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Disappointed with the result of recent EGM.
Only time will tell if the correct decision was taken.
The Contract Manufacturing side of the business performed very well in the year ended 29 June 2019,
whereas the Own Brand side of the business saw sales going down. The 'down-part' of the business is being
retained whereas the 'up-part' of the business is being sold. Also two crucial directors are departing.
Does that bode so well for the future that the share -price deserves to rise by nearly 25%?
Not a regular poster on this board but want to advise of a petition too ban shorting of AIM shares. Seasoned investors have seen this happen too many times. If you agree, please sign and share to others you know :
https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/242399
Link is here http://otp.investis.com/clients/uk/swallowfield_plc/rns/regulatory-story.aspx?cid=1483&newsid=1237605
Pretty bad on the face of it:
Operating profit and EPS halved from 2018
The key of SWL is whether they can go grow the brands market internationally. UK Retail is dead in the water and Brexit is not going to help. SWL need to branch out but in such a competitive market brand and reputation are so important. I'm not too sure how well the SWL brand is recognised internationally. Only time will tell.
The report certainly makes SWL look interesting and I would hazard a guess the sp has moved today on this share tip.
Bear in mind though, the chart shows this to be in a downward trend still and a lower price is still possible.
http://www.chartupload.com/viewer.php?file=87014458091645371443.png
Swallowfield’s real potential as a ‘quality’ play lies in the opportunity to grow the higher-margin brands business. Brands accounted for 31 per cent of first-half sales and 57 per cent of first-half profit, and in the 2017 financial year the division’s operating margin before central costs of 16 per cent was almost double that of the manufacturing business. A strong brand gives its owner increased pricing power allowing it to grow and protect its margins. A strong brand also means more reliable sales growth. These factors translate into what investors refer to as high ‘earnings quality’. This dynamic is reflected in the rise in margins over recent years and forecasts of more of the same (see graph).
So arguably the more significant news from last month’s trading update was not the manufacturing disappointment but that brand revenue increased by 16 per cent in the 12 months and that the division’s profitability “will be significantly above both management’s expectations and the prior year as a result of improving margins”.
Brand margins are being enhanced by the company bringing the manufacture of recently acquired brands in-house. The most recent brand acquisition was the £3m purchase of men’s hair styling brand ‘Fish’, which will hopefully build on the strong growth Swallowfield has enjoyed from the product category. Meanwhile, the company has been investing in its manufacturing facilities to boost efficiency and is also expanding into international markets. Overseas sales made up 24 per cent of brand sales last year, although challenging conditions in North America have been a drag.
The appointment of Tim Perman as chief executive following a succession period of several months should also keep the group’s focus firmly on brand growth given his previous job as PZ Cussons' group brand director and divisional global beauty director.
If, as management expects, the manufacturing business is poised to get back into its stride and net debt moves downwards quickly, investors may start to focus more on the potential for the brands division. There could even be positive news on these fronts in the company’s full-year results announcement scheduled for 25 September. The existing sales growth and margin trends suggest scope for a noteworthy re-rating of the shares should the strategic shift be a success.
Nice rise today on wake of recent BOD buys and recent news article. -
"Beauty products group Swallowfield (SWL) is attempting to move up the beauty-industry value chain by investing in brands. The hope is this will boost the returns it generates from its know-how in product innovation and manufacturing.
SWL:LSE
Swallowfield PLC
1mth
Today change
5.96% Price (GBP)
302.00
Such strategies do not always progress smoothly, and for Swallowfield, the financial year to the end of June has been a case in point. The share price performance and valuation seem to reflect recent mixed fortunes. However, where it really matters (brands), the recent progress made by the company has been encouraging. Meanwhile, the problems faced by the group’s manufacturing business that have been the source of recent woe, may soon abate.They also explain why the company is looking to take more control over its own destiny through the ownership of brands as opposed to its traditional role of supplying owners of top brands.
The financial year before last saw a rash of product launches by key customers, which resulted in bumper trading for the manufacturing division and the 12 months to mid-2018 was always going to pale in comparison. This issue was compounded by two other disappointments that surfaced at the manufacturing business during the second half: the commencement of three major contracts was delayed, and the company was unable to adjust for a sharp increase in raw-material prices quickly enough to protect margins. To add to investor concerns, a jump in working capital will result in a sharp increase in net debt to £11m at the year end; the size of the rise in debt being the cause for concern rather than the actual debt level which represents 1.7 times forecast cash profits. The company also has a £5.7m pension deficit.
