Tasty - Trading update and restructuring plan

Trading conditions remained difficult in 2023, impacted by intense cost-of-living pressures, transportation strikes, and significant inflationary pressure on labour, food and utilities. In response, Tasty implemented various efficiency measures which helped narrow FY23 EBITDA losses to -£0.9m (FY22A: -£2.7m loss). With the economic environment remaining challenging, however, Tasty intends to implement a restructuring plan (funded by a new £750k loan with potential for conversion), which will inv

Morning Note – 27 September 2023

Tasty - Interim Results

Well-documented cost-of-living pressures continue to have a material impact on the casual dining sector, and Tasty is no exception. LFL sales rose +1.4% YoY in H1 to £21.7m, which was offset by material cost inflation (food, labour, utilities etc), leading to Adj EBITDA reducing to £1.1m (H1/22 £2.7m). Whilst trading conditions are likely to remain challenging in the near-term, we see grounds for optimism in FY24 – inflation is falling steadily and the Bank of England recently held interest rate

Hybridan Small Cap Feast - 30 Mar 23

30 March 2023 @HybridanLLP Status of this Note and Disclaimer This document has been issued to you by Hybridan LLP for information purposes only and should not be construed in any circumstances as an offer to sell or solicitation of any offer to buy any security or other financial instrument, nor shall it, or the fact of its distribution, form the basis of, or be relied upon in connection with, any contract relating to such action. This document has no regard for the specific investment objectiv

cenkos: Tasty Plc -- Full year results

Despite relentless industry headwinds, Tasty has continued to show its resilience against the tightening of consumer purse strings with revenues rising by 26% to £44.0m, a level not seen since before the pandemic. A buoyant top line is a testament to the Group's differentiated product offering and value for money proposition as it remains relevant despite the ongoing cost-of-living crisis. However, adj EBITDA declined to £2.6m, a 67% YoY reduction, a direct result of inflationary pressures from

Hybridan Small Cap Feast - 17 Feb 23

17 February 2023 @HybridanLLP Status of this Note and Disclaimer This document has been issued to you by Hybridan LLP for information purposes only and should not be construed in any circumstances as an offer to sell or solicitation of any offer to buy any security or other financial instrument, nor shall it, or the fact of its distribution, form the basis of, or be relied upon in connection with, any contract relating to such action. This document has no regard for the specific investment objec

Cenkos: Consumer Q1/23

Key Observations Despite a second successive decline in CPI during the quarter, inflation remained at one of the highest levels in 40 years (10.5% in December) contributing to a winter of discontent, with each day in December facing some form of industrial action. The industrial action materially impacted the consumer sector and provided an insight into the simmering frustration around the decline in real wages of the UK population. There were multiple examples of consumer corporate failures d

Cenkos: Consumer Q3/22 Review

Third Quarter Key Observations  Escalating inflation continued to cut further into consumers' discretionary income, impacting demand across the consumer sector. The systemic rise in input costs significantly impacted companies' bottom lines, testing the resilience of even the strongest in the sector, as businesses balanced the long-term need to maintain relevance to their customer base (in terms of pricing & quality) whilst also seeking to navigate immediate economic challenges. The Gf

Cenkos: Tasty Plc -- Navigating industry headwinds

Momentum for the Group has remained with consumer pent up demand continuing to fuel the wider hospitality sector. The Group's revenue for the period rose by 85.3% whilst Adj EBITDA rose by 237.5%. This strong performance is despite the onset of the cost-of-living crisis during the period and is testament to the Group's value for money proposition. With the inflationary environment becoming more acute and exacerbating the current cost-of-living crisis, consumer discretionary spending will increas

Cenkos: Tasty Plc -- Strong performance despite challenges

Tasty Plc has produced solid revenue growth of c44% and an increase in Adj EBITDA of £2.7m to £8.0m. This growth was underpinned by; continued consumer pent up demand for socialising, an appreciation of the brand, and increases in takeaway and delivery. The Group has proven its resilience to adapt to the pandemic related challenges and should be well equipped to operate under current and future challenges, namely the strong inflationary pressures. With the planned removal of government support r

Hybridan Small Cap Feast 08/03/2022

Joiners: No Joiners Today. Leavers: No Leavers Today. What’s cooking in the IPO kitchen? Summerway Capital plc, (AIM:SWC) to be renamed Celadon Pharmaceuticals plc following completion of the acquisition of Vertigrow Technology Ltd, is to relist on AIM. Vertigrow is a UK based pharmaceutical Company specialising in the researching, growing and supply of medicinal cannabis, for a total consideration of £80m. Summerway is an investing company focused on investment and acquisition opportunities acr

Hybridan Small Cap Feast 04/01/2022

While we were away Joiners: Mac Alpha Limited (MACA.L) joined the Main Market. (24/12/21) Atome Energy PLC (ATOM.L) joined AIM. (30/12/21) Leavers: No leavers What’s cooking in the IPO kitchen? Graft Polymer a business focused on the development of polymer modification and drug delivery systems is to join the Main Market (Standard). Graft Polymer has developed a proprietary set of polymer modification technologies, which can improve existing products and processing methodologies by enhancing per

Cenkos: Tasty Plc -- Opportunities emerging from the pandemic

Tasty delivered c33% YoY revenue growth ahead of general market performance as the number of UK casual dining restaurants has reduced by c20% since the start of the pandemic. However, the UK eating out market is expected to grow by c33% in FY21E and we believe Tasty is well positioned to take advantage of the restaurant closures and reduced supply in the sector with a healthy net cash position, and a clear strategy to increase market share.

