Member Info for rivaldo

Https://www.fool.co.uk/2026/01/07/record-sales-and-a-low-p-e-ratio-make-shares-in-this-uk-growth-company-hard-to-ignore/

"Record sales and a low P/E ratio make shares in this UK growth company hard to ignore

Stephen Wright thinks a combination of revenue growth and durable demand makes Renew Holdings one of the best UK shares to consider buying right now.

Published 7 January, 5:26 pm GMT

I suspect a lot of UK investors aren’t really looking at shares in Renew Holdings (LSE:RNWH) right now. But they should – the firm is generating record revenues and the stock looks cheap.

Furthermore, it operates in one of the most defensive industries around. So with the share price 10% off its highs, is now the chance for investors to think about snapping up the stock?

A defensive business

Renew provides maintenance for UK water, rail, and energy infrastructure. This involves things like repairing tunnels, fixing burst pipes, and upgrading power lines.

Demand for this kind of work is pretty regular – in fact, it’s mandated by regulation. As a result, it doesn’t really fall away in a recession or depend on expansion projects.

Barriers to entry are also high. Things like rail and water maintenance require specialist certification and firms have little incentive to move from trusted partners like Renew.

All of this means that demand is likely to be strong in future. Changes in regulation might affect what’s required, but the need to maintain infrastructure isn’t likely to go away.

Growth strategy

Interestingly, a stable business doesn’t really come at the cost of growth. Revenues have roughly doubled over the last 10 years and earnings per share are up 264%.

A significant part of this has been the result of acquisitions. By buying other businesses, Renew has developed a presence in various infrastructure markets.

The usual risk with this type of strategy is that there’s an inherent danger of overpaying. But this is something Renew has managed very well.

Focusing on targets that immediately contribute to earnings means the threat of future impairments is limited. And this is reflected in a very strong balance sheet.

Risks and opportunities

Renew’s recent acquisitions have focused on establishing a presence in the renewable energy industry – specifically, servicing wind turbines. This, however, comes with a degree of risk.

The outlook for wind energy depends heavily on the UK’s shift towards renewables in general. But high energy bills mean investors probably can’t rule out a change of direction.

The threat is real, but it’s worth noting that servicing revenues don’t depend on growth in the industry. As long as existing capacity is maintained, demand should stay reasonably strong.

In terms of the firm as a whole, revenues are at record levels and the order book looks very strong. Given this, I think the outlook is very positive for the business....

etc"

It was encouraging to see the share price continue to rise in early January without any buybacks reported at all.

Today and yesterday have seen some serious buying back, with 600,000 shares in total making 2.33m in all to date. Hopefully this reflects confidence for the forthcoming trading update....

Https://uk.advfn.com/stock-market/london/venture-life-VLG/share-news/Venture-Life-Group-PLC-Transaction-in-Own-Shares/97575297

Canaccord have just issued a list of their 16 key stock picks for 2026. IOF is one of them.

They have a 45p target price, with forecasts as before of 3.5c EPS for last year and 3.9c EPS or 2.9p this year.

I'll just post the conclusion for the moment:

"Valuation & recommendation

We base our price target primarily on multiples, buttressed by a NAV-based sum-of-parts. We note that iodine markets remain under-supplied, and we believe industry bellwether SQM (Not Rated) has an operating and capital cost higher than Iofina.

At our 45p target price, the stock would trade at 11x/8x 2025/26E EV/EBITDA, which we regard as undemanding given both expected growth and the potential for that to accelerate further."

HNY to all here. I just came across my notes from Mello in late November which I haven't posted.

Richard Stavely from the highly successful Rockwood Holdings briefly summarised some of their portfolio.

CAPD is now their 6th largest holding. Richard stated (I haven't checked these figures precisely!):

- CAPD are trading only at book value

- they've won "master contracts" for mines for the next 40-50 years

- the Lab services arm itself is now worth 100m (he didn't say pounds or dollars)

- the net book value alone of the rigs and other equipment alone is $210m

HNY to all here.

I just came across my notes from Mello in late November which I haven't posted before, and FYI Lord John Lee in his presentation commented that VLG was a "significant holding" for him. He also noted that Slater (with a 28% holding) was "very optimistic".

