Data analysis is increasingly big business and that's potentially great news for 1Spatial (SPA) - which is focused on the spatial big data market. Don't worry too much about the hefty reported loss, either - 1Spatial's trading businesses all made positive cash profits contributions.
1Spatial's focus is on managing data sets, accompanied by geographic co-ordinates, that are too large and complex for traditional data processing applications. And progress looks good. Having acquired the 1Spatial business in late 2011, the new management team spent much of 2012 restructuring and working on products that utilise the group's capabilities. This has culminated in the development of a new flagship geospatial product suite, 1SMS - to be launched imminently.
Moreover, revenue from the 1Spatial division reached £9.7m - well up from 2011's £7.3m - and included some strategically important contract wins with major data players, such as the US Census. Broker N+1 Singer expects underlying 1Spatial revenues to increase another 20 per cent in the current year, too, supported by contracts already won after the period-end. Operating margins should rise, too, given the group's largely fixed cost base.
N+1 Singer forecasts group-wide revenues of £18.6m for 2014, but a mere £0.1m of adjusted pre-tax profit, rising to £1.6m in 2015, giving EPS of 0.2p.
1SPATIAL (SPA) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ORD PRICE: | 7.8p | MARKET VALUE: | £50.7m | |
| TOUCH: | 7.5-8.0p | 12-MONTH HIGH: | 9.3p | LOW: 1.8p |
| DIVIDEND YIELD: | nil | PE RATIO: | na | |
| NET ASSET VALUE: | 1p* | NET CASH: | £3.2m | |
| Year to 30 Jun | Turnover (£m) | Pre-tax profit (£m) | Earnings per share (p) | Dividend per share (p) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 | 8.01 | 0.38 | 2.91 | nil |
| 2011 | 7.31 | -2.09 | -16.22 | nil |
| year to 31 Jan | (£m) | (£m) | (p) | (p) |
| 2011 | 2.63 | -7.80 | -3.69 | nil |
| 2012 | 5.23 | -1.59 | -0.57 | nil |
| 2013 | 12.1 | -4.78 | -1.25 | nil |
| % change | +131 | - | - | - |
*Includes intangible assets of £6.9m, or 1p a share | ||||
