Benefiting from the pandemic-driven surge in sofa shopping, Asos has released strong FY20 results. However, the strong trading performance in FY 20 and a good start to FY21 were not enough to relieve management’s cautious view on the outlook. The recent return rate has started to climb back from the bottom in April and the macro-economic consequence of COVID-19 may start to weigh on consumer demand. We should see the sales growth pace and profitability normalising in the coming months.
Companies: ASOS plc
The group is another winner of the pandemic. The industry’s faster transformation from offline to online has helped the group to gain 2.7m additional customers in the last three quarters (vs. +1.9m in FY2019), thus, the strong customer acquisition has resulted in an impressive 17% top-line growth for the 10-months to 30 June (+10% yoy in Q3 20). However, the increased costs related to the pandemic have weighed on the group’s margin, and we believe this will continue in the near term.
Asos has announced better than expected H1 20 results, however, the group saw sales dropped 20-25% in most recent weeks due to the anti-pandemic measures imposed. To prepare for this unpredictable COVID-19-led business contraction better, the group has placed 15.8 million new shares at £15.60/share. Such a placing is the first in the European fashion retail sector since the COVID-19 outbreak but we believe that will not be the last one.
After several profit warnings since the end of 2018, Asos reported an encouraging start to the year. The strong sales volume during the Black Friday weekend across all regions pushed total sales growth to 20%, beating the upper range of consensus expectations.
Asos has managed to solve its operational warehousing problems and buoyed up its traffic in Q4. Sales were up 15% in Q4 and 12% in FY19. Total orders placed increased by 14% and the number of active customers was up 10%.
Registration document approved for Helios Towers. The Group provides essential network services, flexible infrastructure solutions and reliable power supply to mobile network operators in five African growth economies. Revenue increased 7 per cent. year-on-year to US$191m (H1 2018: US$178m), with Adjusted EBITDA up 15 per cent. year-on-year at US$99m (H1 2018: US$86m) for the six months ended 30 June 2019. Pricing rumoured at 115p to 145p implying valuation of up to $1.8bn. Expected 18 Oct 2019. African Export-Import Bank a supranational financial institution w hose purpose is to facilitate, prom ote and expand intra- and extra- African trade, of its potential intention to publish a registration document, the Bank hereby confirms its intention to proceed with an Initial Public Offering. The GDRs are expected to be admitted to the standard listing segment of the Official List of the FCA and to trading on the Main Market of the LSE.
Companies: DEST BOKU GTC RRL AUG ARK ARBB LGRS GOOD ASC
Asos disappointed the market in its four months to June. Sales growth slowed down to 11% with poor growth in Europe and the US. Guidance was downgraded to around 11% full-year growth and PBT in the range of £30-35m.
Asos has missed its estimates but maintained its guidance unchanged. PBT was down 87% to £4m. A long list of mistakes has torn down sales, including the under-estimate of the staffing required in the Atlanta warehouse, the cut in marketing investments in Europe and an inappropriate assortment of Asos designs. However, management was confident about restoring growth and margins in the mid-term. Also, it confirmed it should be able to generate positive cash flow in FY20.
Sales development below estimates and growth slowing down further to 11% at CER in Q2.
Asos has surprised with its profit warning. Sales growth has slowed down to 13% at CER due to the challenging market conditions in Germany and France. Guidance has been lowered: 15% top-line growth and 2% EBIT margin for 2019.
PetroTal Corp is an oil and gas company whose shares are currently admitted to trading on the TSXV. The Company is focused on development of oil and gas assets in Peru and it currently has controlling interests in three onshore Peru license blocks. No new funds being raised. Due 21 Dec. Mkt cap c.£80m Litigation Capital Management—provider of litigation financing and ancillary services, moving from ASX (ASX:LCA) to AIM. Offer raising £20m at 52p. Due 19 Dec. Mkt Cap £56.5m. Greenfields Petroleum (TSX-V:GNF) production focused company with operated assets in Azerbaijan seeking AIM dual listing including $60m private placement. Mkt cap $12.6m CAD. Expected mid December.
Companies: PRTC 1EB PYC POS TOT KBT APPS ASC
Asos has accelerated its growth in revenues in the last two months (compared to the previous period) and maintains its full-year performance of 24% lfl. Operating profit was up 28%. Cash position has deteriorated following the significant investments’ outflow.
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Sumo is trading strongly, with several drivers that could lead the company to outperform 2021 earnings expectations, in our view. Even based on conservative earnings expectations, we believe shares offer attractive value to growth.
Companies: Sumo Group Plc
IQE has announced it expects FY20 revenues to be c £178m. This is ahead of our estimates, which we revised upwards in November, reflecting outperformance in both the wireless and photonics segments. We have updated our FY20 forecasts. Given IQE’s leveraged business model, this results in a 64% uplift in EPS. Noting the uncertainty about the effect of a pandemic-related recession on the rate of smartphone sales growth, we leave our FY21 estimates unchanged for the time being.
Companies: IQE plc
As a nation, we love knocking ourselves. However in truth, we’re actually a pretty pioneering bunch. For instance, the experts at Oxford University & AstraZeneca have developed one of the world’s 3 most important vaccines in double quick time. Plus, many other British firms are creating similar breakthrough Covid inventions, such as Kromek.
