The latest Investing Matters Podcast with Jean Roche, Co-Manager of Schroder UK Mid Cap Investment Trust has just been released. Listen here.
Character Toys recommended in today's Money Week magazine as a good buy on a P/E of only 11
I do agree & hope March 2017 will beat 2016. The bond is raising they said yesterday at least £75 m i.e.well over $100 m.so they clearly have big expansion plans.The tie up with Hausmann in Germany to pursue VW I presume means Burford with their expertise will handle the USA end among others. Knowing the Americans & the motor trade as Arthur Daley so aptly put it, this could be a nice little earner.It will be very high profile too which will help Burford's profile & hopefully rating.Cheers.
The only other quoted company is Juridica now winding down. That had a good track record & at one time a double digit yield. It is a fraction of Burford's size but always only had a single figure P/E ratio. Simon Thompson in the Investors Chronicle still rates Burford a buy. The Investors Chronicle reviewing their results in the April 1st issue say N+i Singer predict profits of $60m in 2017 against $67.8m in 2016 & a prospective P/E of 17 at current price. If I recall they did make a large $40m on one case last year. I hope with all their new investments they will confidently beat 2016. Good luck.
Simon Thomson in the Investors Chronicle of Feb 5th strongly tipped Juridica at 43p as the cash & receivables = £32m, leaving the cases valued at 13.5p against a book value of 65p. i have followed Juridica for 4 years & see most of their cases realise a lot more than the present cost as they mature. Last years figures came out on March 17th so here's hoping 2015 will show how undervalued this share is.
Thank you Yorgi for very sensible article.Luckily my broker got me in at the 0.08p placing. Like you I have had a string of oil/ mining AIM shares over the years showing "wonderful" losses. I do think with the detailed numbers & tiny market cap this could at last be a real winner.
Simon Thompson in Comment in today's Investors Chronicle makes Burford a strong tip mainly on the £22m it has put into a global law claim business involved in the VW scandal. He first recommended them last June at 145p which got me investing & still thinks they have potential.
Last July 4th the company released a trading update. It could be they might do the same this month before the end February notification of full year results. Just a hopeful thought. Luckily I came out of Juridica which had done extremely well but since I sold has lost a case & decided to wind up with the shares dropping 65%. Burford are much bigger & longer established, so hopefully no one case should damage their price. Share price possibly helped by today's US news of multi billion lawsuit against VW.
I think Evgen Pharma is meant to be EVGP,I read, but as you say the LSE has this wrong & should correct it. Sorry I don't know if Evolution is anything to do with Evgen unless they used the old "shell" company.
Nearly bought this ages ago on IC article. Balance Sheet shows only £4m stock supporting £100 m sales which is unbelievably low. Also debtors of £40m i.e.about 5 months sales; so a lot of sales on really extended credit. The fundamental column shows nearly 100% yield which make Greek bonds look a bargain.As a qualified accountant I have never heard of a company giving away £8m of stock to poor children. Surely the AIM board should tighten the rules a lot to stop this daylight fraud.
Just an announcement that interim results will be published July 28th.This is over six weeks earlier than 2014 which were on Sept 4th, so being ever the optimist I hope this will augur a big profit increase. Being an accountant the reverse always holds good that bad figures take much longer to produce than good ones
I bought Burford last month & sold Juridica which I had owned for several years. Investors Chronicle gave full page review & strong buy. Last year on July 3rd Burford gave Trading Update. I hope they will do the same imminently & think this is the reason for this week's rise.
The net cash position is much less than 18m. Current cash13m but current liabilities 2.4m+closure costs 1.7m+2015 costs0.9m +contingent liabilities 2.0m=total liabilities 7.0m i.e. only 6.0m net cash.Also I wonder about 11.5m due on sale of casual dating business. Surely they are suffering same drastic change of fundamental dating business as Cupid.So will they generate 11.5m net cash in 2015?
