Northgate Information Solutions Share Discussion Threads

[sruk77] 05/7/2007 11:19

Shore Capital said the results were encouraging. 'Northgate appears good value to us as the business model continues to shift towards service provision,' the broker wrote.

Chief executive Chris Stone was reported today saying he was open to selling the group's managed services and public services divisions to focus on the core human resources unit, but said there were no immediate plans:



This would do wonders for the share price

[sruk77] 05/7/2007 10:09

hotfinance, also other leading investors in Northgate include Standard Life with about 4% including about 1.7% in the UK Opportunities fund run by Citywire AAA-rated Harry Nimmo.

A-rated Ted Scott at F&C Asset Management has about 3%.

UBS has about 5.8%, Resolution has about 5%, Legal & General clocks in at 4% and Aberforth has about 3.7%.

[lightning] 05/7/2007 10:04

Some director buys are worth very little but in this instance the total value of buys is £901,650, not an insignificant sum.

[addventurer] 05/7/2007 09:48

Nice one sharw.

[sharw] 05/7/2007 09:18

The Questor column has NIS as a buy:

[philjh] 05/7/2007 08:47

had hoped it might have had a greater effect on the SP

[hotfinance14] 05/7/2007 07:07

Great Dirctor buying :

Northgate Information Solutions PLC
05 July 2007


Northgate Information Solutions plc

Director's shareholdings


Northgate Information Solutions Plc today announces that on 4th July 2007, the
Franklin Settlement Trust, a Guernsey based trust, whose potential beneficiaries
include the wife of Chris Stone, the Chief Executive, purchased 900,000 Ordinary
shares at 82.35 pence per share.

In addition the following Directors made the following purchases :-

Director Number of Shares Price (p)

John Stier 20,000 81.50

Sir Stephen Lander 36,809 81.50

David Meaden 20,000 81.50

Andrew Robb 20,000 82.00

Ron Mackintosh 100,000 81.50


END


Contacts:

Maitland
Neil Bennett/Amanda Martyr 020 7379 5151

[desperate dan] 04/7/2007 20:46

04.07.07 :+2.5, (82) higher in early morning deals after it posted an increase in full year pretax profits, prompting Altium Securities to upgrade its stance on the group to 'add' from 'hold'. Northgate IS reported a 4% rise in annual profits, helped by a strong second half, and said it had made a good start to its new financial year. The group, which makes software for the public services and human resources markets and runs customers' IT systems, said pretax profit for the year to April 30 was 31.9m from 30.6m a year earlier. Revenues rose 6% to 351.7m. In a note to clients, Altium said the results were in line with its expectations, but added that it still believes that Northgate overpaid for Belgian firm Arinso, particularly given the minimal cost synergies. The broker added, however, that with a pick-up in organic growth in the second half and a more upbeat outlook, it believes the current rating of 11.5 times full-year 2008 earnings estimates looks low. As a result, Altium also lifted its target price to 85 pence from 80. Meanwhile Bridgewell Securities also said the results were in-line with revised expectations as it reiterated its 'overweight' stance. The company said the 2007/08 financial year has started well and should be a successful year, notes Bridgewell, with strong growth from its acquisition of Arinso. Bridgewell added that Northgate IS has also benefited, like other outsourcers, from strong local government demand and a sharp rise in the size of contracts secured worth more than 1m.

[desperate dan] 04/7/2007 20:00

Good, solid, very nearly well-managed company !

Great SIPP candidate.

[hotfinance14] 04/7/2007 19:35

No..i expect 90p within a week then onto 100p.

That dividend will pay for another holiday.

[kenbachelor] 04/7/2007 19:02

Hot - Is that a downgrade?

[hotfinance14] 04/7/2007 18:46

I expect this to hit 90p very soon now.

[beercapafn] 04/7/2007 18:21

I have been in and out of Northgate IS for a number of years now and am getting more than a little frustrated with the very stubborn share price.

