UK Other Main Markets

UK Other Main Markets equity research

Explore the most viewed and latest equity research and media content for companies in the UK's other main markets.

Other UK Stocks

Broker research, valuations, & analysis on other UK stocks

16 Oct 17

Shopping Trolley

We examine wet-led and food-led capacity across the regions and conclude that excess capacity remains in the food-led segment (although Central, Welsh and Yorkshire regions lag the national average). Despite recent profit warnings, an increasing divergence in reported performance between pubs and restaurants, and a recent reduction in eating out frequency and spend, existing food-led operators remain too focused, in our view, on trimming estate tails and slowing rollout rather than substantial capacity reduction – and combined with smaller PE-backed concepts scaling up and landlord pragmatism, net new capacity continues to enter the market. Given the severe cost and competitive pressures, as well as downside macro risks, we foresee more pain across the sector – in the near term expect aggressive menu price discounting to continue, leading subsequently to margin pressure and forecasting risk for listed operators and financing risk for smaller, highly leveraged private operators. While rightsizing will happen (it did with pubs), the process may be protracted. We run the finnCap Slide Rule over the casual dining space, with our preferred pick (BUY, 19p PT) scoring highest on QVGM metrics. While not immune to sector woes, lacks an estate tail, should be a beneficiary of trading down, and has a number of self-help levers, as well as a management team that has seen the movie (many times) before.

Companies: BOTB FUL HOTC IDP JOUL CAKE PHTM RGD RBG SCS SHOE

17 Oct 17

Nudge, nudge, Nobel prize for a small cap fan!

Further evidence that the shrewder investor prefers a smaller company, the Nobel Prize in Economics was awarded to Professor Thaler, an avowed fan of the smaller brethren. Back down to earth, all markets continue to make headway, with the smaller company indices continuing to lead the way. Despite the apparent deadlock in the Brexit process, life appears to carry on. The MPC meeting on 2 November and the Budget on 22 November may offer greater insight. In Share News & Views, we comment on recent updates from Cropper*, Halstead, Norcros, Tricorn* Walker Greenbank and Wincanton.

Companies: APC BMS CRPR ECSC EUSP FDM GETB PCF PPIX SNX SPRP SQS TCN W7L

19 Oct 17

Panmure Morning Note 19-10-2017

UK revenue has accelerated dramatically in H2 to 26% with positive margin progress. International markets revenue growth is 70% in H2, supporting the announcement of a third international market in Denmark. The Sunshine acquisition is performing to plan and Monarch disruption is being managed well. FY17 adjusted PBT is expected to be in line with Board expectations (PG £28m, +31% YoY) and OTB has exited FY17 with strong momentum.

Companies: On The Beach Group

18 Oct 17

PG:GP – Issue 5

We upgrade our sector stance to POSITIVE, as the next 9 months is due to be a strong period for UK life science company news, with multiple significant trial readouts expected, companies generally well-funded and many of the headwinds seen in previous quarters easing.

Companies: ABC AMS AGY ANCR BTG C4XD CTH CSRT DPH DNL EKF FARN HZD HCM IMM MXCT MTPH PLI SCLP VEC VLG VER

16 Oct 17

Panmure Morning Note 16-10-2017

HFG announces it is to proceed with plans to expand its retail meat packing capabilities into New Zealand. We think that the stockmarket will react favourably to this good news as; (1) NZ represents the 15th country that HFG will undertake business globally, a continuation of the well-established pattern of entirely organic expansion via moves into new geographical areas; (2) HFG’s development of further business with Woolworths demonstrates that the relationship commenced via a joint venture in January 2013, and subsequently significantly extended, has been highly successful, with HFG now a trusted partner, thereby likely further bolstering the jv’s already important contribution to HFG’s overall profitability; and (3) this new move into NZ helps provide further visibility on HFG’s medium-term (i.e. FY20 and beyond) profit growth profile as the company is already set for a protracted period of profit growth in light of other recent corporate developments (i.e. the Sonae deal in the short term and the recent deals with Woolworths Australia and Tesco Central Europe set to deliver over the medium term). Our estimates remain unchanged. We increase our TP to 870p (from 825p). BUY.

Companies: Hilton Food Group

05 Oct 17

Conviction List Q4 2017

Since its inception in 2010, the Panmure Gordon Conviction List has outperformed the market, returning 278% against a Small Companies index that would have returned 232% over the same period. Our Q4 portfolio reflects our view that the UK equity market stands to benefit from a coordinated upturn in global growth. Low nominal fixed income spreads continue to provide a valuation underpin for global equities. There are increasing signs that the world’s central bankers are making a concerted effort to wean markets off near zero interest rates. However with global debt exceeding 200% of GDP and unfavorable demographic trends, we think their chances of rapid progress are slim.

