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| Upstream | UPS | London | Ordinary Share |
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| 0.00 | 0.00% | 1.625 | 00:00:00 |
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Posted at 17/12/2024 09:31 by master rsi MARKET REPORTLONDON MARKET OPEN: Stocks in red but average UK earnings perk up (Alliance News) - Stock prices in London opened lower on Tuesday, with the data docket including eurozone trade balance, two ZEW economic sentiment surveys, and the US Redbook index. The Office for National Statistics reported that UK unemployment, in the three months to the end of October, remained unchanged at 4.3% compared to the three months to the end of September. Growth in average earnings including bonuses picked up to 5.2% from 4.4%, however, easily beating the FXStreet-cited consensus of 4.6%. Average earnings growth excluding bonuses increased to 5.2% from 4.9%, outperforming the consensus of 5.0%. "There's a disconnect between the rising tide of misery among businesses, anxiety building for economists, and festive cheer running rampant among the workforce: these figures show why," said Hargreaves Lansdown's Sarah Coles. "For businesses, the Budget brought huge challenges of rising employment costs, so every announcement of recent weeks has been laced with dire warnings of what the future might hold in store...For economists, rising wage inflation is a matter of concern...For the rest of the population, things are on the up. Wages are rising even faster than a month ago – and well ahead of inflation, so we feel richer with each passing month." Coles added: "Anyone wondering whether we might get another [Bank of England] interest rate cut this week can now be fairly confident it's going to be off the table entirely in December." The FTSE 100 index opened down 63.74 points, 0.8%, at 8,198.31. The FTSE 250 was down 105.17 points, 0.5%, at 20,707.86, and the AIM All-Share was down 2.23 points, 0.3%, at 727.26. The Cboe UK 100 was down 0.7% at 823.11, the Cboe UK 250 was down 0.7% at 18,205.49, and the Cboe Small Companies was down 0.1% at 16,051.19. London Stock Exchange Group was the biggest large-cap winner, up 0.6%. UBS raised it to 'buy' on Tuesday morning from 'neutral', increasing the price target to 13,500 from 11,500 pence. Bunzl was the biggest loser, down 4.5% despite a generally positive trading update. The firm said it expects 2024 revenue to be up 3% on 2023 at constant currency, "driven by acquisitions", but either flat or down 1% at reported rates. Moreover, it expects adjusted operating profit in 2024 to represent a strong annual increase at constant exchange rates. "Looking ahead, despite uncertainties relating to the wider economic and geopolitical landscape, the group expects robust [CER] revenue growth in 2025...driven by announced acquisitions and slight underlying revenue growth," Bunzl added. Chemring was the FTSE 250's biggest loser, down 8.7% despite reporting increased earnings. It declared a final dividend of 5.2 pence, up 13% on-year, also lifting its annual dividend 13% to 7.8p from 6.9p. Revenue rose to GBP510.4 million from GBP472.6 million, while pretax profit increased to GBP53.3 million from GBP44.1 million. Looking ahead, it expects 2025 to be in line with expectations. Goodwin was 250's runaway leader, surging 15%. Pretax profit for the first half year rose to GBP16.7 million from GBP12.1 million, while revenue rose to GBP106.4 million from GBP97.6 million. However, Goodwin declared no interim dividend. GSTechnologies lost 6.1%. It said it is "extremely well-positioned for the future" after a "period of significant development" in the form of its first half year. Its pretax loss narrowed to USD110,000 from USD737,000 the year before, while revenue surged to USD2.2 million from USD256,000. In European equities on Tuesday, the CAC 40 in Paris was down 0.3%, while the DAX 40 in Frankfurt was down 0.2%. The pound was quoted flat at USD1.2693 early on Tuesday in London, compared to USD1.2694 at the equities close on Monday. The euro stood lower at USD1.0490, against USD1.0504. Against the yen, the dollar was trading lower at JPY153.86 compared to JPY154.23. In Asia on Tuesday, the Nikkei 225 index in Tokyo was down 0.2%. In China, the Shanghai Composite was down 0.7%, while the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong was down 0.2%. The S&P/ASX 200 in Sydney closed up 0.8%. In the US on Monday, Wall Street ended mixed, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average down 0.3%, the S&P 500 up 0.4% and the Nasdaq Composite up 1.2%. Brent oil was quoted lower at USD73.28 a barrel early in London on Tuesday from USD73.82 late Monday. Gold was quoted lower at USD2,648.35 an ounce against USD2,650.30. Still to come on Tuesday's economic calendar, US retail sales and industrial production readings come out this afternoon. |
Posted at 11/12/2024 10:21 by master rsi SMALL-CAP WINNERS & LOSERS: RM expects to beat market expectationsSMALL-CAP - WINNERS RM PLC, up 8.5% at 96.60 pence, 12-month range 51.00p-106.00p. The educational technology provider expects to report adjusted operating profit between GBP8.4 million and GBP8.8 million for the year ended November 30, between 5% and 10% higher than market expectations of GBP8 million. "This has been a year of transformation for RM, and the success of our strategy is reflected in the progress we have made driving profitability and growing our contracted order book. Our focus on the significant opportunities for Assessment has delivered a number of major new digital contracts, alongside operational improvements throughout the business. We are pleased with the progress that has been made and remain focused on reducing our net debt," Chief Executive Officer Mark Cook says. ---------- Taylor Maritime Investments Ltd, up 1.1% at USD0.93, 12-month range USD0.82-USD1.07. The investment company, specialising in bulk carrier segments of the global shipping sector, plans a 4 US cents per share special dividend for 2024. This will be in addition to a quarterly dividend of 2 cents. "The board's intention to pay a special dividend is the result of cash generated from recent disposals completed at, or close to, NAV. Given we've been able to realise NAV through vessel sales, it