Cenkos: Tasty Plc -- Positioned to recover as restrictions ease

Tasty delivered like-for-like revenue growth ahead of management's expectations in the first two months of the year and whilst lockdown restrictions were lifted during the summer. However, the full effect of COVID-19 severely impacted FY20A financial performance. The Group managed their cash through consensual negotiations and implementing cost controls and a strategic site sale, ending the year in a net cash position after deferred payments of £1.5m. The Group is in a strong position with a low

Well positioned for future success

Strong performance against tough market conditions

LIBERUM: The Liberum Leisure Digest: NLW increase - pricing power is key

Domino's Pizza - Growing the base

Domino’s Pizza Group’s (DOM’s) new CEO has set an ambitious long-term growth target, including an acceleration in its net store opening programme. With better alignment between the company and its franchisees, management believes DOM should be capable of generating improved profit growth, versus that achieved in recent years, and potential higher returns.

PROGRESSIVE: Vertu Motors: Traction control

Vertu is the fourth largest automotive retailer in the UK, with 188 sales outlets and a track record of cross-cycle growth, principally through businesses it has acquired, funded by equity, debt and most importantly cash generation. Vertu operates across the entire vehicle lifecycle, including new and used vehicle sales, and vehicle servicing, repair and parts. Service and repair is a 40+% gross margin repeating business. With economic headwinds, the transition to electric vehicles, recent overs

Pinewood Technologies (PINE LN) - Driving growth in automotive software

Pinewood’s transition to a pure-play automotive SaaS business is now largely complete. Today we introduce summary forecasts out to FY26 and reiterate the investment case. We see significant opportunity for Pinewood to grow its user base in the UK and internationally whilst generating high EBITDA margins and cash conversion. With a 24.5p special dividend embedded in the current price (payable Q1/Q2), the effective price today is 12.3p. Based on the Group’s FY27 target of £27m EBITDA, we estimate

React Inititation of Coverage

React Group is a well-managed, growing UK services business with a high degree of recurring revenues (c87%).

Marks & Spencer+ (MKS, House Stock at 255p) - 7Y FS HSBC UK tie-up– another brick in the wall

PROGRESSIVE: Zoo Digital: Recovery underway and a significant contract

Today’s trading statement from ZOO highlights a ramp-up in demand following the end to the industry-wide strikes of last year. ZOO struck a note of caution in its January update regarding the timing of orders. However new productions are starting to translate into a healthy order pipeline, with a good recovery in revenue anticipated in H1 FY25. The update guides to revenue of at least $40m for the year to March 2024, ahead of our estimate at $36.8m. We have improved our adjusted EBITDA loss marg

Zeus Top Picks for 2024 - 2023 review and outlook for 2024

On 9 January last year, we set out our ten top stock picks for 2023, for what turned out to be another relatively poor twelve months for UK equities due to two wars, stubbornly high inflation and further tightening of monetary policy. This was even as other major markets, such as the US, largely recovered in the year. In the 2023 calendar year, the AIM All-Share index fell 8.2% and is still 42% off its 2021 high. From the release of our 2023 top picks note, the average total return (assuming div

Allenby Capital - Nightcap plc - Interims

Nightcap’s interims for the 6m to end December 2023 were in line with expectations, as such, we make no changes to our forecasts. The number of bars at the period end was 46 up from 36 a year earlier – the expansion driven by the June 2023 acquisition of Dirty Martini. The portfolio expansion led to a year-on-year revenue increase of 42% to £33.4m and 5% growth in underlying EBITDA (IAS 17) to £2.1m. Post period end the Company announced the acquisition of Piano Works funded by a £1m equity rais

Judges Scientific+ (JDG, House Stock at 11,600p) - FY23A - solid organic order book

ME Group - Modernising and growing the estate driving growth

During 2023, ME Group commenced the deployment of its next generation photobooths, which are integrated with the group’s newly developed proprietary software, gained market leadership in the Japanese photobooth market with an acquisition, continued to roll out laundry units with existing and new location partners, commenced a share buyback programme and gained entry into the FTSE 250. 2023 was a year of significant strategic and financial progress, with sales up 15%, EPS up 31% and net cash main

Hardman & Co Healthcare Index: 2023 – Capital demands dent performance

The Hardman & Co Healthcare Index (HHI) has been running since 2009. Its main function is to highlight the attractions of life sciences investments over the long term. For the second year running, apart from global economic influences affecting world markets, performance in 2023 was dented by the capital-intensive nature of the sector. The HHI fell 3.7%, to 483.8, underperforming the main London markets – FTSE 100 (+3.8%) and FTSE All-Share (3.8%) but outperforming the FTSE AIM All-Share Index (

B90 Holdings (B90 LN) - Successful transition, outlook unchanged

2023 revenue is expected to be in line with expectations. Adjusted EBITDA loss is expected to be higher than we expected.