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News of more growth in the digital space - fantastic client list including BP, Centrica, Castrol, MSD, Rolls Royce and Sanofi Pasteur..... Http://www.prweek.com/article/1346830/creston-forms-referrals-partnership-digital-consultancy "Creston forms referrals partnership with The Digital Consultancy Added 2 hours ago by Anna Reynolds Creston Unlimited, the owner of Nelson Bostock, has formed a partnership with The Digital Consultancy, shortly after its acquisition of How Splendid. Creston, which also owns Cooney/Waters, Fever and Red Door Communications, acquired digital consultancy Splendid last month. Creston's partnership with The Digital Consultancy is a continuation of the group's growth in digital, creating joint pitching and referral opportunities for both businesses. The Digital Consultancy was launched in 2010, with offices in London and New York. Its clients include BP, Centrica, Castrol, MSD, Rolls Royce and Sanofi Pasteur MSD. The Digital Consultancy will operate under the Unlimited brand as The Digital Consultancy Unlimited. Barrie Brien, Creston’s group chief executive, said: "The group already derives more than 50 per cent of its revenue from digital and online activities and this partnership will enhance our digital reputation further, adding expertise in digital strategy and transformation to complement our existing strength in digital marketing." Mike Coppen-Gardner, director of The Digital Consultancy, added: "Since our launch in 2010, we have continuously provided strategic digital expertise for our clients. As we continue to scale our business, we are excited about the partnership with Creston Group and look forward to working within its Unlimited offering.""
Liberum have today increased their price target to 160p from 135p: Http://www.dakotafinancialnews.com/creston-plc-given-new-gbx-160-price-target-at-liberum-capital-cre/146401/
Sanlam Securities today reiterate their Buy and 165p target for CRE, which must have been increased from 150p at some point recently: Http://www.wkrb13.com/markets/571011/creston-plcs-buy-rating-reaffirmed-at-sanlam-securities-cre/
For reference, here's the newly acquired How Splendid's web site - the client list is fantastic, including per the RNS "Barclaycard, Boots, eBay, Gamesys, News UK, Skrill, SSE and Star Alliance", but also the BBC, Aston Martin, Wired, Intel, Microsoft, Easyjet etc.... Http://www.howsplendid.com/about-us/
Edison's forecast of 14.1p EPS this year - with a 4.5p dividend - is the highest of the newly increased forecasts, whilst three others from Singer, Peel Hunt and Sanlam all go for between 13p and 13.2p EPS. CRE remains very cheap imo on a single-figure P/E even on the lowest forecast.
With 14.1p EPS now forecast, plus a good dividend, it's easy to see a share price of anywhere between 150p-200p here. From the Daily Mail - this is a "potential gamechanger": Http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/markets/article-3051260/MARKET-REPORT-Drugs-giant-GSK-s-groggy-Liberum-Capital-advises-clients-sell-down.html "Marketing communications group Creston rose 5p to 123.5p after in-line results and the acquisition of a 51 per cent stake at How Splendid, a London-based digital-design consultancy. The group expects revenues to increase by 2.7 per cent to £76.9million and cash of £8.3million. Analysts believe the deal is a potential game-changer, giving its exposure to more attractive business areas." Another positive article: Http://www.shareprophets.com/views/11739/creston-plc-a-former-share-tip-of-the-year-back-on-track Conclusion: "For the financial year ended 31st March 2014, Splendid delivered a pre-tax profit of £1.2 million on revenue of £4 million, with the year just ended reported to have seen “material growth”. The deal has seen researcher Edison increase its current year earnings per share forecast from 13.2p to more than 14p, concluding that “a discount to marketing peers of 36% on EV/EBITDA CY15 seems considerably overdone”. On what I consider more relevant absolute terms, shares in Creston, at circa 120p, trade on a prospective price/earnings multiple of 8.5x and yield 3.75%. Today’s announcement looks a decent bounceback from the doubt-inducing trading statement of February and enough to suggest 9th June-scheduled results should be reviewed with interest. Very much on the watchlist."
