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Same here. That's a huge sale but they do still own £2m of the business?
was tempted to buy here but director sell the other day spooked me. Never a good sign but I guess we never know the reasons why!!
Https://www.fool.co.uk/2022/01/24/3-top-metaverse-stocks-id-buy-today-for-2022-and-beyond/
"#3: superfast networks
One area where the metaverse is expected to drive growth is virtual and augmented reality. Delivering this kind of service needs fast and reliable networks. That’s where my final pick comes in.
Calnex Solutions (LSE: CLX) specialises in “test and measurement solutions for the global telecommunications sector”. It’s a recent addition to the UK market that’s impressed me considerably so far, with a track record of growth, 20% profit margins and owner-management.
One risk for shareholders is that Calnex only listed on the stock market 15 months ago. I think there’s some risk of a slowdown after sales rose by 20% last year. However, long term I don’t think this should matter.
Founder Tommy Cook expects cloud computing and 5G mobile to create new opportunities. I agree. I’d be happy buying a few Calnex shares today to tuck away for the next decade."
Given the extremely strong realtionship CLX has with Spirent (SPT), today's trading statement from SPT augurs particularly well for CLX given the strong growth being experienced in 5G:
https://www.investegate.co.uk/spirent-comm-plc--spt-/rns/trading-update-2021/202201200700080082Z/
"“In the final quarter, we benefited from material growth from our Lifecycle Service Assurance business, driven by increased demand and new customer wins for both lab solutions and, especially, for live assurance solutions, as 5G networks continue to roll out globally.”
“High-speed Ethernet demand outperformed the last quarter of 2020, while Spirent's application security sales continued to progress well; some rebound was also experienced in orders for lab-based Positioning products.”
"Strong order intake growth continued through to the end of the year, resulting in full year revenue growing by 10 per cent (7 per cent organically(1) ) to $576 million. Eric Updyke, Chief Executive Officer, said: "Spirent's customers continue to invest in 5G-related infrastructure, devices and services, a trend we expect to continue and I am delighted we are making strong progress with our strategic agenda to deliver sustainable profitable revenue growth. Our business model is becoming increasingly resilient, supported by a robust financial and operational platform, and we are pleased to begin the new financial year with a growing orderbook with improved visibility. We are well placed to deliver further progress, with our key business drivers intact, and we continue to invest in our leading technology solutions across our portfolio."
hi, recent investor here, can i say the ceo is a down to earth scotsman, he is from the town i used to live in, his way with words is how folk speak from that area, no loud in your face, type , laid back down to earth.that is why i trust him, i can tell a fraudstar, he is not,and that small scottish town is a wee gem of a town, well to educated middle class area. and still they have a great scots attitude or not loud, brazen or in your face.
Nice buy of 20k shares at 132p just reported - above the full 131p offer price. Suggests someone's keen to accumulate stock.
after a series of relatively small-ish buys. Perhaps not much spare stock around.
Especially impressive considering the miserable markets as a whole.
Just watched the interview. What a modest guy. Love the way he said he just started the company to see if he could improve his CV..
Two impressive/heavyweight non-exec Board appointments today, which should please the City and bring in a raft of contacts "at what is an exciting time for Calnex, as we seek to capitalise on the telecoms industry's ongoing transition to 5G alongside the growth of cloud computing":
Https://uk.advfn.com/stock-market/london/calnex-solutions-CLX/share-news/Calnex-Solutions-PLC-Board-Appointments/86985592
The Sanford CFP SDL Free Spirit Fund - run by Keith Ashworth-Lord - have just sent out their monthly Factsheet as at 7th Jan 2022. In the commentary they note:
"We first looked at Calnex Solutions in January 2021. Despite its small size (its market cap is just above £100m) it plays a key role in its market of mobile network testing and optimisation. It supplies many large global network operators and equipment providers and has a long-term growth runway ahead of it, helped by opportunities in 5G. We have built a 3.7% holding in the company."
Since their top holdings include the likes of Kainos, Treatt etc hopefully CLX will continue to be be just as successful.
New 14 minute video interview with Tommy Cook - he always comes across extremely well.
