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

LIBERUM: The Liberum Leisure Digest: Festive cheer, optimistic new year

LIBERUM: The Liberum Leisure Digest: Encouraging updates, falling markets

Morning Song

Gresham Technologies (GHT LN) Improving win-rate in H2 and pipeline underpins confidence in full year | Hargreaves Services (HSP LN)Wolf Minerals Update | Hollywood Bowl Group (BOWL LN) Robust YE update | Marston’s (MARS LN) Slightly soft end to the year | Miton Group (MGR LN) Flow momentum continues into Q3 | Sanderson Group (SND LN) Significant progress in FY18, full year revenue and profit slightly ahead | Scapa Group (SCPA LN) In line H1 trading update | Springfield Properties (SPR LN) Site

Morning Song

Augean (AUG LN) Strong H1 PBT growth; material reduction in net debt | Brewin Dolphin Holdings (BRW LN) Impressive 8% annualised discretionary flows in Q3 | Burford Capital (BUR LN) H1 results – c.15% up on a strong comp – increasing estimates and TP | Earthport (EPO LN) Continued progress with operational changes | EKF Diagnostics (EKF LN) Exclusive agreement with Asahi Kasei expands US products portfolio | IDOX (IDOX LN) Framework in place for improved future performance | Marston’s (MARS LN)

Morning Song

Augean (AUG LN) Consultation on Colt; group trading in line | Brewin Dolphin Holdings (BRW LN) Solid outturn, margin maintained in H1 | Itaconix (ITX LN) Joint marketing effort defined with AkzoNobel | LiDCO Group (LID LN) Trading update points to increased US traction | Marston’s (MARS LN) Broadly in line interims | Speedy Hire (SDY LN) Earnings momentum continues with results ahead of expectations | Zotefoams (ZTF LN) Placing to invest in (even more) new capacity

Key takeaways from the Consumer reporting season

With a busy reporting season behind us we use this note to take stock. Stepping back we pull out the key themes which emerged across the sub-sectors we actively follow in the consumer space. On balance there was more cause for optimism. This is supportive of our top-down view that there is scope for a better H2 for consumer related stocks as cost headwinds ease and pressure on disposable income moderates. We also take a close look at 7 stocks we actively research and which reported over March an

Morning Song

dotdigital Group (DOTD LN) In line trading update | Harwood Wealth (HW LN) FY17 adj. EBITDA 8% ahead, strong growth in KPIs | Marston’s (MARS LN) Mixed start to the year | N Brown Group (BWNG LN) Growth over peak, with promos offset by FS margin+ cost improvements

Mixed start to the year

Marston’s AGM update for 16 weeks shows satisfactory underlying momentum in a difficult sector. However, there has been a small adverse impact on profitability from snow in December (the Group’s managed pubs has a midlands bias, the area most affected area by snow in December). Adjusting for the snow, the Group has traded broadly in line in what is a challenging market. Conversely, there is much better commentary around the wet led Taverns and Leased estate. Brewing appears to have had a good st

N+1 Singer - Marston's - Reassuring tenor to finals; no further downgrades

Having updated the market last month, finals are bang in line at the PBT level, implying y-o-y growth of 3%. EPS of 14.2p has come in a smidgen above our 13.8p. For those investors attracted by the stocks yield / progressive DPS policy there is good news re the DPS, with the final up 1% implying 3% y-o-y growth to 7.5p (vs our 7.6p) – 1.9x cover. We also note NAV of 147p at the year-end. Commentary on current trading is reassuring with LFL growth seen in the last 10 weeks, this is reassuring giv

N+1 Singer - Marston's - YE update not as bad as feared & sensible moves to protect cash and profitability in FY18

Coming into today’s YE update poor sector newsflow over the last 2 months had weighed negatively on the Marston’s share price. In this context a satisfactory update and pro-active steps in the form of cost savings next year should be welcomed by the market today. Whilst trading in the last 10 weeks has been more challenging, due partly to the wet weather, it’s not been a disaster for Marston’s. We do not expect consensus forecasts to change much today, but we are lowering our FY17 EPS by 3% and

N+1 Singer - Morning Song 23-06-2017

ABZA (ABZA) Supported by capacity shortage and CDMO M&A | blur Group (BLUR LN) Update on financing, business plan and current trading | Marston’s (MARS LN) Updated forecasts & view

