Member Info for ftseexplorer

Whilst I am an optimist this share feels like a bit of a guilty pleasure as my economic hedge along with Barrick Gold.
Q3 update was a bit disappointing - but patience is the name of the game. Logic shows that the macro pressures will come to pass on the so called Zombie companies.
Having originally entered at £0.60 I've bought further tranches at £1.33, £1.12 and then yesterday at £0.98.
I just find all the extra issuing of shares quite frustrating and dilutive for LT holders....still the growing divi is not bad for such an acquisitive firm.

There's no doubting the potential BUT we appear to be 3 years and £80m capex away from commercial production. It just feels that the BOD, whilst enthusiastic, have bitten off more than they can chew with the Nickel acquisition on top.
It doesn't take an economist to see continued fund raises and massive dilution of share even before the 43% of extra shares that can be issued through warrants & options! This is going nowhere for the next couple of years....I will hold but won't be adding.

Come on guys, at least sound like you know what you are talking about. The US was closed yesterday and opens at 1430 today.

https://www.telcotitans.com/vodafonewatch/vodacom-eyeing-mpesas-biggest-money-transfer-yet/3081.article
This article indicates that M-Pesa, the payment system of Africa could be worth upwards of $10b should it be decided to monetise it.
M-peas is a joint venture between Vodacom(64% owned by VOD) and Safaricom (40% owned by VOD) which makes VODs share worth $5b+

My reaction was the same as yours Aqua.Firstly a near 25% increase in adj.pre tax profits is a great achievement. The response in muted, off the back of an edgy market (switch from growth to value/Russia & Ukraine).
The positives - £241m of adj.net funds (exc.leases) is fabulous versus £189m year end last year. However, assuming that the company continued the phenomenal repayment of debt as it did in the first half I would not be surprised if it has nearly cleared the majority of it £147m of borrowings during the course of the year. Add to this the stock build they have done, which lesser companies will struggle to do and should give a competitive advantage in the current chip shortage - the net current assets versus liabilities will look extremely healthy.
It's what the statement doesn't say that made me a tad nervous. So the sales growth of the first half +31% (currency weighted) seems to have slowed somewhat in the second half to finish the year +27%. First half pre tax profit was +59.4% and the year end is somewhere in the region of 21%.
The second half was always a tough comparative as I think we had about 1.5 months of Pivot/France BT business in 2020 numbers.
That leads me to think that we've had the best of the pandemic effect and it's back to the business as usual.
Having been a recipient of shares when the company floated in 1998 and a long term holder I still believe the company and its senior management is first class. Hopefully, they will continue to integrate and grow their US business and maybe it has given them an appetite to increase their global footprint. Sadly, the city doesn't give the company the premium rating seen of companies like Softcat - CCC are steady and consistent and I'd back it to win the long haul any day.
Now, to finish on a positive - the company is very cash generative and the EPS growth is terrific. Very roughly we may be looking at £1.63 per share which based on a 20x multiple (it should be 25!) gives a share price of £32.76 so it remains an accumulate for me. What can the company do with the cash they are generating? Obviously, they have a good history of returns to share holders but I hope that they continue to look for value accretive acquisitions to bolster footprint in ME, Asia.

For what it’s worth I think the Consumer division will go for £55b + £10b debt. When the shares were down at £12 last year I bought and valued the total sum of the parts at £110b and I stand by that. Shares worth c£21-22 on that basis. Fully expect both Pharma and OTC to be swallowed up by 2023.

Don't be shy Jefferies! c.50% upside!!?
JEFFERIES INITIATES COMPUTACENTER WITH 'BUY' - TARGET 4,100 PENCE

Mopped up another £10k yesterday sub £27 myself and playing with numbers based on possible profit outcomes I certainly thought mid-£30 is achievable on full year results, so I'd be happy with 20% return plus divi

I was a little surprised there wasn't a December trading update but this is good ??
Matthew Field: Computacenter
My 2021 punt on gaming services firm Keywords Studios only just clawed its way into the green, so I’m hopefully playing it safer this year. Long seen as a “slow and steady” City constituent, Computacenter, which supplies laptops and other IT kit, has been a big pandemic winner. Mike Norris, chief executive since 1994, has provided six profit guidance uplifts in the last two years. In November it secured a contract for 500,000 laptops for UK schools. With the omicron crisis and a renewed focus on working from home, Computacenter should continue to enjoy high demand.

