The latest Investing Matters Podcast episode featuring financial educator and author Jared Dillian has been released. Listen here.
Having just come out of Immo where a paucity of information was due to a subsequent PE/management buyout I wonder if its the same here? The TU was 1-2weeks later than usual and hilst anx's past TU have not been verbose they had a little more information
Also onboard, there is a lot to be said for companies where the directors are major holders.
I'm in. The H1's looked solid but the price dropped after, director buys since the fall. I like the growth story although organic growth does seem rather dependent up promoting enough Principles up to Partners. My main reservation is that for a business based on its staff the reviews in Glassdoor are not exactly the best for companies in the sector.
I assume that you saw this part as well-
‘ in principle agreement had been reached for a £250k injection of capital into the HBE business by a third party in return for 51% ownership of that business)’
Then further down -
‘It has therefore been decided, in consultation with the investor (a company in which Martin Higginson, and his family have a minority ownership interest), to alter the terms of the above mentioned investment of capital to become a loan'.
So Higginson was part of the group buying out the HBE for 250k, which suddenly, when it suited, was able to achieve sales of 800K in a day (which we were not informed of until yesterday).
£800k is impressive- had this been released to the market in a December update the share price would not have been hovering around 2p. It has all been too manipulated with the directors hiving of bits of the company which they then retain an interests in rather than looking after the broader interest of the shareholders, it does not inspire my confidence to continue to invest with them.
Lets Explores content came from Immotion so will they just licence it now?
Good luck to LTH's who have stuck with it.
I'm out now. I had hoped that we would have been back up to >6p by year end so not very happy with how it has panned out. I felt the company did a good job through the pandemic but I feel this deal is all about the directors and not the shareholders.
I did consider just reducing but essentially you are investing in a shell company with the CEO saying trust me to sort out a good deal on something, at some point; after today I not sure I would trust him to look after the shareholder interests rather than just his own.
There are plenty of other businesses to put money in where at least you know what you are investing in!
What is annoying is that if they had issued a trading update in December along with an upbeat commentary about HBE then the share price would have been around this level with the potential to rise quite a bit further throughout the year.
With an extension of the Merlin contract, China's opening, and the US and Europe proving more resilient for spending it is getting sold off on the cheap.
I am less keen, the LBE was my preferred part of the business.
If they (Bidco Rod?) which is was a vehicle set up for this last November -can raise £25m to buy out the LBE then there clearly was not, in contrast to what they say, any issue with raising money for expansion.
If the whole thing was being sold and all the money returned to shareholders I would be much happier rather than what seems to be a carve up between directors. Some of the retained monies looks to be being used to buy out share options. The rump of business may have £6M but has it got the potential that the entire business had, or will the reserves just whittle away into adin cost?
Who ever was in the know and has been buying shares around the 2-2.4p range will have done well but I am not that keen as a lon time holder.
This was fairly well covered in the Q&A's at todays agm.
The truth sits somewhere in the middle, they target money raised from share issuance at companies close to paying divi's , their augment being that they are a divi paying IT and this gives less dilution of reserves for existing holders, but they deny that they are then recycling these shares.
It is a fair point to question if they are purchasing at the best possible price by using this strategy(and so reducing capital gains), but then it is probably the price paid for offering such a relatively high yield.
I thought for a brief moment that 3I's results may get things moving but the (very) small rise here looks to be reversing.
It is interesting to note the change off tack of PIN from some buying of their own shares, to using the money to buy on the secondary market from distressed funds/trusts that are in danger of breaching their PE limits ( due to outflows and devaluations some funds have had to sell their listed equities and as a consequence increased their PE/listed equity ratio).
The share price is drifting back down to near where I first bought in Jan 2020. It's amazing that it has dropped to this level given the difference in position of the company from then to now. The expansion of facilities, a massive order book and cash through to profit either means that either it was vastly over priced then or is significantly under valued now, I am betting on the latter!
I find the delay in issuing their usual pre Christmas, without any reason given rather disrespectful to their investors.
A brief upbeat clip on Facebook does not suffice for a proper rns containing trading numbers.
I contacted the company last year with regards the issue of a broker note from Cenkos as their new advisor, they did not have the curtesy to even reply.
They really need to improve investor relations, I have stopped adding until there is more clarity as to how things are going.
BV, I think that as synthesises methods continue to improve Aptamers starts to offer a benefit over Affimers (at least in some situations). The success of the RNA vaccines will help drive the tech and precursors for synthetic synthesis of oligonucleotides. It is far easier to scale chemical synthesis compared to having to purify proteins from bacteria grown in bioreactors.
There are downsides of oligonuleotides, some are outlined on Avacta's website, but things move on and the chemistry of available nucleotide precursors is increasing.
However, one thing they will never be able to do with Aptamers is replicate situations where you need cell expression, for example in stem cells.
'In our view, this opportunity supports significant upside potential for Velocity Composites
shareholders and we maintain a BUY rating with our fair value increased to 68-101p (previously
55-101p)'
I think that it is an initial reaction to the low cash level, however these accounts are to October . There are clearly one or more funds building positions here, assumably for the long term, and they will limit any falls.
The company are giving a presentation later and I can see it bouncing after this.
Key points (I believe )-
'we expect some growth to come from non-aerospace sectors, in industries such as high performance automotive, alternative fuel solutions and large consumer products. Global defence spending is also expected to increase significantly in the next few years, and we believe this will generate further growth and opportunities.'
Further details-
2022 dividend cover of 3.2x
• 2022 generation 5% below budget reflecting low wind in H2
• High power prices in 2022 + forward curve remains high over 2023-2026
• Clarity in relation to Electricity Generator Levy:
o 45% of annual average power revenue above index linked £75/MWh
o CFDs excluded
o £10m annual allowance
• 12.1p increase in NAV per share over Q4:
o +20p from updated power price assumptions
o -8p reflecting Electricity Generator Levy
• 8.0% blended portfolio discount rate (unlevered):
o 10% equivalent levered discount rate
o 9% net return to investors
o inflation linked
• 13.4% increase in target dividend to 8.76p for 2023, in line with Dec RPI
• Aggregate Group Debt of £1,780m (31% of GAV), comprising £900m term debt +
£200m drawn RCF + £680m share of Hornsea 1 debt
• £161m cash + £400m available under RCF (£600m facility
What is nice is that the new nav takes into account , updated interest rates, corporation tax, discount rates energy price curves and the new energy tax, so essentially most of the variables that were over hanging the valuation. The only potential issue now will be any changes to marginal pricing and how hard the wind blows!
Hopefully it will now return to a premium which will see a nice increase even from the current price (160)