Sanlam Securities and N+1 Singer both today reiterate their Buy recommendations, with 143p and 139p targets respectively. I suspect with new 14.1p EPS forecasts that those target prices will be revised upwards after the prelims are released.
Edison have increased their forecasts in a new report today: Http://www.edisoninvestmentresearch.com/research/report/creston12 They now go this year for 14.1p EPS, with a 4.5p dividend. That's a P/E of just 8.7, with a 3.7% dividend. And ICM in particular should have a rip-roaring H1 given all the General Election work it's doing.
Great stuff :o)) Not only are CRE trading in line with forecasts of 12.5p historic EPS - with a 4.1p dividend - but we have a highly earnings-enhancing acquisition from CRE's cash pile. And it's a digital design and development consultancy, so highly complemehtary to CRE and its existing structure. Plus of course being in the right space for these times. The client list is fantastic - including Barclaycard, Boots, eBay, Gamesys, News UK, Skrill, SSE and Star Alliance. The acquisition price isn't cheap, but this looks a high quality acquisition - with the further consideration being dependent on performance anyway. Besides, the cash is doing nothing in CRE's bank account. This should jolt the share price upwards.
DBay Advisers are continuing to buy - they're now above 19% with 11.6m shares: Http://www.investegate.co.uk/creston-plc/rns/holding-s--in-company/201504090915537210J/ CRE is pretty tightly held now, with these 3%+ holders holding around 43m of the 58m shares in issue: Http://companyresearch.digitallook.com/cgi-bin/dlmedia/security.cgi?csi=11419&action=deals&sub_action=overview&username=,%20pwright&ac=,%20208678 DBAY Advisors Limited 10,997,178 £12,866,698 Artemis Investment Management Limited 7,277,269 £8,514,405 Credit Suisse Client Nominees UK Ltd 6,835,093 £7,997,059 Majedie Asset Management Limited 6,015,219 £7,037,806 Western Selection P.L.C. 3,000,000 £3,510,000 Ruffer LLP 2,991,079 £3,499,562 FIL Limited 2,718,451 £3,180,588 Hargreave Hale Limited 2,455,000 £2,872,350 Barclays Stockbrokers 2,258,378 £2,642,302
CRE's ICM polling division should have an extremely good few months given the election - polls regularly coming out and an ICM expert on the BBC news this week following the Dave 'n' Ed Paxman debate. lso a new client win for CRE's US agency Cooney Waters: Http://www.odwyerpr.com/story/public/4343/2015-04-01/lenscrafters-focuses-cooneywaters.html "Wed., Apr. 1, 2015 LensCrafters Focuses on CooneyWaters By Kevin McCauley LensCrafters has signed a one-year pact following a competitive pitch with CooneyWaters Unlimited for a national communications initiative to promote vision healthcare. The unit of UK-based Creston Unlimited will target consumers to increase awareness of the need for regular eye examinations and its importance as a health priority. CWU executive Julia Jackson handles the push to underscore the need for proactive health management and LensCrafters' role as leader in personalize eye health."
This time it's Deezer: Https://www.zenopa.com/news/801776955/fever-selected-as-deezers-new-uk-and-global-pr-agency That's a prestigious new client, making two digital/new media wins in a matter of days following the Mind Candy win. Great to see CRE making such progress in the new technology sector. "Fever selected as Deezer's new UK and global PR agency 24 February 2015 16:56 in Technology PR Fever selected as Deezer's new UK and global PR agencyFever has been selected as the new retained UK and global PR agency for Deezer, the fast-growing digital music streaming service. The agency will be tasked with developing campaigns to promote the brand in the UK, as well as managing the client's global press office, influencer programme and its network of PR teams across all markets. This follows a three-stage tender process, with Fever being selected from a final shortlist of four agencies. It replaces incumbent Pretty Green, which was originally appointed in 2013 but chose not to repitch for the account. Deezer offers its service in more than 180 countries, with 16 million monthly active users and six million paid subscribers worldwide. Bruce McLachlan, joint managing director of Fever, said: "The music space is very crowded, so our job will be to develop campaigns rooted in audience insight that can change behaviours, as well as deliver brand fame." The agency has experience of working with a number of high-profile tech brands, including PlayStation, Canon, Toshiba and HTC."