makes sense to return some of the surplus cash to our shareholders who have continued to support TMI since IPO," CEO Edward Buttery says. SMALL-CAP - LOSERS ProCook Group PLC, down 8.2% at 34.06p, 12-month range 16.62p-41.60p. The pots and pans seller reports a slow start to its key third-quarter, amid weak footfall ahead of the UK budget. It also reports its pretax loss in the half-year to October 28 was unchanged annually at GBP3.2 million. Half-year revenue rises 7.5%, however, to GBP28.3 million from GBP26.3 million. In the first eight weeks of the third-quarter, revenue was 7.5% higher on-year, up 0.9% like-for-like. "Retail performance was hampered by weak footfall during the early weeks of the second half, coinciding with the budget event, but has improved since. As a result, retail like for like revenue was [down] 4.0%. New stores contributed a further [10.3 percentage] points to deliver total retail revenue growth of 6.3% over the eight weeks," ProCook adds. |
Posted at 09/12/2024 23:29 by master rsi Broker tips: Berkeley, Marlowe, AJ Bell, Ashtead, Touchstone Exploration(Sharecast News) - RBC Capital Markets has cut its target price for Berkeley Group and reiterated an 'underperform' rating, saying that while the long-term picture looks intact, it has cut its forecasts for shareholder returns. RBC lowered its target price from 4,950p to 4,700p for the stock following the housebuilder's guidance last week for shareholder returns of at least £2bn over the 10 years to 2035. RBC also cut its estimates for returns over 2026, 2027 and 2028. Up until last week, when the housebuilder announced its new 10-year strategy (Berkeley 2035), the company had been cutting back on land purchases due to a stricter planning and regulatory environment, choosing to return more cash to shareholders. However, with the new government being pro-growth and pro-housebuilding, Berkeley has "got its mojo back and is doing what is does best - buying land and optimising planning today to deliver higher profits tomorrow", RBC said. "Whilst some have grumbled at the implied reduction in shareholder returns in the first half of Berkeley 2035, in our view they are missing the fact that big cash returns today shrink the business and reduce the returns of tomorrow-you can have too much of a good thing," the broker said. Analysts at Berenberg slashed their target price on business-critical services and software firm Marlowe from 710.0p to 400.0p on Monday following the group's interim results on 5 December. Berenberg noted that Marlowe's H1 results covered the transformational divestment of its GRC assets in June and the demerger of its occupational health division in September, with both deals realising shareholder value, as well as leaving "a more focused group" with high earnings quality, derived from non-discretionary, regulatory-driven services of its remaining testing, inspection and certification business. "Marlowe's H1 results confirm that the TIC business has continued to deliver mid-single-digit organic growth from strong market positions in fire services (where it is the UK's number three player with a 3% market share) and water services (the number one player with a 4% share)," said Berenberg, which reiterated its 'buy' rating on the stock. The German bank also stated Marlowe's H1 results signified in-line trading, meaning that its continuing operations forecasts remained largely unchanged - save for buyback updates. Marlowe added that post-demerger, Marlowe trades on a target 9x FY26E enterprise value to underlying earnings multiple, still reflecting a discount to larger, more liquid peers. Shore Capital upgraded AJ Bell on Monday to 'buy' from 'hold' following share price weakness. "Our earnings per share forecasts are unchanged after FY24A results, despite increasing costs as investment for long-term growth accelerates," it said. "We were reassured by AJB's comments around the impact to AuA from changes to pensions tax following the Budget." Shore continues to expect volatility in assets under administration movements when AJB reports first-quarter trading on 30 January. However, it said the long-term imperative for individuals to save for retirement remains, regardless of tax on unused pensions. Shore said: "With a largely recurring revenue profile and sticky customer base, earnings quality is high, underpinned by a scalable platform with margin expansion potential providing significant growth optionality. "With EPS forecast to grow at a compound 10% from FY24A-27F, FY25F price-to-earnings at more than 20x, and a progressive dividend, we raise fair value to 525p (from 465p) and our recommendation to buy." Deutsche Bank downgraded its stance on equipment rental firm Ashtead on Monday to 'hold' from 'buy' as it said the stock was trading close to its 6,500p price target. The bank said it remains positive about the long-term prospects for Ashtead, which is the second-largest equipment rental operator in the US. It said Ashtead benefits from a structural shift from buy to rental and it believes the larger sector operators will benefit from scale and high service levels to customers and could also benefit from an acceleration in re-shoring activity as a result of Trump's presidency. As far as the valuation is concerned, DB noted the shares are trading on a calendar 2025 estimated price-to-earnings of around 18x and EV/EBITDA of 8.1x. Deutsche said downside risks include a loss of key management, a more challenging period of construction activity, greater competition and an inability to recruit skilled labour. Upside risks include an improvement in non-residential markets and an acceleration in broader re-shoring activity. Analysts at Canaccord Genuity lowered their target price on oil and gas business Touchstone Exploration from 60.0p to 90.0p on Monday but said there was "still plenty of upside" to the stock despite recent changes in production guidance. Following Touchstone's guidance for the remainder of FY24, and FY25, Canaccord said it had revised its forecasts to better reflect lower production expectations fuelled by higher decline rates from the company's Ortoire licence. "We still see considerable value in Touchstone, with our new target price representing a circa 110% upside to Friday's close," said Canaccord. "However, we acknowledge the lower-than-anticipat Touchstone issued updated guidance for FY25, with a new production range of 6,700-7,300 barrels of oil per day. Alongside this, Canaccord Genuity has new capex expectations of roughly $23.0m in 2025, resulting in operating cash flow of approximately $22.0m and an FY25 year-end net debt of around $30.0m. "We reduce our estimated FY25e production to circa 7,000 boepd from our previous circa 15,000 boepd that assumed a far slower decline from the Cascadura 1ST1 and Deep wells, and we have also taken a more conservative approach to modelling any future Ortoire wells," added the Canadian bank, which reiterated its 'speculative buy' rating on the stock. |
