e2v Technologies (E2V), the supplier of radio frequency, microwave and semiconductor products, had a slow start to the year, but business is picking up and the better-than-expected first half results promised recently have been delivered. After stripping out last year’s one-off disposal gains and other one-offs, pre-tax profit fell just 13 per cent to £11.4m, which also includes an extra £1m of R&D spend. With its space business thriving and new chief executive Stephen Blair joining early next year, prospects for the second half look promising.
Broker Investec Securities is certainly confident. It forecasts full-year adjusted pre-tax profit of £32.9m and adjusted EPS of 11.3p, up from £30.8m and 10.9p in 2013. And the company is, too. After a strong first half, the space business has taken on over 60 extra staff and doubled UK production capacity to supply major programmes on its order book. It was partly responsible for the 28 per cent surge in revenue at the imaging division where adjusted operating profit almost doubled to £4.6m. It helped beef up the 12-month order book to £130m, too. But demand has also grown for thermal imaging cameras, and for high-tech cameras used on production lines churning out electronic goods in Asia where revenue surged 49 per cent to £19m. A new sensor, which replaces dental x-rays with a digital image, has proved a sell-out.
E2V TECHNOLOGIES (E2V) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ORD PRICE: | 148p | MARKET VALUE: | £321m | |
| TOUCH: | 147-149p | 12-MONTH HIGH: | 151p | Low: 103p |
| DIVIDEND YIELD: | 2.8% | PE RATIO: | 13 | |
| NET ASSET VALUE: | 69p* | NET DEBT: | 7% | |
| Half-year to 30 Sep | Turnover (£m) | Pre-tax profit (£m) | Earnings per share (p) | Dividend per share (p) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2012 | 94.0 | 14.4 | 5.32 | 1.30 |
| 2013 | 98.1 | 10.8 | 3.76 | 1.40 |
| % change | +4 | -25 | -29 | +8 |
Ex-div: 27 Nov Payment: 17 Dec *Includes intangible assets of £77.9m, or 36p per share | ||||