Topps Group (TPT LN) - Initiation: Market leader trading at cyclical lows

Topps Group is the UK’s largest specialist supplier and distributor of tiles and associated products to the UK’s domestic and commercial markets. Each of the last three years the Group has successfully achieved record revenue in a market that’s seen recent volume declines and regional peers enter administration. Following the right sizing of its business, Topps Group is now well positioned to capitalise on the economic recovery and continue taking share from competitors, supported by its global

HeiQ - Forecast update and Ecolab contract

HeiQ reported its interim results for the 12-months to December 2023, a period characterised by challenging conditions in the markets in which the company currently operates. In-line with the recent trading update, the company reported revenues of $41.7m for FY23 and closed the period with a cash balance of c$10m and a net debt position of $2.2m. We have updated our forecasts to reflect the FY23 results and HeiQ’s outlook in 2024, leaving our revenue forecast unchanged but adjusting gross margin

Morning Note – 24 April 2024

Pinewood Technologies (PINE LN) - Strong results, growth ahead

Pinewood Technologies’ results for the 13 months to 31 January 2024 confirmed good growth in user numbers, revenue and operating profit for the continuing automotive software business. Our unchanged forecasts (see 6 March research) show strong revenue growth, high margins, and good cash generation over the period to FY26 as the Group executes its accelerated growth plan. As of Tuesday this week, Pinewood’s shares are ex-dividend and a 1-for-20 share consolidation is effective, meaning our discou

LIBERUM: Tortilla Mexican Grill: Prioritising profitability over roll-out

PROGRESSIVE: Gear4music: FY24 trading in-line and debt reduction ahead of market expectations

At its FY23 results in June 2023, G4M announced its intention to focus on product margins, overhead cost reduction, and efficiency ahead of revenue growth, along with further net debt reduction, in FY24. The FY24 year-end trading update confirms G4M has delivered on these rebalanced priorities, with gross margin rising and net debt almost halving compared with FY23. Cost savings achieved in FY24 and the continued development of higher-margin categories should deliver further upside in FY25E.

Hybridan Small Cap Feast - 24 April 24

24th April 2024 * A corporate client of Hybridan LLP ** Arranged by type of listing and date of announcement *** Alphabetically arranged **** Potential means Intention to Float (ITF) has been announced Dish of the day Admissions: Delistings: What’s baking in the oven? ** Potential**** Initial Public Offerings: Reverse Takeovers: 16 April 2024: Electric Guitar (ELEG.L) Concurrent with its Admission to trading on AIM, Electric Guitar is proposing to acquire the entire issued share capital of 3radi

React Group H1 Trading Update

React Group has released a positive update that has confirmed that the strong 2H 2023A momentum has continued into 1H 2024E, with what was described as a ‘record trading performance'.

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

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

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

PPHE Hotel Group Limited

PPHE has released its usual Q1 trading update (31 March period-end) which reads reassuringly. The outlook says that “the Board remains confident in delivering full year performance in line with market expectations”. Revenue rose by 11.9%, from £68.8m to £77.0m. Growth was 11.0% on a Like-for-like (LFL) basis excluding the first three months of operation from art’otel Zagreb, Croatia. Revenue growth was driven by a rise in occupancy as room rates continued to normalise across both leisure, corpo

AKA: Initiating Coverage of a.k.a. Brands with Buy and $14 PT: Upside Ahead

We are initiating coverage of a.k.a. Brands Holding Corp. ("a.k.a. Brands" or the "company"), a leading owner of primarily online apparel-based brands focused on Generation Z and Millennial consumers, with a Buy rating and $14.00 price target, or 10.9X our 2025 EBITDA projection of $20.2 million. The company's brands include: 1) Princess Polly, focusing on 15 to 25 year-old women; 2) Petal & Pup, which offers feminine styles for 25 to 34 year-old women; 3) Culture Kings, a street wear destinatio

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.

HeiQ - Acquisition, placing and trading update

HeiQ has announced the acquisition of a site in Portugal where the company intends to build a HeiQ AeoniQ production facility with a 3,000 tonne per year capacity. To support the acquisition, the company intends to raise c£2.44m via an equity placing, supported by the issue of a c£1.7m (€1.97m) convertible loan note (largely to management) that will convert upon completion of the raise. We see this as an important step in the development programme for HeiQ AeoniQ. Additionally, HeiQ has provided