Hopefully BBSN will be one of SCSW's tips for 2026 in their new issue this weekend. In the meantime, last month's issue had this to say FYI:

Https://www.scsw.co.uk/issues/december-2025/brave-bison-cheeky-offer-for-saatchi-s-performance-arm/

"Brave Bison - Cheeky offer for Saatchi’s Performance arm

December 2025

Epic Code: BBSN Price: 79.5p

Brave Bison pulled off a very clever number this month, putting a £50m offer on the table for M+C Saatchi’s (SAA; 125p) Performance business. With net debt set to vanish just after the year-end (FY25E net debt/EBITDA: 0.6x), the Greens are clearly on the hunt. Sure enough the offer was dismissed as lowball, but not before generating a storm of free publicity - and giving Brave Bison the perfect platform to declare they “reserve the right to poach staff.” So, if any Saatchi team members are feeling restless... It even makes me wonder: was this guerrilla marketing masterminded by BBSN’s new marketing guru, Mark Ritson?

New broker Singer has initiated coverage, forecasting EPS of 6.1p for the year ending this month (December), rising to 6.9p next year - even before any further EPS-accretive deals. They’ve set a 12-month share price target of 155p. Buy."

HNY to all here.

Good to see buyers this morning paying the full 2.3p offer price.

I assume the next formal news will be the AGM statement late next month, other than any more contract wins. Hopefully iIncluding the long awaited start of the well flagged major UK defence contract.

Moving up this morning - perhaps the seller(s) are out?!

This from Greenwood Capital (excluding the detail of the latest contract win):

"As a result, we would expect GMS’s contracted backlog to rise beyond the US$607m most recently announced – thereby exceeding 3x annual revenues and continuing to provide excellent top-line visibility, in our opinion. With shareholder returns remaining firmly on the agenda from this year, we confidently maintain our 29p/share price target – also highlighting the c.30% discount to tangible book value at GMS’s prevailing share price.

As discussed in our note entitled Substantial capital allocation flexibility (18 December 2025), we believe that such a discount is unwarranted – given the double-digit returns on equity which GMS is now achieving and the valuation multiples commanded by listed peers in Oslo and New York.

Noting the healthy free cash flow that we are forecasting, we remain very optimistic that the commencement of shareholder returns in FY26F can provide a powerful re-rating catalyst – and reduce the obvious valuation gap versus global drilling contractor and offshore support vessel (OSV) peers."

Good to see the usually successful small cap investors David and Monique Newlands continuing to buy.

They now own 10.15%, or 19.47m shares (up from 9.1%):

Https://uk.advfn.com/stock-market/london/iofina-IOF/share-news/Iofina-PLC-Holdings-in-Company/97556119

Zeus retain their 32p price target, plus forecasts of 3.3c EPS for last year and 3.9c EPS for this year.

They summarise:

"Further contract extension

GMS has announced another contract extension in the Middle East, further augmenting the company’s substantial order book.

 Another new contract continues to underpin revenue visibility. GMS has announced another new contract, as part of a recent string of new awards. This one is a two-year extension (one year firm, one year option) to an existing contract on one of the company’s mid-size S-class vessels operating in the Middle East.

The company gave an updated order book number of US$607m last week, and today’s contract will further add to this. GMS’s order book continues to represent very substantial revenue visibility for the company, currently well over 3x our 2025 revenue forecast, supporting forward cash flows.

 Going forward we continue to look for new contracts and delivery of revenues, and, as deleveraging continues, commencement of shareholder returns in 2026"

Yet more terrific news!

GMS looks extremely cheap now, with turnover and profitability for 2026 surely nailed on already.

Good news, starting 2026 with an acquisition for a maximum £0.47m on a multiple of only 4 times EBITDA:

Https://uk.advfn.com/stock-market/london/croma-security-solutions-CSSG/share-news/Croma-Security-Solutions-Group-PLC-Acquisition/97546877

This is already a business specialising in CCTV, electronic security and access etc, so should be integrated easily and "creates natural operational synergies" which should increase profitability.

Hopefully this signals a faster pace of acquisitions with more to come from the large cash pile - today's RNS notes that CSSG have now received a further £0.43m cash from the sale of Vigilant.

I assume CSSG now have around £4.5m net cash, plus the previously flagged £3m+ of properties and the additional £0.2m freehold property acquired today.

