(and of course likely rewards, but lesser ones, for those taking a shorter view.) All the ground work is being comprehensively and consistently laid for this to become a big league company, top and bottom line, although the top line is the most important in the event of a trade sale as I think likely in due course.
Chadlington has done it before (with hiccups) and I am banking on him doing it again ( without)!

[empirestate] 05/7/2005 12:06

L2 2/2 easing a bit from 3/1

[empirestate] 05/7/2005 11:53

what a great agm statement

[andrewhbruce] 08/3/2005 13:18

this must be the most boring and uninspiring company ever, the directors havent even been able to convince the market or even its shareholders that the merger will produce any benefits whatsoever, in fact the reverse it seems.

[rosemarydoyle] 23/2/2005 15:43

based on average of recent share price??? how far back does that mean? to when they were 80 and 24 ,respectively? Has anyone done the arithmatic to this possible and only possible (remember chime) merger? advice please. x R

[wjccghcc] 21/2/2005 21:39

Hope you made a profit Alf. I'm holding as at least it will focus some attention on HNT's low rating.

[whealan] 21/2/2005 19:06

Alf - Good luck. Hope you bought @ 9p!

WJCCGHCC - I agree. Could get interesting though. Everyone in this business seems to be pally-wally with everyone else. Chadlington, Maude, Bell, Sorrell - and WPP is acquisitive. Patience will probably be rewarded, with a few heart-stopping moments on the way.

[alfwilson] 21/2/2005 15:50

WJCCGHHCC

Came to similar conclusion ... and sold today.

LOL

Alf

[wjccghcc] 21/2/2005 15:47

Yes I like HNT and what they've done over the past year. I expect their results to be ahead of expectations and with a bullish outlook. I'm just afraid that a merger with ITA (even if on the cheap and with HNT mgmt in good positions) will postpone the market realising the benefits for another year. Still, if it gets them to where they want to be quickly and at a price considerably less than doing it piecemeal, then clearly that makes sense. Maybe they'll sell of the underperforming events side of ITA as part of the transaction - then we'd really see a rerating!