Secure Trust Bank - V12 Retail Finance to support refreshed targets

In its Q323 trading update, Secure Trust Bank (STB) posted 1.7% q o q growth in net lending alongside 2.6% growth in its deposits. This was despite a 7% fall in new business lending from an elevated Q223 comparable as consumer spending weakened. More importantly, STB also hosted a capital markets day (CMD), where management reiterated the medium-term 14–16% return on average equity (RoAE) target and presented on the V12 Retail Finance business in detail. The RoAE should be supported by an improv

Terminating coverage

Secure Trust Bank+ (STB, House Stock at 606p) - Treble your money

Secure Trust Bank+ (STB, House Stock, 600p) - Q3 trading update and CMD

Secure Trust Bank - One-off impairment masks underlying PBT beat

In its H123 results, Secure Trust Bank (STB) delivered an 11% y o y increase in operating income, overcoming margin pressure on rising interest rates. However, PBT was £16.5m, 4% lower than in H122 as the bank incurred a one-off impairment charge of £7.0m stemming from a long-standing debt case in Commercial Finance. Excluding this charge, PBT was £23.5m, which implies a 6% beat on our estimates on an annualised basis. Across the group, underlying impairments are resilient, especially in Vehicle

Updating forecasts post H1'23 results

FLASH: CY23 consensus PBT remains realistic

Secure Trust Bank - Positioned for strong growth in FY23

Secure Trust Bank (STB) announced a robust trading update with net lending exceeding £3bn, driven by a 17.7% sequential increase in new business lending. Deposits also significantly increased year-on-year by 16.2%. STB has expanded its capital position through the issuance of £90m tier 2 capital bonds, which is now complete. The augmented capital will provide the bank with growth opportunities in its lending activities. Management states that STB is trading in line with expectations and remains

Encouraging Q1'23 update

Secure Trust Bank - Lower-risk growth strategy delivers profit beat

Secure Trust Bank (STB) beat expectations in FY22 as it continued its strategy of growing exposure to prime lending products and utilising its proprietary technology. Driven by prime lending growth, operating income from continuing operations rose 14% to £169.6m which, combined with the ongoing cost efficiency programme, led to 28% pre-impairment PBT growth. PBT from continuing operations fell to £39.0m (£55.9m) as impairments normalised following one-off releases which benefited STB in FY21. ST

Disciplined approach to growth

Encouraging CY22 result

Octopus Renewables Infrastructure

ORIT: renewables diversified across stage, technology, and geography…

DSW Capital+ (DSW, House Stock at 51p) - H1 results –promising outlook

LIBERUM: PayPoint: Growth is not priced in

H1'24 results: strength of the model evident

Vanquis Banking Group+ (VANQ, House Stock at 112p) - Adding flesh to the bones

Duke Royalty - In Royal Health

Duke has released its H1/24A interim results for the period ending 30th September 2023 that are in-line with expectations. Recurring cash revenues increased 17% to £12.2m, whilst total cash revenues increased 35% to £14.1m. The portfolio continues to be resilient despite macroeconomic headwinds, and c£18m of capital was deployed across new and existing investments. We iterate a 1-year price target of 45p based on a target FCF yield of 8%.

Agronomics - A unique offering in a rapidly developing sector

Agronomics (ANIC) invests in cellular agriculture companies. Since mid-2022 it has placed increasing emphasis on companies using precision fermentation technology or providing contract precision fermentation services, as these appear to have greater near-term commercial potential than cultivated meat and seafood. Agronomics’ NAV has risen almost 100% since the inception of the current strategy in April 2019, and looks set to increase further as the company’s portfolio holdings receive regulatory

Critical Metals plc releases its Final Results

Key Points CRTM reported a loss of £2.7M for the 12 months ending 30 June 2023. Increased indirect ownership of the Molulu project from 40% to 70%, streamlining the corporate structure. Commenced copper ore production at Molulu in January 2023. In October 2023, the Company announced that it had entered into an off-take agreement with O.M Metal & Resources S.A.R.L, for a minimum of 20,000 tonnes of copper oxide ore. Raised £600,000 at a price of 25p per share and raised a further £1.3M at 25p per

LIBERUM: CPP Group: Disposal of Globiva

Hardman & Co Insight: Higher interest rates overshadow IIC/REIF prospects

Hardman & Co Research’s focus is on the nine quoted infrastructure investment companies (IICs) and on the 22 renewable energy infrastructure funds (REIFs), most of which saw their share prices fall during 2022, while the FTSE 100 rose by just 0.9%. In our Quoted UK Infrastructure and Renewable Energy – Prospects for 2023 publication, we have addressed the three key issues of recent months: higher inflation, extremely volatile power prices and rising interest rates.

The Joy of Techs - Cavendish Technology quarterly sector note

£23.3bn in enterprise value has been returned to AIM technology shareholders over the past six years in the form of 51 public to private takeouts, including 10 in 2023 alone with the takeovers of Smoove* and Tribal announced in early October. With UK valuations appearing cheap and looking more attractive to potential acquirers, we take a moment to reflect on the trends of corporate and private equity bidders targeting AIM-listed technology companies going back to 2017, through the uncertainties

Delivering growth in uncertain markets

Positive interims from Vp this morning highlight another period of growth despite the mixed market backdrop. The results again illustrate the benefit of Vp’s diverse mix of specialist activities, with the quality of earnings confirmed by further growth in operating margin (now 13.9%) and ROCE (14.7%). Strategic priorities include continued progress with ESG initiatives and a greater emphasis on Digital, with more on this likely to follow later in the year. We maintain our Fair Value estimate o

AVI Global

AGT is trading at its widest ‘double discount’ since the great financial crisis…

LIBERUM: PayPoint: Yield cross with strong EBIT growth

The Hardman & Co Monthly: September 2022

Feature article: Macro issues dominate investor sentiment - Some basics for investors The big topics in the investment world at the moment seem to be macroeconomic. With that in mind, we thought it would be useful to revisit some of the basics of the terms being used in the current environment, and to remind investors of the things to look out for (indeed, many younger investors may not have come across some of these influences in their investing lifetime): • Recession does not affect