On July 16th 2018, NTBR announced preliminary results for the year ended 31 March 2018. During the year the group completed the acquisition of H Peel & Sons (Holdings) Limited. Turnover from continuing operations rose to £53.6m (2017: £45.6m), with adjusted operating profit from continuing operations up to £3.1m (2017: £2.5m). Adjusted EPS rose to 12.5p from 11.3p, and the group increased the proposed final dividend to 3.0p per share (2017: 2.5p), plus a special dividend of 1.0p per share. Exec Chairman Steve Roberts said he was “delighted to be reporting on another great set of results. With a strong current order book, I am hopeful of another good year to come and would like to thank my fellow Directors and the management teams and staff at all of our companies for the efforts they put into making the Group such a success story. “ “We are pleased to be back on the acquisition trail and will continue to look at opportunities as and when they arise.”
On May 14th2018, CER published interim results for the six months ended 31stMarch 2018. The group reported 6% growth in adjusted EBITDA to £1.6m, an 11% increase in revenues to £8.4m (including a 15% increase in recurring revenues to £2.5m), and growth in back orders to £15.4m (2017: £14.7m). Net cash at 31 March 2018 more than doubled to £2.5m (2017: £1.1m), and the interim dividend was raised by 7% to 1.5p. CEO Louis Hall said the number and quality of the tender processes CER are currently engaged in “is very encouraging at this point in the year, and will underpin continuing progress towards the Company’s financial goals.” “We look forward to the future with confidence and believe that prospects for long term growth remain very positive.” Separately, on May 30th2018, CER announced that it was part of the winning team that secured the “Outstanding Catalyst Business Impact” Award at TM Forum’s 2018 Catalyst Awards at Digital Transformation World 2018 in Nice, France.
UK based Hollywood Bowl Group Plc (BOWL.L) Hollywood Bowl Group is the UK’s largest ten-pin bowling operator, with a portfolio of 59 centres operating across the UK under the Hollywood Bowl, AMF and Bowlplex brands. The Group specialises in operating large, high quality bowling centres, predominantly located in out of town multi-use leisure parks (typically co-located with cinema and casual dining sites) and large retail parks. The centres are designed to offer a complete family entertainment experience with each centre offering at least 12 bowling lanes, on-site dining, licensed bars, and state-of-the-art family games arcades.
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On May 23rd 2018, BOWL announced interim results for the 6 months ending March 31st 2018. The group reported a 17.4% increase in PBT to £14.6m, on revenues up 9.3% at £63.6m. Net debt fell by 46.7% to £7.2m, and BOWL raised the interim dividend by 12.8% to 2.03p. BOWL also noted that spend per game had increased by 5.5% to £9.20. CEO Stephen Burns said the group customer focus, combined with our disciplined capital and cost management, “gives us confidence in delivering another year of progress, and reporting results in line with Board expectations.”
The growth potential within this 10-pin bowling group came to the attention of VectorVest members with a relative value flag as far back as the start of April this year. The RV (Relative Value) rating, an indicator of long-term price appreciation potential logged at 1.42, which is excellent on a scale of 0.0 – 2.0. Other high scoring metrics include a GRT (Earnings Growth Rate) of 27%, which VectorVest also considers excellent. The stock continues to add gains, but even at 232p VectorVest sees more to come, with a valuation of 261p.
The chart of BOWL.L is shown above where the earnings per share (EPS) growth is clear and shown by the blue line study in the window below the price. The share is trending upwards and this trend is defined easily by the blue trendline under the price bars. Over the last month the share has pulled back to this long-term support (which was also an old high) and was aggressively accumulated at this level. This is an extremely positive technical signal.
Summary: To date BOWL management have provided a masterclass in maximising the potential of a niche business. All the group 10-pin bowling sites are leased, keeping centre operating costs and liabilities well under control, while factors such as the increase in profits and growth in spend per game show how management continue to execute an effective strategy to grow the business. With a bullish outlook statement from the CEO, VectorVest backs BOWL management to deliver additional growth throughout the current year. Buy.
Dr David Paul
June 27 2018
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On April 25th2018, W7L announced audited FY results for the year ended 31 Dec 2017. In it’s first full year as an AIM listed company, W7L reported a 15.6% hike in proforma revenues to £31.2m, raised proforma adjusted EPS by 8% to 9.4p and paid a final dividend of 2.6p per share. Subsequently in the AGM statement published on June 12th 2018, Chairman Clive Garston confirmed that the Company continued to trade in line with expectations ..”and that the outlook for the rest of the year is encouraging.” “I am particularly pleased to report that our order book for Christmas sales is ahead of last year, both for W7 and the Retra brands… we look forward to providing a further update at the time of the release of our interim results in September 2018.” In a note published on June 13th2018, well-respected research house Hardman & Co pointed out that the company had made considerable progress since the acquisition of Retra, and was “well positioned to maximise the benefit of the additional assets.”Hardman added: “Warpaint has never made a loss and has a very healthy profit margin; it is also net debt-free, has a much faster growth rate than the colour cosmetics sector, and has a very attractive RoE.”
On April 26th2018, GEMD published a Q1 trading update, and said during the period Jan 1st2018 to 31stMarch 2018 seven diamonds greater than 100 carats were recovered. The Lesotho Legend, a high-quality 910 carat, D Colour Type IIa diamond, which was recovered on 15thJan was sold on 12 March for US$40m (US$ 43 912 per carat). This is the second largest gem quality diamond recovered in the past century and the largest diamond recovered to date at the Letšeng mine. 16 diamonds sold for more than US$1m each, generating revenue of US$70.7m during the period. GEMD also said a formal sale process has commenced to sell the Ghaghoo mine. The Group had US$91.3m of cash on hand (US$ 66.7m attributable to Gem Diamonds) and net cash of US$48.1m (US$ 28.9m attributable to Gem Diamonds) at the end of the Period, compared to the Q4 net cash position of US$1.4m. CEO Clifford Elphick said:…” It is encouraging to see the improvement in the frequency of large diamond recoveries during the Period with seven diamonds greater than 100 carats being recovered, supported by strong production results driving an 8% increase in carats recovered. The market for Letšeng’s high-quality diamonds has remained robust over the Period, achieving an average price of US$ 3 276 per carat, up 48% from the previous quarter.”Separately on May 22nd2018, GEMD announced the recovery of a 115 carat, top white colour Type IIa diamond from the Letšeng mine. This is the ninth diamond of over 100 carats recovered in 2018, already exceeding the total number of diamonds of over 100 carats recovered in 2017.
