Work Group Share Discussion Threads

[stemis] 18/9/2012 08:57

I've taken a small loss on these and sold my small holding. Amazed that there is enough liquidity to get out. It's been a great quarter on the stock market but, if nothing else, I can't stand the depression of having to look at another set of results from this company. One day they'll be sold, I'm sure, but there must be (indeed, are) easier ways to make money.

Good luck to all holders.

[deswalker] 18/9/2012 08:39

I've thought of another good piece of news. After this profits warning the broker forecasts will move to something much more reasonable and then hopefully we can start meeting and then beating them. The share price had long since discounted them as meaningless anyway but it's never nice to see a profit warning.

[deswalker] 18/9/2012 08:27

The one piece of good news is the improvement in Gross Margin.

I continue to believe that one day this will come good but right now it's a total pain.

[battlebus2] 18/9/2012 08:09

No sellers so far.

[deswalker] 18/9/2012 07:49

Still tough going. Hopefully strong operational progress is being made for the future as it looks like financial progress will be negligible. Disappointing.

Hopefully the tough going will bring forward an eventual sale of the business.

[battlebus2] 18/9/2012 07:49

Harrogate i've trebled my money on shares taken out that hadn't shown a profit in 3/4 years!

[harrogate] 18/9/2012 07:47

Not if they can't show they can make money!!!

[battlebus2] 18/9/2012 07:45

I can see where you are coming from but as most holders will agree we invested here with the possibility of a take out at a multiple of todays share price which is likely to happen at some point. A buying opportunity coming up this morning.

[boystown] 18/9/2012 07:41

I can't really see much to be excited about here. No debt, but not all that much in the way of real assets either and, of course, no profit ... again.

Why have a listing? It loos like it simply exists for the benefit of the directors' salaries.

[harrogate] 18/9/2012 07:36

Been watching these for a while. Seems having done all the reorganisation work they can't seem to get the business growing at all. Explains why so far the directors haven't put their hands in their pockets. Until they do I won't be either !

[battlebus2] 18/9/2012 07:27

Well slowdown still hurting but results are almost flat. U.S. still gaining ground.
A couple of exceptionals but needed. Cash 0.5 million.

whilst the Board expects the Group to be profitable this year, it anticipates that the Group results will be below market expectations.

The base to grow from is there when in time the economy starts to recover.

[battlebus2] 17/9/2012 09:11

Results tomorrow guys! Although the bid is 9p you can still sell 50k for 9.9p so even if results prove the slowdown is continuing i suspect the shares will be snapped up.

[battlebus2] 13/9/2012 20:55

Nice 100k buy after the tick down on the bid.

[battlebus2] 03/9/2012 19:09

Just over two weeks till next results (18th) so lets hope we have recovered a little lost ground with new contracts etc.

[battlebus2] 26/7/2012 14:53

Just catching up after a few weeks away and not at all surprised to see that update given the slowdown as Des has previously highlighted from the AGM. The results might not be that far behind given the new contract wins etc. I don't believe the slow trading will increase the chances of a quick sell better to wait until the trading environment improves. Any how holding tight till that day there's no rush.

[deswalker] 18/7/2012 10:31

As SteMiS explains the cash position is seasonal, as is trading generally. Historically H2 sees better trading and a big cash inflow.

Due to a quiet first quarter the six-monthly Gross Profit was 4% lower than last year, but margins have improved significantly so that they are now in profit rather than making a loss.

The AGM statement says that recent trading has been encouraging and I was told of one big contract win in California for VISA which will involve work in Russia too. So perhaps we'll see a second half to match last year in which case we'd be looking at an OP of approx £600k.

But the question has to be when they will try and sell the business and for what price. Perhaps the continued tough trading might bring that day forward.

[stevemarkus] 18/7/2012 10:06

Fair enough. I should think about these things a little more thoroughly and then it would all become obvious! Thanks for the sensible explanation.

Steve.

[stemis] 18/7/2012 09:36

Cash tends to be low at the half year. At the end of H1 2011 it was £649k. I'm presuming "in excess of £0.5m" means its not much changed. When you have trade receivables of £3.1m, it only takes one or two to miss payment by a day or two at the month end for the cash to look a bit sick.

[stevemarkus] 18/7/2012 09:22

More concerning to me, cash at last y/end was £1.8M, now it's £0.5M, and seems to be disappearing rapidly. Where's it all gone?

Cheers,
Steve.

[stemis] 18/7/2012 08:43

Very disappointing. A sustained recovery seems as far away as ever. There is clearly little visibility in performance and forecasts are pretty much worthless. It's hard to see that the market will ever ascribe much value to a business like this and it should really not be an independent quoted company. I'd be suprised if there isn't interest in acquiring it. It just depends when Moulton has had enough and calls it a day.

[deswalker] 18/7/2012 08:27

My thoughts ...

- I agree they look odds-on to miss by a distance but these forecasts for microcaps need to be taken with a pinch of salt anyway. The share price certainly doesn't reflect any expectation.

- Q1 was clearly disappointing but the AGM and AGM statement were upbeat about recent trading.

- Operating Costs are coming down as the business becomes more efficient.

- IMO the company is working hard to improve and would be able to show that if trading ever improves.

- Last H2 they did an OP of 545k and they could easily do that again if recent encouraging trading continues through the second half.

Nonetheless it is disappointing that things are so slow to improve.

Des

[stegrego] 18/7/2012 08:07

Hmmmmm.... 22 percent spread. I doubt many people will buy or sell with that. Surely they are going to miss by a distance now?


Work Group plc (LSE - AIM: "WORK"), the AIM quoted talent management company, announces ahead of its close period that net fee income (gross profit) for the six months ended 30 June 2012 (the 'period') was GBP6.2m, 4% down on the corresponding period last year.

The market generally for recruitment services has been challenging, with the Group experiencing a slow first quarter in particular. Despite this, the Group made a small operating profit for the period and remains debt-free with net cash in excess of GBP0.5m.

The Group will announce its results for the period on 18 September 2012.

[gingerplant] 16/6/2012 19:50

Mainly O/T but this is a bit of a shocker on the home page: "...a company's ability to hold onto and engage key people will determine how well they ride the storm" - dreadful grammar.

[battlebus2] 14/6/2012 21:47

Thanks again for the feedback Des. At last the exceptionals are reducing. Very informative indeed.

[deswalker] 14/6/2012 11:16

There is no direct listed comparator but the closest is Penna Plc (PNA) who have just released their Finals. I can't be bothered to work it out now especially as all holders here are more than comfortable to to do it themselves but if one applies the same NFI / Market Cap ratio to WORK as to Penna then one finds a WORK share price of at least double the current level. If one adjusts for Net Cash and looks at NFI / EV then one really starts to see the difference especially with the better profit margins at WORK.

Before the meeting SH was talking of three to four times the current share price level as being approppriate on a private market valuation (which I think is based on NFI). Then there's the future growth to build in too.