These are the maiden full-year figures for BCA Marketplace (BCA) since the reverse takeover of the BCA Group by Haversham, which paved the way for last year's listing. BCA is the largest wholesaler of used cars in the UK and owner of the We Buy Any Car retail site.
It's essentially a new beast so recourse to earlier financial comparatives isn't terribly illuminating; adjusted cash profits of £98.5m and adjusted earnings of 7.1p, though ahead of market expectations, stand in isolation. But it's clear that the group is making headway at the auction pit and online. Sales numbers in the core UK remarketing arm were up 7.9 per cent, while international sales registered a 6.4 per cent gain. We Buy Any Car is actually a lower-margin segment of the group, but the online service recorded a double-digit increase in sales, and it also drives traffic to other parts of the business.
N+1 Singer believes that BCA is "favourably exposed to foreign exchange upside risk" following the Brexit vote. The broker left its adjusted EPS forecast for the April 2017 year-end unchanged at 8.1p, rising to 9.8p the following year.
| BCA MARKETPLACE | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ORD PRICE: | 164p | MARKET VALUE: | £1.28bn | |
| TOUCH: | 162p-165p | 12M HIGH / LOW: | 187p | 152p |
| DIVIDEND YIELD: | 3.7% | PE RATIO: | 137 | |
| NET ASSET VALUE: | 147p* | NET DEBT: | 15% | |
| Year to 31 Dec | Turnover (£bn) | Pre-tax profit (£m) | Earnings per share (p) | Dividend per share (p) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2012† | 0.26 | -9.3 | -30 | nil |
| 2013† | 0.44 | -24.2 | -108 | nil |
| 2014† | 0.89 | 7.0 | 2.7 | nil |
| 15 months to 3 April | Turnover (£bn) | Pre-tax profit (£m) | Earnings per share (p) | Dividend per share (p) |
| 2016 | 1.15 | 3.9 | 1.2 | 6.0 |
| % change | - | - | - | - |
Ex-div: 22 Sep Payment: 30 Sep *Includes intangible assets of £1.45bn, or 186p a share †2012-14 revenues, adjusted pre-tax and EPS from Cenkos Securities | ||||