Posted at 04/12/2024 09:02 by master rsi Results - ups dividend but shares fall as interim profit slumpsZIG 353p-30p - Good group performance, confidence in full year expectations ZIGUP (LSE:ZIG), the leading integrated mobility solutions platform providing services across the vehicle lifecycle, is pleased to announce its results for the half year ended 31 October 2024 Key financial highlights · Underlying revenue strong, up 5.6% with growth in both Vehicle hire (+4.7%) and Claims and Services (+6.3%); total revenue decreased by 0.8% due to lower vehicle sales revenue · Underlying PBT of £82.0m (H1 2024: £99.1m) mainly due to lower disposal and Claims and Services profits; in addition, Reported PBT of £56.2m (H1 2024: £97.4m) includes non-cash depreciation adjustment of £13.9m cost (H1 2024: £7.6m credit) (see page 14) · Vehicle hire revenue: Spain up over 8% supported by VOH growth of 7.4%, UK&I up 1.7% benefitting from careful pricing actions, while rental VOH down 4.6% reflecting higher defleets in H2 2024 · Resilient rental margins for both vehicle rental businesses; Spain at 19.3% (H1 2024: 20.8%) and UK&I at 15.7% (H1 2024: 16.3%) reflecting strong demand and efficiencies supporting high utilisation rates · Disposal profits reduced to £25.8m (H1 2024: £34.7m) as expected, from lower sales volumes totalling 17,200 (H1 2024: 18,800) as well as impact from expected normalising of LCV residual values · Claims & Services underlying EBIT of £17.6m (H1 2024: £26.3m); reduced volumes in replacement vehicles and legal services and impact of a cyber incident, in part offset by growth in bodyshop and fleet management · Strong balance sheet with leverage unchanged at 1.6x on prior year, supported by fleet assets of £1.43bn (H1 2024: £1.23bn) and over £347m of facility headroom after £160m additional loan note financing · Shareholder returns: 6.0% increase in interim dividend to 8.8p; £30m share buyback programme concluded in June 2024 with £5.3m returned within the period · Exceptional cost of £2.8m arising from management of response to cyber incident in May 2024 principally impacting our legal business, NewLaw (see page 12) H1 business highlights · Fleet growth: Group fleet 132,500 vehicles (128,200 at end-FY 2024); improved supply has enabled fleet growth along with strong demand including large fleet orders from core customers in UK&I and Spain; average fleet-ages each reduced by over 2 months vs prior period · New wins & strong demand: good rental demand momentum, strongest UK new business wins since pre-Covid and healthy Spanish environment; significant additional orders for 2025 from existing large customers plus UK public sector client mandates; new utility partner channels for ChargedEV · Supporting cross-sell: 'One-road' sales channel simplification, already delivered over 750 new UK&I rentals from cross-sell referrals; ancillary income growth of 13% · Strong operational metrics: Rental utilisation rates remain strong at 91%; protocol partners at c.70%; improving claims conversion & process efficiencies · Customer service & digitalisation: 'Customer First' programme delivering record Trustpilot and NPS scores; scaling up of customer self-service capability within UK portals, additional RPA processes enhancing productivity; RTA vehicle recovery product growth · Growth initiatives: Three new facilities operational in H1 (Dundee, North Barcelona (Parets) and Cadiz); UK&I car rental product growing interest from corporate clients for rental periods over 1 month; launched micro-mobility rental offering Outlook Recent vehicle supply contracts have provided good visibility for calendar 2025 fleet growth, and expected increases in infrastructure spending are also positive for our UK rental customer base over the medium term. Spain continues to enjoy record demand. While the normalisation seen in residual values will see disposal profits moderate as expected, our confidence in the business, and for our outlook, is unchanged and remains in line with market expectations. Martin Ward, CEO of ZIGUP, commented: 'Our strategy continues to deliver, and we are well placed with our broadening position in the essential market for mobility services. We are pleased to report underlying growth in revenues, and the delivery of PBT in line with expectations, while reflecting normalising disposal profits as previously stated. We have seen a good supply of new vehicles coming through since the year end, reducing the fleet age and strengthening our asset base. Our fleet now exceeds £1.4 billion in value, underscoring our strong market presence. Claims & Services grew underlying revenues, and is entering its busier winter period with a pick-up in activity seen after an unusual quieter summer period with lower levels of claims made to insurers. Significant progress has been made in cash collection and establishing more protocols with insurers, improving processing efficiencies. We are also pleased to have secured new, additional long-term funding, which has successfully reduced our average borrowing costs to 3.2%. This not only enhances our financial strength but also provides substantial opportunities to support further fleet growth. Our prospects are strong, and our expectations for the full year are on track. With our strategic initiatives yielding positive results and a strong financial footing, we are well-positioned to continue our growth trajectory and to capitalise on opportunities within the mobility services market.' |
