See what was trending this week...
Companies: CMS, FTC, GATC, IQE, ITV, MPAY, OMG, TRC, SDG
Revolution Bars Group (RBG)
Morning Note | finnCap, 1 Aug
Gold Access
"Management announced on 31 July that it had received a conditional proposal from Stonegate to acquire the entire issued and to be issued share capital of Revolution Bars at an offer price of 200p in cash per share."
IQE (IQE)
VCSEL ramp up just the start | N+1 Singer, 31 Jul
Gold Access
"IQE’s trading update confirmed that it has secured multiple, multi-year contracts for VCSEL wafers, which we believe relates to 3D sensing opportunities, the most high profile of which is the 10th anniversary iPhone. We are upgrading our FY’17/’18/’19 EPS forecasts by 5%/6%/10% respectively, however, we believe these forecasts remain very conservative. Assuming a more optimistic level of adoption for the expected new iPhone results in a bull case scenario of 81% EPS upgrades in FY’18. IQE is one of our Key Buys for 2017, a stance which has served us well so far (+185% YTD). With forecasts conservatively struck and multiple additional near-term opportunities outside of Apple on the horizon, we believe the shares will continue to perform. We increase our target price to 147p and retain our Buy recommendation."
Gattaca (MTEC)
Patient investors paid 7.5% to wait | Equity Development, 3 Aug
Free Access
"Rome was not built in a day. And like most good things, Gattaca’s transition from UK engineering staffer to international recruitment specialist of hard-to-find STEM candidates (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) is taking slightly longer than anticipated. Not because of any strategic or execution misstep, but largely because of more challenging conditions, which have impacted Net Fee Income (NFI, see below) over the past 3 years."
Communisis (CMS)
Good H1 progress/forecasts unchanged | Liberum, 3 Aug
Gold Access
"First half results show good progress with underlying EPS growth, further debt reduction, dividend up ahead of forecasts and a constructive outcome from the pension review."
ITV (ITV)
Finally rather decent within a tough first half context | AlphaValue, 2 Aug
Gold Access
"TV’s H1 17 results were in line with expectations, within a particularly tough environment. Total external revenues declined 3% to £1,458m as ITV Family net advertising’s revenue fell by 8% to £769m (c.53% total group; Q2 was down 7% after -9% over Q1, including a tough basis of comparison due to the FY16 Euro Football Championship), in line with the guidance for an 8-9% decline for the first part of the year. This was counterbalanced by non-NAR being up by 6% with ITV Studios’ revenues rising by 7% to £697m (+0.6% at CER). As expected, the latter reported a 9% decline for its adjusted EBITA, namely reflecting the ongoing and strategic investment in the US scripted business but also due to a difficult basis of comparison (last year’s reporting of The Voice of China)."
Oxford Metrics (OMG)
Further product innovation at Vicon | N+1 Singer, 3 Aug
Gold Access
"Vicon’s latest product releases and partner collaborations confirm its leading market position and ability to align with emerging technology trends. The launch of Vicon Vertex and partnership with Manus VR expand its presence in high-quality Virtual Reality applications, while the new Cara Lite product extends its reach in the facial capture market. The group continues to target its R&D spend in areas of known customer demand while also leveraging the existing IP within the business."
Filtronic (FTC)
FY17 results | Panmure Gordon, 1 Aug
Gold Access
"Filtronic, the designer and manufacturer of microwave electronics for the wireless telco market, has announced an impressive set of FY17 results. Revenues were up 160%, principally driven by strong orders from within the Wireless segment (over three-fold increase in revenues). Moreover, Wireless earnings have swung comfortably from loss into profitability. Cash flows were stronger than initially expected and the business ended with net cash of £2.6m (initial PG forecast £1.2m vs net debt of £0.3m May-16)."
Walker Greenbank (WGB)
Making headway | Edison, 2 Aug
Free Access
"Our estimates show a good step forward in expected FY18 earnings for Walker Greenbank and H117 pre-close statement comments are consistent with this. Underlying progress is being supplemented by acquisition and positive translation effects against the prior year. The rating has risen following recent share price moves but a premium rating is fully justified in our view."
Mi-Pay Group (MPAY)
Significant contract win de-risks forecasts | Zeus Capital, 3 Aug
Gold Access
"Mi-Pay has announced a significant new contract with an existing client. The contract is for an initial three-year period and was won in a competitive process against the joint incumbent provider. This secures existing revenues and will generate substantial growth in payment transaction value. Over the contract period, it is expected to have a cumulative impact on annualised transaction volumes of c. €100m. Putting this in context, total transaction volumes in FY16 for this client amounted to €25m. We take the opportunity to de-risk forecasts, providing a much higher degree of certainty with regards FY18 and FY19 revenue estimates. "
