Sureserve Share Discussion Threads

[rivaldo] 21/1/2020 07:20

Agreed - very good numbers ahead of expectations. 4.4p EPS is nicely ahead of both Shore Capital's and Edison's forecasts of 4p and 4.2p respectively.

I love the 72% visibility of forward revenues already achieved. Plus 106% cash conversion, large debt reduction , a more meaningful dividend and the very strong outlook:

"Strong start to trading in FY20 continuing the Group's momentum"

Forecasts for this year will likely have to be increased to say a conservative 4.8p/5p EPS.

[cheshire man] 21/1/2020 07:10

Excelllent results



Bob Holt, Chairman of Sureserve, commented:

"I am pleased to report an excellent year of both operational progress and improved financial performance, with our results exceeding market and internal targets.



Financial overview

· Revenue from continuing operations up 11% from £190.8m to £212.1m
· Operating profit before exceptional items and amortisation of acquisition intangibles of £9.4m (2018: £8.0m, 16% growth)
· Profit before tax from continuing operations up 174% from £1.9m to £5.3m
· Profit before tax from continuing operations before exceptional items and amortisation of acquisition intangibles of £8.3m (2018: £6.6m)
· Earnings per Share (EPS) from continuing operations up 285% to 2.7p (2018: 0.7p)
· EPS excluding amortisation of acquisition intangibles and share based payments of 4.4p (2018: 3.0p)
· Operating cash conversion from continuing operations of 106% (2018: 60%)
· Year-end net debt reduced to £7.4m (2018: £11.4m)
· Order book of £333.2m providing visibility of earnings with circa 72% covered in FY20
· Full-year proposed dividend of 0.5p, an increase of 100% (2018: 0.25p)

[cheshire man] 17/1/2020 08:39

Good move up to end the week, 46 to buy now and nothing online above £500

[rivaldo] 17/1/2020 08:18

Interesting trade - 22,445 shares just bought at 44.5p, well above the published 43p offer price.....

[knowhow77] 16/1/2020 10:48

Think we would all be more than happy to see SUR go the same way as PTSG

[rivaldo] 16/1/2020 10:28

Continuing this lovely steady rise of 0.5p-1p almost every day now.

Results last year were on Jan 22nd, so should be very soon. Given the strong trading update we know they will be just fine.

Had a look at the web site, and I must admit I'd missed that SUR were able to retrofit sprinkler systems, as per this news from August:



With the need for sprinkler systems increasing hugely post-Grenfell this should be highly profitable for SUR (as per my prior multi bagger with PTSG).

[tday] 15/1/2020 18:26

Bob Holt hasn't done so well at Totally.

[cheshire man] 15/1/2020 13:36

Thank you for the link rivaldo,,,,,it was the involvement of Bob Holt that got me interested here,,,,,did very well out of his tenure at Mears,,,,,,,,here's hoping for a rerun here at SUR :-)

[vfast] 15/1/2020 10:40

Thanks Rivaldo.

A excellence write up "Earnings are estimated to have grown from 3.4p to 4.2p per share, with a minimal 0.25p dividend", I'm hoping they up the dividend it won't belong before we get the answer.

[igoe104] 15/1/2020 08:24

Cheers for that Rivaldo, with big government infrastructure spent, looking forward SUR should gather momentum and hopefully within two years get back up the listing price. 90pish

[rivaldo] 15/1/2020 07:28

Tipped overnight on Master Investor:



"Sureserve – a 50% rise on the cards?
By Mark Watson-Mitchell 14 January 2020

Under the stewardship of Bob Holt of Mears fame, this compliance-driven business looks highly undervalued and ready to pop, writes Mark Watson-Mitchell.

Ask anyone in the City and they will tell you that compliance is a growth business.

Whether it is for the control and regulation of financial matters or in the host of other sectors in which compliance is expected, then demand is certainly increasing for the performance of such services.

A little company that has very big potential in the compliance sector is Sureserve (LON:SUR). It is not in the compliance of financial matters, but instead in gas services, especially into the social housing sector – which can be similarly pressured by legislation.

We do not know the date yet, but the company should be reporting its September 2019 year-end results within days. They should show at least a 20% advance in pre-tax profits, making its shares look undervalued.

The Basildon based group, which employs over 2000 people and has some 23 offices across the UK, is a leading compliance and energy support services business.

It performs critical functions in homes, public and commercial buildings, with its focus on clients in the UK public sector and regulated markets.

The demand for the group’s services is strong.

It has gained a reputation for the delivery of quality services and has gained market leading positions in the highly regulated public sector gas maintenance and energy management sectors.

The company serves customers in the social housing, public buildings and education markets. It also has a broad mix of customers in energy services and an increasing number of industrial and commercial customers.

Some 60% of the group’s revenues are derived from its Compliance division and 40% from its Energy Services side.

The Compliance division comprises planned and responsive maintenance, installation, and repair services in the areas of gas, fire and electrical, water and air hygiene and lifts.

The Energy Services division comprises energy efficiency services, renewable technologies and smart metering services.

In July 2016 Bob Holt was appointed executive chairman. I witnessed the massive growth of Holt’s Mears Group, from the early 1990s into what is today a £350m organisation, with its shares reflecting sales and profits growth, rising from just 11p in 1996 to well over 525p in 2017. While he is no longer involved with Mears, he is very much involved with steering the strategic direction of Sureserve.

An important non-executive director of the company is Christopher Mills, the investment fund manager, whose Harwood Capital group actually bought 324,711 more shares in the company at 29p each in late November last year. That takes his stake up to almost 30.5m, representing 19.18% of the Sureserve equity.

