Vitec 's (VTC) chief executive Stephen Bird believes the group has finally "got a grip on the image capture sharing market". The supplier of high-end equipment and services to broadcast and digital image markets has been formulating ways to exploit our seeming inability to carry out our day-to-day activities without committing them to the photographic record. But there's profit in this collective madness, so Vitec now supplies an expanding range of premium accessories for smartphones, action cameras and drones. Last year's collaboration with tech giant Apple (US:APPL) saw the launch of the TwistGrip accessory, which connects all smartphones to any camera support - one of five Vitec products that are now sold in Apple's stores worldwide.
The success of TwistGrip, along with other product launches, fed into record revenue and cash flows for the group, but much of the improvement was attributable to favourable foreign exchange translations. Adjusted operating profit at the photographic division grew by 35.8 per cent to £20.5m, but that falls back to a more prosaic 2.8 per cent at constant currencies. Likewise, £24.1m of the £35.8m in revenue growth at the broadcast division was down to currency effects.
Investec expects cash profit of £60.2m for 2017, leading to EPS of 64.1p, against £59.9m and 61.1p in 2016.
| VITEC (VTC) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ORD PRICE: | 715p | MARKET VALUE: | £319m | |
| TOUCH: | 688-715p | 12-MONTH HIGH: | 715p | LOW: 485p |
| DIVIDEND YIELD: | 3.8% | PE RATIO: | 35 | |
| NET ASSET VALUE: | 313p* | NET DEBT: | 54% | |
| Year to 31 Dec | Turnover (£m) | Pre-tax profit (£m) | Earnings per share (p) | Dividend per share (p) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2012 | 345 | 16.1 | 13.6 | 22.0 |
| 2013 | 315 | 20.4 | 31.9 | 23.0 |
| 2014 | 310 | 20.1 | 29.4 | 24.0 |
| 2015 | 318 | 18.5 | 29.3 | 24.6 |
| 2016 | 376 | 10.5 | 20.2 | 27.2 |
| % change | +18 | -43 | -31 | +11 |
Ex-div: 20 Apr Payment: 19 May *Includes intangible assets of £99m, or 221p a share | ||||