Companies: CPI CTH CINE JE MJW NOG RPC VM/ XAR

10 Oct 17

UK Housebuilding Sector: Q3 2017

‘The $64,000 Question’

Companies: ABBY BDEV BWY BKG BVS CRN CSP CRST GLE INL MCS PSN RDW TW/ TEF WJG

18 Oct 17

Divisional progress

Norcros’s H118 pre close update flagged group revenue and EBIT in line with management’s full year growth expectations. The period end net debt figure – after some exceptional costs – was also where we expected it to be. Both divisions are achieving good revenue growth without much help from their respective markets and profitability should follow. The rating is yet to give credit for the achievement of this self-generated progress.

Companies: Norcros

18 Oct 17

Earnings progress but at a lower rate

Disappointing demand in Civil Engineering (CE) markets causes us to reduce earnings estimates. Despite this, FY17 is expected to show good progress overall although the reduction in net debt from the half year will now be less than previously anticipated. Good underlying performances from three business units are being partly obscured by CE. Resolving this is likely to benefit group valuation in our view.

Companies: Low & Bonar

04 Oct 17

N+1 Singer - Gresham Technologies - Trading in-line, new CTC win

Gresham issued a trading update indicating the group continues to trade in line with market expectations and remains of the full year outlook. In the period, the group signed 2 important new CTC clients – one, which was already announced on 29 Aug 2017 with a Tier 1 bank and another with the US capital markets division of one of Asia’s largest financial services firms. No change to forecasts, but this continued positive Clareti momentum in North America is highly encouraging as the region represents the largest opportunity for the group and will help further drive both earnings growth and earnings quality going forward.

Companies: Gresham Technologies

09 Oct 17

Demand remains strong; earnings upgraded

Hot on the heels of its recent US acquisition, XP Power’s trading update confirms that strong trading continued into Q3. Q3 revenues were 35% higher than a year ago, with nine-month revenues up 34% y-o-y and 21% in constant currency. We revise up our revenue forecasts to reflect much stronger than expected trading in Q3, which results in normalised EPS upgrades of 5.7% in FY17e and 7.1% in FY18e.

Companies: XP Power

19 Oct 17

Materially undervalued

After eight years of consecutive revenue and EBIT growth, the resilience demonstrated by Norcros is not reflected in its share price. The following remain in its favour: 1) the strong balance sheet will continue to finance an acquisition strategy and growth; 2) 43% of revenues are sourced overseas, giving insurance against any downturn in the UK; 3) forecast Lfl revenue growth in South Africa of over 5% and 4) it trades on a FY18 PE rating of 6x and offers a dividend and free cash flow yield of 4% and 10% respectively. We initiate coverage, following the recent positive trading update with a buy recommendation and price target of 260p, representing 45% upside. Even then, the FY18 PE rating is still only 8.8x.

Companies: Norcros

13 Oct 17

Valuable growth

Although European small caps’ revenues tend to grow faster than nominal GDP (2.5x according to Janus Henderson/ JP Morgan), their forward valuations are currently lower than those of the large caps. We think that in the world where growth is scarce and valuations are high, relative advantage of small caps should be exploited.

Companies: TR European Growth Trust

26 Sep 17

Support Group

Since our first quarterly at the end of 2015, 12 of the 59 companies we included in our valuation tables have been bid for. Given those tables were simply designed to show the range of companies present within the sector, not a hit-list of undervalued opportunities, the fact that 20% of them have been taken over is worth looking at in more detail. At a time when warnings and share price collapses from the likes of Interserve, Carillion, MITIE, DX and Capita and Serco have dominated newsflow, it should be remembered that the sector is broad and highly varied both in terms of business model and performance. If the troubles of a minority of the sector drag down wider valuations then the evidence is that there is an army of potential bidders (reinforced by the weakness of sterling) ready to take advantage.

Companies: FOUR ACL BOOT CLL CMS CNCT FCRM LOK PPH RNWH SVCA STAF UTW WATR VANL WYG

16 Oct 17

HCM Update 16.10.17 (HAS.L, NBB.L, PAGE.L, PRP.L, RWA.L) RM

Hays plc (HAS.L, 190p/£2.8bn) Q1 Trading Update (12.10.17) | Norman Broadbent plc (NBB.L, 11p/£4.6m) Appointment of CFO and COO (05.10.17) | PageGroup plc (PAGE.L, 477p/£1.6bn) Q3 Trading Update (11.10.17) | Prime People plc (PRP.L, 97.5p/£11.9m) Acquisition (11.10.17) | Robert Walters plc (RWA.L, 589p/£443m) Q3 Trading Update (10.10.17) | Report on Jobs September 2017 (06/10/17)

