Lower levels of government-funded capital expenditure seriously dampened demand for Judges Scientific's (JDG) instruments last year. Strip out last year's acquisition of precision instruments maker Scientifica and like-for-like sales fell 3 per cent, reflecting weak performances in Germany and China and a slow start to the year.
Order books did revert back to a more normal 9.9 weeks of budgeted sales in the final quarter of the year, but demand plummeted once again at the beginning of 2015 as budgets tightened further. That gloomy outlook sent the shares plummeting 14 per cent on results day.
Yet boss David Cicurel is otherwise upbeat. A one-half jump in operating cash flow to £7.5m, he says, provides scope for acquisitions. In January the group snapped up Armfield, whose engineering equipment and teaching instruments are used in academia for educational and research projects. The deal cost the group about £10m and is forecast to deliver annual revenues of roughly £11m.
The strong US dollar is expected to improve order levels and margins outside of Europe, though that could be offset by the weak euro. Broker Shore Capital expects adjusted pre-tax profit of £8.2m this year, giving EPS of 101p (from 82.5p in 2014).
| JUDGES SCIENTIFIC (JDG) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ORD PRICE: | 1,463p | MARKET VALUE: | £88m | |
| TOUCH: | 1,450-1,475p | 12-MONTH HIGH: | 2,405p | LOW: 1,088p |
| DIVIDEND YIELD: | 1.5% | PE RATIO: | 41 | |
| NET ASSET VALUE: | 381p* | NET DEBT: | 8% | |
| Year to 31 Dec | Turnover (£m) | Pre-tax profit (£m) | Earnings per share (p) | Dividend per share (p) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 | 16.0 | 0.7 | 8.1 | 7.5 |
| 2011 | 20.8 | 2.9 | 45.2 | 10 |
| 2012 | 28.0 | 0.3 | -4.2 | 15 |
| 2013 | 36.0 | 1.2 | 23.4 | 20 |
| 2014 | 40.6 | 2.4 | 35.7 | 22 |
| % change | +13 | +92 | +53 | +10 |
Ex-div:11 Jun Payment:10 Jul *Includes intangible assets of £17.3m, or 289p a share | ||||