Posted at 03/12/2024 09:19 by master rsi MARKET REPORTLONDON MARKET OPEN: Strong start before US data; earnings boost 250s (Alliance News) - Stock prices in London opened higher on Tuesday, supported by travel stocks, oil majors and miners, and for now shaking off worries about possible tariffs during the Trump-era and any nerves ahead of US jobs data. The FTSE 100 index rose 48.97 points, 0.6%, at 8,361.86. The FTSE 250 added 103.70 points, 0.5%, at 20,872.75, and the AIM All-Share rose 2.54 point, 0.4%, at 735.58. The Cboe UK 100 added 0.7% at 840.00, the Cboe UK 250 was up 0.6% at 18,358.92, and the Cboe Small Companies gained 0.1% to 15,894.73. The DAX 40 in Frankfurt added 0.4%, topping 20,000 points for the first time, while the CAC 40 sprung to life after a slow start to the week, setting aside French political uncertainty for now. The Paris benchmark was up 1.0%. Supporting the FTSE 100, Glencore rose 2.3% while Asia-focused lenders HSBC and Standard Chartered added 1.7% and 1.2%. An improved reading of the manufacturing sector on Monday lifted optimism over the Chinese economy, which the trio are exposed to. easyJet rose 3.3% in a strong take-off for travel shares on Tuesday. Wizz Air rose 3.0% as it reported passenger growth for November. On the Beach rallied 14% on strong earnings and a new buyback. BP and Shell rose 1.6% and 1.3%, tracking Brent higher. Brent oil was quoted at USD72.37 a barrel early Tuesday, up from USD71.85 at the time of the European equities close on Monday. In Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 shot up 1.9%, supported by semiconductor stocks on Tuesday. In China, the Shanghai Composite added 0.4%, and the Hang Seng Index in Hong Kong rose 1.0%. The S&P/ASX 200 in Sydney rose 0.6%. Over in New York on Monday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.3%. The S&P 500 added 0.2% and the Nasdaq Composite surged 1.0%. The S&P and Nasdaq achieving record closing highs. The pound was quoted at USD1.2691, moving higher from USD1.2643 at the time of the London equities close on Monday. The euro stood at USD1.0523, climbing from USD1.0486. Against the yen, the dollar was trading at JPY149.87, a rise from JPY149.24. Analysts at ING commented: "French political drama sent EUR/USD below 1.05 yesterday. Rate spreads have pushed out to the wides of the year as the market assumes that pressure is only going to grow on the ECB for rate cuts if governments in both France and Germany are out of order. "EUR/USD may not need to fall much further from here at the moment. And indeed there is some upside risk if US JOLTS data disappoints today. However, any EUR/USD correction may be limited to the 1.0550 area." Tuesday's global economic diary sees the US job openings survey and labour turnover survey at 1500 GMT. Analysts at Rabobank commented: "It may be the case that traders are simply waiting for this week's dump of US labour market data and Jerome Powell's comments tomorrow before adjusting their views on policy rates. Today brings the October JOLTS job openings figures, tomorrow we get the results of the ADP employment survey and Friday we will see the November non-farm payrolls report." Gold traded at USD2,641.84 an ounce early Tuesday, largely unmoved from USD2,642.00 on Monday. Back in London, SSP jumped 12%. It reported annual earnings growth and said trading in the early weeks of the new year has been "encouraging". The operator food outlets at travel locations reported pretax profit of GBP118.6 million in the year to September 30, an increase of 35% from GBP88.1 million. Revenue improved 14% to GBP3.43 billion from GBP3.01 billion. The Upper Crust owner hailed "good performances" in the North America, UK and the Asia Pacific & Eastern Europe & Middle East groupings. However, it suffered a "disappointing performance in Continental Europe". SSP trimmed its final dividend by 8.0% to 2.3p per share from 2.5p. It upped its total dividend to 3.5p from 2.5p, however. CEO Patrick Coveney said: "SSP has strong fundamentals and benefits from the global travel market's sustained long-term growth trends. This was clearly visible in the FY24 performance in three of our four regional markets. However, Continental Europe performed below our expectations, which in turn impacted Group EPS and free cash flow. As we reach the next phase of our evolution post-Covid and with strong underlying growth across the group, our focus now is on driving greater value from a strengthened base. In Continental Europe, we are accelerating our profit recovery plan, in particular by building returns from the significant number of recently renewed and extended contracts. Across the wider group, our priorities remain on sharpening our performance culture to drive profitable growth and returns, so as to unlock the full potential of SSP." So far in financial 2025, "trading has been encouraging". Revenue during the first eight weeks to November 25 is up 13% at constant currency. Elsewhere among London's mid-caps, strong earnings lifted Victrex and Greencore. The duo were up 14% and 9.0%. discoverIE also shone, adding 9.8%. Marston's rose 6.7% as the pub operator reported a swing to annual profit. Revenue in the year to September 28 improved 3.0% to GBP898.6 million from GBP872.3 million, helping to push it pretax profit of GBP14.4 million from a loss of GBP30.6 million. It said it is "very confident" about its outlook but noted October's autumn budget in the UK "puts some additional pressure on costs". Like-for-like sales in the first six weeks of the new year grew by 3.9%. On the decline, AIM listed SysGroup tumbled 30% as it warned on annual earnings. The IT services, cybersecurity and cloud hosting provider said its pretax loss in the half-year to September 30 was largely unmoved at GBP1.1 million. Revenue fell 7.4% to GBP10.2 million from GBP11.0 million. SysGroup expects revenue for the full-year will be shy of current market expectations, amid "longer-than-expecte |