Companies: Kromek Group Plc
GB Group (GBG) has sold its marketing services business to HH Global Group for an undisclosed amount. This was not an area of focus for GBG and has been in managed decline for several years. Just before Christmas, GBG boosted its Fraud business with the acquisition of fraud investigation automation software from HooYu for £4m in equity. We have revised our forecasts to reflect the disposal and acquisition, leading to small upgrades to our EPS forecasts. Both deals emphasise the company’s strategy to focus on Identity, Location and Fraud.
Companies: GB Group PLC
Synairgen (SNG.L): Completion of recruitment for at home trial | Sensyne Health (SENS.L): Research agreement with The Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust
Companies: Synairgen plc (SNG:LON)Sensyne Health Plc (SENS:LON)
The Panoply has reported a very positive trading update for the Q3 to December and indicates that full year results for the year to March will be significantly ahead of expectations. The group won £15m of new contracts in Q3, including the significant assignment from the Planning Inspectorate announced at the November interims. This further demonstrates the successful development of the group, notably its expansion into healthcare and establishment of FutureGov and Foundry4 as full-service brands. In November we raised our FY21 Revenue and PBT forecasts by +5%/+10% to £44.5m/£4.9m and we further raise by +8% to £48.0m/£5.3m this morning. We choose to leave our FY22 estimates unchanged at this stage, but clearly the group has very strong momentum and we see clear scope to raise our forecasts as we progress through the year. We continue to view The Panoply as ideally placed to benefit from the structural tailwinds in digital transformation and, underpinned by our increased forecasts, raise our target price to 235p (was 220p).
Companies: Panoply Holdings Plc
MySale has delivered a striking turnaround in profitability with H1 FY21 EBITDA of A$2.5m up an impressive A$6.1m YOY. We believe this marked turnaround validates its AZN First strategy and signals the Group now has a robust and cash generative operating platform on which it can scale.
Companies: MySale Group plc
FY20E order intake growth of 61% means Corero's revenue for last year of $16.8m will exceed our prior forecast. The trading update confirms c73% annual growth in revenues and further expansion of the annualised recurring revenue base. This performance highlights the increasing prioritisation of protecting networks against cyber and DDoS attacks. Buy.
Companies: Corero Network Security plc
EMIS saw trading gradually improve through H220 to finish the year slightly ahead of expectations. The company continued to support customers in dealing with the pandemic, with the recently acquired Pinnacle Systems’ software now being used in the nationwide vaccination programme. Progress was also made in product development with the launch of the first EMIS-X analytics product. We maintain our forecasts.
Companies: EMIS Group plc
H1A delivered a very resilient performance given the backdrop of halted deliveries and reduced manufacturing capacity. Orders and shipments are resuming and a ramp up in activity levels is expected in H2. A cash outflow in H1A has been supported by new committed facilities and gross cash levels look set to support the business successfully through the second half and beyond.
Strong Q4 performance from Audioboom plc, the leading global podcast company, as it continues to outpace the global podcasting market. Audioboom bounced back from the Q2 CV-19 lull in Q3 and growth accelerated in the final quarter. Q4 revenue of c. $8.5m was a record, up 25% on the same period last year and the previous record, and FY20 revenue of c. $26.8m (+20%) was comfortably ahead of forecast (ACLe: $25.5m). There were also record KPI performances (brand count, eCPM and available ad inventory). Coupled with continued cost control, adj. EBITDA loss fell to c. $0.2m in Q4 and c. $1.8m for FY20 (FY19: $2.9m, ACLe: $1.9m). The company has good access to capital ($6.6m at year end) and management expects to achieve a maiden positive adj. EBITDA for FY21. We introduce FY21 forecasts and set a fair value of 420p/share, equivalent to an FY20 EV/Revenue of 3.3x and 2.5x FY21. Although a premium to the current price, this still represents a significant discount to recent industry transaction multiples.
Companies: Audioboom Group PLC
Tern plc* (TERN.L, 7.1p/£23.5m) Portfolio update: Strong business momentum (12.01.21) | Audioboom plc* (BOOM.L, 276p/£43.3m) Expanded content network (15.01.21)
Companies: Tern Plc (TERN:LON)Audioboom Group PLC (BOOM:LON)
The Panoply’s update on trading for the three months ending 31 December 2020 confirms the group has enjoyed a successful third quarter and continues the trend of positive news flow from the group. Against the backdrop of COVID-19 driven macro-economic challenges, The Panoply has reported an acceleration of new business wins. In our view this further validates both the Panoply’s innovative business model and with operations now focussed on two full-stack brands, demonstrates the strategic value of the acquisitions made to date. Management has increased guidance on FY 21E performance, and we take the company’s cue and revise our revenue and adjusted EBITDA forecasts upwards by 8% and 10% respectively.
Sage Group released a good set of Q1 20/21 figures with organic recurring revenue growth of 4.7% in line with the full-year guidance (+3-5%). This performance was spread out across various cloud native software and essentially driven by the gain of new customers. Lastly, no deterioration in the churn rate is reassuring considering the continuing tough market conditions. All in all, Sage Group confirmed FY2020/21 guidance.
Companies: Sage Group plc
VR Education Holdings (VRE) expects FY20 revenue growth of around 38% to €1.42m. This was driven by substantial growth in ENGAGE revenue and its user base, with ENGAGE now accounting for over 40% of group revenue. While ENGAGE benefited from changes resulting from COVID, they also caused museum closures, which reduced Showcase Experience revenues. VRE has also outlined its medium-term outlook objectives for 2023 – 2025. Key targets include ENGAGE revenue of €10m, 500 active enterprise customers and 100K monthly users.
Companies: VR Education Holdings PLC
