Member Info for rivaldo

Now we know why the price fell yesterday - the two founders of Webselenese have each sold around 48% of their shareholdings acquired when Webselenese was bought by KAPE. It's been around a year since acquisition, so an understandable timeframe. Never desirable to see such large sales, but not really a surprise and at least they've retained half their holdings.

A long-term contract win with a new client for eCommerce, on-site ticketing and mobile food & beverage technologies.....

Https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/accesso-kicks-off-multifaceted-partnership-with-pyek-group-powering-four-north-american-waterparks-301506187.html

"accesso® Kicks Off Multifaceted Partnership with Pyek Group, Powering Four North American Waterparks
Mar 21, 2022, 08:00 ET

International Solutions Provider Delivers Portfolio-Wide Support with eCommerce, Ticketing and Mobile F&B Solutions

ORLANDO, Fla., March 21, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- accesso Technology Group plc (AIM: ACSO), the premier technology solutions provider for attractions and venues worldwide, has signed a three-year agreement with Houston-based Pyek Group to serve as the dedicated provider of eCommerce, on-site ticketing and mobile food & beverage (F&B) technologies for the management group's four North American waterparks: Typhoon Texas Austin in Pflugerville; Typhoon Texas Houston in Katy; Cowabunga Canyon (formerly Wet 'n' Wild Las Vegas) in Spring Valley, Nevada; and, Cowabunga Bay Las Vegas in Henderson, Nevada. Through this partnership, accesso solutions are actively supporting 160 salespoints across the four Pyek Group properties.

Consistently ranked among the United States' most-attended waterparks, Typhoon Texas Austin and Typhoon Texas Houston boast awards from the World Waterpark Association for excellence in safety and operations.....

Pyek Group has also implemented accesso solutions at two Nevada waterparks – Cowabunga Canyon and Cowabunga Bay Las Vegas – which the management group owns and manages through a merger completed in November 2021.....

Together, Pyek Group and accesso are streamlining and enhancing the guest experience at all four waterpark venues with the introduction of three distinct solutions:

With support of the fully hosted accesso Passport® eCommerce ticketing suite, Pyek Group is empowered to deliver an easy-to-use eCommerce experience for guests of its North America waterparks, conveniently available via desktop, tablet or mobile device. Pre-trip planning is a seamless experience for guests, with Pyek Group's ability to deliver personalized up-sell, cross-sell and quick-sell opportunities across its online storefront – from beverage packages to parking passes, cabana rentals and more.
To support on-site transactions, Pyek Group is leveraging the accesso SiriuswareSM point-of-sale ticketing solution, which provides operators with a complete view of their guests' purchasing behavior all on one platform.
With accesso's guest experience management platform, Pyek Group has enabled mobile F&B functionality across its waterpark properties, providing guests access to mobile ordering and restaurant arrival time booking functionality. The solution gives guests the power to curate the dining experience they desire, with easy access to dining information and menu specifics that they can explore at their own pace....

Very good results and commentary from sector comparator MPE this morning.

Interesting commentary about local problems in supply/production in Malaysia - and particularly that they like DKL had "lower crops in the early part of the year", 10% down on last year, and they expect "the long-term trend of increasing crop to reassert itself as the year progresses":

Https://www.investegate.co.uk/m.-p.-evans-group--mpe-/rns/final-results/202203220700035119F/

"As reported above, CPO prices were on a largely upward trend in 2021, and cif Rotterdam prices averaged US$1,195 per tonne for the year, whilst the Group's average mill-gate prices for its sales were US$810 per tonne. The market has strengthened further in early 2022, with cif Rotterdam prices recently reaching historic highs of over US$1,900 per tonne, partly in response to the distressing events in Ukraine and the consequent pressure on global vegetable oil supplies. During the first two months of the year, the Group's average tender price when selling its CPO has been approximately US$1,050 per tonne."

"The board remains firmly of the view that sustainable palm oil, as a high yielding and low-cost product, will continue to offer attractive returns"

"Elsewhere, analysts at Shore Capital – which also rate Accesso as ‘buy’ - said they’ve been pleased with the quick recovery and the upgrades.

“We continue to believe that Accesso has a compelling proposition in line with industry digital / consumer trends and is well placed for future sustainable growth.”

Accesso, in this morning’s statement, pointed to a positive start to 2022.

Investors were told trading volumes for January and February had been "encouraging".

For example, accessoPassport ticket business for North America was double that of 2019 as a result of the new customers brought on board over the past two years.

“Whilst we remain cognisant of the relatively early stage in the year, the impact of tiered pricing at higher volumes and revised terms related to enterprise renewals, we are cautiously optimistic about another year of good progress,” the company highlighted."

