Most popular equity research this week | 26 Nov - 7 Dec

AFH Financial Group (AFHP)

Major acquisition increases PBT by 8% | Liberum, 3 Dec

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"AFH has done it again, making an acquisition which is both accretive and strategic. Established advisers want to join AFH to improve their client offering, to offer discretionary mandates, and to be part of a stronger group..."

Taptica International (TAP)

Improving margins lead to another upgrade | finnCap, 4 Dec

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"International expansion, notably in the Far East, together with the excellent Tremor acquisition, continues to drive revenue growth while margins are being improved by operating efficiencies. Furthermore, the $30m funding in H1 reduced debt and positioned Taptica for further earnings-enhancing M&A and discussions are already underway with targets..."

Interim CEO appointed | finnCap, 5 Dec

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"The resignation of Hagai Tal has now been accepted, and the experienced divisional CEO, Rivi Bloch, has stepped up to Interim Group CEO, reporting to (although not joining) the Board. Ms Bloch is an extremely capable executive with many years of experience at Taptica, and currently leads the Performance Marketing business..."

Duke Royalty (DUKE)

A profitable operation | Cenkos, 4 Dec

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"Duke's H1/19A interims are the first to show the company producing a statutory net profit following initial deployments of the £42m net proceeds from August's placing. While deployment of the remaining proceeds is taking longer than previously expected, we see this as a positive sign to the rigour of the company's due diligence process. We now expect full deployment to be completed by the end of FY19E. This will produce a step change in Duke's financials per our FY20E forecasts..."

Beeks Financial Cloud (BKS)

Tier 1 financial services customer win | Cenkos, 6 Dec

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"This morning, Beeks Financial Cloud announced that it has secured a new contract with a Tier 1 insurance sector customer to manage the customer's hybrid cloud IT activities across the Beeks private cloud and the public cloud. Beeks will provide IaaS connectivity and managed services to connect the customers private cloud activities with its major public cloud providers. Since IPO the business has expanded into all major asset classes for automated trading IaaS services and now added a further hybrid cloud managed service offering, utilising its financial services expertise and growing network resilience and presence..."

Treatt  (TET)

A more normal year | Edison, 4 Dec

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"Treatt has reported yet another set of strong results in FY18. The company remains in the sweet spot of current consumer trends, with ingredients that help to deliver better-for-you products with clean labels and without compromising on taste. The US expansion is on track and on budget, and will be fully operational in H119..."

Fulcrum Utility Services (FCRM)

On track to deliver | Cenkos, 4 Dec

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"Fulcrum's interims illustrate a robust H1/19A delivery, in which the core infrastructure services and utility assets businesses have continued to grow organically at double-digit rates, now supplemented by the synergistic acquisitions of Dunamis and CDS. The anticipated margin on future projects across the Group to be delivered in H2/19E are above that previously forecast..."

Water Intelligence (WATR)

Attacking a large addressable market | finnCap, 4 Dec

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"Water Intelligence’s Q3 statement is positive, highlighting 9-month sales growth of +40% to $18.6m (H1 +39%) and profits comfortably in line with expectations. We have raised our sales forecasts by 8% and left our profit expectations unchanged, allowing for further investment into long-term growth. We reiterate our view that with the group building a scaleable, technology-backed distribution platform for water solutions in a range of large international markets, there is the potential to generate very significant value..."

Private & Commercial Finance Group (PCF)

On track for £350m portfolio a year early | Stockdale Securities, 5 Dec

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"PCF Group (PCF) has delivered a small beat with adj. PBT up 50% to £5.4m (£3.6m) on a portfolio of receivables that grew 50% to £219m (£146m) on a 75% increase in new business originations to £148m. Retail deposits, which helped fund this growth, were £191m at end September 2018. With the FY2020 £350m portfolio and 12.5% RoE targets likely to be achieved a year early, PCF is investing in the infrastructure to deliver the FY2022 target of £750m. We maintain our 60p target price (0.4x forecast £350m receivables) and Buy rating..."

Iomart Group (IOM)

Strengthening the pipeline | finnCap, 4 Dec

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"iomart has delivered interims involving the tried and tested formula of consistent organic growth (cloud +4%, vs 4% in 1H18) and integration of acquisitions, leading to 10% EBITDA growth from 8% revenue growth. Normalised free cash flow remained strong and the dividend is very amply covered, allowing balance sheet capacity for further acquisitions as well as ongoing reduction of net debt, now at 0.8x annualised EBITDA..."

Statpro Group (SOG)

Growth under the new divisional structure | Progressive Equity, 30 Nov

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"StatPro has previously explained that the Group is to be structured into three divisions in 2019. Revolution will be the Analytics division, comprising Revolution, Seven, Delta and Alpha. Source: StatPro will be the data division while Infovest will be the integration and data management division, comprising Infovest and StatPro Portfolio Management (SPM). StatPro’s Capital Markets Day gave a very useful rundown on the development of the Group and the prospects for growth under its new divisional structure..."

IG Design Group (IGR)

Exceeding Strong Expectations | Cenkos, 27 Nov

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"IG Design has released its FY19E interims results, which demonstrates a stellar performance ahead of expectations. Revenue grew 23% YoY to £205.2m, benefitting from both organic growth and the Impact acquisition in the US (c£33.0m contribution). Underlying profits increased 71% YoY to £19.0m with margins expanding due to product mix, increased scale and operational efficiencies..."