Standard accounting numbers do not give the best reading of the health of Hansard Global (HSD), which sells long-term savings products. A settlement with HMRC over past weaknesses in certificates required by the tax authority delivered a net benefit after fees of £3m, compared with a £5m charge in the prior period. This flattered profitability.
Hansard sells investment products wrapped up in a life-assurance wrapper to affluent international investors in more than 170 countries via a network of independent financial advisers. On an embedded-value basis, which includes the value of both new business and in-force policies, the company made a loss of £6.3m due to a drop in new business sales from £83m to £61m. The loss of a big distributor in Japan in the previous financial year continued to drag on business flows. Hope springs from the company’s Asia, Middle East and African business lines, which contributed to stronger trading in the final quarter.
The company continues to run-off its European operations, but the legal writs it faces due to past business on the continent have increased from €6.5m (£4.7m) to €13.3m - the latest challenge coming from a group of Belgian policyholders.
Analysts at Broker Panmure Gordon expect IFRS pre-tax profit of £15.6m for the year to June 2016, giving EPS of 11.3p, compared with £14.9m and 10.9p in FY2015.
| HANSARD GLOBAL (HSD) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ORD PRICE: | 105p | MARKET VALUE: | £144m | |
| TOUCH: | 104.5-105p | 12-MONTH HIGH: | 116p | LOW: 80p |
| DIVIDEND YIELD: | 8.3% | PE RATIO: | 10 | |
| NET ASSET VALUE: | 29p | EMBEDDED VALUE: | 142p | |
| Year to 30 Jun | Pre-tax profit (£m) | Earnings per share (p) | Dividend per share (p) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 | 16.7 | 12.0 | 13.8 |
| 2012 | 11.1 | 8.2 | 13.9 |
| 2013 | 10.7 | 7.6 | 8.0 |
| 2014 | 8.3 | 6.0 | 8.4 |
| 2015 | 14.9 | 10.9 | 8.75 |
| % change | +80 | +82 | +4 |
Ex-div: 1 Oct Payment: 19 Nov £1=€1.37 | |||
