Manx Financial Group - Executing on a high-growth strategy

Manx Financial Group (Manx) posted record PBT of £7m, a 35% increase year-on-year. Manx benefited from strong volumes, a full year contribution from Payment Assist Limited (PAL) and a £1.9m gain on debt securities, which offset funding cost pressures from higher average interest rates. Alongside a 24% increase in lending to £362.7m, it maintained robust credit quality, with its cost of risk (CoR) decreasing by 20bp y-o-y to 1.3%. As a result, the group delivered a strong return on average equity

Manx Financial Group - UK deposit taking licence approved

Manx Financial Group (MFX) has announced that its wholly owned subsidiary, Conister Bank, has obtained regulatory approval to accept deposits in the UK. The new licence approval – authorised by the Prudential Regulation Authority, FCA and FSA – provides a step change in Conister’s options for sourcing liquidity to fulfil its growth ambitions with a range of UK deposits and wholesale funding.

Manx Financial Group - Rapid growth tempered by margin pressure

Manx Financial Group (MFX) posted record PBT of £3m supported by record new lending of £183m in H123. Conister Bank experienced margin compression of 6% as rising interest rates were passed on to savers more quickly than borrowers. However, group net interest margin (NIM) rose 1.5 percentage points y-o-y to 8.2% as Payment Assist (PAL, currently 50.1% owned) grew rapidly. Altogether, EPS fell to 1.67p/share from 1.89p/share, and net attributable profit declined by 11% y-o-y to £1.9m. The outlook

Manx Financial Group - Record PBT driven by niche growth strategy

Manx Financial Group (MFG) has delivered impressive growth in a weak economy through its strategy of investing in niche markets. PBT rose 71% to a record £5.2m and net attributable profit rose 55% to £4.3m due to a combination of organic growth and an initial contribution from 50%-owned Payment Assist (PAL). Return on equity (ROE) expanded to 15.9% from 11.8% in 2021. PAL was consolidated for just over three months and contributed 13.5% of PBT in FY22. Hence, we calculate a pro-forma PBT run-rat

Manx Financial Group - Strong H122, well positioned for macro headwinds

Manx Financial Group (MFG) had a strong H122, with a PBT of £2.3m more than doubling and a return on average equity (ROE) of 16.8%. Loans grew 16% as the group continues to reposition itself into prime lending segment ahead of the more challenging macroeconomic environment. The net interest margin improved to 8.9% (8.5% in H121) and impairments remain under control with an annualised charge of 1.9% (2.1% in H121). Conister Bank (MFG’s bank) has formally applied for a UK branch deposit-taking lic

Hybridan Small Cap Feast 27/10/22

Dish of the day Joiners: Unicorn Mineral Resources (UMR) has joined the Standard Segment of the Main Market. Unicorn Mineral Resources plc is an Irish exploration company, incorporated on 25 March 2010. Unicorn’s focus is to explore for zinc in Ireland, and the Company has been working on several license blocks since 2010. It has targeted the highly prospective Limerick Basin. Unicorn raised £930k at 10 pence per share. Leavers: No leavers today. What’s cooking in the IPO kitchen?** Ithaca Energ

Hybridan Small Cap Feast 22-07-2022

Dish of the day Joiners: No joiners today. Leavers: No leavers today. What’s cooking in the IPO kitchen? Unigel Group, intends to join the Aquis Growth Market. Unigel Group is a pioneer in the field of thixotropic gels for the fibre optic cable industry. The Company is also a supplier of laminated steel tapes to the fibre optic cable industry in the US. Thixotropic gels and laminated steel tapes are essential components to the rapidly growing global fibre optic cable market. The Group export

Manx Financial Group - Payment Assist acquisition

Manx Financial Group (MFG) has announced it is buying 50.1% of Payment Assist, a UK point-of-sale lender, for £4m. Through Conister Bank, MFG has provided Payment Assist with wholesale funding over seven years and seen the company grow. This acquisition continues MFG’s strategy of acquiring interests in high-quality specialist lenders. Payment Assist, which started business as an automotive repair point-of-sale finance provider, has been expanding and diversifying its lending business. Payment A