Good news - CRE's agencies Fever and Nlson Bostock have won the PR contract for Mind Candy (the firm behind Moshi Monsters). A prestigious appointment: Http://www.prweek.com/article/1335492/mind-candy-appoints-fever-retained-uk-consumer-agency-replacing-fishburn "Mind Candy appoints Fever as retained UK consumer agency, replacing Fishburn February 24, 2015 by Anna Reynolds , Be the first to comment Global entertainment company Mind Candy has appointed Fever and sister agency Nelson Bostock to handle its consumer and corporate PR accounts, replacing incumbent Fishburn. etc"
numerous 23.6k buys 12 & 13th feb - someone is keen ! lets hope she pushes back up
was big,could be a delayed sell,if that chart drop is owt to go by,maybe?
New Edison note - confirms 12.5p EPS for the year just ending, with a 4.1p dividend. And 13.2p EPS next year, with a 4.4p dividend. Plus over £9m net cash... Http://www.edisoninvestmentresearch.com/research/report/creston11 "Valuation: Discount persists The group has strong cash flow characteristics and should end FY15 with net cash over £9m (£7.7m after contingent deferred consideration) despite spending £1.6m on the share buyback. With a growing dividend stream and the prospects for moving earnings forward improving, a discount of over 20% to other UK smaller agency groups on CY14e EV/EBITDA seems harsh."
Sanlam say Buy and have a 143p valuation, cut from 150p. N+1 Singer also say Buy and have a 139p target. With a cash pile perhaps approaching £10m now - 15% of the m/cap - the ex-cash P/E is probably only around 8 or even less, given 12.5p EPS for the year about to end. The almost 4% dividend is not to be sniffed at. And CRE are on a very low price/sales ratio with around £75m-£80m of revenues. Plus there's a terrific - and loyal - blue chip client base. So imo the inherent value here is a lot higher than the current share price, whether that emerges by means of improved trading or by a bid at some point. I wonder also if CRE will use this opportunity to mop up more shares for their buyback scheme - they've been happy to buy in the recent past at these and lower levels.
Reporting actual (today) not imminent. And all looks fine - results at lower end of expectations perhaps, but still growing and doing fine. Two brokers also keeping 'buy' recs with s/p target well above the current one, albeit a bit lower than their previous targets to reflect today's RNS. Panic selling/stops hit maybe as the drop reinforced itself and I suspect this is also a bit of a trader's share too and being small cap it's quite volatile - traders often sell on news. I think it should pick up as the day proceeds and probably more over the coming weeks.
No explanation to be found for sudden fall in sp Guess this is to do with imminent reporting
The next trading statement is due imminently as last year's was 3rd February. Hopefully another rise coming in the run-up - and afterwards :o)) A reminder that consensus from 3 analysts for the year ending soon is 12.5p EPS, with a 4.1p dividend. The year commencing 1st April sees 13.1p EPS and a 4.3p dividend.
