Member Info for Dartron

The adjusted earnings per shares are taken before exceptional items, and during the year the company encountered 2.6M of exceptional items (note 27):
During the year, the Group incurred non-recurring costs totalling £2,610,000 (2020 - £1,377,000), which relates primarily to costs associated with the delay in relocating the warehouse of Delamode International Logistics Limited in Southampton.

So again shows that the basic earning per share is quite misleading as includes the exceptional items.

I prefer profit before tax as companies often try to maximise losses like amortisation, depreciation ect, to reduce tax bills.

Adjusted profit before tax of £9.1m, up 25% (2020: £7.2m) - Thats the one to use as a guidance IMO.
So you could say XPD share price is now 5x earnings...

The profit before tax was higher, but there was more tax paid than 2021, so that's part of it - the profit after tax was lower this year than 2021.
£1,877 vs £3,060

Next, part of that profit, was not attributable to the parent company. This is because there are minority owners in the subsidiary's (See table 15). For example 20% of Delamode Baltics UAB is not owned by the parent company.

I see some other comments about accounting from clearly mis-informed posters, I would ignore this. These accounts are audited and the revenue / profit fits entirely within the business model of low margin freight forwarding / warehousing.
If you were expecting something else, perhaps familiarise yourself with business model of the company -

For all businesses in 2022, it will be essential to manage inflationary costs resulting primarily from increased energy prices. To reiterate, as an asset light operator, Xpediator is in an advantageous position versus many as we source transport for freight forwarding as required from multiple external hauliers who carry the risk and collectively ensure the needs of the customers are met. Increased costs of transportation are largely borne by the haulier and customer such that we are relatively protected.

In other words, this is a low margin business, as these guys do not do the actual work.

Please correct me if I have any of this wrong.

Bought more today.

3M shares bought at or above ASK throughout the day on Friday from delayed trades (which have not been used in the the totals shown on this site). Another 1M was bought in 4 x 250k purchases between 10.30 and 11.30AM which printed and were not delayed.

01-Apr-22 15:04:38 44.0488 1,000,000 Unknown* 42.20 43.50 440.49k O
01-Apr-22 11:23:14 44.00 500,000 Unknown* 42.20 43.50 220.00k O
01-Apr-22 12:33:21 44.00 500,000 Unknown* 42.20 43.50 220.00k O
01-Apr-22 15:04:50 44.0488 1,090,005 Unknown* 42.20 43.50 480.13k O

Not delayed trades

2022-04-01T11:33:35.283 GBX 44 250000 110000 Off-Book AIMX P LRGS AIMX
2022-04-01T11:33:26.627 GBX 44 250000 110000 Off-Book AIMX P LRGS AIMX
2022-04-01T10:23:22.690 GBX 44 250000 110000 Off-Book AIMX P LRGS AIMX
2022-04-01T10:23:18.050 GBX 44 250000 110000 Off-Book AIMX P LRGS AIMX

I expect 1M above to be Fridays Buy back.

Meanwhile, the Algo bots are trying to present a different storey, closing on a day low of 42p for 65 shares!

2022-04-01T15:23:23.743 GBX 42.1 65 27.365 AT AIMX P ALGO

I have also been through the fundamentals of the company, but from an accounts perspective:
EV 167M,
Rev 81.8M,
Non Covid revenue roughly 56% (I stripped out all the manufacturing revenue)
Margin 48%
Ebit 26.5M
Cash 20M
Substantial 'hard assets' 16M
Ev/Ebit = 6.3 for 2021
Singer broker target 62p (from reading other site). Not sure what multiple that would give for 2022 ??

I think this is over sold currently, and am expecting some recovery. Maybe only a few pence, but would make current price the low entry point. - Thoughts?

Holders have a Youtube channel
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCQ1ACg0zs-Pxd20UB6Mnoag/featured
And are active on Twitter
https://twitter.com/HoldersTech

I bought more this afternoon, enjoyed the presentation.

This buy back should be concluded quite quickly, looking at the amount they buy each day. Maybe 2 more weeks.
They might extend it, if they feel the shares are around half price.

