Member Info for rivaldo

Maven Income and Growth VCT 5 reported results on Friday and had this to say their £3.85m investment in IDEA:

"In the year to 30 April 2018, Ideagen delivered results that were again in line with expectations. The company recorded a 33% increase in revenue to £36.1 million and a 40% increase in adjusted EBITDA to £11.0 million. The organic growth rate of 11% was supplemented by the contribution from the acquisitions of Logen, Covalent, IPI and Pleasetech, which completed in the prior year.

The company continued to strengthen the quality of revenues with significant growth in Service-as-a Software (SaaS) business as bookings increased by 174% with recurring revenue now accounting for 62% of turnover (57% in the previous year). This increase in revenue was driven by new and existing customer wins, with notable wins including Scandinavian Airlines, AirAsia, Lockheed Martin, Bayer Pharmaceuticals and Verizon.

In addition, the company acquired Medforce, a company that has developed a product suite to support productivity and legal compliance through its workflow and information management tools. This business was acquired for $8.7 million in cash which was payable at completion and funded with a mixture of debt and cash.

This acquisition represents Ideagen's first US purchase, a territory that has been identified as a key area of growth and which has generated over 50% of all new logo wins and 70% of all new SaaS wins in the first half of the current financial year."

Https://www.gamaaviation.com/news/european-news/aircraft-management/

"17th Jul 2018

Gama Aviation wins Bombardier Global 5000 and Gulfstream G650ER contracts

Gama Aviation leverages global team to win new aircraft management contracts

Farnborough, 17rd July 2018 – Gama Aviation, the global business aviation services company, is pleased to announce it has secured two new aircraft management contracts after the completion of competitive tenders for both. The first, a three-year contract, will see the company oversee the delivery and subsequent management of a Bombardier Global. The aircraft, once delivered from Bombardier, will fly extensively within the US, Europe and Asia.

Mark Gascoigne, European Managing Director commented: “Our client will use the aircraft intensively for time sensitive missions. On understanding the mission requirements and logistics, we determined how we could reduce single point failures via our global network to minimise schedule risk and downtime during each flight. Our passion to simplify and de-risk an otherwise complex logistical exercise was the primary reason for our selection, something that no-one else, in the view of our client, could achieve.”

The second contract awarded this month, sees the addition of a new type to the fast-growing Asia fleet. The Gulfstream G650ER will join the fleet on delivery, making it the second Gulfstream to join the Asia fleet in the first six months of this year.

Sergio Silva, General Manager commented: “We are extremely pleased to add another tail to the fleet in Asia. We are seeing an increasing trend amongst knowledgeable owners in Asia, towards companies that have the capability to support the full capabilities of their aircraft, whether at its home base or down route in say, Las Vegas. This simplifies the mission for the pilot, the owner representative, the EA and the owner, as they understand they’ll receive end-to-end support from us locally and via our comprehensive global network.”

So now we have a revised offer from Consort received on 13th July, plus a PUSU deadline extension to 13th August....looks like discussions are getting serious.

Terrific acquisition news - very small, but excitingly its's in the area of AL and machine learning, marking KWS' entry into this field.

Importantly, these solutions "are now ready for commercial roll out", and "can leverage the worldwide reach of Keywords and its extensive client relationships. As part of the agreement, Silicon will collaborate with Keywords in introducing the technology to Japanese game developers and publishers, and it has a non-exclusive right to resell the YD solution into the non-games markets (such a healthcare), in exchange for a share of the associated revenues":

Https://www.investegate.co.uk/keywords-studios-plc--kws-/rns/acquisition/201807230700074096V/

"Andrew Day, Chief Executive Officer of Keywords Studios, commented:

"We have been looking for opportunities to establish a foothold in the exciting area of video game analytics for a few years. This acquisition brings industry leading technology and capabilities to Keywords that we believe we can support, enhance and roll out to our clients thanks to the engineering, player research and video game specific data science skills we have within the business. While YD is pre- revenue, it is a rare asset and we expect the first clients to start implementing the software during 2018.



