Caretech (CTH) chairman Farouq Sheikh says he hopes for "more of the same" this year. The group's annual results for the year to September came in modestly ahead of analysts' forecasts. The collapse in reported earnings reflects the previous year's decision to restructure the business. This prompted gains from property revaluations, inflating the bottom line by more than £10m in 2012-13. Strip these gains out and pre-tax profit increased 13 per cent to £19.7m last year.
The adult learning disabilities unit is still Caretech's best performer. Thanks to the restructuring and subsequent savings on rent, cash profit there increased by £4.1m to £22.6m. Margins rose to 30.5 per cent - an improvement of 5.5 percentage points. But the foster care business is still suffering from site closures and slow decision-making by local authorities. Revenues fell to £12m last year (from £14.3m in 2012-13), with cash profit down £1.3m to £3m.
Analysts at Panmure Gordon expect pre-tax profit of £22.3m for the current financial year, giving EPS of 34.6p, up from £19.4m and 30.3p, respectively.
| CARETECH (CTH) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ORD PRICE: | 228p | MARKET VALUE: | £119m | |
| TOUCH: | 223-232p | 12-MONTH HIGH: | 265p | LOW: 196p |
| DIVIDEND YIELD: | 3.5% | PE RATIO: | 10 | |
| NET ASSET VALUE: | 210p* | NET DEBT: | 152% | |
| Year to 30 Sep | Turnover (£m) | Pre-tax profit (£m) | Earnings per share (p) | Dividend per share (p) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 | 89.7 | 7.56 | 13.6 | 5.5 |
| 2011 | 109 | 7.42 | 11.7 | 6.0 |
| 2012 | 114 | 6.37 | 12.3 | 6.5 |
| 2013 | 114 | 28.1 | 47.5 | 7.0 |
| 2014 | 123 | 12.5 | 23.9 | 8.0 |
| % change | +8 | -56 | -50 | +14 |
Ex-div: 5 Mar Payment: 11 May *Includes intangible assets of £66.9m, or 129p a share | ||||
