We would love to hear your thoughts about our site and services, please take our survey here.
London South East prides itself on its community spirit, and in order to keep the chat section problem free, we ask all members to follow these simple rules. In these rules, we refer to ourselves as "we", "us", "our". The user of the website is referred to as "you" and "your".
By posting on our share chat boards you are agreeing to the following:
The IP address of all posts is recorded to aid in enforcing these conditions. As a user you agree to any information you have entered being stored in a database. You agree that we have the right to remove, edit, move or close any topic or board at any time should we see fit. You agree that we have the right to remove any post without notice. You agree that we have the right to suspend your account without notice.
Please note some users may not behave properly and may post content that is misleading, untrue or offensive.
It is not possible for us to fully monitor all content all of the time but where we have actually received notice of any content that is potentially misleading, untrue, offensive, unlawful, infringes third party rights or is potentially in breach of these terms and conditions, then we will review such content, decide whether to remove it from this website and act accordingly.
Premium Members are members that have a premium subscription with London South East. You can subscribe here.
London South East does not endorse such members, and posts should not be construed as advice and represent the opinions of the authors, not those of London South East Ltd, or its affiliates.
BTW I double checked on my figures - I have used the total no. of shares already inclusive of the management share options (i.e. 73mn) to derive the 68p. So the 68p is more or less reflective of CRL SP's current year's potential.
I took a deep dive for 2nd time on the presentations for FY 31/3/20 presented on 3/9/20
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tlF6Um9thu8
Note that this was presented in Sept 2020, i.e. into the 5TH month of the new FY 2020-21. Throughout the presentation I can not help thinking that the tone from the CFO / Bernard the CEO and Pippa (marketing director) - is all positive - not only for FY20 but for what is happening in H1 2021 at their company.
- loads of new hire (in Germany - a new country manager) + new head of ecommerce in UK (just started in Sept 20) inferring they wish to expand their online sales.
- won new contract according to Pippa - quite big - with Boots for a private label soap.
At 41:41
Bernard – ceo – says – we are good at taking advantage of disadvantages
Our aspirations remain the same
Will close out 2020/21 succesfully I think says Bernard - sales to be 55mn (47.8mn FY20) -
Net profit to be at least 7%+ (so could be more)
(if he is right - that means 55mn x 7% = 3.85mn)
73 mn shares (per stockopedia)
EPS – 5.27p
Current SP – 51p
Forecast PER – 9.67
Which is a joke for a rapidly expanding company.
They should be at least 12-14
VLG is on PER (f) 14.6 - stockopedia
So for CRL – assuming PER of 13 - not so demanding for a growing company like CRL
SP should be 68.31p by the time FY21 results come out.
It's further important to note that from previous meetings, the management have demonstrated integrity, honest and have been very open with shareholders.
Interesting find.
There is no indication when these were rejected. I think that the NHS stipulates 70% EtOH, where as at the start Crl was using 60% in their standard hand gel, so it could have been some early batches?
No one knows what's going on in the "head" of the NHS, it could be just an isolated decision. In the same paper Cardinal Health mask were not good, however, the company is producing the masks and selling to the NHS for years now.
If it helps anyone -
Simon Thompson's latest on CRL
https://www.investorschronicle.co.uk/comment/2020/09/07/manufacturing-gains/
Creightons (CRL:56p), a Peterborough-based manufacturer of beauty and healthcare products, has delivered record annual results and ones that surpassed my expectations when I included the shares, at 44p, in my 2020 Bargain Shares portfolio.
In the 12 months to 31 March 2020, revenues increased by 8.6 per cent to £47.8m, buoyed by a 43 per cent rise in overseas sales to £7.2m and double-digit growth in private label and branded sales. These segments boast higher margins which partly explains why gross margin increased by almost three percentage points to 42.2 per cent. Creightons has also benefited from the economies of scale generated by ongoing sales growth, improvements in productivity and re-sourcing of raw materials. These factors more than offset the impact of increases in raw material costs and the minimum wage.