The good news is that the delayed contracts are expected to be up and running soon and management has a plan in place to revive margins. Meanwhile, following the year end, working capital is expected to quickly get back down to more normal levels bringing net debt down sharply. Nevertheless, the negative developments, which were revealed in a year-end trading update last month, were enough to make house broker N+1 downgrade cash profit forecasts for the manufacturing division by £1.7m. Given that group cash profit in 2017 was £5.2m, the magnitude of the setback may have been expected to have very painful ramifications for overall profit forecast. However, this was not the case thanks to the much-better-than-expected progress made by Swallowfield’s brands. Indeed, the overall impact on N+1 Singer’s 2018 and 2019 EPS forecasts were downgrades of just 4 per cent and 5 per cent respectively.
More than 2% of the companies shares sold in the last 24 hours.
There always seems to be a focus on revenue. Whilst revenue is expected to remain flat, the key here is that pre-tax profits are expected to be higher than 2017.
I'm not too sure they could have anticipated such a big drop. I was surprised myself.
The RNS is both positive and negative. I'm still expecting profit to be in the region of £3m before tax.
The brands business is posting double digit growth as newly acquired brands are fully integrated into the company. There was always going to be exposure to contract losses and the Board were aware of this.
On 20th June Tim Perman buys 12,000 shares and Matthew Gazzard buys 3,000 shares - both at a price of £3.24
Three weeks later the price has dropped 62p, almost 20%. What happening - surely they would be aware of anything that would knock the price so hard.
Swallowfield have been really prudent and calculated with the business strategy. The current Exec. Team are really delivering strong results and its pleasing to see the company in such capable hands and heading in the right direction.
The acquisition of the Fish brand is an obvious synergy to complement Swallowfield’s product offering and I am really interested to see how the company positions this new well established brand.
Overall, the outlook for Swallowfield is extremely positive.
A nice little top up from a couple of Directors
Intrigued by the share movement currently, from the RNS, FIL have increased their holding, however the price has fallen by circa 10%. Is this the MMs trying to get some of the shares back that they have sold to FIL? Views welcome
Swallowfield plc ("Swallowfield" or the "Group") Final results for the year-ended June 2017 Swallowfield plc, a market leader in the development, formulation, and supply of personal care and beauty products, including its own portfolio of brands, is pleased to announce a strong set of final results for the 52 weeks ended 24 June 2017. Financial highlights · Strong revenue growth of +36% (+8% excluding The Brand Architekts acquisition) to £74.3m (2016: £54.5m). Sterling weakness benefited the top-line with revenue growth on a constant currency basis of +31% and +2% respectively. · Owned brands now represent 24% of revenues. · Underlying operating profit increased by 180% year on year to £5.6m (2016: £2.0m). · Adjusted EPS increased by 40% year on year to 17.7 pence (2016: 12.6 pence). · Net Debt decreased to £3.6m (2016: £4.3m), inclusive of £2.0m additional term-loan funding to support The Brand Architekts acquisition. · Proposed final dividend of 3.5p per share (2016: 2.3p), in addition to the interim dividend of 1.7p already paid, to give a full year dividend of 5.2p (2016: 3.1p), an increase of 68%. Operational highlights · The Brand Architekts acquisition now successfully integrated, delivering strong year on year growth driven by several successful new product launches across all key customers. · Original Swallowfield brands also showing strong growth and extending retail distribution. · Manufacturing business performing robustly underpinned by successful launches for global brand owners and new contract wins. · Further improvements in % contribution margin achieved by growth of owned brands, drive category focus and cost base optimisation, despite raw material and components price increases. · Strong financial performance allowing investment in brand support and organisational capability whilst still delivering significantly improved profitability. · E-commerce now live across seven brands, supported by increasing digital marketing activity. Brendan Hynes, Non-Executive Chairman commented: "Swallowfield has delivered another very strong performance in the year with revenue, underlying profitability, EPS, and cash generation all showing significant improvements. We continue to make good progress against our clear strategic priorities and the completion of the transformational acquisition of The Brand Architekts during the year will ensure that Swallowfield continues to be well positioned for the future." Chris How, Chief Executive commented: "It has been a year of excellent progress for the Group with the successful execution of our stated strategy driving us to record levels of sales and underlying profitability. The acquisition of The Brand Archit
Full year results to June released this morning. See RNS on London Stock exchange website. Good solid results.
Big surge in buying this day... Someday expecting good news?
