Morning Note – 27 June 2023

STM - Interest tailwind, but awaiting strategic review

STM has reported final, audited results for FY22. Revenue of £24.1m, +8% y/y, was in line with guidance. EBITDA of £3.3m, +18% y/y, was slightly ahead, while reported PBT of £1.6m was a touch light of the >£1.7m guided. The final DPS of 0.6p was lower than the 0.9p expected, reflecting the delayed conclusion of the strategic review. On an adj. basis, EBITDA before integration & acquisition costs and other non-recurring items was £4.7m, significantly higher than the £2.9m in FY21, with the margin

Morning Note – 30 May 2023

Morning Note – 9 May 2023

Hybridan Small Cap Feast - 18 Jan 23

18 January 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 object

Morning Note – 18 January 2023

Morning Note – 8 June 2022

STM - Final results

The group’s final results are in line with expectations at the stated revenue level and the statement confirms that management expect the strategic and operational initiatives implemented over the last few years as well as the move to a more centralised operating model to eventually result in higher operating margins. As a result, our forecast and target price remain unchanged.

Morning Note – 11 April 2022

STM - Adams v Carey – the end of the long road

STM has been informed by the Supreme Court of its refusal of the group’s attempt to appeal the judgment of the Court of Appeal in the long-standing Adams v Carey case. In effect the Supreme Court has rejected the argument that an administrator cannot be responsible for a non-regulated introducer giving unintended regulated ‘advice’ or ‘making arrangements’. Ironically, this also accepts that STM (via its acquisition of Carey UK Pensions LLP) had adequate controls in place and also recognises tha

Morning Note – 19 November 2021

Morning Note – 14 September 2021

STM - Busy reorganising for growth, backed by recurring income

In line interim results to 30 June 2021: reported revenue was £11.4m, down 3.4%, as a result of the trust disposals; and reported PBT was £0.9m, down 6.5% YoY also as a result of disposals as well as disappointing volumes in certain areas of new business, namely UK SIPPs and the flexible annuity product. Positively, however, higher-than-anticipated revenues came from UK workplace pensions, while recurring revenues improved, reaching 88% without the inclusion of transaction-driven income in the d

finn-ancial Times - finnCap Financials & Insurance quarterly sector note

DeFi (decentralised finance) is a burgeoning sector that has the potential to completely overturn traditional processes in the financials space. It is predicated on the ethos of building a better financial system that circumvents client blacklists, inequality of service provision, geo-blocking, credit scores and paperwork, perhaps implying a disregard for the potential benefits of the current system (not least KYC and AML). Anonymously circumventing the current financial system is not sustainabl

NewRiver REIT+ (NRR, House Stock at 87p) - Credit rating update reinforces balance sheet quality

SP Angel Morning View: China lithium stocks rally on prospects for market rebound

Regional REIT - Dividend rebase pragmatic and sustainable

Regional REIT’s (RGL’s) post-pandemic recovery in new lettings paused in H123, as occupiers adopted a cautious ‘wait and see’ approach, although rents increased and the strong ‘return to the office’ supports RGL’s expectation that leasing will accelerate. With DPS lowered to match reduced income prospects, the shares have fallen sharply, maintaining a sector-high dividend yield. Including asset sales focused on low-income properties, our forecasts show the rebased dividend to be fully covered an

NFT INVESTMENTS PLC (NFT PZ) - NAV Rises to 4.3P per share

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

Henderson Far East Income - Cautious of continued volatility but value on offer

In our last review of Henderson Far East Income (HFEL) in July, Attractive yield despite modest dividend increase, we drew attention to the dividend increase from what is comfortably the highest yielding fund in the AIC Asia Pacific Equity Income sector. It was pleasing to see that in the company’s published full year results to the end of August, the dividends paid by the company were covered and that over £1m was added to the revenue reserves over this period. In this note we examine the drive

Princess Private Equity Holding - Offering an attractive dividend yield

Princess Private Equity Holding (PEY) posted a year-to-date NAV total return (TR) to end-October 2023 of 4.9%, 2.4% of which was from Q323. PEY’s performance continues to be assisted by portfolio earnings, with last-twelve-month (LTM) revenue and EBITDA growth to end-September 2023 of 16% and 15%, respectively, and sustained healthy average EBITDA margin of 24%. PEY’s balance sheet remains firm with c €134m in undrawn credit facility and €3m in cash, further assisted by the Civica sale proceeds

LIBERUM: PensionBee: Hitting milestones despite headwinds

NewRiver REIT+ (NRR, House Stock at 85p) - High quality earnings story – upgrade potential

Initial Equity Trading Comments - 1 December 2023

Early Mover in UK Lab-grown Meat

BSF Enterprise Plc (BSF) is a biotechnology company focused on acquiring, combining, and building businesses in the lab-grown tissue space. It aims to achieve this through an acquisition-led growth strategy and has already acquired the tissue engineering and cellular agriculture company, 3D Bio Tissues.

NextEnergy Solar Fund - H1/24 interim results and asset recycling update

NextEnergy Storage Fund now has 100 operational assets with a combined installed capacity of 933MW and exclusivity over, or ownership of the project rights for, most of its c£500m pipeline of domestic and international solar and energy storage assets. H1/24 performance was robust, with power generation in line with budget and the 36MW Whitecross solar farm energised. The first sale from the asset recycling programme has been completed post-period, with the proceeds being used to reduce short-ter

European Opportunities Trust - Termination of coverage

Edison Investment Research is terminating coverage on European Opportunities Trust (EOT). Please note you should no longer rely on any previous research or estimates for this company. All forecasts should now be considered redundant. Previously published reports can still be accessed via our website.

R&Q Insurance Holdings - FY22 Results

R&Q reported an adjusted group pre-tax operating loss for the year to end December 2022 of US$33.3m (2021 (US$21.4m)). The results were in line with guidance from the April trading statement but represented a significant deterioration YoY as strong results from the Accredited program management business were more than offset by losses in the R&Q Legacy insurance business and higher corporate costs. On an IFRS reported basis, R&Q made a loss of US$297.0m (2021 (US$127.1m)) generating a loss per s

Personal Group Holdings - Solid interims

Personal Group’s interims show strong growth momentum, with revenue up by 34% and EBITDA increasing by 75%. Given strong new insurance sales have continued at the start of H2 and retention levels have remained robust, the group is confident in meeting full-year expectations. The balance sheet remains strong (H1 net cash of £22.6m) and confidence in the outlook is reflected in the 10% increase to the interim dividend. Overall, this is an encouraging set of results and underlines the resilience of