- Unbending

Card Factory is a deep value retailer, offering a core product at 99p that retails for twice that at high street competitors. Despite the wide price gap, management is adamant that it does not need to raise prices to maintain profitability, with a range of actions in progress to optimise both top line and cost structure. The share price has fallen steeply, but this could present an opportunity as there are a number of potential catalysts.

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

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

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

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

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

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 (