There are 159m shares in issue, with other leading investors in the equity including Slater Investments (10.1%), Downing (5.88%), Legal & General (5.55%), and EFG Private Bank (3.11%). Connected investors also control another 25% of the equity.

Edison Research suggests that revenue for 2019 will have risen from £191m to £205m, with normalised pre-tax profits having leapt from £6.6m in 2018 to £8.1m for the year to end-September 2019. Earnings are estimated to have grown from 3.4p to 4.2p per share, with a minimal 0.25p dividend.

For the current year, Edison is looking for £216m revenues and £8.6m pre-tax, worth 4.4p in earnings and again with a 0.25p nominal dividend per share.

With the shares trading at around the 36p level, on just 8.5 times historic price earnings, they appear to be very undervalued.

Just 12 times would see the shares stand at 50p – which is where I now set as my end-2020 target price."

[cheshire man] 09/1/2020 09:04

Moving up again this morning I see, should know in a couple of weeks if it's all gone to plan :-)

23/10/19

"Executive Chair Bob Holt said: "Continuing from our recent trading update, I am very pleased with our cash management whilst at the same time the group is in a strong place to continue to build a profitable platform for future growth. I look forward to bringing you news of further successes for the group."

4/10/19

Trading update

(Alliance News) - Engineering services firm Sureserve PLC reported "strong" demand for its services and said its full-year profit will be in line with expectations.

The company, which ended its financial year on September 30, expressed an optimistic outlook as "both operational and financial performances have been strong in the second half of the year".

Pretax profit will meet expectations, Sureserve explained. Last year, the company swung to a pretax profit of GBP1.9 million after registering a GBGP5.6 million loss the year before.

[vfast] 08/1/2020 16:30

Bid creeping up MM's are biding 34.7p for up to 225,000.

Hope you're Igoe it would be nice to see these back in the 40's heading to 50p.

[igoe104] 31/12/2019 11:47

Creeping up nicely now, I expect the pattern to continue as we build up to results....

[igoe104] 24/12/2019 12:00

I'm feeling confident as well for next month, hopefully we can move above 50p over the month or so.

One for your watchlist Cheshire (IOF) iodine cannabis market.

[cheshire man] 24/12/2019 11:51

Lets hope the final results on the 24th Jan. rewards me for my confidence in holding :-)

[vfast] 24/12/2019 11:45

Just for information:-

Today online with HL, MM's are biding up to 130,000 shares at 33.75p and 150,000 at 33.575p

MM's still after stock.

IMO DYOR

[knowhow77] 20/12/2019 13:15

Nice to see the grinch back ....
All looking very positive

[diduno] 20/12/2019 09:56

ONJohn - We shouldn't be surprised that Sureserve finds it inappropriate to comment on what it describes as its former business, Lakehouse, as some senior members of its staff are due to be sentenced on 17 January for their participation in the Hackney/Lakehouse fraud.

The question is will Sureserve comment on that then and why subcontractors are still owed many millions of pounds from Lakehouse, most of which appears to be for works undertaken prior to its 'sale' to the Mapps Group?

[vfast] 18/12/2019 10:16

Just for information:-

Online with HL, MM's are biding up to 150,000 shares at 33.3p NOT 32p. My opinion they are still trying to fill an order(s).

January should be a definitive month when they release their results. Expecting to read a good 2018/2019 with an increase in the dividend and a positive outlook statement.

IMO DYOR

[onjohn] 15/12/2019 15:12

Interesting fromn last year

Subcontractors are quitting sites run by the former construction and property services division of Lakehouse.

The Enquirer understands that around 100 staff have also been let go as the construction division is wound down.

Subcontractors have also been in touch to voice their concerns over unpaid bills.

Lakehouse – now rebranded as Sureserve – sold its construction and property services division this summer for £500,000.

It was bought by “a newly formed entity backed by a team of sector specialists” called Mapps Group Limited.

The new company operates under the Lakehouse Contracts and Foster brands.

At the time of the sale Sureserve executive chairman Bob Holt said: “I believe that Lakehouse Contracts and Foster under the private ownership of Mapps Group will do well.”

One worker said: “A load of us have now been let go and been told they are winding down the construction division to focus on the Foster property services business.”

A subcontractor said: “People have been leaving their sites in droves.

“I’m owed a fair amount and I’m trying to arrange payment but having no joy whatsoever.”

Lakehouse has been contacted for comment.

Sureserve said it would “inappropriate” to comment on its former business.

[cheshire man] 15/12/2019 15:08

The name Bob Holt does instil a degree of confidence :-)

4 October 2019
Sureserve Group plc
("Sureserve" or the "Group")
Post year end trading update and Board changes

Sureserve, the Compliance and Energy Support Services Group, is pleased to provide the following update on trading for the financial year to 30 September 2019.
The demand for the Group's services continue to be strong, on the back of its reputation for the delivery of quality services and market leading positions in the highly regulated public sector gas maintenance and energy management sectors.
Both operational and financial performances have been strong in the second half of the year and the Board is pleased to confirm that the pre-tax profits for the year just ended will meet management's expectations.
Michael McMahon, the Chief Operating Officer, has advised that he has decided to resign for personal reasons and Bob Holt will fulfil Michael's role during this interim period whilst the Board structure is reviewed. The Board wishes to record its thanks to Michael for his service.

[igoe104] 13/12/2019 17:50

These will shoot up next months when results come out.

[cheshire man] 13/12/2019 10:44

Thought we may have had a bit of an upward swing to join the rest of the market this morning

[cheshire man] 02/12/2019 12:42

A good few buys this morning I see :-)