Master Investor : SUR are "Another Holt winner"18 Aug 2020 10:23
Nice update overnight from Master Investor:
Https://masterinvestor.co.uk/equities/small-cap-update-featuring-totally-and-sureserve/?mc_cid=5e5a490318&mc_eid=db9f9bbaf2
"Sureserve (LON:SUR) – Another Holt winner?
Bob Holt OBE, the mover behind the growth of the Mears Group, is chairman of both Totally and this compliance and energy services group.
Like Totally, it has had its ups and downs prior to Holt getting hold of the reins.
Its current year-end is the end of September and following on from the very positive interims announced at the end of May, it would be fair to assume that the trend is continuing.
Despite the Covid-19 hassles it was showing ongoing growth, helped on by the base of its business in the gas, water and electrical service sectors falling under the ‘key worker’ status.
Obviously dependent upon government and local authority spending, Sureserve must be enjoying a much stronger second half year, considering just how needy its customers are for its various services, whether they are in lockdown or not.
I have followed Bob for over two decades and his attention to detail and management style has never changed. He never over-eggs his business. In fact, he always under-promises and then looks to over-deliver in performance.
Way back in mid-January, pre-Covid-19 days, I profiled the company at 36p before its interim results. They touched 51.5p subsequently, before falling back to just 31p at the end of March, since when they have recovered to rest at around the current 43p level.
For the year to end-September I am looking for the group to hold its revenues fairly steady at £205m or thereabouts, while its pre-tax profits could see a major uplift from £5.3m to over £8m, worth 4p plus in earnings per share.
And that excellent performance would have been set against a tough Covid-19 trading background.
For the coming year some £225m of revenues and £10m pre-tax would see about 5.2p in earnings per share.
With its shares at 43p, that would put them out at around 10 times current-year and just over 8 times prospective earnings. That would be too low a rating for such sales and profits potential."