Posted at 26/11/2024 22:40 by master rsi Broker tips: Next, Melrose Industries, Halfords(Sharecast News) - RBC Capital Markets has upgraded its rating for high street retailer Next from 'sector perform' to 'outperform', saying that the company should beat market current market expectations for revenue. Even after raising its growth guidance for fourth-quarter full-price sales in a trading update on 30 October - from 2.5% year-on-year to 3.0% - RBC said it sees further upside risk as a result of increased UK marketing spending and softer comparatives with last year due to mild weather in December 2023. In addition to UK consumer concerns and a weaker pound, higher staff costs have dampened Next's stock recently, owing to recent changes to the UK minimum wage and how much employers need to pay for National Insurance. Meanwhile, strong growth in the online overseas business, which accounts for 15% of total sales, should help to re-rate the stock, the broker added. Next's shares trade at 13.5x forward earnings, but RBC believes the stock warrants a higher rating due to stronger anticipated top-line growth than its historical average of 2%. The broker has placed a 10,800p target price on the stock, which assumes a price-to-earnings ratio of 15x. If the stock were to re-rate to a PE of 17x, the shares should hit 12,200p, it said. Melrose Industries surged on Tuesday as JPMorgan Cazenove hiked its price target on the shares to 850p from 650p and placed them on "positive catalyst watch" ahead of full-year results in March. JPM said its analysis points to the Aero Engine industry being highly attractive for investors but noted it was also "a challenging industry to understand", with many different business models, quite complex accounting, and high investment required to generate attractive long-term returns. "We think that Melrose is significantly undervalued," JPM said. "We place Melrose on positive catalyst watch ahead of its FY24 results on March 6th 2025, when it plans to provide new medium-term guidance." JPM said it sees 2025-30 as "something of a golden age" as AE companies benefit from aftermarket profits on the new generation engines they developed and sold over the last 15 years or so. The bank also said it expects free cash flow to meaningfully improve in 2026-30 and forecasts that Melrose's 2025-30 free cash flow will be £153m/£261m/£392m/£4 In addition, JPM said that more buybacks are possible. It noted that Melrose completed a £500m share buyback from October 2023 to September 2024 and is undertaking another £250m buyback from October 2024 to March 2026. JPM maintained its 'overweight' rating on the stock. Analysts at Canaccord Genuity lowered their target price on automotive retailer Halfords from 146.0p to 127.0p on Tuesday, citing increased net interest costs. Canaccord Genuity stated Halfords' H125 results showed that "good margin and cost management" had helped to offset a fall in revenues, with adjusted pre-tax profits broadly flat at £21.0m. As flagged at the time of its pre-close update, Halfords said good strategic progress was being made with its "Fusion" concept, with expansion accelerating on the back of positive results seen over the summer, along with a growing Motoring Club membership base of more than 4.0m. "Whilst the Group remains comfortable with FY25 consensus and we leave our FY25 forecasts unchanged, we have reduced our outer year forecasts to reflect a slightly more cautious near-term outlook along with circa £14.0m of additional direct labour costs as a result of the recent UK budget," said Canaccord. The Canadian bank also said Halfords trades on a price-to-earnings of 14.2x, with a dividend yield of 4.2%. "Our TP is based on a CY25E target multiple of c.12x, broadly in line with the 10-year historical average. We maintain our 'hold' recommendation and continue to want to see evidence that earnings have stabilised before taking a more positive stance," added Canaccord. |
Posted at 26/11/2024 08:33 by master rsi BRCK 61.30p +5.30p - Interim Results for six months ended 30 Sept 2024Brickability Group PLC (AIM: BRCK), leading distributor and provider of specialist products and services to the UK construction industry, today announces its unaudited interim results for the six months ended 30 September 2024 ("H1 FY25"). H1 FY25 Financial Summary ---- --- 2024 - 2023 Revenue 330.9 - 324.8 Gross profit 63.0 - 55.0 Gross profit margin 19.0% - 16.9% Adjusted profit before tax 21.9 - 21.8 Adjusted EPS 5.03p - 5.30p Net debt 56.3 - 30.9 Interim dividend - declared 1.12p - 1.07p Half year highlights Resilient, in line performance despite sustained macroeconomic conditions, with revenue growth of 1.9% or a like-for-like (LFL)(6) reduction of 7.4% Improvement in Adjusted EBITDA margin of 50 bps validating the benefits of the recent strategic and structurally higher margin acquisitions Strong revenue performance in the Contracting and Distribution divisions, driven by a doubling of sales of solar PV in Upowa, highlighting the benefit of the Group's diversification strategy FY24 full-service specialist cladding installation and remediation contracting acquisitions of Topek and TSL are performing well and trading in line with the pre-acquisition investment case Streamlined senior leadership team, focused on growth and operational outperformance Investment underway in IT systems upgrades and process efficiencies Increase in the interim dividend reflects the performance in the first half and the Board's confidence in the longer-term outlook for the Group Outlook· Trading for the first six weeks of the second half is in line with the Board's expectations New build housing market remains soft heading into the new calendar year Medium-term housing market fundamentals are strong, with a structural housing deficit and the new Government's commitment to 1.5 million new homes during this parliament Recent increased order intake is encouraging, particularly within the Bricks and Building Materials division Profitability is expected to be first half weighted due to phasing of project work in the Contracting division, and the Board is confident in achieving market expectations for the full year(7) Frank Hanna, Chief Executive Officer, commented: "This has been a positive half for the business, and I view the future with cautious optimism. Enquiry levels are picking up, the order intake is encouraging, and importantly, well represented across each of our four divisions. We remain confident in a recovery of the new build housing market, and Brickability is well positioned to significantly benefit when it happens. "Having now been in the business for six months I've been able to take a detailed look at the Group. My initial impressions remain intact, this is a great business with a strategy of diversification, providing high quality specialist products and services for our customers. The Group has significantly evolved from predominantly being a brick distributor, and is now a diversified group of scale with strong foundations. My focus has been on improving the fundamentals of the business, ensuring through cycle resilience whilst retaining the entrepreneurialism spirit at our core, and I look forward to the future with confidence in our ability to deliver excellent results when market growth returns." |
