Most popular equity research this week | 4 - 8 Feb

Frontier Developments (FDEV)

FY 2019 earnings and cash already in the bank | finnCap, 6 Feb

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"H1 sales have come in slightly ahead of last month’s upbeat trading update, driven by the success of the third franchise game, Jurassic World Evolution (JWE). That success has seen H1 2019 revenue jump to £64.7m, up 240% YoY. Riding on the back of the Universal film release, as well as excellent reviews from players and gaming magazines, sales of JWE exceeded 2m units just 7 months after launch. We lifted forecasts with the update, but today we again nudge forward expected FY 2019 sales from £81.5m to £83.0m, although at this stage we leave earnings expectations largely unchanged..."

Frontier Developments (FDEV)

Record revenues and profits | Liberum, 6 Feb

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"Frontier Developments strategy is to grow a portfolio of game franchises by launching, and then supporting, each game. Interims show a record set of results on the back of the very successful JWE launch and encouraging player engagement from the other two franchises..."

Frontier Developments (FDEV)

CEO Video: David Braben | Liberum, 8 Feb

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"In these five short videos Frontier Developments CEO, David Braben discusses the record interim results, the continued success of Jurassic World Evolution, the importance of the Chinese market, future Frontier franchises and the big industry themes in 2019..."

Duke Royalty (DUKE)

A step change in scale | Cenkos, 4 Feb

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"Duke has announced the acquisition of Capital Step, the only known rival provider of royalty finance and debt products to SMEs in UK&I. The acquisition materially accelerates development of Duke's royalty portfolio, adding 6 core new investments (to a total of 11) in several new sectors. This adds significant diversification, de-risking the portfolio to individual names/sectors..."

Scientific Digital Imaging (SDI)

9% accretive acquisition – complements ATC | finnCap, 4 Feb

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"SDI is acquiring Thermal Exchange Ltd, a manufacturer and supplier of cooling and temperature control equipment for the industrial, medical and scientific markets. The company is paying c.£1.1m to acquire the company, which represents historic FY 2018 EV/Sales and EV/EBIT multiples of 0.8x and 5.3x, respectively. The acquisition is being funded from cash with net cash at year-end expected to be c.£0.7m. This transaction represents another example of the company building out a suite of complementary businesses that should offer cross-selling opportunities to drive organic growth..."

Marks & Spencer | Halfords | Ted Baker

Consumer Discretionary - Dealspotting and other news | Liberum, 4 Feb

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"January has seen a widening of the gap between winners and losers in Retail. Of the 42 public companies that reported across the consumer space since 2nd Jan, 10 have seen their share prices fall, 17 have been steady and 15 have risen following their respective updates..."

Strix Group (KETL)

Proposed asset acquisition | Zeus Capital, 7 Feb

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"Strix has made an offer for certain assets of HaloSource Corporation for c. $1.3m (c. £1.0m). HaloSource’s technology is focused on water filtration. Its astreaTM One reusable drinking water bottle is the only one currently certified to remove lead, a significant issue in the US, to the NSF-53 Standard. The business was listed on London’s AIM market and the shares were suspended on 20th December 2018 due to the failure to raise financing to fund it as a going concern..."

Crest Nicholson (CRST)

Short-term safety, medium-term potential | Liberum, 4 Feb

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"The short term outlook has been de-risked as management focuses on cash flow to pay a high dividend and generate a surplus. In the medium term, we expect restored profit momentum, driven by repositioning (by price-point and tenure), lower land and build costs, and incremental profits from JVs..."

Mysale Group (MYSL)

Poor H1 result, but mitigations put it on track to deliver full year numbers | N+1 Singer, 8 Feb

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"MySale has released a trading update covering the 6 months ended 31 December, indicating that the full year outcome will be in line with market expectations, which were revised on 11 December. The principle challenge they experienced was greater than anticipated market disruption, and execution challenges, after the new sales tax rules were introduced in Australia, MySale’s largest market (>75% of sales). This was exacerbated by the product mix, and an insufficient proportion of own-buy inventory being located in the local DC. Revenue has also been impacted by the reduction in offline activities, albeit this is planned and supports working capital improvements..."

S&U (SUS)

Positive Trading Update | Capital Access Group, 7 Feb

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"This week's trading update from S & U confirmed the trends highlighted in December. The market for its core Advantage non-prime motor finance business remains positive notwithstanding UK economic uncertainty and greater competition. Since the November 2018 decision to increase investment in the bridging business, Aspen Bridging Finance's experience has been positive. This fledgling business is set to contribute to earnings in the year to January 2019. We reflected the slower pace of Advantage loan growth in forecasts immediately following December 2018's trading update, and do not feel further adjustments are necessary based on the release yesterday..."