With the bulk of its contracts secured abroad, there should be little surprise that Porvair’s (PRV) revenue streams were swollen by sterling’s post-referendum decline in 2016. But even devoid of translation benefits, the specialist filtration’s group’s top line was 8 per cent to the good, driven by a particularly strong showing from its microfiltration division. Operating profits of £10.7m were 9 per cent in advance of its 2015 year-end; a pleasing result given they were constrained by start-up costs of a new metals filtration plant in China.
Over the past few years, the group has moved out of the red into a net cash position, while substantially building capacity and expanding its geographic footprint. The proliferation of large-scale gas projects in Asia continues to drive commercial opportunities in microfiltration. Aviation revenues, up 21 per cent through the year, provide another pointer to growth opportunities, with new orders coming through for industry programmes, including the Airbus A350, Boeing 777X and Bombardier C Series. Management was also encouraged by the order pipeline for the nuclear and bioscience filtration segments.
Peel Hunt upgraded its adjusted pre-tax/EPS forecasts for the November 2017 year-end from £10.3m/17.4p to £10.6m/18p, and from £10.5m/17.7p to £11m/18.6p in 2018 (2016: £10.1m/17.1p).
| PORVAIR (PRV) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ORD PRICE: | 450p | MARKET VALUE: | £204m | |
| TOUCH: | 440p-450p | 12-MONTH HIGH: | 458p | LOW: 280p |
| DIVIDEND YIELD: | 0.8% | PE RATIO: | 26 | |
| NET ASSET VALUE: | 158p* | NET CASH: | £13.6m | |
| Year to 30 Nov | Turnover (£m) | Pre-tax profit (£m) | Earnings per share (p) | Dividend per share (p) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2012 | 76.0 | 6.3 | 10.1 | 2.6 |
| 2013 | 84.0 | 7.6 | 12.3 | 2.9 |
| 2014 | 104 | 8.4 | 14.4 | 3.2 |
| 2015 | 95.8 | 9.2 | 15.5 | 3.5 |
| 2016 | 109 | 10.1 | 17.1 | 3.8 |
| % change | +14 | +10 | +10 | +9 |
Ex-div:27 Apr Payment:02 Jun *Includes intangible assets of £52.6m, or 116p a share | ||||
