LONDON (Thomson Financial) - The following is a compilation of UK smaller
company results due out in the two weeks to July 18:
MONDAY JULY 7
Full-year trading at Omega Diagnostics Group Plc., the AIM-listed medical
diagnostics company, was in line with market expectations with turnover showing
an increase for the year of around 70 percent over the previous year's 2.03
million pounds.
The hefty increase in revenue followed the acquisition of Genesis
Diagnostics and Cambridge Nutritional Sciences in September 2007 -- which
chipped in around 68 percent of the growth -- and organic growth of around 2
percent.
Landsbanki's Stephen Thomas forecasts year to March 2008 pretax profits of
100,000 pounds, compared with breakeven in the previous year.
Analysts left their year to April 2008 forecasts for Spice Plc., the utility
support services provider, unchanged in the wake of May's solid trading update,
but the strength seen in the group's Electricity and Energy divisions prompted
upgrades to current year predictions.
The integration of Billing Services is going according to plan and there has
been an impressive rise in market shares in both the gas (to 89 percent from 40
percent) and electricity (to 35 percent from 8 percent) markets, albeit with a
delay to earnings.
Particular strength continues to be seen in the Electrical and Energy
divisions (including further contract wins with EDF and Total). Telecoms and FM
businesses both continued to perform in line and several contracts were
renewed/won in Water, a market which continues to have positive drivers.
Commercial Services also performed well, with strong demand for energy
procurement services, as did Public Services.
For the year to April 2008, analysts look for pretax profits of around the
22.0 million pounds mark, up from 13.5 million pounds. This implies EPS of about
28.4 pence against 20.6, from which a 5.0 pence (4.0) dividend total is thought
likely.
On the 2008-09 upgrades, Investec lifted it pretax forecast by 3.4 percent
to 30.0 million. Cazenove, too, now sets its sights on 30 million pounds, while
WH Ireland plumbs for 29.7 million pounds.
Meanwhile, the group plans a move to the Official List from AIM at the end
of this month.
WEDNESDAY JULY 9
Begbies Traynor Group Plc.'s full-year results are expected to be in line
with market expectations. The core activity of business insolvency, which
accounts for some 75 percent of turnover, has had a significant recovery in work
flow since the company reported last December.
The group's other main operating divisions, corporate finance and tax
consulting, also delivered good second half performances.
It is clear from the recent insolvency statistics that the levels of
corporate insolvency have been increasing in recent months, but there may have
been concerns over the amount of time available for this to feed into the
company's 2008 results, says Phil Carroll of Shore Capital Stockbrokers.
Over at Charles Stanley, Ben Archer is leaving his 2009 and 2010 forecasts
unchanged. However, he expects demand for the group's insolvency services to
accelerate, which together with spare capacity of around 25 percent and the
inherent operational gearing, offers the potential for upgrades.
The analyst sets his sights on year to April 2008 pretax profits of 6.5
million pounds, down from the previous year's 8.3 million pounds, for EPS of
5.26 pence against 7.34. He looks for an unchanged payout of 2.5 pence,
nevertheless.
Shore Capital's Carroll, on the other hand, predicts pretax of 7.1 million
pounds, EPS of 5.6 pence, but also a 2.5 pence dividend.
TUESDAY JULY 15
May's positive pre-close update from Trikona Trinity Capital Plc., a fund
created for investing in Indian real estate and infrastructure, highlighted
TRC's outperformance versus the peer group, according to Colette Ord of Numis
Securities.
Since listing, Trikona TC has successfully invested more than 196 million
pounds in 12 high-profile projects, demonstrating an uplift in net asset value
of 82 percent on invested capital as at the half-way mark of end-Sep 2007.
Key developments since that date include Blackstone investing in Pipavav
Shipyard, development project 8, at a valuation of INR 80 per share against the
company's investment at INR 25 per share in Jan 2007.
In December 2007, Trikona TC closed the sale of a select portion of Trikona
TC's investment portfolio to SachsenFonds for 32.11 million pounds, representing
a gain of 108 percent over a holding period ranging from 9 to 14 months.
In January 2008, the company's Uppal IT Park "Tech Oasis" received Special
Economic Zone status, throwing up an estimated cost saving of over 70 million
pounds in income tax and a further 15 million pounds in construction costs over
the next ten years.
And in April 2008, SachsenFonds extended its strategic partnership with
Trikona TC and signed a Memorandum of Understanding with a transaction value
worth around 80 million pounds to acquire certain assets and co-invest in new
projects.
tf.TFN-Europe_newsdesk@thomson.com
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