The latest Investing Matters Podcast episode featuring Jeremy Skillington, CEO of Poolbeg Pharma has just been released. Listen here.
Who knows where the bottom will be if not the bottom hit already.
Gold on the other hand has likely hit its bottom. I think the sabotage of nord 1 and 2 is just catalyst for golds turn around. I think investors are just starting to realise the catastrophic effect of the sabotage that will now happen and pile in safe haven gold. Tough times coming multiplied by this sabotage. Which country did it is anyones guess as there as so many negatives for all countries that would have a motive. Let’s just hope this does not lead to nuclear war. Very scary times.
Fincapp’s target price is 180p
Arcontech’s compelling value opportunity
Operating profit beats forecasts by 8 per cent
Net cash up 12 per cent to £6mn (45p a share)
Annual dividend realised 18 per cent to 3.25p a share
Aim-traded financial software provider Arcontech (ARC:82p) beat house broker FinnCap’s operating profit forecasts by 8 per cent, albeit they had been downgraded last autumn after one customer decided to scale back its market data spend, and another decided not to renew its contract because it is switching to a solution in a legacy, bundled contract.
Adjusted operating profit of £0.87mn was still a fifth below the prior year result on 9 per cent lower revenue of £2.76mn, but the fact that the board lifted the dividend 18 per cent to 3.25p a share and issued an upbeat trading outlook is well worth noting. That’s because several years of inactivity during the Covid-19 pandemic (at many of the company’s clients and prospects) has created pent-up demand and a robust pipeline of contract opportunities.
Although conditions remain uncertain, as economies globally face well-documented challenges, Arcontech’s directors are “confident that some of the current interest will be converted to firm orders and start to build back the revenue lost during the pandemic”. Also, as rivals push through price increases, Arcontech is well-placed to capitalise by offering its expanding range of solutions at attractive prices.
So, although FinnCap conservatively pencils in current-year revenue of £2.65mn to factor in a full 12-month impact from last autumn’s contract losses, analysts at the brokerage “see substantial upside” to their forecasts and note that Arcontech’s operational leverage means that it could drive double-digit growth to operating profit estimates of £0.65mn. Furthermore, the company is a prodigious cash generator, delivering £0.97mn of free cash flow in the 2021-22 financial year, implying a free cash flow yield of 8.8 per cent, and boosting net cash to £6mn (45p a share), a sum equating to more than half its £11mn market capitalisation.
The bumper cash flow performance enabled the board to raise the payout per share by 18 per cent to 3.25p, declared from adjusted earnings per share (EPS) of 6.5p. On this basis, the shares are priced on a cash-adjusted PE ratio of six and offer a dividend yield of 3.9 per cent. FinnCap believes that the dividend could be hiked to 3.6p a share in the current financial year without making a dent in the cash pile. This is based on an ultra-conservative EPS estimate of 4.9p, implying the shares offer a prospective dividend yield of 4.4 per cent and are priced on a cash-adjusted forward PE ratio of 7.5.
Arcontech’s compelling value opportunity
Operating profit beats forecasts by 8 per cent
Net cash up 12 per cent to £6mn (45p a share)
Annual dividend realised 18 per cent to 3.25p a share
Aim-traded financial software provider Arcontech (ARC:82p) beat house broker FinnCap’s operating profit forecasts by 8 per cent, albeit they had been downgraded last autumn after one customer decided to scale back its market data spend, and another decided not to renew its contract because it is switching to a solution in a legacy, bundled contract.
Adjusted operating profit of £0.87mn was still a fifth below the prior year result on 9 per cent lower revenue of £2.76mn, but the fact that the board lifted the dividend 18 per cent to 3.25p a share and issued an upbeat trading outlook is well worth noting. That’s because several years of inactivity during the Covid-19 pandemic (at many of the company’s clients and prospects) has created pent-up demand and a robust pipeline of contract opportunities.
Although conditions remain uncertain, as economies globally face well-documented challenges, Arcontech’s directors are “confident that some of the current interest will be converted to firm orders and start to build back the revenue lost during the pandemic”. Also, as rivals push through price increases, Arcontech is well-placed to capitalise by offering its expanding range of solutions at attractive prices.
So, although FinnCap conservatively pencils in current-year revenue of £2.65mn to factor in a full 12-month impact from last autumn’s contract losses, analysts at the brokerage “see substantial upside” to their forecasts and note that Arcontech’s operational leverage means that it could drive double-digit growth to operating profit estimates of £0.65mn. Furthermore, the company is a prodigious cash generator, delivering £0.97mn of free cash flow in the 2021-22 financial year, implying a free cash flow yield of 8.8 per cent, and boosting net cash to £6mn (45p a share), a sum equating to more than half its £11mn market capitalisation.