Last year preliminary final results were posted on January 8th, so 2013 could be imminent. e.p.s should be positive & borrowings reported down several times in the year so hopefully some dividend will be announced in March. Even 2p would give a 6.5% yield, though this may be too optimistic. Rebate revised timetable should logically mean these will show through in next few years taking a positive view. I do agree accounting horror story especially just 4 weeks after previous ENS & destroys company's credibility till more results restore confidence in company & hopefully give shares a reasonable rating. Hopefully in just over a year dividend level will be well in double figures ayt todays price.
I see Roy1000 says very little overheads yet CUP spent £27m for sales of £42m so overheads are huge. I agree with Investors Chronicle as no idea of posiible profit level in 2014 as there will be loss in 2013.How much advertising is needed to get business back in profit. 1st possible good figures not till Sept 2014 a long time away. Dobbie bought £1m of shares about 120p in March so he like me didn't get it right.
Have been holder of ACHL 1st time in late 2008 at 17p & sold in 2010/2011 at 42p/52p. Not so clever bought in early 2011 at 74p & later at 30p. So price has been very volatile for a few years. investors Chronicle always keen. On positive side in 2014 1st lot of 400,000 trees come on stream I guess with fairly low crop in 1st year. Yield will increase about 3 times in next few years with 400,000 new trees for each of next 4 years. These are all paid for so future profits in medium term ars bound to grow & should merit a better rating as this forecast is almost certain unlike many many industries in current world ongoing debt crisis. Loads of cash which now seems to be being invested so future acquisitions will boost share price. I guess we all need to be patient & optimistic; sadly I'm getting older!
Recompence s/be recompense(sorry I am an accountant pence always on my mind)
Very disappointed no interim dividend.A 2p/3p interim would have helped underwrite the share price & show the directors financial confidence in the company.With £12m+ in B/s & many millions to come it would cost little & be some recompence to those who have seen shares lose 70%+ in past 9 months. Between the lines with splitting overhead cost & marketing spend on brands after split & negative press I doubt if 2013 will show a profit before the exceptional monthly payout, which I guess will be subject to 23% corp tax.I sold my sharessoon after split & 1st interim annoncement as didn't like trading figures. Would love to reinvest but need to see positive net profits before I do.
Thanks for your research. I 1st bought Asian in late 2008 &2009 & sold well in 2011. Bought in again in 2012 at double recent price but ealy this week doubled holding after reading your & other very informed comments.The future looks very good, subject to wind & weather as sailors say. It is interesting trying to put figures on future sales in next 4/8 years as trees planted mature. With patience the natural growth should justify a much better rating as the figures come in each year.Thanks again( another older ex city F.C.A.on Dorset)
I bought Cupid on the Investors Chronicle strong recommendation end January at 198p. Luckily I was away several weeks & bought at 135p, having checked their figure in detail on their website. They had good cash & cashflow & seemingly excellent growth in store. I bought more when Chief exec bought £1m of shares. I don't post each time I buy a share. Cupid is the only share I have ever posted share chat on as I find it fascinating. It has 10 times the number of messages than any of the other shares I own. I await Sept 24th statement with interest to see what they say about current trading & outlook. As I said one day they will be worth buying with the market cap the same value as the recent sale of 63% of the business.
I sold my holding at 75p at a big loss. The main point is how to value this company. The market cap is now £45m,about the sum they will eventually get for the quick dating sale; the £28.5m will take over 3 years to come in. The interim profits,EBITDA were only £2.5m against £16.5m for all 2012,a fall of 70%. The current 6 months will have the sale costs, the audit cost & above all the adverse affect of all the negative publicity.Cupid said it will have to spend a lot "reinvigorating" the sites( how much to get back to the 2012 profit level)They will have a huge amount of cash, but noone has a clue as to the possible profits in 2014 for the much smaller business.At some level soon it could be a buy, but there are so many unknowns i must wait till Sept 24th figures.