Manx Financial Group - Resilient, profitable and ready for growth

Manx Financial Group (MFG) offers a combination of relatively fast growth potential and low valuation. Operating income doubled between 2016 and 2020 with only a 1% decline in the pandemic year. MFG’s key assets are Conister Bank, a specialist SME and retail lender, Edgewater Associates, the largest Manx independent financial advisory business, and Manx FX, a currency broker and provider of international payment processing facilities. The ROE ranged between 12% and 17% in FY14–19 and 9% in the c

Small Cap Feast: 14/06/21

Joiners: Endeavour Mining (TSX: EDV, LSE: EDV, OTCQX: EDVMF) has joined the Main Market (Premium). No funds raised. Endeavour is one of the world's senior gold producers and the largest in West Africa, with operating assets across Senegal, Cote d'Ivoire and Burkina Faso and a strong portfolio of advanced development projects and exploration assets in the highly prospective Birimian Greenstone Belt across West Africa. Leavers: Kcell Joint Stock Company GDRs delisted from the Main Market. What’s

Small Cap Breakfast

i3 Energy Investment—According to its investor Glenwick (GWIK.L) i3 will seek an AIM admission once its license has been approved by the UK Oil & Gas Authority Walls & Futures REIT — Has raised £1m at £1 to acquire, refurbish or develop residential properties in the UK . Due to arrive on ISDX on 29 November Diversified Oil & Gas— Schedule One now out. $60m to be raised. Expected admission 6 December. Creo Medical Group —UK based medical device company focused on surgical endoscopy, a recen

Redde

Proposed share-for-share merger with Northgate

Lowland Investment Company - Is the tide turning?

Lowland Investment Company’s (LWI’s) unconstrained, multi-cap investment policy differentiates it from most peers in the AIC UK Equity Income sector. It offers investors broad market exposure, outside of the large, traditional ‘income stocks’ at a 13% discount to NAV. The underperformance of small- and mid-cap companies versus larger peers has slowed and a turnaround would be very positive for LWI. Portfolio returns are already benefiting from acquisition activity, spurred by low valuations, and

Foxtons Group (FOXT LN) - 1Q24 IMS shows real momentum

Foxtons Group plc first quarter revenue rose 9% to £35.7m (1Q23: £32.9m) with growth delivered across all business segments. Trading is in line with management's expectations.

PCI Pal - +25% FY23 revenue growth, FY24 growth of +28% reiterated

PCI Pal’s FY23 results show revenue growth of +25% to £14.9m, gross profit growth of +31% to £13.1m at a margin of 88%, and an outlook confirming robust momentum in H1 24. The FY23 results are as expected following the August trading update, and FY23 Total Annual Contract Value (TACV) is +23% yoy to £16.4m, with ARR +14% yoy to £12.6m due to £3.1m of contracts in deployment. We expect ARR will increase +35% and +31% to £17.0m and £22.2m in FY24 and FY25, as management lands and expands following

Tetragon Financial Group - FY23 growth driven by idiosyncratic factors

Tetragon Financial Group (Tetragon) posted a 6.4% net asset value (NAV) per share total return (TR) in US dollar terms in FY23. Tetragon’s returns normally have a low correlation with broader markets, and therefore its FY23 performance was below the 26.3% return of the S&P 500 Index, which rallied on the artificial intelligence (AI) theme. Tetragon’s FY23 return on equity (RoE) of 5.5% was below its target of 10–15% pa. That said, its performance since listing was within the target range at 11.3

Resilient FY24, confident long-term outlook

Vp’s full year update highlights sector-leading results, once again benefiting from the diversity of its end markets and the quality of its specialist businesses. With results expected to be broadly in line with expectations, we trim our FY24 PBT forecast by c.5% to £39.0m, a shade below the FY23 outturn (£40.2m). We consider this an impressively resilient performance set against a mixed market backdrop. Under new leadership, a strategic refresh is underway and management is confident in long

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

Vector Capital - Full year results illustrate challenging backdrop; dividend maintained

Vector Capital is an established commercial lending group, focused on secured short-term and bridging loans in the property sector. This morning, the group has reported full year results to 31 December 2023, illustrating the challenging market backdrop. While underlying trading was robust, with good demand being seen for new loans, provisions for bad debts relating to historical loans of £728k in the year led to a decrease in PBT to £2.1m (WHI est. £2.4m, FY22 £2.8m). Looking ahead, although VCA

Strong H1'23 results; forecasts upgraded