"As games continue to transition to a service model from a product model, the use of sophisticated analytics engines like this to automatically understand player behaviour and trigger real time decisions in-game will become increasingly valuable to our clients. The use of AI to constantly adapt the predictive models to changes that are made in the games, such as when new items, expansion packs and promotions are introduced, is critical to the future of the video games industry so we are delighted to have secured this leading-edge technology."

Here's the transcript of Skyworks' conference call last night FYI:

Https://seekingalpha.com/article/4188583-skyworks-solutions-inc-swks-ceo-liam-griffin-q3-2018-results-earnings-call-transcript?part=single

This is the summary at the start:

"The Skyworks team produced solid results once again in Q3. We generated a revenue of $894 million above consensus estimates. We expanded gross margin to 50.9%, up 20 basis points both sequentially and year-over-year. We delivered record Q3 earnings per share of $1.64, $0.05 better than our guidance. And finally, we continue to deploy our cash to create shareholder value, returning nearly $300 million during the quarter through share repurchases and dividends.

From a market perspective, we are entering the seasonally strong second half while on track for another year of record financial performance. Based on our Q4 outlook, we will end the fiscal year with mid-single-digit revenue growth, greater than a 10% EPS increase and record cash returns. This despite a choppy market backdrop and a government imposed trade ban on a sizable Chinese customer.

Our confidence is underpinned by our product expansion and reach, expanding premier mobile and broad market accounts. For example, during the quarter, we commenced production of access solution for Cisco, capture content and Linksys new dual-band mesh networks ramped connectivity engines for Amazon’s 4K Fire TV, a leading voice enabled streaming media platform. Partnered with Sierra Wireless on LTE CAT-12 data cards for M2M applications, deployed networking solutions supporting AT&T DirecTV gateway, extended our footprint across Nest home automation platforms. Enabled LTE telematics at TM and BMW and we introduced high precision GPS functionality, improving ride sharing, mobile payment and fleet management services. We also secured strategic flagship wins at Huawei, Samsung, Oppo, Vivo, LG and Nokia. And then our infrastructure markets, we powered massive MIMO solutions for a leading European base stations supplier.

In summary, we continue to expand the aperture of a design win pipeline spanning mobile, IoT, in a broadening set of diverse end markets. With IoT, the rapid proliferation of volumes represents a significant growth opportunity for Skyworks. Ericsson, for example, estimates that there will be 29 billion connected IoT devices by 2022. And at the same time 5G is upon us to dramatically higher speeds and lower latency enabled by 5G will catalyze a wide range of uses cases from the connected battery to the autonomous car to artificial intelligence. In order to make the leap to 5G system architectures require significantly more powerful connectivity engines to ensure performance hurdles are overcome.

etc"

Forgot to mention Hybridan's current forecasts, which are:

this year : 2.15p EPS
next year : 2.56p EPS

i.e a P/E of 11.4 dropping to just 9.6.

They also forecast £1.23m net cash at the end of this year, rising to £2,37m next year (against a £14m m/cap).

So the ex-cash P/E drops even further, and there's also the likelihood of another acquisition all or partly from cash.

Looks like the recent strong results are attracting buying interest.

IOM were highlighted in last week's Shares Mag as one of two stocks meeting Jim Slater's investing criteria:

"Iomart (IOM:AIM) 370p

Glasgow cloud computing specialist Iomart (IOM) may not trade on a price to earnings growth ratio of less than 1 desired by GARP investors. However, it is more difficult to find software firms on discounted valuations particularly ones with Iomart’s upwards of 90% recurring revenues.

Stockopedia’s screening process believes that Iomart still fits the bill when looking for Jim Slater-type investments.

Iomart’s strong organic growth is likely to be augmented by M&A activity which is
underpinned by a new £80m lending facility.

Stockbroker Peel Hunt sees the potential for the company to double revenue from the near-£100m achieved in the March 2018 financial year.

Clients run the gamut from BCA Marketplace’s (BCA) Webuyanycar consumer venture to well-known corporate entities such as Universal Music."