Reuters report today that Lidl had a very good Christmas, with Xmas sales up 10% and the nearly 51 million customers that came through its doors up 8% year-on-year:

Https://www.reuters.com/world/uk/retailer-lidl-gb-reports-10-rise-christmas-sales-2026-01-02/

"Lidl GB has been Britain's fastest growing bricks-and-mortar supermarket for more than two years, boosted by new stores. It opened its 1,000th shop in November.

Lidl GB chief executive Ryan McDonnell said the group had a record-breaking Christmas after it expanded to reach more customers nationwide."

The Guardian today reports a surge in offshore wind project approvals:

Https://www.theguardian.com/business/2025/dec/30/renewable-energy-projects-battery-storage-wind-solar-2025-data

"A record number of renewable energy projects were given the go-ahead in Great Britain in 2025, after planning approvals almost doubled year on year, according to an analysis."

"Planning approvals for offshore wind developments jumped more than sevenfold to 9.9GW from 1.3GW last year."

Another research update issued by Greenwood Capital, who retain their 29p price target and forecasts of 3.7c EPS rising to 4.4c EPS:

"Gulf Marine Services

Contract extension

Hot on the heels of recent updates relating to new contract awards, leading self-elevating support vessel (SESV) operator Gulf Marine Services has announced a contract extension covering one of its S-Class (medium) vessels. This contract extension relates to a vessel operating in the GCC region and spans a total of two years (comprising one firm year plus a one-year option).

As a result, GMS’s contracted backlog rises to US$607m, equivalent to approximately 3x annual revenues – we therefore continue to highlight excellent revenue visibility.

With shareholder returns remaining firmly on the agenda from next year, we confidently maintain our 29p/share price target – also highlighting the c.30% discount to tangible book value at GMS’s prevailing share price."

On relatively small volumes, which hopefully suggests there's not much stock around and any sellers are finished.

Zeus Capital have again updated today, reiterating their 32p target price.

Brief extracts:

"This is a further material recent contract win for GMS, meaning order book is now well over 3x our forecast 2025 revenues. This provides substantial visibility for the business for the coming years, continuing to support cash generation from the fleet.

Going forward we continue to look for new contracts and delivery of revenues, and, as deleveraging continues, commencement of shareholder returns in 2026."

"Global upstream underinvestment in the late 2010's/early 2020's continues to reverse, including key GMS clients ADNOC, Saudi Aramco and Qatar Energy pursuing new activity programmes. The Middle East, with its favourable geology, shallow water and extensive oil services availability is very competitive as a global oil and gas province, making it a focus for increased upstream spending, even at more moderate oil prices.

This is all contributing to an ongoing relatively tight market for GMS's liftboats, with utilisation (88% in Q1-Q3 2025, from 92% in 2024 and 94% in 2023) and day rates (US$36.0k/day in Q1-Q3 2025, from US$33.1k/day in 2024 and US$30.3k/day in 2023) continuing to support revenues overall.

We forecast this to drive ongoing increases in GMS EBITDA (US$87.5m reported for 2023, US$100.4m for 2024, and US$101-109m then guided for 2025 and US$105-115m targeted for 2026), helping continue to pay down debt and drive a transfer of value from debt to equity (underpinned by the asset value of GMS's fleet). The company is also now looking to begin returning value to shareholders by establishing dividends and/or buybacks in due course, alongside potentially adding further vessels.

In anticipation of more new contract wins, potential further guidance upgrades, and periodic financial results to highlight all this to the market, we have a positive outlook for the shares and value them at 32p."

Peel Hunt have reiterated their Buy and 1300p price target:

Https://www.sharecast.com/uk_shares/broker_views

Despite prior delays in Rail spending, which appear to be slowly turning round for the better, RNWH have continued to perform well and had a very bullish outlook in their recent prelims.

Given that their specialisms coincide very nicely with government promises to sectors which have been allocated the biggest spending like electrification, nuclear, 5G, water, roads etc, RNWH should be in an excellent position to thrive for many years to come.

Continuing to rise, and now up another 2.5p. Buying coming in this morning is keen as there was buying at above the published offer price (at 90p when the screen offer price was 89p).

SDI remains very good value however imo in general, historically and especially against peers, based on forecasts as posted below.

Yet another contract win - this is getting ridiculous!

The order backlog has rocketed to $607m now from $457.5m at 30th September......

Https://uk.advfn.com/stock-market/london/gulf-marine-services-GMS/share-news/Gulf-Marine-Services-PLC-Contract/97523815