Posted at 19/11/2024 11:25 by master rsi SMALL-CAP WINNERS: Avon raises final dividend after swing to profitSMALL-CAP - WINNERS Avon Technologies PLC, up 7.0% at 1,402 pence, 12-month range 746p-1,402p. The Wiltshire, England-based protective gear company says revenue rose 13% for the year to September 30 to USD275.0 million from USD243.8 million. Orders jumped 41% to USD364.4 million from USD258.7 million. Avon, which serves military and first responder clients, also swung to pretax profit of USD2.3 million from the prior year's USD20.2 million loss. Also declares a final dividend of 16.1 US cents up from 15.3 cents. Total dividend however is 23.3 cents, down from 29.6 cents. Says it expects continued growth and consistent returns in the current financial year. ---------- Trifast PLC, up 1.9% at 79.5p, 12-month range 66.2p-93.9p. Trifast, which manufactures industrial fastenings and components, says half-year revenue for the six months to September 30 decreased 3.2% on-year to GBP113.9 million from GBP117.6 million the year before. Pretax profit falls 21% to GBP1.6 million from GBP2.0 million. Interim dividend remains flat at 0.60p. Says however that it is on track for financial 2025 results in line with market expectations and remains "confident in the delivery of our mid-term margin and returns ambitions". ---------- Pollen Street Group Ltd, up 1.9% at 703p, 12-month range 528p-760p. Reports buyback of 200,000 shares at average 703.00p each on Monday in London. Says it intends to hold the repurchased shares in treasury. Company now has 2.7 million shares in treasury and 61.5 million in issue. |
Posted at 15/11/2024 09:33 by master rsi MARKET REPORTLONDON MARKET OPEN: Stocks mixed ahead of US trade and industry data (Alliance News) - Stock prices in London were mostly lower on Friday morning, following the release of GDP, industrial production and other data earlier that morning. UK gross domestic product is estimated to have increased in the latest quarter but edged down for September, data from the Office for National Statistics showed. The trade deficit widened on-month to GBP3.46 billion. Industrial production decreased monthly and annually for September, the ONS also said, missing the market consensus estimates. However construction output is estimated to have risen in the third quarter thanks to a rise in new work. Markets are likely to be receptive to Chancellor Rachel Reeves' first speech at Mansion House yesterday, according to analysts. "Today, we begin to see the real vision behind Reeve's plans, commented Wealth Club's Jonathan Moyes. "Reforming the nation's pension schemes represents a substantial opportunity for the country. By taking a leaf out of the Canadian pension book, Reeves' may just provide the spark the UK economy needs to crowd in investment into key infrastructure projects, the energy transition and scale up enterprises." Moyes added: "Investors in startups could be the real winners from today's announcement. It is no secret that the UK venture capital industry punches well above its weight internationally, but there remains a real need for large institutional investors...Super-si The FTSE 100 index opened down 12.56 points, 0.2%, at 8,058.63. The FTSE 250 was down 40.19 points, 0.2%, at 20,482.62, and the AIM All-Share was up 0.11 points at 729.49. The Cboe UK 100 was down 0.2% at 810.34, the Cboe UK 250 was up 0.1% at 17958.74, and the Cboe Small Companies was up slightly at 15,740.67. Land Securities led the FTSE 100, up 2.0%. The real estate investor lifted its first-half dividend to 18.6 pence, and said it swung to a GBP243 million pretax profit from a GBP193 million loss. It also increased the full-year outlook for EPRA earnings per share. Worldwide Healthcare Trust was among the FTSE 250 losers, down 1.9%. The investor's NAV total return outperformed its benchmark, but it kept the dividend unchanged at 0.7p. More positively, it said it believes the fundamentals of healthcare remain strong, and that its portfolio manager is positive about the outlook for the sector. In smaller caps, Volex lost 11%. The manufacturing company reported strong half-year results, with revenue increasing 30% and pretax profit up 21%, and increased its interim dividend by 7.1% to 1.5p. However, it also reported that TT Electronics has rejected two takeover approaches. The second valued each TT shares at 135.5p. TT Electronics, by contrast, surged 35%. In European equities on Friday, the CAC 40 in Paris was down 0.7%, while the DAX 40 in Frankfurt was down 0.5%. The pound was quoted lower at USD1.2663 early on Friday in London, compared to USD1.2713 at the equities close on Thursday. The euro stood at USD1.0568, down against USD1.0576. Against the yen, the dollar was trading lower at JPY155.46 compared to JPY155.81. In Asia on Friday, the Nikkei 225 index in Tokyo was up 0.3%. In China, the Shanghai Composite was down 1.1%, while the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong was marginally lower. The S&P/ASX 200 in Sydney closed up 0.7%. "Asian markets were mixed overnight, with investors remaining skittish over the potential tariffs from the US which could well be coming their way," said interactive investor's Richard Hunter. "This adds to the already uncertain state of the Chinese economy...The latest economic releases did little to improve the cause. Although retail sales increased by a better than expected 4.8% in October, industrial output and property numbers underlined the scale of the challenges which remain. "Japan was slightly more positive, with economy growing by 0.9% in the latest quarter, despite an interest rate hike in the period, suggesting that the economy can withstand further rate rises which are likely to arrive in the coming quarters." In the US on Thursday, Wall Street ended lower, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average down 0.5%, the S&P 500 down 0.6% and the Nasdaq Composite down 0.6%. Brent oil was quoted at USD71.60 a barrel early in London on Friday, down from USD72.43 late Thursday. Gold was quoted lower at USD2,568.21 an ounce against USD2,576.68. Still to come on Friday's economic calendar, releases include US export and import prices; retail sales and industrial production; and the New York empire state manufacturing index. |