Not according to the intraday chart - it bottomed at 2110.
I think its worth sitting this out, further to fall IMO in this increasingly volatile market.
Only possible short term reversals could be a quick off load of the battery bus. and a good price for the health bus.

I agree with the sentiment as I am one of those long term holders but partly have myself to blame for not seeing the mass commoditisation of telcoms and under-appreciating the cost of building global networks.
The only saving grace is over that timeframe I've largely had the lost capital back in dividends and if we are to believe that all the pain of the last 3 years will be worth it with 5G and IoT then I believe there will be a window of opportunity to sell at a profit before we start the whole darn thing again with 6G.

Sorry for the repeated post - LSE is not working so well for me right now. Sometimes it shows posts and others not and it is frightfully slow

I'd be most interested to read the assumptions made in the 5 year forecast if you can share the source please. It's hard enough to predict next week let alone that time frame.
I've held this company since floatation and seen it below £1 and now riding high. There's no doubting the stock has momentum which is what it will need to keep in my opinion, through acquisitions and global expansion, in order to retain the share price growth. The sales surge is helping but won't last forever.
I am interested in the conundrum that I see with Mike Norris who strikes me as a kingpin to the businesses vision and calculated strategy.....what will happen when he retires? He's already the longest serving CEO of any FTSE350 company so he must be thinking of hanging up his clogs at some point surely. Or has he a few more deals in him yet.......?

Chelwood,
If possible, please can you share the source of the 5 year city forecast? Always interested to read these - I've held since floatation and my portfolio is heavily biased to CCC so have seen it below £1 to the dizzying heights of today.
It does feel like there is a lot of momentum here but my worry is how long Mike Norris will be around to drive further growth - strikes me he is quite a kingpin of the Board and he must be thinking of hanging up his clogs at some stage.
Still if they can crack US then a global strategy beckons me thinks.....

For those that missed it Berenburg upped their target price to £36 - very nice too at c.25% over current levels.
I see that the November Public Sector order book looks healthy too with a new £70m order for laptops and around £15m of other orders too https://bidstats.uk/tenders/?q=computacenter

ClaireSmith, You are very vocal and I absolutely welcome all views. I hope you are right but for what it's worth I was giving a contrary view and a reason for the saying "once bitten twice shy".
Good luck with your position. I am still 18% in profit plus divis but will be waiting on the side lines before topping up.

I'll TRY and refrain from this becoming a rant.....but to qualify the Boards breakdown here - only in April they announced a deal to build a second factory in Finland for nickel cathode production AND announced a strategic review of their Health division.
The latter, highly profitable, but unspectacular growth. The former, huge investment with the promise of jam tomorrow.
The Board in their entirety signed off on this so for just the CEO to go is an indication that they've not gone to the root of the problem.
As a share holder in Bayer also, from whence the new CEO cometh - their statement last week indicated he left in something of a cloud as head of their underperforming crop division. This summary indicates he is a pharm man through and through https://gb.wallmine.com/otc/bayry/officer/2094236/liam-condon so potentially they've decided to stick with health but they will have to invest heavily to turn this into a future driver when they are up against the giants of Croda, DSM & DKSH!

I agree that the poor leadership is the biggest issue here. Putting rich heritage and science to one side, which no doubt JMAT has in volume, perhaps years ago when I was a bit more of a tempestuous investor with an appetite for risk, I would have dived in yesterday.
It's complete about turn and that lack of strategic vision is deeply troubling - for years they have been holding up the battery division as it's main future revenue driver. It doesn't take a highly paid CEO to know that new technology will become commoditised over time which begs the question if JMATs technology was unable to achieve economies of scale and compete, why it ever got past the drawing board.
This Board is in a complete state of flux and there is further fall out for sure.....

It's a massive about turn that's what it is. Previously they'd advised potential sale of the health ingredients business to focus on battery/hydrogen and now this. Liam Condon announced his resignation from the Crops Business at Bayer last week - does this mean they're keeping health?! This is going to lead to a carve up of JMAT IMO......

It's a massive about turn that's what it is. Previously they'd advised potential sale of the health ingredients business to focus on battery/hydrogen and now this. Liam Condon announced his resignation from the Crops Business at Bayer last week - does this mean they're keeping health?! This is going to lead to a carve up of JMAT IMO......

Today's statement is decidedly upbeat and it strikes me is a tonal shift up a gear, which I suspect relates to making a move for Channel 4 in the future. I note that the government delayed making a decision on selling the national asset but in my view it is only a matter of time before they do.