Great to hear TC say his product is "the only one on the market" that can properly address the necessary accuracy:
Https://www.calnexsol.com/en/article-display-events/1642-tommy-cook-founder-and-ceo-calnex-solutions-plc
Me too. 111.5p - bargain.......
I've added today as well - albeit at 113.4p.
Can't believe private investors selling at these low prices - happy to pick up a bargain!
https://twitter.com/surprised_trade/status/1470702774669258753
added to holding at 112p ;-)
Great to see Close Brothers Asset Management turn up with an 8.53% stake - that's 7.46m shares.....
Https://uk.advfn.com/stock-market/london/calnex-solutions-CLX/share-news/Calnex-Solutions-PLC-Holdings-in-Company/86662302
Nice clear explanation in the RNS too. They already had a stake below 5%, and they bought another 3.165m shares on the 24th November, so now they have 7.46m in total and have to disclose as well above 5%.
Jack Brumby on Stockopedia is a CLX shareholder and summarised the results yesterday in his daily Small Cap round-up. Overall he concluded that CLX is "a good long term growth prospect, with multi-year drivers", but here's good info from a call with management (edited slightly to fit the number of characters in here):
"Edit – call with management
A brief catch up with CEO Tommy Cook and CFO Ashleigh Greenan. Impressions are that they’re very down to earth and focused on the business of network testing, much more interested in new product development than the share price, for example..
It all boils down to new things to sell to people, building them, and investing in teams where there is more opportunity to accelerate business growth.
No surprises in the period, business has been strong. The update spends time on the new products (which are being well received) and opportunities, but the established customer base has also been doing well. Calnex has now seen an extended period of good growth and the sales funnel fills nicely, with new deals coming through and underpinning confidence.
The group is excited about the new applications for its products. When asked to elaborate, Cook talked about how time is an increasingly important consideration. It wasn’t always the case but a shift has occurred and this increasing importance was Calnex’s big ‘lucky break’, appearing at just the right time to capitalise.
The emphasis on time and the new applications come from data communications and finance. Datacomms – accurate time syncing is important as it requires less ‘handshakes’ (an automated process of negotiation between two participants through the exchange of information) and enables greater throughput in data centres. Financial – this is to do with high frequency trading and MIFID.
Are there any big trends beyond the stated ones (Cloud, 5G, Data)? Can you quantify these trends in terms of scale and persistence?
It keeps changing. Hard to quantify, but it’s promising. The catalyst for the testing world is change, and there is a huge amount of evolution. Cook sees 5G as more of a euphemism for the future networks of smart cities, which suggests a huge implicit demand for increased levels of data. Networks will have to innovate to meet this demand, and as the picture keeps shifting, demand for testing should continue to grow. The cloud migration is also a strong driver.
Where do you see the industry heading over the next 10 years?
.....They’re always looking for the new emerging opportunity and keep close to the industry and market thought leaders.
ORAN network (the bit behind the radio towers) is a good example as it has been opened up. It was dominated by three big players, but five big networks have cracked it open, leading to new entrants and a disrupted market structure. More competition should be a good thing for the market and a good thing for the market and Calnex."
A very impressive and confident presentation just now from CLX on Investor Meet. I particularly liked:
(1) Last year the usually conservative CEO wasn't ready to call CLX's excellent results more than a single good trading period. Now he's happy to call the continued strength a trend which is unlikely to stop any time soon
(2) He emphasised a few times that more and more different markets are now looking at and buying CLX's products, i.e the finance sector for one.
Given the confidence shown in the presentation I suspect the share price will bounce soon after this initial profit-taking.
Cenkos have updated today and summarise as follows, retaining the recently increased forecasts
"Calnex Solutions plc Keeping time with growth – Interims update
In line with the October trading update, Calnex has reported a c20% increase in revenue to £9.3m for H1/22 (H1/21: £7.7m) following substantial demand for telecoms testing equipment and strong levels of trading in H1/22. This strong trading has continued into H2/22. Investment in product development and operational scalability has been increased with the strong cash position enabling Calnex to accelerate investment and expand capacity in line with the growth in the order pipeline."
"Outlook.
With the telecom infrastructure, networking and services markets seeing an expanding number of market participants requiring testing solutions, the growth outlook for Calnex remains secure. Following the maiden interim dividend of 0.28p,
we forecast 0.56p in total for FY22E. The order backlog at H1/22 and strong order pipeline for H2/22E should drive further revenue growth for FY22E and FY23E."