Posted at 15/11/2024 08:31 by master rsi TTG 108.75p + 29.75p -Selected last month on the "UPS"VIX 314p -29.50p Possible Offer for TT Electronics plc ("TT Electronics") Volex plc ("Volex" or the "Group"), a global leader in mission critical applications and power and data connectivity solutions, announces that it has submitted two proposals to the Board of TT Electronics regarding a possible cash and shares offer for the entire issued and to be issued share capital of TT Electronics. The first proposal comprised 62.9 pence in cash and 0.203 new Volex shares per TT Electronics share which implied, at the time of the first proposal, a price of 129.0 pence per TT Electronics share, and the second proposal comprised 62.9 pence in cash and 0.223 new Volex shares per TT Electronics share which implied, at the time of the second proposal, a price of 135.5 pence per TT Electronics share (together, the "Volex Proposals")(1). The Board of TT Electronics has declined to engage with Volex and rejected each of the Volex Proposals. Based on the price of Volex shares as at the close of business on 14 November 2024 (being the latest practicable date prior to the date of this announcement), Volex's latest proposal, consisting of 62.9 pence in cash and 0.223 new Volex shares per TT Electronics share (the "Second Proposal"), now implies a value of 139.6 pence per TT Electronics share, values the fully diluted share capital of TT Electronics at £248.6m and implies a premium of: · 76.7 per cent. to TT Electronics closing price of 79.0 pence as at the close of business on 14 November 2024 (being the latest practicable date prior to the commencement of the offer period on 15 November 2024); and · 73.2 per cent. to the one month volume weighted average price for TT Electronics shares as at the close of business on 14 November 2024. The Board of Volex therefore firmly believes that the terms of the Second Proposal offer a highly attractive opportunity for TT Electronics shareholders to realise both an immediate partial cash exit following the ongoing operational and end market challenges faced by TT Electronics and the opportunity to share meaningfully in the upside of a highly attractive enlarged business. If any offer were made on the basis of the Second Proposal, Volex expects it would offer a mix-and-match facility to provide TT Electronics shareholders with flexibility. Lord Rothschild, Executive Chairman of Volex, commented: "We believe that bringing Volex and TT Electronics together in a highly synergistic transaction would create a scaled and diversified leader in the specialist electronics market which would act as a platform for future organic and inorganic growth and significant value creation. TT Electronics would provide the Group with further exposure to structural growth markets, such as medical and industrial technology, and add a new end-market, aerospace and defence, to progress Volex's successful strategy of diversification. At the same time, TT Electronics would benefit from being part of a larger group with stronger performance and the associated opportunities for revenue and cost synergies to deliver higher profitability. Despite the resilience of TT Electronics' underlying business, it has faced persistent challenges in recent years, which Volex believes have been exacerbated by execution missteps by the Board, including former and current executive leadership. As a result TT Electronics' shares are trading at a 10 year low. Since the disposal of the former Transportation Sensing and Control division in 2017 for c.£119m, TT Electronics has spent approximately the same amount on acquisitions (for which the purchase prices have been disclosed), paying elevated multiples in an effort to develop a higher quality business. Instead, TT Electronics has delivered a series of inconsistent annual results with adjusted operating profit only improving 60 bps since 2019 to 8.6% for the financial year ended 31 December 2023, well below the 10%+ margin target set by TT Electronics management in 2019. This is before factoring in restructuring charges, which amounted to a total of £43.9m over the same period. In comparison, Volex's adjusted operating margin increased by 170 bps to 9.8% from 2020 to 2024 (financial year ending 31 March), achieving and sustaining the higher end of management's guidance for 9-10% margin. Volex's only restructuring charge during this period was £0.8m recognised in 2022. TT Electronics' acquisition strategy has also resulted in very disappointing outcomes. In early 2024, TT Electronics disposed of three sites with a write-down of £32.5m, including the company's activities at Hartlepool and Dongguan, which it had acquired through its takeover of Stadium plc in 2018. Furthermore, TT Electronics now has operational issues at two North American sites serving aerospace and defence, a market that TT Electronics has targeted through its acquisitions of Torotel and Covina in the US. More recently, TT Electronics' 16 September 2024 trading update surprised with an earnings downgrade, having only confirmed full year guidance in the company's half-year results on 8 August 2024. As per the trading update on 14 November 2024, guidance was further downgraded to the lower end of the range provided on 16 September 2024. Analyst consensus forecasts imply that adjusted operating profit margin will be approximately 7.1% in 2024(2), a further downward departure from the company's previous 10%+ margin target and significantly below its new mid-term adjusted operating profit target of 12% by 2026. Since 1 January 2018, TT Electronics' share price has declined by 65%, compared to Volex's, which has increased over 300%. We firmly believe that our Second Proposal offers shareholders an extremely compelling alternative to the