Collectibles are big business as rich investors look to diversify their portfolios, while trading is now within reach of the average man on the street anywhere in the world, thanks to the internet. These are two trends stamp dealer Stanley Gibbons (SGI) has clearly been benefiting from and which helped to boost the company's underlying trading profit at the half-year stage by 9 per cent to £2.3m.
Excluded from this figure is a £559,000 investment in online operations, a major part of Stanley Gibbons' growth strategy, which will remain a central focus in the second half as the website is refreshed, the newly acquired bidStart platform is integrated and the new e-commerce and marketing teams are bedded in. So far it's paying off - online revenue rose 16 per cent to £1.2m, buoyed by new investment clients sourced online and third-party commissions through bidStart.
Stamp profits continue to grow strongly, up 22 per cent to £3.1m on sales of £13.2m, boosted by overseas markets, which now account for 61 per cent of stamp sales, compared with 47 per cent last year. The Hong Kong office traded well and a new office in Singapore, opened at the end of April, is already profitable.
Broker Peel Hunt expects full-year EPS of 17.5p, rising to 19p in 2014 (19.4p in 2012).
| STANLEY GIBBONS (SGI) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ORD PRICE: | 302p | MARKET VALUE: | £86.7m | |
| TOUCH: | 298-305p | 12-MONTH HIGH: | 307p | LOW: 202p |
| DIVIDEND YIELD: | 2.2% | PE RATIO: | 18 | |
| NET ASSET VALUE: | 112p | NET CASH: | £7.6m | |
| Half-year to 30 Jun | Turnover (£m) | Pre-tax profit (£m) | Earnings per share (p) | Dividend per share (p) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2012 | 14.7 | 1.67 | 6.07 | 2.75 |
| 2013 | 17.2 | 1.13 | 3.59 | 3.00 |
| % change | +17 | -32 | -41 | +9 |
Ex-div: 14 Aug Payment: 30 Sep | ||||
