PROGRESSIVE: Vertu Motors: Smoother roads ahead

The results for the year ended 29 February released today show a robust performance across a difficult year, but they also provide good grounds for optimism. Revenue of £4,720m was a 17.6% advance on FY23, helped by the successful acquisition of Helston in FY23. Underlying operating profit of £59.3m was a 21.5% improvement on the £48.8m achieved in FY23. The net debt (pre-leases) result of £(54.0)m, vs our estimate £(62.0)m and FY23 £(75.3)m, is impressive. Encouragingly the recommended dividend

PROGRESSIVE: Vertu Motors: Traction control

Vertu is the fourth largest automotive retailer in the UK, with 188 sales outlets and a track record of cross-cycle growth, principally through businesses it has acquired, funded by equity, debt and most importantly cash generation. Vertu operates across the entire vehicle lifecycle, including new and used vehicle sales, and vehicle servicing, repair and parts. Service and repair is a 40+% gross margin repeating business. With economic headwinds, the transition to electric vehicles, recent overs

Hybridan Small Cap Feast - 07 Dec 23

7th December 2023 @HybridanLLP Status of this Note and Disclaimer This document has been issued to you by Hybridan LLP for information purposes only and should not be construed in any circumstances as an offer to sell or solicitation of any offer to buy any security or other financial instrument, nor shall it, or the fact of its distribution, form the basis of, or be relied upon in connection with, any contract relating to such action. This document has no regard for the specific investment obje

Vertu Motors (VTU LN) - Market dynamics drive downgrade

An ongoing correction in used car prices has driven lower gross profit per unit for Vertu in recent months and this is expected to continue in the near term. There has been particular weakness in premium vehicle values. Additionally, higher stocking charges on increased new vehicle supply, has led to lower overall profitability. As a result, we have reduced forecast FY24 adjusted PBT by £8.0m (17%) to £39.3m and FY25 by £3.2m (6.2%) to £48.6m. This downgrade to expectations is indicative of mark

Vertu Motors (VTU LN) - Expanding South West presence

Last week Vertu announced a complementary bolt-on acquisition of four sales outlets in the South West of England for an estimated cash consideration of £6.2m, further expanding its presence in the region. The Group is continuing its strategy of adding scale and strengthening brand partnerships. Today we make FY24 balance sheet and cash flow adjustments for the acquisition, reduce FY24 adjusted PBT by 1.5% due to the timing of the deal and acquisition costs, and add a small upgrade to adjusted PB

Vertu Motors (VTU LN) - Benefitting from scale

Vertu’s interim results to 31 August show record H1 revenue (£2.4b), strong year-on-year adjusted PBT growth of 11.7%, and interim dividend growth of 21.4%.

Vertu Motors (VTU LN) - Positive trading continues

Vertu has released a positive trading update ahead of its interim results for the six months to 31 August.

Finseta+ (FIN, House Stock at 42p) - Name change (formerly Cornerstone)

LIBERUM: The Liberum Leisure Digest: NLW increase - pricing power is key

Hardman & Co Insight: Streamed content takes over

The Great Correction of 2022 saw the share prices of streamers plunge after market leader Netflix reported a slowdown/fall in subscriber growth. Having formerly been seduced by hectic subscriber growth rates, investors quickly refocused, this time on fundamental metrics such as revenue, margins, profits and cashflow. Since then, streamers have continued to take a steadily greater share of viewing while linear TV continues to decline. But growth in streaming subscribers in the US and UK is now a

B90 Holdings (B90 LN) - Turnaround drives Q1 2024 profits and promising outlook

The company released 2023 results with Adjusted EBITDA loss higher than we forecast. However, the results do not significantly reflect the refocusing of the business on B2B performance marketing that started in November 2023. The restructuring has significantly reduced expenses and driven the company to EBITDA profitability throughout Q1 2024. We update our 2024 and 2025 forecasts to reflect the company’s new business model and maintain Adjusted EBITDA in both years. We continue to see profits a

Hostmore - Reassuring AGM trading update

Hostmore’s AGM trading update was reassuring, with L4L sales for the first 22 weeks of -3%, being broadly consistent with the first 16 weeks (-1%). Guest opinion scores are improving, the cost reduction initiatives are coming through as expected, and the decline in energy spot prices is helpful. The focus remains on cashflow to reduce borrowings. It is too early in the year to consider any changes to forecasts, and we reiterate our 55p target price, implying 152% upside.

ME Group - Modernising and growing the estate driving growth

During 2023, ME Group commenced the deployment of its next generation photobooths, which are integrated with the group’s newly developed proprietary software, gained market leadership in the Japanese photobooth market with an acquisition, continued to roll out laundry units with existing and new location partners, commenced a share buyback programme and gained entry into the FTSE 250. 2023 was a year of significant strategic and financial progress, with sales up 15%, EPS up 31% and net cash main

Hardman & Co Healthcare Index: 2023 – Capital demands dent performance

The Hardman & Co Healthcare Index (HHI) has been running since 2009. Its main function is to highlight the attractions of life sciences investments over the long term. For the second year running, apart from global economic influences affecting world markets, performance in 2023 was dented by the capital-intensive nature of the sector. The HHI fell 3.7%, to 483.8, underperforming the main London markets – FTSE 100 (+3.8%) and FTSE All-Share (3.8%) but outperforming the FTSE AIM All-Share Index (

Topps Group (TPT LN) - Initiation: Market leader trading at cyclical lows

Topps Group is the UK’s largest specialist supplier and distributor of tiles and associated products to the UK’s domestic and commercial markets. Each of the last three years the Group has successfully achieved record revenue in a market that’s seen recent volume declines and regional peers enter administration. Following the right sizing of its business, Topps Group is now well positioned to capitalise on the economic recovery and continue taking share from competitors, supported by its global

Sector leading update; delivering on all fronts

XP Factory has updated the market on the 12m trading period. It reads very well, with sector leading LFL’s (Boom +29% and Escape Hunt +17%) and a great performance over the all-important Christmas period. This leaves the company on track to meet our 12m and 15m forecasts. In short, the model is intact, management is executing very well and the tenor of today’s update should provide investors with a huge amount of reassurance. We maintain XPF is a high growth story on a cheap rating (4x EV/EBITDA

Allenby Capital TMT Update - 13.05.24 - MIRI.L, MBT.L, PPS.L, CSFS.L, LST.L, DNM.L

Please find below our weekly update covering themes that we feel that are of interest to investors and participants in the small and mid-cap TMT sector as well as commentary on recent newsflow.

B90 Holdings (B90 LN) - Successful transition, outlook unchanged

2023 revenue is expected to be in line with expectations. Adjusted EBITDA loss is expected to be higher than we expected.

React Group H1 Trading Update

React Group has released a positive update that has confirmed that the strong 2H 2023A momentum has continued into 1H 2024E, with what was described as a ‘record trading performance'.

Motorpoint Group+ (MOTR, House Stock, 134p) - A materially improved Q4 FY24F

Cornerstone FS+ (CSFS, House Stock at 40p) - FY23A results beat, further upgrades

Morning Note – 24 April 2024