Will give it a couple of weeks to see if the results encourage anyone to bid.

Then act.

[hotfinance14] 04/7/2007 15:53

Could see a 1p dividend next year!!!!

[grlz] 04/7/2007 15:20

The insurers have already paid out 3m (which I assume covers business interruption and emergency replacement costs etc post event) also from the accounts:

Following the Buncefield explosion, we continue to explore plans to build a new head office. This will be finalised once we have concluded matters with our insurers to fund this work, which we are hopeful of doing over the coming months.

Solid accounts, I agree 90 is fair value - nice 20% up on divi and confirmation that a progressive policy is being adopted

[beercapafn] 04/7/2007 13:59

Hi Uncle John

As I understand it the insurance has fully cooperated with any thing Northgate needed. If you were to ask Northgate PR team they would properly tell you if they are still waiting for compensation.

[uncle john] 04/7/2007 10:57

In some ways it is good that we have a continual expansion going on, but it makes it harder to value. We always have to absorb other systems, other staff, other clients etc.
Always there are a few doubters, mutters about an acquisition too far...
So far, severalyears now, all new assets have fitted well and been earnings enhancing, so I'm confident that this latest one will also be good for us.
Can someone give me some explanation as to why we are still not substantially higher valued than we were in 2000 before the IT crash and still not much improved on 2004 share price.(I bought more in 2003)
Does the market not believe us or are investors confused by the changes?

Also would anyone give their opinion as to how they think the Buncefield explosion will affect us financially overall.

[hotfinance14] 04/7/2007 10:32

Northgate IS reports strong start to year
an ADVFN competitor
UK software group Northgate Information Solutions reported a 4% rise in annual profits, helped by a strong second half.

The company said it had made a good start to its new financial year.

The Hemel Hempstead-based company, which makes software for the public services and human resources markets as well as running customer IT systems, said pretax profit for the year to April 30th was £31.9m from £30.6m a year earlier.

Revenue rose 6% to £351.7m, from £332.7m, and ahead of the £350m consensus forecast.

Northgate IS CEO, Chris Stone, said profits were driven by a strong performance from its human resources division, a return to growth in its public services division and increased orders in the managed services unit, particularly education contracts.

'The momentum in order intake that we saw in the second half of last year has continued into the beginning of this year, which has given us confidence in the full year outlook for our continuing Northgate IS business,' Stone said.

He said he would focus on integrating ARINSO International into the group after Northgate IS bought a majority stake in the Belgian outsourcer in May.

The move will prompt a takeover of the remainder of the company for around £257m.

[sharw] 04/7/2007 08:52

With regard to the forecast PTP of 44.76 the FT shows a comparator for the year to 4/06 of 45.12. I can't quite get to that but I suspect it involves adding back 'Amortisation of capitalised customer relationships' and option costs to get an underlying figure. This year's results are further muddied by the 'Significant restructuring and property provisions' line.

[hotfinance14] 04/7/2007 08:48

The City is impressed...we are heading north.

[fagine] 04/7/2007 08:37

Hotfinance

Thanks for your reply to my query of two days ago

[jazza] 04/7/2007 08:00

Depends which 'profit' number you look at (there are that many adjustments!).

Forecasts I saw were for £36.3m profit and EPS of 6.23.

We actually 'got' £31.9m profit (lower) and EPS of 6.90 (higher).


If anyone can explain.....be my guest!

J.


EDIT: bid/offer spread at 81/82 so the results have gone down pretty well!

[hotfinance14] 04/7/2007 07:56

The FT had a forecast profit of £44.76m...we were quite a way under that.

[don carter] 04/7/2007 07:55

Results look OK to me. Eps of 6.9 even with only a pe of 13 gives 90p fair value, and the year has gone well so far. Positive outlook, and strong order book. How well they integrate and leverage ARINSO acquisition could be the key to a stronger growth profile but this is surely undervalued as it stands?