Investment group Shore Capital (SGR) more than doubled profits at the half-year stage, helped by a turnaround at Spectrum - an investment vehicle in which Shore has a 59 per cent stake. Moreover, the half-year dividend has been reinstated and management has indicated that full-year dividends will total around 0.8p a share.
Trading remained challenging at the core equity capital market (ECM) division, but secondary commission from research and sales still rose 11 per cent, while the corporate finance team raised £90m for clients in 10 fund-raisings. Accordingly, pre-tax profit here rose 8.1 per cent to £3.07m. On the asset management side, funds under management grew from £870m to £910m and Shore continued to grow the asset-backed lending side to small- and medium-sized companies, raising £28.1m through its latest venture capital trust offering, Puma 9.
At Spectrum, efforts to wind down the consumer side of the business helped to reduce cash burn which, when added to the release of £0.66m of provisions, helped turn last year's £700,000 share of its first-half loss into a £400,000 profit. Spectrum now fully owns DBD, a German telecoms company with a number of radio spectrum licences.
Broker RBC Capital Markets expects full-year pre-tax profit of £3.33m, giving EPS of 1.29p (from £2.53m and 0.82p in 2012).
| SHORE CAPITAL (SGR) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ORD PRICE: | 26p | MARKET VALUE: | £62.8m | |
| TOUCH: | 26-28p | 12-MONTH HIGH: | 28p | LOW: 14.5p |
| DIVIDEND YIELD: | 3.5% | PE RATIO: | 22 | |
| NET ASSET VALUE: | 25p | NET CASH: | £22.6m | |
| Half-year to 30 Jun | Turnover (£m) | Pre-tax profit (£m) | Earnings per share (p) | Dividend per share (p) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2012 | 17.8 | 1.48 | 0.48 | nil |
| 2013 | 17.8 | 3.31 | 0.83 | 0.4 |
| % change | - | +124 | +73 | - |
Ex-div: 25 Sep Payment: 9 Oct | ||||
