Positive trading on favourable sports results, easy comps

Ladbrokes released a robust set of Q4 trading figures. For the full year: Net revenue up 4% Digital +17% European Retail +14%

UK Gambling

UK papers reporting over the weekend that newly appointed Secretary of State to the Department of Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) is in favour of a £2 maximum stake on category B2 machines in betting shops.. Papers referencing “overwhelming response has persuaded them to reduce the maximum stake to £2.” The consultation on B2 stakes will conclude tomorrow 23 January 2018 and where we weren’t expecting a final decision on the matter for c. 6 – 8 weeks after the end of the consultation period. It

Expect to see healthy margins for 4Q17 from bookmakers

Sportsbook margins in October and November were healthy for bookmakers with no run of results favouring punters. We expect that December 2017 would have been another healthy month for bookmakers, and as a result we should expect to see strong sports margin generation for Q4. Furthermore, the results will look particularly good, YoY, compared to a 4Q16 where results favoured punters and bookmaker sports margins were lower as a result.

Q3 17 in line ahead of January triennial review

Ladbrokes released a quite decent set of top-line figures for the 4-month period to 29 October. Key highlights Revenue up 3% Digital up 12% Lfl UK Retail down 1% European Retail up 17%

Higher dividends and reassuring current trading offset a weak H1 17

Following its July trading update, Ladbrokes Coral today released its first half results. Key highlights On a pro forma basis: Revenue up 1%, to £1,204.2m EBITDA broadly stable at £211m 2p interim dividend (+1p), 4p FY guidance (AV: 4.5p) Synergies guidance upgraded As stated in July, further IT cost savings and the upward adjustment of horse racing gross win margins led the company to upgrade 2019 synergies for a second time, from £100m to £150m (o/w c.£45m in 2017 and c.£130m in 201

Online momentum hardly offsets deteriorating UK Retail

Ladbrokes released a rather mixed H1 trading update, marked by deteriorating trends in the UK high streets, continued online growth and revised merger synergies. Key highlights Net revenue up 1% (-1% cc) Operating profit guidance £153.3-158.3m Digital net revenue up 17% UK Retail down 6% European Retail down 1%

Weak Retail offset by stronger Online and FX tailwinds

Ladbrokes released a fairly disappointing set of results for the 113 day period from Sunday 1 January 2017 to Sunday 23 April 2017, marked by lower gross win margins at Eurobet and a disappointing UK Retail, although both offset by solid growth in Digital. Key highlights On a pro forma basis, excluding divested shops; Revenue up by 5% (+2%cc) UK Retail down by 2% Digital up by 22% (+18%cc) European Retail down by 3% (-15%cc) Management confirmed that the triennial review was likely to

2016 in line, disappointing start to 2017

Following its January trading update, Ladbrokes Coral released its full-year results. Key highlights For the full year, pro forma group revenue reached £2,352m, up 11% yoy, pro forma underlying EBITDA reached £380.7m, up 14% yoy while operating profit reached £264.3m. Once adjusted for exceptional items linked to the merger, reported operating profit reached £121m, 3.5% above the £117m guidance. During Q4, pro forma group revenue was up 6%, translating a 25% (+19%cc) increase in Digital’s net

Q4 trading update in line with expectations

Ladbrokes Coral has released its Q4 trading update. UK Retail’s net revenue was down 4% yoy, mostly translating lower OTC net revenue, down 11% yoy on lower lfl stakes (-5% yoy) and the gross win margin (2pp below expectations, at 16.5%). Digital’s net revenue was up 18%, with Ladbrokes.com up 17% and Coral.co.uk up 13%. The Australian business was up 45% at cc, supported by a 57% increase in stakes. Management expects the full-year pro forma group EBIT to be within the £275-285m range (at l

Ladbrokes Coral: Birth of a gambling giant.

As expected, Ladbrokes and Gala Coral have completed their merger. The CMA green lights were given after c.322 betting offices had been sold, as required by the competition authorities. To finance the merger, 866,518,803 consideration shares were issued and were added to the 29,174,406 shares issued to pay Playtech a £40m payment related to the Marketing Service Agreement. These 895,693,209 shares will be added to the 1,050,455,117 existing shares. Board Changes The following changes to the b

Gala Coral Q4 trading update

Gala Coral released a positive albeit concise Q4 trading update. Total net revenue was up 8.9%. By division: Retail revenue was up 0.3% Eurobet Retail was up 31.2% Online activities were up 23.7%

Weak Retail offset by strong Digital and Australia

Ladbrokes released its Q3 trading update. Total group net revenue was up by 12.1%, despite a relatively low performance in the UK retail activities, which were only up 1.9% despite an increase in the gross win margin. The two biggest growth drivers were Digital and Australia, with net revenues up 48.2% and 89.6%, respectively. Finally, European retail, excluding the UK, was up 11.3% (+1.1% lfl). The company said it remained confident of delivering full-year results in line with its expectation

Well positioned for future success

Strong performance against tough market conditions

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

Initial Equity Trading Comments - 19 February 2024

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

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.

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

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

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

LIBERUM: Safestay: First management contract opens up new revenue stream

Hybridan Small Cap Feast - 17 April 24

17th 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 Inititation of Coverage

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

SSP Group+ (SSPG, House Stock at 218p) - Further progress expected in H1

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

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