I've now read the complete Shares Mag Buy tip on ACSO mentioned by Togglebrush below, and it also contains the following very nice info - perhaps a deal coming soon?

"Helping feed investors’ optimism towards the Accesso growth story was a note from analysts at Peel Hunt this week hinting that the arts and music festivals space may be the next target niche ripe for Accesso’s form of technological disruption.

It certainly suffers from the long queues Accesso’s other target markets try to manage, such as theme parks and tourist attractions.

With festival-goers willing to spend up to several hundred pounds over a weekend, Peel Hunt argues that an extra £25 on an Accesso Prism wearable device could be a big hit. ‘We’d argue £25 for a queueless/cashless product letting you know when your burger is ready or when the next toilet is free, is worth getting a potential six hours
back over a weekend.’

Https://imimobile.com/imimobile-named-in-gartners-magic-quadrant/

"News / 18th July 2018

2018 Gartner Magic Quadrant for Mobile Marketing Platforms released to provide insight on changing consumer marketing interaction landscape

Mobile interactions now play a dominant role across customer journeys, with mobile marketing platforms enabling marketing leaders to optimise engagements at any touchpoint.

For the first time, Gartner has released a report evaluating 15 vendors in a Magic Quadrant for Mobile Marketing Platforms.

IMImobile has been recognised as a specialist vendor that provides mobile-first capabilities in the enterprise marketing technology stack for midsize or larger enterprises seeking to deploy a mobile-centric marketing strategy.

IMImobile was highlighted for its specialism in integrating into complex IT environments focusing on customer loyalty and upsell based journey’s as part of customer value management strategies."

Firstly, looking to grow in the USA:

Https://www.ideagen.com/company/news/ideagen-to-host-annual-us-customer-seminar-in-new-york/

"Ideagen to host annual US customer seminar in New York
19 July 2018

Ideagen is delighted to announce it is to hold its US customer conference in New York for the first time later this year.

The ‘Ideagen Horizons North America’ event will take place at the DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Metropolitan over two days between Tuesday, October 9th and Wednesday, October 10th.

The event is exclusively aimed at users of Ideagen’s Q-Pulse, PleaseReview and Pentana software for quality, safety, risk, audit and performance management.

Ben Dorks, Ideagen’s CEO, said: “As Ideagen grows rapidly so, in turn, does our successful and popular Horizons events and we are absolutely delighted to be hosting our North American event in New York this year.

etc"

And success in Hong Kong:

Https://www.ideagen.com/company/news/coruson-helps-hk-express-renew-iosa-certificate/

"Ideagen Coruson helps HK Express to renew IOSA certificate
16 July 2018

Ideagen Coruson, Ideagen's cloud-based governance, risk and compliance software application, has helped a major airline in Hong Kong to renew its IATA safety certificate.

HK Express, Hong Kong's low-fare airline, has successfully expanded its International Operational Safety Audit (IOSA) certificate for two years in an announcement the airline said was a "testament to its safety commitment and excellent service".

etc"

Nice in-fill acquisition today, but I liked this in particular showing how KWS can grow a new sector presence from nothing so quickly:

https://www.investegate.co.uk/keywords-studios-plc--kws-/rns/acquisition-of-snowed-in/201807200700032354V/

""Having grown the Engineering service line from nothing in May 2017, we now employ over 300 software engineers in multiple regions, and I'm delighted that Jean-Sylvain, Tim, Evan and their highly talented and creative team are joining the Group as we continue to grow."

Here's some genuine news.....

Skyworks' forecast-busting results last night should give IQE a nice boost - particularly the uplift to Q4 estimates. Haven't listened to the conference call yet, but there are some nice extracts from the results:

Https://finance.yahoo.com/news/skyworks-exceeds-q3-fy18-expectations-201500497.html

"“Skyworks is on track to deliver another record year of top and bottom line results,” said Kris Sennesael, senior vice president and chief financial officer of Skyworks. “Specifically, for the fourth fiscal quarter of 2018, we expect revenue to be up 11 to 13 percent sequentially as design win momentum transitions to volume production."

