Plexus’ POS-GRIP oil drilling wellhead and connector technology has continued to gain acceptance, which is helping to swell the group's order book. That's largely down to the safety focus since the Deepwater Horizon disaster in 2010. A draft EU directive on improved safety rules for offshore oil and gas operations was agreed last month as well - that too could drive demand.
A joint industry project - bringing the likes of Maersk, Shell and Total together - to adopt a newer and safer POS-GRIP subsea wellhead is now half-way through its two year development cycle. Plexus is even nearer to commercialising a new tie-back product that's believed by a first potential customer to be capable of saving around £80m per well. Inevitably, such initiatives are costly and capital investment rose 133 per cent year-on-year to £3.9m, with research & development spending having jumped 35 per cent to £0.64m. But Plexus' cash profits still rose 12 per cent £3.4m.
Prior to these figures, broker Cenkos was forecasting full-year pre-tax profit of £3.7m, giving EPS of 3.4p (2012: £3.1m/2.99p) - but that only reflects the current business, with nothing factored in for new applications in development.
PLEXUS (POS) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ORD PRICE: | 225p | MARKET VALUE: | £186m | |
| TOUCH: | 221-232p | 12-MONTH HIGH: | 298p | LOW: 101p |
| DIVIDEND YIELD: | 0.4% | PE RATIO: | 71 | |
| NET ASSET VALUE: | 33p* | NET DEBT: | 7% | |
| Half-year to 31 Dec | Turnover (£m) | Pre-tax profit (£m) | Earnings per share (p) | Dividend per share (p) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 | 9.32 | 1.46 | 1.46 | 0.39 |
| 2012 | 11.3 | 1.73 | 1.65 | 0.44 |
| % change | +21 | +18 | +13 | +13 |
Ex-div: 10 Apr Payment: 26 Apr *Includes intangible assets of £8.91m, or 11p a share | ||||