Peel Hunt have a 1300p target price in new research out today (to which the upside is some 60%, not the 37% quoted!):

Https://www.proactiveinvestors.co.uk/companies/news/977473/accesso-investors-thrilled-as-outstanding-performance-impresses-city-analysts-977473.html

"Accesso investors thrilled as ‘outstanding’ performance impresses City analysts

Accesso is highly undervalued, according to stockbroker Peel Hunt, which calls it a huge Covid-19 exit play.

Having white-knuckled through Covid lockdowns investors in Accesso Technology Group PLC (AIM:ACSO, OTC:LOQPF) are again seeing the AIM-quoted stock as something of a thrill-ride, as parks reopened though 2021.

Accesso was boosted on Tuesday by upbeat set of financial results which, in the words of chief executive Steve Brown, saw a "simply outstanding" performance for the theme park ticketing and virtual queuing services firm.

The shares advanced around 7%, trading at 822p, after the company revealed 123% revenue growth to US$124.80 in 2021, driving a 346% increase in earnings (EBITDA) to US$28.1mln.

“We delivered record revenue and record profit during another challenging year in our end markets as they continued to recover at varying levels through the year,” said CEO Brown.

Key to the performance has been the appetite of theme park operators to make efficiency gains, reduce labour costs and optimise digital revenue streams – all in the wake of the reopening of parks following the Covid-impacted 2020.

“In the near term, we'll invest squarely behind this increased level of demand to secure the long-term, repeatable revenue during the crucial adoption phase,” Brown added.

“We will also see a welcome return to more normal operations and full staffing levels which will support the growing demand for our solutions and allow for continued innovation."

Analysts at Peel Hunt, meanwhile, reckon Accesso will now deliver another cash generative year, despite expected higher costs in 2022.

“We expect to upgrade revenue for 2022 by 3%, driven mainly by the faster than expected recovery in lower-margin distribution seen in 2021,” Peel Hunt analyst James Lockyer said in a note.

The analyst also expects to upgrade his expectations for cash earnings by some 17% for 2022 and 22% for next year.

“Given this strong outperformance and upgrade we reiterate our ‘buy’ recommendation and 1,300p price target. Today’s share price implies Accesso is trading on a 2x FY2023 EV/Sales and 15x FY2023 EV/cash earnings on our new numbers.

“This shows Accesso as highly undervalued given its operational leverage, a play on the offline to online shift, and a huge Covid-19 exit play.”

With a 1,300p price target, Peel Hunt sees some 37% upside to the current share price."

Continung to rise nicely today. Meanwhile, I note the Government's comitment this month to provide an extra £260m for life sciences manufacturing - indicative of the general upward trend for the sector and therefore SDI:

Https://www.med-technews.com/news/medtech-merger-acquisition-finance-and-investment-news/uk-government-to-provide-260m-for-life-sciences-manufacturi/

Extract:

"The funding for manufacturing investments will be distributed through the new Life Sciences Innovative Manufacturing Fund (LSIMF), which has been launched to grow the UK’s life sciences sector.

It follows the Medicines and Diagnostics Manufacturing Transformation Fund (MDMTF) which was launched to strengthen the UK’s medicines and diagnostics manufacturing industry by encouraging companies to use new technologies, and to build or expand facilities throughout the country.

Companies awarded funding through the MDMTF included Ortho Clinicals Diagnostics UK, which is expanding its biological diagnostic product lines, at its Pencoed, Wales site, Custom Pharmaceuticals, which will build a new facility in Brighton and Randox Laboratories, which will build a new large-scale manufacturing facility in Northern Ireland."

News from last week of another large new production facility which I'd never even heard of before:

Https://www-bbc-co-uk.cdn.ampproject.org/c/s/www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-berkshire-60720947.amp

"Winnersh Film Studios: Approved plan to bring up to 1,000 new jobs
13 March 2022"

Extract:

"The site includes two sound stage buildings and four workshops at one part of the site at the Winnersh Triangle Business Park and four workshops at another.

About 250 direct and 250 indirect jobs will be created at the studios in the short-term. The same number will be expected to be created by the studios in the long-term, Stage Fifty said.

The company also owns Farnborough Film Studios in Hampshire."

Cheers StayLong - certainly looking good approaching the year end and the run-up to April's trading update.

"Valuation appeals

Our model generates an FY’22e FCF yield of 6% at current valuation, rising to 8% in FY’23e; this compares to AVST’s exit FCF yield of 5% and NLOK’s current yield of 5% using cons FCF. Kape’s subscriber base has reached critical scale and an increasing proportion of customers are taking >1 software product, both of which play favourably towards higher stickiness in the base (Yr1 customers most likely to churn) and are driving further improvement in attractive LTV:CAC metrics (>4x we estimate). Combined with a favourable market backdrop (Privacy market CAGR: +17%; Source: Ommax), strong execution to date, further M&A optionality and attractive SaaS metrics, we see a higher multiple as warranted. A 5% FY’22e FCF yield generates a 500p/share TP."

