Growing sales of large format touchscreen sensors and the steady gains of multi-touch technology capped another strong six months of trading for Zytronic (ZYT). The group, whose products are used in everything from shopping malls and museums to casinos and bus stops, continues to grow market share in ATMs and vending, while capitalising on rising appetite for larger panel sizes.
Strong demand for higher-margin gaming and signage touchscreen sensors drove a 6 percentage point increase in gross margins to 40 per cent. That boost was only slightly offset by an increase in administration costs and the impact of currency movements, so that operating profit finished 15 per cent higher at £1.6m. That shows the group's capital expenditure and production efficiencies are paying off, argues finance director Claire Smith.
These investments should continue to bear fruit: chief executive Mark Cambridge tells us that demand for the group's multi-touch sensor technology in ultra-large formats is now starting to pick up. But he isn't so confident about trading conditions in Russia, where sales of bill-payment kiosks continue to fall.
House broker N+1 Singer has upgraded its adjusted pre-tax profit forecast by 8 per cent to £3.9m, giving adjusted EPS of 20.8p.
| ZYTRONIC (ZYT) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ORD PRICE: | 304p | MARKET VALUE: | £46m | |
| TOUCH: | 300-308p | 12-MONTH HIGH: | 308p | LOW: 200p |
| DIVIDEND YIELD: | 3.4% | PE RATIO: | 15 | |
| NET ASSET VALUE: | 121p | NET CASH: | £7.3m | |
| Half-year to 31 Mar | Turnover (£m) | Pre-tax profit (£m) | Earnings per share (p) | Dividend per share (p) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | 8.8 | 1.4 | 7.7 | 2.85 |
| 2015 | 10.0 | 1.6 | 8.7 | 3.14 |
| % change | +13 | +15 | +13 | +10 |
Ex-div: 9 Jul Payment: 24 Jul | ||||