Companies: HAS NBB PAGE PRP RWA

19 May 17

Leading UK fund manager, Gervais Williams, discusses investing, his outlook and two companies he's excited about

19 Oct 17

Stobart Group (STOB) Interim results October 2017

12 Sep 17

InnovaDerma plc - Final Results 2017

16 Oct 17

Capital Network's Lionel Therond on Zenith Energy Ltd

03 May 17

Executive Interview - Dialight

25 Sep 17

Capital Network's Lionel Therond on Zenith Energy Ltd

27 Sep 17

Thought Leaders - Power Technologies and associated minerals

18 Sep 17

Executive interview - Securities Trust of Scotland

29 Aug 17

Henry Boot - Analyst interview, WH Ireland

06 Sep 17

Advanced Oncotherapy - Technological update

27 Jun 17

Photo-me International plc - 2017 Preliminary results interview

03 Aug 17

Advance Oncotherapy - Interview with Gabriel Urwitz

25 Aug 17

Henry Boot - Interim results

31 Jul 17

Executive interview - Custodian REIT

17 Nov 16

Norcros - Half year results

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IQE RNO SDL DPH PCIP

N+1 Singer - Morning Song 20-10-2017

Dechra Pharmaceuticals (DPH LN) AGM statement confirms all in line | IQE (IQE LN) Unexpected historic US tax bill | PCI-PAL (PCIP LN) Continuing compliance with PCI DSS and new contract win | Renold (RNO LN) Forecasts trimmed to reflect H1 update | SDL (SDL LN) CMD highlights: Technology key to long term competitive advantage

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20 Oct 17
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SDL

N+1 Singer - SDL - CMD highlights: Technology key to long term competitive advantage

Enterprises’ desire to reach more and more customers across the globe, with more products and services, delivered faster and more flexibly is creating a significant opportunity for companies that can manage the content explosion challenge that comes alongside this growth. SDL’s Capital Markets Day focused on Helix and Artificial Intelligence/MT – key technologies that will allow it to manage the content globalisation process at scale, whilst delivering a better quality output and service to its customers more profitably. If these investments successfully help SDL achieve the best operating model in the market, the opportunity for value creation is significant given the growth in the market and the fragmented state of the competitive landscape. As always, the proof is in the execution, but with the shares trading on an undemanding 1.2x EV/Sales cal’18 and EV/EBITDA of 10.9x, the risk/ reward is highly attractive.

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20 Oct 17
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Renold

N+1 Singer - Renold - Forecasts trimmed to reflect H1 update

Renold issued a disappointing H1 trading update last week, downgrading expectations to slightly below the lower end of the market range. This was not driven by weakness in external demand, but by extended breakdowns of two presses at its German facility during Q2, along with delays in being able to pass on price increases in raw materials. We have trimmed our forecasts to reflect a weaker performance in FY18, reducing adjusted PBT by 5% to £14.0m. However we have made no changes to our PBT forecasts for subsequent years, as the breakdowns have now been resolved and price increases are starting to be passed on. Our target price has reduced by 3% to 83p, but remains almost double the current share price. We remain positive on prospects for Renold, underpinned by improving demand in its markets.

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20 Oct 17
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SOLO MYSQ PFP ZEN

Breakfast Today

Solo Oil (SOLO.L) | MySQUAR (MYSQ.L) | Pathfinder Minerals (PFP.L) | Zenith Energy (ZEN.L)

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20 Oct 17
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PPC TAO JOG GKP WRL

GMP FirstEnergy ― UK Energy morning research package

President Energy (PPC LN) (not covered): US$8 mm Placing | TAG Oil (TAO CN)1 ; HOLD, C$0.75: Modestly reduced exit fiscal 2018 production guidance | Jersey Oil & Gas (JOG LN) (not covered): £20 mm placing | Gulf Keystone Petroleum (GKP LN) (not covered): Operations Update in Kurdistan | Wentworth Resources (WRL LN)1,6; BUY, £0.35: Operational Update in Tanzania

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20 Oct 17
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PPC AGY BOOT

Morning Note

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20 Oct 17
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Zenith Energy

A promising start to the Azerbaijan programme

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20 Oct 17
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Interserve

Interserve dives 25% with second profit warning in as many months

Increasing cost pressures and challenging market conditions continue to plague the group.

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19 Oct 17
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TSTL CAPD EOG

Morning Note

Tristel* (TSTL): FY 2017 results – RoW now dominates (CORP) | Capital Drilling* (CAPD): Q3 trading update, on track for FY forecasts (CORP) | Europa Oil & Gas* (EOG): Holmwood planning update (CORP)

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