Good to see the share price rising today on just a 3,600 share buy - perhaps it's hard to find any stock. CRE has been tipped in the IC - strip out the cash pile and CRE are still on a single-figure P/E, with a foreign exchange benefit set to boost H2 as well: "The re-rating I predicted at small-cap marketing communications company Creston (CRE: 129p) has worked out a treat and last week the shares had now run up into the middle of a historic price band between 130p and 135p, and to within pennies of my year-end target price of 135p (‘Buy the break out’, 4 November 2014). In the current market environment a 10 per cent gain during which time the market is down around 4 per cent is not to be sniffed at. That said, there are sound reasons to continue to run with the position. Interims at the end of last month demonstrated solid organic growth: like-for-like revenues rose 4 per cent to £37.1m and drove up pre-tax profits by 9 per cent in constant currencies. True, the strength of sterling clipped 3 percentage points off that profit growth rate when Creston reported its numbers, but with sterling falling back almost 4 per cent against the US dollar since the September half-year end, and around 7 per cent below its first half average, this first half forex headwind has turned into a second half tailwind for Creston. Operationally, the company is performing well. Significant new business wins include contracts with Danone, McCain and insurer Allianz. Digital is a key component of this growth as this segment now accounts for over half of all revenue. It's higher growth, too, as global internet advertising spend is forecast to grow by almost half in the next four years. Creston domestic bias is also working in its favour as over two-thirds of revenue is generated in the UK, a country with the highest economic growth rate in Europe and also the largest internet advertising market. And there are obvious cross-selling opportunities across the business to create a more integrated agency group, an area the board are targeting with its Unlimited brand. A £6.3m cash pile, worth 10p a share, provides ample funding to pursue organic growth and make selective acquisitions in the digital marketing. Trading on 11 times full-year earnings estimates, and underpinned by a 3 per cent yield, I would continue to run your profits if you followed my buy advice last month."
RNS - DBay continue to buy. Another 634,000 or so shares takes them to above 15% with 8.93m in total: Http://www.investegate.co.uk/creston-plc--cre-/rns/holding-s--in-company/201412180700180991A/
Another positive article this weekend - note that their EPS is out of date and has been increased to 12.7p EPS as pre my post above. Given that their 150p would be a current year P/E of only 11.8 - and probably only 10 or so stripping out the cash pile - I'd say 150p would still be cheap: Http://www.shareprophets.com/views/9394/creston-interims-on-track "Marketing communications group Creston plc (CRE) has announced its results for the six months to 30th September 2014 and that “current trading is in line with its expectations for the full year”. The results show an adjusted pre-tax profit of £3.77 million on revenue of £37.30 million (up 4% like-for-like on the corresponding 2013 period), generating earnings per share of 4.99p, up from 4.36p. After particularly £1.09 million of tax, a net £1.48 million working capital outflow, £1.60 million of dividends paid and £1.21 million on share buybacks, cash (net) was £1.16 million lower at £6.29 million. The company noted that it, despite remaining cautious in light of the global macro-economic climate, “as in previous years, anticipates increased revenues in the second half of the current financial year” and we continue to consider full-year forecasts of 12.5p of earnings per share and 4.1p of dividends per share (an increased interim dividend of 1.35p per share is to be paid on 9th January to shareholders on the register at 5th December) eminently achievable. With further growth expected next year, despite at a current 126p-129p being well ahead of the 87p offer price at which they were tipped on our Nifty Fifty site less than a year ago, the shares continue to look attractive reasonable value. We'd consider c150p an exit point so pro tem we’d still see upside."
New Edison note FYI - and forecasts have been increased. They now go for 12.7p EPS this year, with a 4.1p dividend. Next year it's 13.1p EPS, with a 4.4p dividend. They also forecast £5.4m net cash at the year end, and note that CRE are on a 13% discount t0 other UK-quoted comparators: Http://www.edisoninvestmentresearch.com/research/report/creston9
...with growth in total and like for like revenues having increased in Q2 since the last trading statement. Around 5p EPS in the weaker H1 indicates that 12p EPS forecasts for the year should be met, and the outlook statement confirms that. Nice 13% dividend increase too, again making the 4.1p divi forecast for the year look realistic. Without the strength of the pound in H1, and the extra property costs, H1 would have been superb. So the weakening of the pound in the stronger H2 may well see some rather good results for the year, especially given the raft of new client wins. On a P/E barely in double figures CRE remains undervalued imho. Interesting point here which I'd missed originally and sounds promising: Http://www.research-live.com/news/financial/creston-half-year-revenues-up-5-as-serviceplan-partnership-announced/4012575.article The CEO "also cited a new partnership with German-owned international marketing communications group Serviceplan which has more than 30 offices worldwide including 16 in Europe. The two have partnered previously, to win CRM assignments for Danone in Germany and the Middle East as well as on BMW Motorrad, but this formalises the partnership so that they jointly pitch for pan-European and US work."