status-quo: the opportunity to (1) in the near term, realise a meaningful element of the offer consideration in cash whilst operational challenges persist, and (2) alongside our own shareholders, to participate in the highly attractive upsides offered by the growth qualities and synergy potential of the combined business led by an experienced team that has a track record of successfully delivering value accretive acquisitions. I therefore strongly encourage TT Electronics shareholders to urge the TT Electronics Board to engage with Volex in delivering an expeditious and highly attractive outcome for all stakeholders." Strategic rationale for a combination of Volex and TT Electronics The Volex Board believes the combination of TT Electronics and Volex will deliver value for both sets of shareholders by: Creating a scaled leader in specialist electronics for demanding high growth end markets exposed to industrial megatrends · The combination of TT Electronics and Volex would represent a transformational transaction for both companies, creating a scaled leader across a diversified range of end markets with a need for bespoke R&D driven solutions and complex manufacturing services. · The combined group would offer exposure to international megatrends including the decarbonisation of transportation, demographic shifts in healthcare and technological convergence of aerospace and defence platforms. · Volex's strategy has demonstrated the benefits of diversification and the proposed combination would further improve the diversification of both businesses, whilst also offering greater economies of scale and cross-selling opportunities. Benefitting from significant opportunities to realise both cost and revenue synergies and deliver higher profitability · Volex believes there are significant opportunities to achieve cost synergies in the combined business through the removal of duplicate functions and driving further efficiencies as Volex operates a relatively much leaner fixed cost base. · There are further opportunities to rationalise the combined businesses' global manufacturing footprint, particularly in Mexico, China and South East Asia where TT Electronics has been slow to shift its production away from more expensive markets, and also further leverage Volex's wider presence in low-cost geographies. · Volex has a proven history of delivering margin expansion and believes that the combination with TT Electronics would be earnings-accretive, and therefore Volex would expect to outperform its existing medium-term operating margin targets. Being run by a highly experienced management team that has delivered outsized returns for shareholders · Volex's management has a track record of delivering profitable growth, margin expansion and high levels of return on capital employed, via actions to reduce customer concentration, exiting unprofitable contracts, expanding the product portfolio to include more high-specification and customisable products which generate higher margins, rationalisation and vertical integration of manufacturing operations and a return to strategic acquisitions. · The executive management team of Volex includes multiple key executives who set up and grew valuable TT Electronics business divisions. As a result, Volex believes that it already understands the value-creation drivers of TT Electronics and is well-placed to deliver on TT Electronics' potential. · TT Electronics is exposed to the high structural growth markets of healthcare, aerospace and defence and automation/electrifi Benefitting from a strong balance sheet combined with significant levels of cash generation providing capital optionality to maximise shareholder value · Based on the Second Proposal, the combined group would have pro-forma day one leverage of c.2.0x, within Volex's target range of 1.5 - 2.0x. · The combined group would generate significant free cash flow and leverage would be expected to reduce towards the bottom of Volex's target range in the near term, at which point incremental free cash flow can be directed towards alternative methods of value creation, including additional accretive M&A. · The combined group would be well positioned to continue being a UK listed M&A compounder, a strategy Volex has successfully pursued over the last 6 years with 12 acquisitions completed and integrated within that period. The Volex Board therefore believes that the combined business would deliver significantly greater benefits to TT Electronics shareholders than TT Electronics could otherwise achieve on its own. Volex is convinced of the compelling strategic rationale for a combination with TT Electronics and has already acquired 5,241,420 TT Electronics shares, representing approximately 2.95% of TT Electronics' issued share capital. As required by Rule 2.6(a) of the Code, Volex must, by not later than 5.00 p.m. on 13 December 2024, either announce a firm intention to make an offer in accordance with Rule 2.7 of the Code or announce that it does not intend to make an offer, in which case the announcement will be treated as a statement to which Rule 2.8 of the Code applies. This deadline may be extended with the consent of the Panel on Takeovers and Mergers in accordance with Rule 2.6(c) of the Code. Furthermore, pursuant to Rule 2.5 of the Code, Volex reserves the right to vary the form and / or mix of the offer consideration. Volex also reserves the right to make an offer for TT Electronics at a lower value or on less favourable terms than the Second Proposal: a) with the recommendation or consent of the TT Electronics Board; b) following the announcement by TT Electronics of a Rule 9 waiver transaction pursuant to the Code or a reverse takeover; or c) if a third party announces a firm intention to make an offer for TT Electronics which, at that date, is on less favourable terms than the Second Proposal. If TT Electronics announces, declares, makes or pays any dividend or any other distribution or return of value or payment to its shareholders after the date of this announcement, Volex reserves the right to make an equivalent reduction to the Second Proposal. There can be no certainty any offer will be made pursuant to Rule 2.7 of the Code. A further announcement will be made in due course. |
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