"We believe we're one of the strongest companies on Aim," said Ebiquity (EBQ) chief executive Michael Greenlees following the company's full-year results. It's encouraging to see such confidence from the media marketing group, although Mr Greenlees acknowledged that the company risked being overlooked without the introduction of a somewhat token dividend.
Much of the optimism stems from strong sales in the media value measurement and marketing performance optimisation divisions. The latter, boosted by the acquisition of the Media Value group in February, nearly doubled its operating profit to £2.9m while increasing its profit margin by 4.4 points to 36 per cent.
Marketing intelligence, which accounts for around a third of Ebiquity's sales, did not fare as well. Client renewal rates increased from 87 per cent to 95 per cent, but like-for-like revenues in the division again fell, this time by 2.5 per cent on a constant currency basis. In an effort to further boost renewal rates Ebiquity is changing its financial year-end to December; April tends to be the busiest time for contract negotiations.
Brokerage Numis forecasts profit before tax of £12.3m and EPS of 10.7p for the 12 months to April 2016, against £10.6m and 10.7p for the financial year under review.
EBIQUITY (EBQ) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ORD PRICE: | 141p | MARKET VALUE: | £102m | |
| TOUCH: | 138-143p | 12-MONTH HIGH: | 142p | LOW: 106p |
| DIVIDEND YIELD: | 0.3% | PE RATIO: | 29 | |
| NET ASSET VALUE: | 66p* | NET DEBT: | 73% | |
| Year to 30 Apr | Turnover (£m) | Pre-tax profit (£m) | Earnings per share (p) | Dividend per share (p) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 | 44.1 | -1.77 | -2.2 | nil |
| 2012 | 52.9 | 2.64 | 2.3 | nil |
| 2013 | 64.0 | 6.55 | 7.0 | nil |
| 2014 | 68.5 | 3.44 | 4.1 | nil |
| 2015 | 73.9 | 4.66 | 4.8 | 0.4 |
| % change | +8 | +35 | +18 | - |
Ex-div: 17 Sep Payment: 9 Oct *Includes intangible assets of £73m, or 101p a share. | ||||