“Skyworks exceeded June quarter expectations driven by our broadening market reach, solid execution and resilient business model,” said Liam K. Griffin, president and chief executive officer of Skyworks. “We are gaining first-mover advantage across Internet of Things and rapidly emerging 5G applications with our Sky5™ platform. Leveraging our scale and decades of system-level expertise, we are positioned to capitalize on increasing demand for powerful and complex connectivity engines as the global data economy accelerates.”

Apologies, load of cobblers - posted by someone on another bb and didn't notice which year it referred to! Ignore please.

Terrific H1 trading statement, and particularly the closing comments:

" the Board expects the Group will now exceed market expectations for the full year and whilst it remains early into the start of the mass-market adoption of our technology, it is possible that with the current contract momentum, a more significant upgrade to current market expectations could be delivered for 2018."

http://uk.advfn.com/cmn/fbb/thread.php3?id=40553128

"Dr Drew Nelson, Chief Executive of IQE, said:

"The first half of 2017 has been a very exciting time for the IQE Group. Overall, all business units have progressed in line with expectations, although the Photonics unit has been the stand out with continued strong double digit growth, accelerating towards the end of the first half. The Group has multiple high growth opportunities ahead, and in order to ensure future capacity is in place in a timely fashion to address H2 2018 and subsequent demand, we have announced an MOU with Cardiff City Region to secure operational facilities in a highly cost effective arrangement, together with initial orders for increased MOCVD capacity. In light of recent progress and its increasingly confident outlook, the Board expects the Group will now exceed market expectations for the full year and whilst it remains early into the start of the mass-market adoption of our technology, it is possible that with the current contract momentum, a more significant upgrade to current market expectations could be delivered for 2018."

Regent Gas continue to buy - they now have 4.18%, or 1.75m shares. They've bought another 310,000 shares since their last disclosure:

Https://www.investegate.co.uk/clarke-t---plc--cto-/rns/tr-1---notification-of-holding-in-company/201807191511282114V/

Been away on hols and just catching up - anyway, N+1 Singer produced a new note after last week's NanoImprint win.

In case no-one's posted it, they retained their 181p price target and summarised as follows:

Extracts:

"IQE has announced that its new NanoImprint Lithography (NIL) technology has been production qualified by a leading supplier of DFB lasers into the telecoms industry, with a first production order of $250k already received. Full service DFB
lasers using NIL technology is an opportunity we have consistently highlighted as a source of medium term upgrades for the group, so we are encouraged to see the technology proceeding to commercialisation. We have previously estimated that full service DFB lasers would deliver a 2-3x uplift in value to IQE (on its existing DFB laser revenue). This could add an extra £10-20m of high margin revenue to the group, in an area expected to grow strongly over the coming years."

"DFB lasers are high performance edge emitting (EE) lasers that are critical enabling transmission components for highspeed data communications across the whole fibre optic network; including intercontinental communications, broadband Fibre To The Home and Premises, and ultra-high speed transmission links in hyper-scale data centre applications. Exponential future demand for DFBs in this sector will be driven by 5G connectivity and the adoption of Internet of Things ("IoT").

Impact on earnings & valuation

We will update our forecasts and target price at the interim results later this month but remain positive on IQE. The group is expected to be strongly H2 weighted in 2018 (40:60 H1;H2 revenue split), with a shift back from Wireless to Photonics in the second half of the year. While we expect the group to be on track at this stage of the year, the ramp up in the second half of the year and into 2019 is key to our fundamental Buy stance. We remain supportive."

Hybridan have issued a new note following last week's contract win.

They suggest a 40p target price, and have interesting comments on (1) another large contract win being likely, (2) the potential for further acquisitions and (3) the potential to supply more on-board technology:

Extracts:

"This is another deal for the Aventra platform and we believe Petards is well placed to land another potential meaningful order. Other rolling stock contracts currently out for tender include South Eastern (800 vehicles), West Cost Partnership (300 Vehicles), and Hi Speed 2 (800+ Vehicles).

