Tclarke Share Discussion Threads

[allstar4eva] 08/8/2017 09:50

CC if what you say is correct then it is even worse. Why issue am ahead statement so early in the year? Totally irresponsible imho.

[cc2014] 08/8/2017 09:37

Regrettably I think the finance director is trying to be too clever. I perceive the FD in every set of results whether interim or finals attempts to smooth the results so as to show a gradually improving situation. Thus, these unaudited results are better than a year ago, although not what we expected.

I perceive CTO had a good first half to the year and rather than reporting lush results the FD saw his opportunity to write down the value of some the estimates of final accounts on the projects in Central and South. These issues in Central and South won't have occurred in the last couple of months - that doesn't seem likely -
they will have been built up over time.


So, what we have here is the FD cleaning up the balance sheet as the profitability of the company increases. The question is whether there is still more to clean up or whether that's the end of it. I'm guessing that the fact that all the hit came in one region suggests there isn't anything anywhere else because it would have made more sense to spread it around a bit if that was the case and they haven't done that.


I note the following from last years interims as support for my view that the write off in Central and South aren't recent projects. I think the FD knew he couldn't justify them at year end so dealt with them now:
The Group' activities in Bristol and Cardiff were discontinued in the year ended 31st December 2015. The Bristol and Cardiff operations were reported as discontinued operations for the year ended 31st December 2015, and the results for the six month period ended 30th June 2015 have been re-presented accordingly. The remaining contractual obligations of these businesses were transferred to the expanded South-West division, and further work is being undertaken in 2016 to close out these contracts


Imho of course. I can't say I'm very impressed today. Once the dust has settled I expect the share price to claw it's way back to 90 over time, where once again it will meet resistance.

[interceptor2] 08/8/2017 09:34

You are correct Valhamos, a fairly large change in outlook sentiment from the AGM only 3 months ago, now saying they are cautiously optimistic means we can only be hopeful that they will sort out the problem division.

[allstar4eva] 08/8/2017 09:23

Valhamos I completely agree.

[essential] 08/8/2017 09:17

Nibbled on some more here.....

[valhamos] 08/8/2017 08:58

Which is all fine and dandy, but suggests the "ahead" statement for the the year was rather premature or else problems at Central and South West were discovered afterwards which does not inspire confidence.

[cc2014] 08/8/2017 08:51

The Central and South West region has suffered from a number of delayed project starts and protracted final account settlements in the first half of the year which have impacted revenue and profit. We expect to see an increase in workload in the second half of the year which will recover some of the losses from the first half of the year

ok - so the losses have stopped and they expect to turn a profit in the second half on central and south west.

So, half year profit 2.4m. Do another 2.4m second half plus don't lose £2.2m on central and south

Which I get to 2.4+2.4+2.2= £7.0m at minimum which is still ahead of market expectations.

[valhamos] 08/8/2017 08:25

On 5th May CTO stated that they were ahead of current market expectations of underlying eps of 11.3p for the year. This suggested expectations of at least 12.5p.

Today's interims are not quite in keeping with such an earlier positive outlook meaning that they have got it all to do to turn around Central & South West to meet forecast.

[interceptor2] 08/8/2017 08:21

I was expecting a more upbeat report so a little disappointed, hopefully they will resolve problems in the one difficult position during the second half.

[aishah] 08/8/2017 08:18

I added quite a bit below 76p. Increased divi and order book gives confidence here.

[cc2014] 08/8/2017 08:17

It gets interesting now as the underlying position is actually very good if the Central and South losses have been stemmed

[basem1] 08/8/2017 08:12

Managed a cheeky 10000 at 75.125. Gift horse stuff.

[allstar4eva] 08/8/2017 08:10

Bit of sanity returning

[middlesboroughfc] 08/8/2017 08:09

wont be surprised to see directors buying here again

[its the oxman] 08/8/2017 08:08

Yes solid results but some disappointment hitting us hard this morning. Bit unfair as the numbers show good improvement and a strong order book. Got it wrong today but should recover.

[allstar4eva] 08/8/2017 08:07

You would expect a bounce from here. Results were decent just not outstanding

[cfro] 08/8/2017 08:07

Whoops! Looks like a smidge of a market over-reaction to me. Dont think the results were that bad.

[rivaldo] 08/8/2017 08:06

Crazy markdown - selling at 73p?! Time for a big bounce methinks.

[allstar4eva] 08/8/2017 08:06

Ok results but many were hoping for more myself included so a sell off was likely.

[cockerhoop] 08/8/2017 07:45

Really good margin increases in 3 of the 4 areas with Central and SW masking the general improvement with a 9.3% negative margin. Decent order book in this area (£70m) so should turnaround in H2.

[cc2014] 08/8/2017 07:45

It strikes me that very predictably the half year accounts show a gradual improvement over the previous year in the way T.Clarke always report their results.

It's all good although I had hoped for more.

I think the increase in dividend of 20% will be well received. They need to get a grip on the Central and South region although the order book looks good going forward. Let's hope they have some margin in it

[rivaldo] 08/8/2017 07:40

N+1 Singer today increase their EPS forecast to 12.1p for this year and increase next year's to 13.2p EPS after yesterday's acquisition.

They see £10m net cash at the end of this year rising to £12.3m going forward - against a £38m m/cap (basem1, I assume cash is seasonal - it was lower last H1 and increased greatly at the year end)..

They see an intrinsic value of 100p+.

The results are good, though not as blow-out as I'd hoped (as igoe said) due to the disappointing performance in one area (Central and South-West), which should be remedied in H2. The order book is still large, though also has slipped slightly to under £400m since the last update - presumably due to Central and South-West.

Remains undervalued and a quality outfit.

[basem1] 08/8/2017 07:40

I thought they had circa £9m nett cash. Not £2.4m ??