Brendan Hynes, Non-Executive Chairman, will make the following statement: "The Board is pleased to report that trading in the first four months of the year is in line with expectations. In our manufacturing business, the successful delivery of significant new product launches for major brand owners will contribute strongly to our performance, particularly in the first half of our fiscal year. Further contract wins have been achieved, with both UK and European customers, which will start to contribute from the beginning of our next financial year. In our branded business, we continue to be pleased with the performance and contribution from Brand Architekts, which was acquired at the end of June 2016. In particular, volumes of the Christmas gifting ranges are ahead of previous years and we expect these to make a strong contribution to our first half year. Bringing together the complementary capabilities and resources of the two businesses is progressing very well and we continue to be excited about the future growth possibilities that this presents. In October 2016, we were delighted that our Real Shaving Company brand "sensitive shave gel" won best new product at the prestigious GQ grooming awards. This aerosol product is an example of how we can use our core expertise to add value to our brands. We anticipate that profitability in the first half year will see a small benefit from the recent weakness of Sterling. Long-term we aim to self-hedge by broadly balancing dollar and euro sales to international customers with purchases in the same currencies. While we remain conscious of the continuing macro uncertainty both in the UK and internationally, we expect to maintain our positive momentum and are confident in the prospects for the year."
SWALLOWFIELD BRAND WINS TOP MALE GROOMING AWARD (ShareCast News) - Personal care and beauty products developer and supplier Swallowfield announced on Tuesday that one of the products in its 'The Real Shaving Co' brand was the recipient of an award at the GQ Grooming Awards. The AIM-traded company's 'Sensitive Shave Gel' won the Best New Shaving Gel at the awards ceremony. It said The Real Shaving Company brand was acquired by Swallowfield in May 2015, and is distributed to retailers across the UK. "We're delighted that the shave gel has been recognised with such a prestigious award," said group sales and marketing director Jane Fletcher. "The aerosol product has only been introduced since the brand joined the Swallowfield Group and is an example of how we can use our core expertise to add value to our brands."
Interesting to see Hargreave Hale continuing to add to their position This can move steadily higher as it transforms over the next few years - EV still relatively modest Acquisitions are always a risk in terms of integration etc but risks mitigated here in that founders of BA well known to our CEO via Sanctuary business at PZ Cussons
Very much on track and further to go long term one would hope. May be of interest to other holders. http://www.cambridge-news.co.uk/private-punter-progress-leaves-swallowfield-flying-high/story-29734747-detail/story.html
Announce a strong set of final results for the 52 weeks ended 25 June 2016. Financial highlights · Revenue growth of 10.1% at £54.5m (2015: £49.4m). Revenues were 10.5% higher than prior year on a constant currency basis. · Adjusted operating profit increased by 79% in the period to £1.79m (2015: £1.00m). · Profit before tax and exceptional items more than doubled to adjusted £1.63m (2015: £0.81m). · Earnings per share increased by 91% to adjusted 12.6p (2015: 6.6p). · Defined benefit pension scheme closed to future accrual, generating a one-off, exceptional gain of £0.65m. · Net debt position of £4.3m (2015: £5.4m), compares favourably to the prior year and is after absorbing growth related investments in capital equipment and inventory to support our owned brands. · Proposed final dividend of 2.3p per share (2015: 2.0p), in addition to the interim dividend of 0.8p already paid, to give a full year dividend of 3.1p (2015: 2.0p), an increase of 55%. · Significantly oversubscribed Placing to raise £8.6m post year-end for acquisition of Brand Architekts Ltd. http://www.londonstockexchange.com/exchange/news/market-news/market-news-detail/SWL/12971529.html
This was always going to be a lucrative stock for those in on the ground loor 1 http://www.londonstockexchange.com/exchange/news/market-news/market-news-detail/SWL/12930080.html http://www.londonstockexchange.com/exchange/news/market-news/market-news-detail/SWL/12930084.html http://www.londonstockexchange.com/exchange/news/market-news/market-news-detail/SWL/12930086.html http://www.londonstockexchange.com/exchange/news/market-news/market-news-detail/SWL/12931272.html http://www.londonstockexchange.com/exchange/news/market-news/market-news-detail/SWL/12931277.html
http://www.londonstockexchange.com/exchange/news/market-news/market-news-detail/SWL/12841816.html
This market leader in the development, formulation, and supply of personal care and beauty products; whose customers include many of the world's leading brands, is pleased to announce that its premium beauty brand, Bagsy, was recognised at this year's annual Cosmetic Executive Women ("CEW") Awards. CEW is a not-for-profit professional organisation with more than 1,000 members in the United Kingdom, from the beauty industry and related fields. Bagsy's 'Wonder Wand' won the award for 'Best New Makeup Product for Face - Mass'. Bagsy was launched in 2015 and has been building market presence since then, most notably in Debenhams. In March this year, Swallowfield confirmed a collaboration with Fashion designer Savannah Miller to develop a capsule collection of innovative new products to support future growth of the brand. Jane Fletcher, Group Sales & Marketing Director at Swallowfield, commented: "The CEW Awards are highly regarded in our industry and so we are very proud of this win. In particular, we're thrilled to have such a positive response from our peers at such an early stage of the brand's development."