Moreover, with both gross margin and revenue rising, the operational gearing of the business meant that operating profit increased by almost 30 per cent to £3.8m, outpacing the revenue growth rate more than threefold. Cash generated from operations was well ahead, too, up fivefold to £6.6m, helped in part by £1.4m of positive working capital flows, highlighting the cash generative nature of Creightons’ activities. The bumper cash inflow enabled the directors to purchase the freehold of the company’s site in Peterborough for £4m, make some small acquisitions, and still end the financial year in a small net cash position.
Shareholders are being rewarded with a hike in the full-year pay-out from 0.55p to 0.65p a share at a time when many companies have suspended their dividends. A 20 per cent return on capital employed is eye-catching, too, and there is scope for it to ratchet higher as surplus cash is redeployed on bolt-on acquisitions and new product launches. Recent launches include a new Pure Touch brand of hand sanitisers and hand washes, and a newly developed anti-viral alcohol-free hand cream. Creightons has scarcity value.
Importantly, the outsourcing of warehousing and distribution of finished products to a third-party logistics provider is almost complete and means that Creightons has the infrastructure in place to continue to scale up. It’s well positioned to do so as the directors revealed that trading in the first four months of the new financial year is ahead of last year.
Rated on a trailing price/earnings (PE) ratio of 11, prospects of Creightons continuing to outperform its rivals are still being materially underrated. On a bid-offer spread of 54p to 56p, the shares continue to rate a buy.
Thanks for the info - isolated incident? are there other hospitals or just a one-off? If 1 -off could be a batch error / erroneous supply
About the NHS contract I found this information from the Liverpool University Hospital: We have rejected the following provided under national contracts: 9,568 Creightons Hand Gel.
https://www.aintreehospital.nhs.uk/media/12207/foi-6988-response.pdf
Results coming out, around 19th / 20th Nov for 6 months up to 30/9/20. I reckon they are going to be excellent due to:
- 1st 4 months (including the most difficult lockdown months of April, May 2020) - trading was actually ahead of previous yr. Evidenced per telephone call with Simon Thompson with directors in https://www.investorschronicle.co.uk/comment/2020/09/07/manufacturing-gains/
-all things being equal, 5th and 6th month of the half year should follow the first 4 months, i.e. performing better than last year.
- Higher operating margins due to costs control.
- NHS contract - not stated amount but was extended up to Jan 2021 (thereafter, subject to renewal by NHS). I understand it is hand sanitiser.
- Land and building was purchased in previous FY leading to a saving of annual rent of £160k. So assuming half for H1 - that's 80k savings.
- Extra £400k could not be booked into FY20 said the management in most recent EoY presentation in Sept 20. and would be booked into H1 2021. Nice.
- Management reiterated in Sept 20 presentation, no reason not to hit their internal previous revenue target set of £60mn for 2020-21.
- For overseas sales for EoY 2019-20, now dealing directly with retailers rather than distributors = more control + one would assume - higher margins (cut out middle man)
- Prsently, trailing PE ratio of 10 = absurdly cheap for a rapidly expanding + profitable biz.
- no bad debts or provisioning required for customers due to C19 (CRL take out credit insurance)
- All financials are looking upwards (see stockopedia)
- Their Pure Touch - i.e. hand sanitizer + moisturizer that is officially recognised to kill virus + bacteria (CRL had to get this officially recognised) - reckon is going to be a top seller with ladies given how dry hands can get with alcohol gel.
- CRL making inroads into hand sanitization into carehomes and other health providers (new market)
CRL encountered two big index dips : 1 on the 21st - 24th Sept and 2nd one - 28th Oct - 2nd Nov. Had it not been for these two shocks, the share price probably would still be in high 50s. Hence very surprised to see it at 48p - offer price. DYOR. I hold
Da_Matser- I can see that Martin Stevens' wife did indeed sell 100K shares, though don't believe that Stevens himself did also. No reason given in the RNS, though perhaps it'll be going into property- I've seen similar announcements across the market explaining that shares were sold to 'fund the purchase of a house', or something to that effect.
