shares mag7 Nov 2016 13:52
http://www.sharesmagazine.co.uk/news/shares/can-redcentric-survive-accounting-shocker
'The company does not appear to be in any fundamental danger given the higher and more accurate net debt of £30m is still only just over one-times full year EBITDA,' says Philip Carse, analyst at IT analysis boutique Megabuyte.
He comments: 'While new business sales in the last six months have been in line with management expectations, the accounting adjustments arising from the review are expected to lead to a write down in historic profits and the restatement of audited accounts for prior periods and the likely reduction of net assets by £10m.'
'The incident has clearly rattled investors,' says Martin Courtney, analyst at IT analysis website TechMarketView. 'But we think a greater risk could be presented by any subsequent loss of confidence among Redcentric customers which adversely affects future sales.'
This is important for a managed services business. Around 85% of Redcentric’s turnover is recurring revenue from managed network, security, cloud and collaboration infrastructure services.
The impact of the accounting problems will take time to filter through as customers come to renew, or not, those contracts.
So here's the real question for investors. Given the enormous stock sell-off that has slashed Redcentric's market value from £218m to less than £70m, is there a risky bargain to be had?
With forecasts withdrawn by analysts at N+1 Singer, Numis and FinnCap, there is precious little reliable data on which to make a call.