STCB: 4Q Review: Setting Up the Next Steps; Reiterate Buy, PT

We are reiterating our Buy rating and $0.25 price target for Starco Brands, leaving our 2024 projections basically unchanged and rolling out another year of double-digit top and EBITDA growth after the company reported inline 4Q23 results and left 2024 guidance unchanged. We believe, with multiple potential expansion opportunities in category adjacencies and new relationships, continued innovation and vertical integration and the potential for further accretive acquisitions (which are not in our

STCB: 4Q Preview; Shooting Higher in 2024; Reiterate Buy, $0.25 PT

We are reiterating our Buy rating and $0.25 price target for Starco Brands with the company announcing 4Q23 (December) results after the close on Monday. We believe 2024, with a full compliment of unique, value-added brands which leverage Starco's aerosol and marketing infrastructure in hand, and a laser focus on adding key categories and new relationships, is shaping up as another year of material progress for Starco. We believe there are also continued margin expansion opportunities from both

STCB: Setting Up for Further 2024 Growth; Reiterate Buy Rating and $0.25 PT

We are reiterating our Buy rating and $0.25 price target for Starco Brands after the company announced basically inline preliminary 2023 results and provided initial 2024 guidance for Adjusted EBITDA which bracketed our projection; as such, we are tweaking higher both our 2023 and 2034 Adjusted EBITDA projections. We believe Starco is ideally positioned to register material top and bottom line growth in 2024 (and beyond) and believe management has remained conservative on multiple levels in thei

STCB: Initiating Coverage of Starco Brands with a Buy Rating and $0.25 PT

We are initiating coverage of Starco Brands, Inc. ("Starco" or the "Company"), an emerging owner and marketer of branded consumer goods, with a Buy rating and price target of $0.25, or 26X our December 2024 Adjusted EBITDA. Starco's stable of brands includes: 1) Art of Sport body and skincare products, 2) Skylar hypoallergenic fragrance and beauty products; 3) Soylent plant-based food products, 4) Whipshots vodka infused whipped cream aerosols and 5) Winona butter flavored popcorn spray. Leverag

Not as immune to the slowdown as had been expected

Over the past 3 months the market believed that, with its best-in-class profile, Diageo would have been less affected by the overall industry slowdown. Today’s profit warning shows the opposite. We prefer Pernod Ricard in the short term due to the U.S. normalization and its ability to capitalize on the rebound in China. There are still some downside risks for Diageo, but the significant setback today might create an attractive entry point for the stock.

Decent results with reassuring US distributor inventory levels

Despite a weak US performance, organic net sales growth reached the street’s expectations, driven by strong price/mix. In general, consumers have shown resilience in bearing the price increases. Excluding pressure on African beer volumes, organic volume growth was up +1%. The US distributor inventory levels returning to historical levels provide comfort.

Diageo PLC: Major Drivers, Financial Forecasts, DCF & Comparables Valuation, ESG & Other Risks (03/23)

Diageo delivered an operating profit and organic top-line growth above the medium-term guidance of the company. Despite the challenging economic environment, organic net sales grew. Net sales were up across all regions. As the company implemented strategic price increases, volume grew. The free cash flow generated shows continued investment in long-term growth. The Super Premium Plus brands of Diageo grew organic net sales. Also, there was strong growth in Guinness, tequila, and scotch. Organic

North America drives the stock down

North America looks to be a concern following what seems to be a clear slow down. Nevertheless, overall organic net sales exceeded the consensus, as did operating profit. Tomorrow’s report from Remy tomorrow will help to draw some conclusions.

Diageo ADR: Initiation of Coverage – Portfolio Split, Competitive Advantage & Other Drivers, Financial Forecasts, DCF & Comparables Valuation, ESG & Other Risks (10/22)

This is our first report on global alcoholic beverage major, Diageo. The company has had a relatively rough patch over the past few quarters and has failed to meet analyst expectations as a result of strong headwinds, supply chain problems, and geopolitical issues. The past quarterly result was decent as its sales increased by 21%, and every region saw double-digit growth. Volume increased by 10%, while price/mix growth increased by 11 points, with pricing contributing to the balanced growth of

Spirits are still all the rage

A reassuring end to the year, with a FY22 beat. The cautious tone for FY23 had been expected given the elevated levels for 2022, but the mid-term (FY23-25) guidance was reiterated. In our view, Diageo remains a core holding given its superior execution and capital allocation.

The good momentum seems intact

The slight sales and EBIT beat is praised. The absence of FY21 guidance slightly darkens the picture but, overall, the figures send a good signal for the industry.

Everything should go well

We were impressed with Diageo’s presentation as it once again demonstrated its ability to outperform the spirits market, which is itself in a strong position to outperform the drinks industry. Buy and hold.

Diageo's solid FY 2021 wasn't enough for the market

It seems that Diageo’s solid FY21 wasn’t enough to keep the share price up (-2.5% at the opening), but this does not extinguish our confidence in the group. Admittedly, the guidance, which is only qualitative, may seem insufficient and, yes, Diageo is the first spirits group to express concerns about a future decline in the off-trade (ultimately not very surprising!), but we believe that the current positive momentum should continue to drive sales levels above those of 2019 in the months to come

Carr's Group - An enhanced value creation strategy

Carr’s Group has announced an updated strategy that offers the potential for value realisation and creation from a number of avenues. These include: value realisation of the Engineering Division; the ability to significantly reduce central costs; and longer-term value creation in the Agriculture Division as a focused business with recovery potential and a strategy to leverage its strong market positions for growth.

M.P. Evans - Tougher year but growing cashflow outlook drives optionality

FY23 results are much in line with overall expectations, helped by a much stronger H2 production and higher purchases of independent crops helping to fill the group’s rising mill capacity. A marginally higher than expected average CPO price mill-gate price of $729/tonne drove the revenue outperformance, but the change in production mix impacted gross margins while slightly higher than anticipated interest, tax and minority charges resulted in EBIT, PBT (Adj.) and EPS (Adj.) just below our foreca

Anpario+ (ANP, House Stock at 230p) - FY24F upgrades - recovery play

Greggs - Showing us how it's done

The second full year of Greggs’ five-year growth plan to double revenue by FY26 should be marked down as very successful, especially so given the challenging external environment. Unlike many consumer-facing companies, high selling price inflation was accompanied by volume growth, leading to good market share gains. The consumer is responding well to new initiatives to grow revenue in new dayparts and digital channels. Profitability was well-managed with better recovery of input cost inflation t

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 (

Initial Equity Trading Comments - 16 May 2023

Ocean Harvest Technology - Harvesting the power of seaweed

Ocean Harvest Technology (OHT), based in the UK, produces animal feed additives products using a composite of blended seaweed. Its patented products have been shown to enhance growth rates in livestock, increase feed efficiency and improve egg quality and quantity for laying poultry. As OHT operates in an attractive market, there is significant potential for its proprietary technology to drive volume growth as awareness of its product benefits increases, along with improving financials.

SP Angel Morning View: Risk sentiment pulls back on geopolitical tensions and concerns over Chinese property market

Hybridan Small Cap Feast - 20 Mar 24

20th March 2024 @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 object

Initial Equity Trading Comments - 20 March 2024

Morning Note – 11 September 2023

Premier Foods+ (PFD, House Stock, 140p) - Strong trading & share gains

Premier Foods+ (PFD, House Stock, 139p) - Pension cash contributions suspended

Morning Note – 19 January 2024

Morning Note – 23 January 2024