Adrian Hargrave, CEO of SEEEN, explains how the new funds will accelerate customer growth Watch the video 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.
Net cash of £22m. Market cap is only £29m.
The results for the six-months to January are robust against a backdrop of declining confidence in both clients and candidates generally. With an improvement in the contract book during early Q3 we think this highlights that the tide is starting to turn and likely to feed through to demand for permanent hires ahead of the CY24 end. With net cash accounting for over 70% of the current market capitalisation, the operating business appears undervalued.
H1 results were broadly in line with expectations, as declining economic confidence reduced NFI by 12.8% yoy, with the UK down 10%. The decline in perm activity was largely responsible for the shortfall, with contract activity remaining robust during the period. Adjusted PBT improved modestly and adj. EPS was unchanged yoy at 1.6p.
Costs have reduced further, although Management continues to add headcount in its core areas of focus and strength. Also several new contracts/renewals were awarded during the period: these are likely to benefit H2 onwards and reflect a resurgent Business Development team.
We have taken a more conservative view of the outlook, reducing FY24 estimates in line with new guidance, albeit still anticipating meaningful growth in activity levels. The operating business excluding the net cash is valued at just £10.5m which seems too low given our EBIT forecasts. As such, we set a fair value of 140p / share.
Link to research report: https://www.equitydevelopment.co.uk/research/trading-report-in-line-with-sector-peers
Obviously a challenging market but looking at the big picture, management have managed to turn around years of heavy loss making. Balance sheet is strong. This is already at bargain basement valuation and is an easy hold for the ongoing recovery. Technical uptrend too. Trendz
Queue the equity development fair valuations. Glad I took advantage of yesterday's pump (aka manipulation) to dump half of my holding at 122p. These fair valuations spouted for years by these pen pushers are meaningless.
As I have said before the prices for GATC as long as it stays above 95p are 114, 125, 152
We are encouraged by several aspects of the pre-close trading update covering H1, not least the outcome and movement in net cash. A renewed focus on the cost base should result in improving conversion rates, offsetting any further shortfall in fee income during H2. We also remain confident that a recovery in Gattaca’s markets should emerge during Q4 ‘24/early FY25 supporting a further re-rating of its shares.
The yoy shortfall in NFI of 16% during H1 includes a large RPO contract which ended in September. The H2 ‘23/H1 ’24 comparison is as a result more favourable, with the larger contract included for just two months of the former period, with fee income down 8.6%. Overall, contract NFI was more stable, declining 6% yoy, compared to 38% in perm.
H2 ’24 onwards will witness a greater focus on productivity, resulting in outgoing sales heads in the business not being replaced and further room for cost cutting within perm focused employees. Over the medium term, we expect administration headcount as a proportion of total heads to move towards best industry practice of c.25%, down from the current 32%.
Should we be proved correct on expecting a recovery in the Group’s markets then the current valuation appears too low. Based on a DCF model we retain our fair value / share at 175p.
New research report here: https://www.equitydevelopment.co.uk/research/profit-expectations-maintained
HE1 HIT HELIUM AND HYDROGEN [SEE RNS BELOW]
GET IN QUICKLY.. SHOULD DO 200% PLUS
https://www.lse.co.uk/rns/itumbula-west-1-well-has-successfully-reached-td-vmkkvswza9v67ua.html
152p is the next target. Finally Gattaca is re-rating. Buybacks are supportive of this.
Ready to explode. Surely such a ludicrous valuation can't exist in a bull market. If this is indeed the end of the bear market, we could be looking a major AND fast rerate. GLA
For anyone who missed yesterday's webinar live, here is the recording of CEO and CFO covering FY results / strategic progress / outlook, then taking broad range of questions from private investors. 50 mins running time, click here to see full video:
https://www.equitydevelopment.co.uk/research/gattaca-investor-presentation-fy-results-october-2023
The implementation of the ‘four pillars’ of Gattaca’s new strategy resulted in adj. EBIT rising significantly, as did conversion rates too (up to 5.4% vs 0.2%). Impressively, this was achieved despite the Group’s markets turning more challenging during H2. NFI fell by 8.5% yoy, down by 1.8% in FY23, with a targeted exiting of lower margin contracts a factor.
Progress has been driven by self-help: on cost control, marketing, an improved culture, exiting low margin contracts and improved productivity levels. We think there is more to come as the new hires bear fruit and additional cost savings emerge (particularly in property).
Looking ahead there should be some recovery visible in recruitment markets over the next 12 months and at Gattaca we expect further improvement in the conversion rate. The £23.4m net cash at year-end also opens up many opportunities for the Group.