Here's Singer Capital Markets' research note summary page FYI - part one:

"FY'21: Top-line growth; FCF doubles

Kape’s FY’21 finals confirm the strong underlying operational momentum flagged in the January trading update. Revenues grew +89% y/y to $231m (Proforma: +21%), with underlying adj EBITDA increasing +100% y/y to $78m (reported: $86m). Margins expanded 190bps y/y to 33.8% as operational scalability offset the near-term margin dilutive impact of the ExpressVPN acquisition. FCF grew >2x y/y to $34m – we see scope for this to ~4x in FY’22e, boosted by the inclusion of ExpressVPN renewals in that period.

The outlook looks positive, with management noting Kape has traded strongly into Q1 – as such, management have reiterated FY’22e guidance for revenues of $610m-$624m (SCMe: $620m) and adj EBITDA of $166m-$172m ($172m). The Group enters 2022 as a market-leader in the Digital Privacy space and with a scaled subscriber base of 6.6m– the twin demand drivers of increasing digital privacy and security awareness represent an attractive backdrop. Forecast organic revenue CAGR of 10-15% forecast and strong operational gearing generate a projected FY’22e FCF yield of 6% - current valuation represents an attractive entry-point.

Strong FY’21 confirmed

FY’21 sales increased +89% y/y to $231m, driven by strong underlying sales momentum and the acquisitions of ExpressVPN and Webselenese. The Group continues to invest in customer acquisition, and this has seen the Group’s subscriber base grow +20% y/y organic (+14% y/y in Digital Privacy) prior to inclusion of ExpressVPN. We note underlying Digital Privacy revenue growth moderated to ~10% y/y (ex ExpressVPN), yet this was offset by strong performance from Intego endpoint security (+20%) and stand-out proforma growth in the Digital Content segment (+53% y/y).

Forecasts unchanged; FY’24e introduced

Management have reiterated guidance for FY’22e revenues of $610m-$624m (SCMe: $619m) and adj EBITDA of $166m-$172m (SCMe: $171m). We leave near-term forecasts broadly unchanged (~1%), although we introduce FY’24e numbers targeting organic top-line growth of 7% y/y and adj EBITDA margin expansion of 80bps y/y to 29% as accelerated customer acquisition spend steadies. FY’24e FCF margin is 25%, with uplift restricted to just 1pp y/y as a function of higher corp taxes included in that year. We see a sustainable FCF margin of >30% in the long-term, in-line with peers."

Shore Capital this morning have forecasts of 40.6c EPS this year and 46.5c EPS next year.

Even cheaper!

Singer Capital Markets this morning have last year's adjusted EPS increasing 121% to 29.8c.

This year they now forecast 39.2c EPS - up another 32% after the ExpressVPN acquisition - with 44.6c EPS for next year.

They say Buy with a 500p target, which still sems pretty conservative imho.

and buying coming in at 99p this morning.

Indeed Hypermarlin. Congrats to MWE's management for acting so decisively and disposing of the Russian operations so quickly. If only others acted similarly (my personal bugbear are the French - Total, Danone, Renault etc are all operating almost normally over there, with French government backing too):

Https://uk.advfn.com/stock-market/london/mti-wireless-edge-MWE/share-news/MTI-Wireless-Edge-Limited-Sale-of-Russian-Business/87615414

Another 125,000 shares bought back at 152.5p:

Https://uk.advfn.com/stock-market/london/zytronic-ZYT/share-news/Zytronic-PLC-Purchase-of-Own-Shares/87615537

Hard to believe given ZYT's prospects, microcap size and illiquidity that there are still such large sellers left. There can't be many more after the 100k bought back on Friday too.

Terrific results, even slightly ahead of the already hugely increased forecasts for revenue and EBITDA.

The outlook for this year is bullish, with early trading very strong.

Guidance is aligned nicely with forecasts post-acquisition for ExpressVPN, i.e around 41c EPS.

Which puts KAPE on an extremely low multiple for its sector. Lots of upside here imho:

Https://uk.advfn.com/stock-market/london/kape-technologies-KAPE/share-news/Kape-Technologies-PLC-Final-Results/87615556

Wow. Fantastic results today - this in a year heavily impacted by Covid!

Covid and the increased need for ecommerce/mobile ticketing and social distancing have made this a perfect environment for ACSO's services, which are expanding to now include food and beverage for example.

Hugely cash-generative too. ACSO now have around a £50m cash pile - approaching 20% of the m/cap.

And a very bullish outlook as global economies open up - this year's figures could show even better progress:

"accesso has made a strong start to the 2022 financial year, with trading volumes in January and February providing an encouraging basis for this year's performance. In North America, our accesso Passport ticket volumes were double what we saw in the first two months 2019. This robust performance continues to be supported by the removal of COVID-19 restrictions across the world as well as the benefit from a significant number of customers onboarded during the past 2 years and increasing customer appetite for a leading-edge eCommerce solution."

