Most popular equity research this week | 24-28 Oct

Interims beat but London tough and pipeline slowing | Whitbread Plc | WTB
Panmure Gordon & Co, 25 October

"Whitbread released interim results a little ahead of expectations with Revenues £1,556m (PGe £1,548m), giving underlying PBT £307.0 (PGe £301.3) and EPS of 133.9p (PGe 130.9p) with interim dividend of 29.9p (PGe 28.6p) however the outlook statement is fairly cautious and we do not expect to adjust our estimates ahead of the call. LFL sales of 2.0% was an improvement from 1.8% in Q1 but is increasingly being driven by room extensions rather than RevPAR or Costa LFL - hence is likely to be a drag on returns..."

Q1 trading update | Petra Diamonds | PDL
finnCap, 24 October

"Petra Diamonds has released a trading update for the quarter ended 30 September 2016. Production for the period of 1,097,523 carats was up 30% year on year, driven principally by an increased proportion of ore feed from the new caving areas at Cullinan and Finsch and by the recently acquired Kimberley tailings. Production guidance for the year is maintained at 4.4 – 4.6 million carats. All of the major capex programmes remain on track and on budget, with the new mining areas at Finsch and Cullinan in particular starting to deliver a major uplift in production and hence revenue this year..." 

Very strong customer acquisition | Plus500 | PLUS
Liberum, 24 October

"Plus500 continues to deliver on new customer acquisition. The Q3'16 period delivered 47% YoY growth and the active customer count increased by 33%..."

VSA Agri Monthly | Sector Note
VSA Capital, 27 October 

"This month saw another large palm oil producer look to take advantage of the persistent value gap between those producers listed in London and those listed in South East Asia, with Kuala Lumpur Kepong (KLK MK) making a 640p bid for London-listed MP Evans (MPE LN), a c50% premium to the prior day’s closing price. The bid was swiftly rejected by the MPE board and the majority of its shareholders..."

Traction continuing to build | Earthport Plc | EPO
N+1 Singer, 26 October 

"Earthport has reported an in-line set of results for the full year to June’16. The group has delivered 89% growth in the number of transactions, resulting in payment volumes through the platform increasing to $11.8 billion. A FY’16 adj. EBITDA loss of £7.5m represents a strong HoH trajectory (H1 loss £5.3m, H2 loss £2.2m) and the group has reaffirmed its commitment to becoming cash generative in Q4’17. Earthport has proved that it can scale new customers quickly as well as extracting significant volume increases from existing customers. With multiple catalysts on the horizon and a strong start to the year already achieved, we believe the group is very well-placed to gain a significant share of the vast cross-border payments market..."

Trading in line and client account acquisition | Share Plc | SHRE
Edison, 27 October 

"Share indicated that Q3 trading was in line with expectations and it is continuing to implement its IT investment programme to deliver an improved customer experience and greater scalability to provide for future growth. On this front, assets under administration (AUA) have continued to increase organically and an acquisition of a book of accounts has been agreed. This and previously announced partnership agreements with Computershare and a wealth manager are set to begin contributing to revenues next year. Our estimates and valuation are unchanged...."

Continues to make good progress | BT Group | BT.A
Beaufort Securities, 28 October 

"BT continued to make progress in the Q2, with both revenue and pre-tax profit registering growth, with the Group remaining on track to meet full year expectations. The acquisition of EE on 29 January 2016 contributed revenue of £1,277m, EBITDA of £282m and free cash flow of £135m during the Q2. Meanwhile, BT is working extensively to improve its customer experience. The Group is expected to strengthen its investment in the H2 with over 1,000 new UK-based customer service staff..."

Headcount key to growth | Utilitywise Plc | UTW
Edison, 28 October 

"FY16 results were in line with the post-trading statement expectations and showed continuing growth, despite staff retention difficulties and investment in energy services. In FY17 we expect improved staff retention and additional energy service contracts, such as that recently signed with Asda. With improving cash flow and a strengthened management team, there is the prospect of further growth in the current year. Utilitywise’s (UTW) current rating does not appear to reflect this potential for growth...."

Get the rhythm | Diurnal Group Plc | DNL
Hardman & Co, 27 October 

"Diurnal is a clinical stage specialty pharmaceutical company focused on diseases of the endocrine system. It has two lead candidates – Infacort® and Chronocort® – in Phase III trials targeted at rare diseases with unmet medical need with which it aims to build a long-term ‘Adrenal Franchise’. The cortisol replacement market is for conditions that need life-long treatments, with a potential value of $3.5bn. Despite this, the market is characterised by few competitors, and Diurnal will target a network of specialist endocrinology centres in Europe and US by itself. Upcoming newsflow on trials and regulatory filings will draw attention to the stock...."

A way to diversify income | Henderson International Inco | HINT
QuotedData, 26 October 

"The sharp falls in sterling over the past few months have flattered the performance of many funds investing overseas, including Henderson International Income Trust (HINT), but have compounded problems for some UK equity income trusts. HINT’s manager warns that the threat of dividend cuts looms large for UK-focused trusts and thinks that now, more than ever, the yield on HINT’s overseas equity portfolio should look very attractive to UK-based investors. HINT has just raised its quarterly dividend to 1.2p, up 4.3% on the previous quarterly dividend....."