I bought yesterday. I think a few pence rise is more or less guaranteed - because it is over sold rather than the buy back.
This company has plenty of cash and plenty of work. That's good enough reason.

They are just bought on the exchange, exactly how you or I buy. 9M out of 464M wont make much difference. Many companies are buying back at the moment, Direct line, Hays, Shell.. It is a good move, but I don't think you will such short term difference.

These distributors are going to find it difficult to be profitable this year. Not sure this will recover. Interested to hear other peoples thoughts.

Balance sheet does not look great, Cash decreased by 14M last year, but they only have 10M left for this year.
In general Liabilities increased, current assets and non current decreased - slightly.
I am left wondering why various directors bought shares last month close to 40p, they must have known what was coming?

I bough in before the results, as a near Graham Net Net. When I investigated the company and looked into the lighting division, I was very excited, seems like an excellent growth business. The webinars on the company page regarding the lighting are well worth a watch.
I was surprised that is sold off to be honest, but also happy to buy more sub £1.00.
The trading update soon should really start the re-rate.
What makes you think there is a large seller here?

I got mine for 2.05p. While they might go a bit lower, I dont see them going much lower. I there are a few more TR1's soon, they might get gobbled up. I left room to buy some more, so covered either way. Cairn took 55.5M out of ~400M, so that is already 1/8 taken.

Interesting Cairn Capital Limited have announced that they have taken 5% of EOG.
I got some today too.

Its a push down, on a dreary day, to grab liquidity. This is worth £4 all day long.

Im back in @3.52

6M of liabilities, including at least 2m Debt. Remove 'good will' and there are no net assets.
Revenue might be around 6M but in 2019 on 7M they just broke even after 5M administration costs.
Unfortunately not a profitable business without current current head winds.
Renting out space in a shopping centre as a middle man, doesn't sound very profitable, or even exclusive.
Where is the investment moat here, what would you be buying if you bought the entire company that you couldn't do without buying the company? Slow decline here IMO.

You sound very impatient.

Since multiple directors bought recently, he may have been last to buy just out of courtesy to the others. (ending up with a higher price).

Devnull, as a long term holder here, anything under £1.10 is still a good buy, so dont be put off buying on next week. I picked my words carefully there, not trying to use valuations, but referring to share price buying opportunities within the last 12 months. The 200MA is still at 99p (though it is quite blurry now being Friday night).
I will buy more on the breakout, already bought a few in the recent low as you did. Im a little short in one account on 30% of the stock I normally hold for TXP. But Ill pay a few more pence as the opportunity's I have had elsewhere with the money have more than compensated. I dont think it is a short squeeze, not the way the stock hit the low it did today.

Although this doesn't sound great, I think this might not be anything to worry about...

Seems strange that the founder would resign his position as deputy chairman, but looking at his history Stephen has been involved with many companies - and still is. He has resigned from many for what ever reason. I believe he was CEO at one time. Reading the Investors chronical Feb 2021 Alpha report, it does speak of him (a chartered accountant) resigning as CEO for health reasons.

The key thing here is that he owns** +25% of the shares in XPD through an investment company called Cogels Investments limited. Reading the RNS, he will be appointing a replacement NED to the board. He basically still owns a huge controlling interest in the company, and has not sold any shares.

**Think the Alpha report may be out of date regarding size of holding, it looks like 56% to me.

Mark Whiting doesn't come up as holding a significant amount of shares, but it is interesting that both people have association with the same other companies - i.e. NED at smiths news. He also appears to have recently founded a non related business.

Could just be the a clean time to exit at the end of the tax year.

They could have explained it better, but hey ho. Results look great, business looks sturdy. Management team look very strong. In fact, I am building a position here at these low prices. I expect we would have seen heavy selling if there was an issue here, rather than resignations. Interesting the CEO who resigned (Rob Ross) has not updated his Linked in profile.

I hope we get a good update soon, with a new CEO appointed and director share buying. Results end of April, though trading update already released as upbeat.