The bumper cash flow performance enabled the board to raise the payout per share by 18 per cent to 3.25p, declared from adjusted earnings per share (EPS) of 6.5p. On this basis, the shares are priced on a cash-adjusted PE ratio of six and offer a dividend yield of 3.9 per cent. FinnCap believes that the dividend could be hiked to 3.6p a share in the current financial year without making a dent in the cash pile. This is based on an ultra-conservative EPS estimate of 4.9p, implying the shares offer a prospective dividend yield of 4.4 per cent and are priced on a cash-adjusted forward PE ratio of 7.5.
Good enough all miners are currently down. If you look at a chart for miners it shows them at a very low point and well below the 200ema which is likely to reverse some time and at least move back to the 200ema. Miners have been hit quite badly from shorters and has been on a downtrend for a few years cycle. Good chance this cycle will end soon and reverse. Come Xmas I’d expect to see a 30-50% rise. As for actual gold, it has held up quite well and looks to be at the bottom or not far of it. Gold chart has not tanked at all but gone sideways to consolidate. At the current levels it provides a good buying place and ofc it is staying within the cup and handle pattern which bodes very well for gold in the future. Probably not this year but I’d guess gold will take off next year which will then help the miners progress higher than the 30-50% I reckon will happen by Xmas.
Time will tell though.
That’s the thing with holding shares, it always takes longer that hoped to get a recovery. Everything always takes time. The key thing here is value. Covid, inflation and the loss of those two contracts have pushed the price down to silly evaluations which will in time correct itself. The dividend increase and the fact the company is still profit making suggests the sp will increase in time. Maybe not to previous highs for a while but high enough to make a profit for those buying at current level. A take over ofc is very possible. Investors just need to make sure they have a low average.
Actually it was pretty good considering the loss of those two large contracts. Much of the sales lost from them has been recovered and it is upbeat for the future despite a cautious outlook. The increase of 18% for the dividend is a good sign they see a strong recovery in time.
It has broken out of the downward channel and I can see a recovery in the sp to about 112p, where there is strong resistance and it would fill a gap created back on 29th of november last year. I see very little downside to the sp due to how cheap the stock is, which could very well make it a target for a takeover.
Market cap of just £10.5m is very low for a company that is profit making and has cash of over £6m. So really for another company to buy out ARC they would only be paying £4m.
True, and there will be some who then sell their warrants. But that does not take away the fact that when rkh receive the award they will have more cash than the market cap. Possible 9p could be the new bottom until the award is received and then it will rerate. Rkh are in a very good position and there will be several re rates to happen, but as always it takes time. This is a several year investment and sensible investors will load up while the sp is still low. You could try trading it but you just don’t know when the next re rate will come and could end up missing out in the long run.
This may be of interest, taken from the broker report -
In terms of the current value of the award, we have taken the base EUR190m award, added seven years of interest (assuming EURIBOR at 0.5% for simplicity), taken off the legal fees at 20% and then assumed tax of another 20%. This gets us a value of US$165m, or 20p/share.
Winning the court case is obviously a big deal for RKH. It will allow them to fund SL without future dilution. It will also mean they will have almost 3x more cash than the current market cap. But, this will not be shown in the sp until the cash is handed over. The award will likely be contested and dragged out a little longer but imo, they will get the money. Probably in 2-3 months, but no one knows for sure. I’m the mean time, the sp will probably fluctuate between 10/11p and 18/19p. Once the money is in the bank is will rerate or be bought out.
Everything seems to be slowly falling into place and the big win will come when the oil comes. Exciting times and worth holding for a few years as always, it all takes time.
It is hard to say where the share price will be in 6 months to a year. On the plus side, TW is cheap and offers a very good return at this price via the dividend.
On the negative side, spiralling costs of materials and also wages will hit the bottom line.
While there is a shortage of houses within the country, rising interest rates and a recession will bring the housing market down, as it has always done in the past.
While the results due out later today may be good, I fear there will a dampening of spirits with a cautious out look.
Happy to hold but I only have a very small holding here. If a recession hits as hard as some predict could this drop another 50%, or would there still be enough demand to shrug it off? One thing for sure is if this continues it’s decent it would become an absolute bargain.
Well there has been a lot of theory that gold would be volatile this year before a rise at the end of the year. Currently it has hit strong support. If this support breaks the next likely drop will be to around the next support level of 1677. My alert to buy hoc at 72p got triggered today.