The recent RTS acquisition diversifies the Group into infrastructure technology, but we believe Petards also has the reputation and customer base to supply more on-board technology, and we see an opportunity to broaden the product portfolio both organically and by further acquisition.

We believe that Petards merits a re-rating to at least a mid-teen PE multiple. At 40p (68% upside from here), the shares are on a 16x FY2019E PE multiple. Petards continues to benefit from a robust long-term order book and we believe that in the context of growing infrastructure investment, Petards’ management team has the commercial and strategic know how to further accelerate revenue and earnings growth."

This news dates from 9th July whilst I was on hols - congrats to the team at SCE. Another step forward in keeping the likes of BMW, VW etc onside:

Http://www.4-traders.com/SURFACE-TRANSFORMS-PLC-4003551/news/Surface-Transforms-recommended-for-IATF-16949-certification-26897009/

"Surface Transforms : recommended for IATF 16949 certification

07/09/2018 | 10:14am EDT

Following an external audit by auditing body Lloyd's Register Quality Assurance, Surface Transforms have been recommended for certification to the IATF 16949 automotive quality management system standard. This achievement has been made possible by a huge amount of work from across the company and at all levels in establishing an entirely new quality management system; it reflects Surface Transforms' dedication to customer satisfaction and continual improvement. IATF 16949 Certification is a pre-requisite for supply to all OEMs and we are delighted to have been recommended for certification.

What is IATF 16949?

IATF 16949 is a management system standard - it describes how the company should be run including specific process, results and auditing requirements; it lists these as requirements and recommendations in a published document (standard). IATF 16949 can be assessed and certified by third party auditors (as is the case for Surface Transforms).

IATF 16949 is published by the International Automotive Task Force; a group of automotive manufacturers and their respective trade associations. IATF members include the following vehicle manufacturers: BMW Group, FCA US LLC, Daimler AG, FCA Italy Spa, Ford Motor Company, General Motors Company, PSA Group, Renault, Volkswagen AG and the vehicle manufacturers' respective trade associations - AIAG (U.S.), ANFIA (Italy), FIEV (France), SMMT (U.K.) and VDA QMC (Germany). It is used worldwide for quality management system assessment.

How is IATF 16949 related to ISO/TS 16949?

IATF 16949 is the replacement to ISO/TS 16949; IATF 16949 significantly changed and increased requirements on the organisation."

Encouraging stuff from PTSG:

Http://www.ptsg.co.uk/news/fire-solutions/insight-mps-demand-sprinklers-high-rise-buildings/

"INSIGHT: MPs demand sprinklers in all high-rise buildings

An MP’s enquiry has called for sprinklers to be fitted in all high-rise residential buildings to avoid a repeat of the Grenfell Tower tragedy in June 2017.

The housing, communities and local government committee assessed building regulations to address calls for change in the construction industry and identify measures that can be taken immediately to improve levels of safety.

One such recommendation was for sprinklers to be fitted to existing council and housing association-owned high-rise residential blocks. The committee also called for the government to issue guidance for private sector building owners that would allow them follow suit.

Sprinkler systems have been recommended by several officials including London Fire Chief Dany Cotton and the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) in recent months because they are unbeatably reliable and effective. In fact, there have been no multiple fire deaths in the UK as a result of a fire in a dwelling with a working sprinkler system. In most cases, just one sprinkler is capable of extinguishing a fire, as when a fire reaches extremely high temperatures, the sprinkler closest to the fire activates, spraying water directly onto the flames beneath it.

Premier Technical Services Group PLC (PTSG) helps clients across the UK meet the demand for dependable safety systems, with a comprehensive fire solutions provision comprised of the installation and maintenance of wet risers, dry risers and sprinkler systems, emergency lighting and fire extinguisher services. The Fire Solutions division supports building and FM companies and local authorities across the UK by offering the consultancy, design and installation support required to protect buildings and keep residents and building users as safe as possible."