Based on a discounted cash flow model we raise our Fair Value to 175p per share.
Link to research note & audio summary: https://www.equitydevelopment.co.uk/research/robust-foundations-in-place
Gattaca plc, the specialist staffing business, will be conducting a live presentation following the release of their Preliminary Results for the year ended 31st July 2023.
The event will take place at 11.15am on Tuesday 24th October.
The online presentation will be hosted by Matthew Wragg (Chief Executive Officer) and Oliver Whittaker (Chief Financial Officer) and is open to all existing & potential shareholders. Questions can be submitted during the presentation and will be addressed at the end.
Link to register: https://www.equitydevelopment.co.uk/news-and-events/gattaca-investor-presentation-24october2023
Held the point of control at 114-115 and now seems to be moving up again. Surprised no buyers here yet
Motoring along quite nicely - target on track
Nice bullish close to my first target mentioned below at 114p. We have had a close above the declining trend line since Apr 23. If the action continues next target 152p
Who is MMGG acquisition ??!
Next target is 114 - clear that and I see 152p. Beyond that and on favourite macro plus catalysts 204p
Fair value per share now seen at 125p/share. You can read the full note here, free access: https://www.equitydevelopment.co.uk/research/eps-cashflow-beats-plus-dividend-reinstatement
Agreed : much more positive FY update today than most others in sector: continuing NFI seen just 1% lower at £43.6m and expected FY23 PBT above expectations at £2.5m; outlook is realistic but confident.
Net cash of £21m at 31 July y/e allows plans for 2.5p final div, 2.5p special div, and new £0.5m share buy-back
Encouraging progress
Ahead of expectations on all fronts. Tasty 5p dividend and share buyback to boot. Superb cash pile too
Rated one of the best shares by a top trader
worth keeping eye on
New research report (free & accessible): https://www.equitydevelopment.co.uk/research/well-placed-to-weather-even-the-harshest-of-storms
Gattaca reported in line H1’23 results (6M ending Jan’23). Underlying NFI climbed +5.2% to £22.7m (£21.6m LY) thanks to two new client wins and strategic price initiatives (+9% contract & 6% perm).
On top, there were standout performances (see note) from defence (+32%), energy (20%) and infrastructure (7%) - partly offset by the shedding of low margin business (2 large accounts) and a not surprisingly less buoyant TMT backdrop (-43.5%, tough YoY comps). We believe the group remains on track to achieve both its ongoing turnaround and longer-term targets, after raising fee earner productivity (+14% revs/head), employee engagement and EBIT/NFI margins to +4.2% (-0.5% LY). This has delivered an H1’23 adjusted PBT and diluted EPS of £0.9m (-£0.3m LY) & 2.0p (-0.8p) respectively.
Despite the economic conditions, we’ve held our conservative FY’23 and FY’24 PBT forecasts at £1.8m (£256k LY) and £4.25m respectively on NFI up 5.3% (£46.5m) and 8.9% (£50.6m), along with reiterating the valuation of 130p/share.
@ragingcow38. Having been burnt by tipsters early in my investing life, I decided to track ST's weekly 'buy' predictions from 7 Oct 2022 till 2 Dec 2022 (4 editions). This was to assess the validity of his claims being new to IC. I created a spreadsheet which would compare the original price at the time of tip with the current bid price. This amounted to 52 shares. As of today, the average % increase was 10.25% (inflation matching). The biggest riser was CMCX (CMC Markets) at 140%. The worst performer was CML (CML Microsystems) at -42%. I also created a virtual portfolio investing 2k in each. I would have been 10.6k up on a portfolio of 64k over this period. 33 out of 52 plays are in profit. Not bad and certainly would have paid for the subscription. Nobody can get it right all the time but I was quite impressed. This was only over a short window of time and whether another window would be as impressive remains to be seen. As ever, take the time to do your own research and back up with multiple signals. There is froth in the system when IC announces a 'buy' as PIs pile in so timing of the trade is essential. Good Luck. TT
Unwarranted IMO. Revenues growing. £21m cash. £25m market cap. So the company's value is 84% underpinned by cash?! No wonder this was in the 2023 bargain shares list.
going down today IMHO
A solid trading update from GATC with H1’23 LFL NFI growth of 5.1% to £22.7m and encouragingly cashflow was strong too.
Equity Development trims PBT forecasts but see a Fair Value of 130p/share vs 90p last close.
New research note is freely available here:
https://www.equitydevelopment.co.uk/research/strong-cashflow-coupled-with-solid-top-line-growth