That's a very, very confident set of interims - the CEO is unusually bullish.
In particular, "The Board is confident in meeting the upgraded market forecasts for the year", i.e 5p EPS, so H2 will be expected to produce almost 3p EPS and trading on a run-rate of around 6p EPS per annum.
Plus CLX have almost 12% of their m/cap in a cash pile - strip this out and the P/E looks pretty good value for a tech company riding the 5G and telecoms wave.
Despite revenues being 20% up year on year, some might balk at PBT being flat and EPS down, but of course that's due to a particularly high investment phase for the future which we were already aware of (and which has produced the products now selling so well).
As others have highlighted, a considerable market opportunity lies within the role that 5G has to play in supporting introduction of new services, such as autonomous vehicles, mobile phones and smart devices that need higher quality connections. The testing market continues to increase with the growth in the number of data centres operated by enterprise and hyperscale companies.
The CEO's confidence shines through (hi wetherboy, hope this has answered your question!):
"Tommy Cook, Chief Executive Officer, and founder of Calnex, said: "These results mark another considerable step forward for Calnex, as we continue to capitalise on the global telecom industry's transition to 5G and the growth of cloud computing. The results for the first half of FY22 are materially ahead of the Board's expectations at the start of the year, as indicated in the Company's Trading Update issued in October 2021, and confidence levels remain high with the early signs being that sales momentum will continue in the second half of the year . We have invested in our team and resources and the continued positive response to the new product launches provides optimism towards the long-term demand for our offering. The breadth of our customer base across multiple regions, combined with the ongoing successful expansion of the team, our customer relationships and industry connections, places us in a strong position to continue to benefit from the underlying market growth drivers in the telecoms market."
Nobody else messaging on here recently. What did you think of this mornings results?
A strong Q3 trading update from major client Spirent this morning:
Https://www.investegate.co.uk/spirent-comm-plc--spt-/rns/third-quarter-2021-trading-update/202111110700020031S/
"We are pleased to report continued momentum and the Board remains confident that the Group will show solid progress in 2021."
"Once again, 5G continues to be a strong driver of growth in demand across our solution portfolio."
"Lifecycle Service Assurance
Strong momentum and demand for products in both the lab and the live assurance market resulted in good order growth in the third quarter. We continue to secure multi-year contracts increasing longer term visibility.
Key wins included a large and strategic 5G order from Dish Networks, an innovative new North American network operator that plans to become the first telecom company to run its service on the public cloud. Dish will be utilising both our lab-based and live network solutions to autonomously test and validate its 5G network core.
Networks & Security
....application and security testing is gathering momentum as we continue to support customers to develop their 5G infrastructure and has delivered growth year to date compared to the prior year. We have made good progress in growing our business with the Hyperscalers by focusing on their 5G initiatives."
H1 results now confirmed for 23rd November - good to see an Investor Meet presentation as well as the one for analysts.
We already know the H1 results will be excellent and the outlook is "materially ahead of previous expectations"....
Https://uk.advfn.com/stock-market/london/calnex-solutions-CLX/share-news/Calnex-Solutions-PLC-Notice-of-Results-and-Investo/86511191
and buying coming in this morning at the full 152p offer price....
Nice close, and more new highs, on Friday afternoon....
Surging again today. The new interview with the CEO is absolutely terrific and can be seen here:
Https://www.pressreader.com/uk/the-herald-1130/20211025/282299618375105
This is a terrific quote from the CEO:
""New technology needs more testing and new test equipment. It looks like it's going to be never-ending for us until I get my retirement plan kicked into action and long beyond it."
"Never-ending" growth is not a phrase you see too often. Especially from a usually cautious guy like Tommy Cook.
There's other great quotes about the coming 6G and what will be happening over the next 10 years, along with the huge potential for CLX in data centres, and the likelihood of further, and larger, acquisitions.
Plus the move to hybrid working for the entire workforce could lead to quite a material reduction in costs/overheads.
This is now looking like the kind of long-term hyper-growth story I was hoping for when I invested at around 50p immediately post-IPO.