Great Britain has just had its best Winter Olympics in 90 years, and cameras supplied by Vitec (VTC) beamed our speed skaters, curlers and snowboarders around the world. Otherwise, however, the industry has been difficult and the Sochi money came too late for the broadcast and surveillance equipment company to avoid a 6 per cent decline in underlying pre-tax profit to £35.6m.
Admittedly, the £10m of sales and £3m of profit generated by London 2012 was always going to make growth in 2013 tough to achieve. The Russian Games will make about half the London windfall, and supplying batteries, supports and lights to Brazilian TV companies covering the World Cup this summer a little less. That will help the Videocom broadcast division, where underlying operating profit grew 13 per cent to £17.9m. Expect low single-digit growth over the next few years, chief executive Stephen Bird tells us.
But Vitec’s imaging business did poorly and profit fell 12 per cent. Mr Bird blames the surge in mobile phones being used as cameras, although sales of traditional cameras has surged in Japan. Mr Bird hopes the US economic revival may have the same effect there.
After baking in a £4m currency hit, Investec Securities forecasts modest growth in adjusted pre-tax profit to £36m and EPS of 56.2p this year (from 55.8p in 2013).
VITEC GROUP (VTC) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ORD PRICE: | 632p | MARKET VALUE: | £ 279m | |
| TOUCH: | 631-645p | 12-MONTH HIGH: | 730p | LOW: 558p |
| DIVIDEND YIELD: | 3.6% | PE RATIO: | 20 | |
| NET ASSET VALUE | 273p* | NET DEBT: | 51% | |
| Year to 31 Dec | Turnover (£m) | Pre-tax profit (£m) | Earnings per share (p) | Dividend per share (p) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 | 315 | 1.8 | 7.5 | 18.3 |
| 2010 | 310 | 21.7 | 42.8 | 19 |
| 2011 | 351 | 23.8 | 34.7 | 20.5 |
| 2012 | 345 | 16.1 | 13.6 | 22 |
| 2013 | 315 | 20.4 | 31.9 | 23 |
| % change | -9 | +27 | +135 | +5 |
Ex-div: 09 Apr Payment: 09 May *Includes intangible assets of £76.3m, or 173p per share | ||||
