Hornby (HRN) posted a positive set of full-year results alongside a flurry of other announcements, including news of a £15m placing and a move from the main market to Aim. A year of turnaround at the models and collectibles group was capped by a new £10m revolving credit facility with Barclays, the relocation of its headquarters to Sandwich, and the launch of an e-commerce office in London.
Encouragingly, the business also returned to profit, with underlying earnings before tax of £1.6m in the year to March. There were major improvements in volume and quality at Hornby's Asian supply chain - the main cause of losses in 2013 and 2014. But outgoing chief financial officer Nick Stone acknowledges that "there is still much work to do before the supply chain is working the way we would like it to".
Prior to these results, broker Numis Securities was forecasting pre-tax profit of £2m and EPS of 3.9p for the current financial year - up from £1.6m and 3.4p in full-year 2015. But the group expects interest payments on bank debt to fall this year following the proposed £15m equity placing at a slightly discounted 95p a share.
HORNBY (HRN) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ORD PRICE: | 94p | MARKET VALUE: | £37m | |
| TOUCH: | 93-95p | 12-MONTH HIGH: | 108p | LOW: 60p |
| DIVIDEND YIELD: | nil | PE RATIO: | na | |
| NET ASSET VALUE: | 81p* | NET DEBT: | 24% | |
| Year to 31 Mar | Turnover (£m) | Pre-tax profit (£m) | Earnings per share (p) | Dividend per share (p) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 | 63.4 | 4.1 | 7.5 | 5.0 |
| 2012 | 64.4 | 4.0 | 8.2 | 3.7 |
| 2013 | 57.4 | -3.4 | -6.4 | nil |
| 2014 | 51.6 | -4.6 | -11.4 | nil |
| 2015 | 58.1 | -0.2 | -0.3 | nil |
| % change | +13 | - | - | - |
Ex-div: na Payment: na *Includes intangible assets of £12.5m, or 32p a share | ||||