I love this paragraph, which shows the fundamental shift in ACSO's operating environment:

"The significantly higher utilisation of our solutions by both venue operators and their visitors is a clear indication that the relationship with technology in our end markets has undergone a fundamental change. Bearing in mind, a significant portion of our revenue is transaction based and we are confident this new level of engagement with our technologies is here to stay. Many guests who before purchased tickets at the front entry or food at the restaurant counter are now mobile users. Guests that previously utilised our virtual queuing solution via a wearable device are now doing so via their smartphone. Operators have seen our technology transform the quality of their experience, deliver greatly enhanced revenues, and lower their operating costs. They are never going back."

https://uk.advfn.com/stock-market/london/accesso-technology-ACSO/share-news/Accesso-Technology-Group-PLC-Preliminary-Results/87615545

"For this year ending December 2022, Cenkos forecasts £3.7m pretax profit with £5m next year. This allows for a larger PLC central cost base as well as higher director emoluments, which temporarily drives deleverage of EBITDA margin. But I feel that profit is not necessarily the correct measure of progress at ADF because of this high depreciation charge on the equipment, running at c. 10% of sales, which disguises the large and stable cash generation. Instead, EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation) is a better measure. Cenkos is forecasting EBITDA to run as high as £7m or 9.2p a share this year and £9.5m or 12.5p a share next year. This implies that the shares are trading at 6.8 times cash earnings and 5 times cash earnings one year out.

Very likely to buy rival On-Set

Visibility of work is clearly very good. For the current year, ADF has issued £20m of quotes for new business. Of these, £10m are now firm bookings as filming is going ahead and a further £5m is likely to occur as they are repeat bookings. In other words, given brokers are expecting sales of £29.2m this year, ADF has 52% of the forecast “in the bag.” But if the historical run rate of 80% contract extensions continues, visibility is 90%.

At the same time, further sizzle is added to the story because Proctor is on the lookout for acquisitions, with the acquisition of a small trailer business in Scotland being considered. But I suspect it will buy rival On-Set, which has a high quality fleet and similar employment contracts. This would add 250 vehicles and if it happens, I expect the price to take off. Alternatively, given its strength in logistics, it could easily make bolt on acquisitions of businesses involved in transportation of props, lighting, storage, catering as well as expanding into Europe. I am a buyer."

The new issue of SCSW is now out, so it should be OK to copy some extracts from the prior issue, which had ADF as its main tip:

Https://www.scsw.co.uk/article.php?id=9267

"The average age of the fleet is only 2.5 years. Such a comprehensive and high quality fleet means that ADF has become the supplier of choice for large scale and quality productions, says Proctor. Scale is a barrier to entry; Proctor says it would cost £40m and take 3-4 years to replicate the business fleet and any would-be-assailant would need costly specialised equipment and workshops to modify them (interior fit out, plumbers, electricians etc) and make them suitable for use."

"Most of the work tends to be repeat from the same client base, which includes Netflix, Disney, Apple, Amazon, HBO and NBC (Sky). The top four clients represent 55% of sales. Proctor says demand is running so high at the moment that whereas it historically used to be booked 3-4 months ahead of filming starting, bookings are now made 6 months in advance."

"Changing requirements add 80% to contract

Clients almost always change their requirements in the run up to filming and ADF has a track record of regularly boosting sales and profits as contracts become bigger than the original specification; in the five years pre-Covid, additional vehicles on average added 80% to the size of the original win.

To give an example of just what has been happening, take the example of Netflix’s The Crown, which had a production budget of £100m for the first series; by the time they filmed series 5, it had risen to £194m and they insisted on the same ADF team to handle the work. Facility vehicle spend for Series 1 was initially guided at £0.6m but additional requirements meant this more than doubled to £1.3m. The same has been true for each subsequent series - only bigger. Series 5, initially estimated at £2m, ended at £3.9m.

The increasing size and length of productions means that not only is there a greater need for a bigger fleet but the revenue per job is increasing - the firm’s average revenue per production has more than doubled in the last three years to £607,000 as programmes and films have become longer and more complex. Facility vehicles represent around 2% of the cost of production, which is why clients tend not to quibble on the pennies."

"Due to the material increase in the consumption of film and TV through streaming services, all the major US streaming companies have set up permanent bases in the UK, taking out studio leases of 10 years or more. ADF recently signed a 15 year lease at a site in Longcross, which will become its main operational centre and is one mile away from Netflix’s studios. Other studios in the vicinity include Shepperton (also leased by Netflix), Pinewood (leased by Disney) and Elstree (Sky)."

Quite a few buys coming in following the Private Punter article. It seems to be having an effect, as the buying price has now moved up to 14.4p as the MMs presumably start to run out of stock.