It often seems like the Christmas season comes earlier every year, but for Aim-traded pre-paid card and voucher business Park (PKG) it really does. Management already knows that its order book will be ahead by 7-8 per cent for Christmas 2015. That's because it takes on most of its customers for its festive budgeting service - the average customer saves £10 a month towards a gift card or voucher - in the preceding September-to-February period.
Rising consumer spending is lifting this business. The number of individual consumer accounts increased by 14 per cent to 145,000 in the year to March, and the average size of those accounts increased from £440 to £463. Operating profit in this division was consequently up by more than a tenth at £5.9m.
But even better news came from Park's corporate business, which sells vouchers and pre-paid cards for employers to use as rewards and incentives. Operating profit here was up by a third to £6.5m, boosted by both rising employment and increasing corporate spending on employee benefits. The corporate division includes a booming online business, highstreetvouchers.com, which saw billings increase 28 per cent to £21.5m over the year.
Broker Arden Partners expects adjusted pre-tax profit of £12.2m for the year to March 2016, compared with £11.1m in full-year 2015.
| PARK (PKG) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ORD PRICE: | 63p | MARKET VALUE: | £115m | |
| TOUCH: | 62.5-63.75p | 12-MONTH HIGH: | 65p | LOW: 48p |
| DIVIDEND YIELD: | 3.8% | PE RATIO: | 14 | |
| NET ASSET VALUE: | * | NET CASH: | £26.3m | |
| Year to 31 Mar | Turnover (£m) | Pre-tax profit (£m) | Earnings per share (p) | Dividend per share (p) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 | 280 | 12.5 | 5.8 | 2 |
| 2012 | 279 | 8.6 | 3.9 | 2 |
| 2013 | 279 | 9.5 | 4.6 | 2.1 |
| 2014 | 270 | 9.4 | 4.2 | 2.3 |
| 2015 | 293 | 10.9 | 4.7 | 2.4 |
| % change | +9 | +16 | +12 | +4 |
Ex-div: 27 Aug Payment: 1 Oct *Negative shareholders' funds of £167,000 | ||||