All conjecture on my part, or course!
There have been some big sells recently. According to Simply Wall St, Martin Stevens (Deputy MD) shed 100k shares @ £56k on the 8th. In addition, I understand the 'wife of a director' also sold 100K shares. Does anyone know their reasons?
On the positive side, it's sent the price down to an absolute bargain. I've just topped up :)
Nooo.... CRL are still looking to acquire a digital presence for up to £10M --not me, such sums are, unfortunately, rather out of my league.
@Monkshood Let me get this straight. You are looking to buy 10 million shares or a £10 million stake. The latter would be a third of the company.
Just checking but fair play if you are.
They did say in the Q&A after the conference call that if they had not delayed the results that they would have had to have made a large provision because of debtors. These have now been settled so this may have, in part, been the reason for the original delay (but not the more recent jiggling about).
Other points-
Revenue target is 55m+ this year so probably not quite hitting their 60m benchmark, but then it has been an exceptional year.
They perhaps rather surprisingly , do not seem to have not done as well from their online channel as I had expected and so are still looking to buy into this with an acquisition of possibly up to 10m.
Lots of detail about the complexity and cost of dealing with covid which was quite interesting - cost was about 700k - and they would not need to have bought hand sanitiser... This has been offset by a one off NHS contact which has now been extended to January.
As always Pippa comes across very well, I think that it was a good decision to promote her to Joint Deputy MD earlier this year.
Over all it seems like they are doing OK with the ambition to keep growing toward a 100m Mcap
Trading update due late November.
Trading to the 31 July 2020 is ahead of last year, which has enabled the Group to absorb the increased costs and risks associated with the pandemic.
That's a very positive statement. i.e. Costs down + Sales Up, likely profits up - no signs of finding positives where positives can be found :) ...positives were evident
Last Sentence that is very relevant:
Covid-19 statement
Whilst the Company has faced a number of challenges since the outbreak of Covid-19 and has incurred significant costs associated with managing the risks associated with Covid-19, it has also found opportunity to deliver product types currently in demand by consumers, industry and Health Care providers. In particular, the Company has been able to introduce its new Pure Touch brand of hand sanitisers and hand washes, available through all channels of distribution that require and need anti-viral hygiene products; and a newly developed anti-viral alcohol-free hand cream. Trading to the 31 July 2020 is ahead of last year, which has enabled the Group to absorb the increased costs and risks associated with the pandemic.
... guess I was wrong..
Net profit, operating profit, revenue all increased. Dividend increase to. So that's all good in my book.
I genuinely think there are to busy to deal with it in time...the company is sound imo.
we'll find out next week anyway.
Has anyone had a call from a broker offering to by your shareholding????
Had a random call a few weeks ago, was surprised on how they got my number??
They were offering £8 per share Lol.
But on a serious note with the SP hitting 70p a few months ago and the delay in issuing results - do you think they might be selling the company on / merging / management buy out / etc.....???
D’you think they are wanting to de-list?
Very disappointing.
IC recommended it as a buy on Monday, hence the large trades.
Quite a large number of trades today...well above average. Hopefully with more buys than sells we can start to see some upward momentum. I do think this was marked down too much after the waffling RNS last week.
I was unsure of what to do, crl has been a good holding for me, I generally like the company, the way it is run and the people running it(from their webinars). Given its ups and downs I do trade it a bit whilst keeping a core holding. I last topped up the other week when it dipped to 50p but have not sold any since.
The ' over-all performance remains on track' was enough to keep me invested but unless it drops to low 40's I will await the results before purchasing more.
I am trusting that it was rather more of a question of a poorly thought out response to emails about the publication of the results , tacked onto the directors options rns which they needed to put out; no one would have thought much about if the latter was not at 7.00am