Events company Tarsus (TRS) claims to be "quickening the pace" of shareholder financial returns through its buy-and-build strategy. But the group has had to rely on its investors via a £23m share placing to execute this plan. As such, the share price had a rocky time in 2016, although it's still up nearly a fifth over the last 12 months.
The proceeds from the fundraising round were used to acquire 65 per cent of Hometex, which owns the leading bi-annual home textiles exhibition in China. This deal, completed after the year-end, was Tarsus's fourth since April. The acquisitions completed during the period helped boost group revenue. Compared with 2014 - a better comparative as 2015 numbers include revenue from the group's major bi-annual events which did not occur last year - revenue rose 13 per cent.
Trading is looking good going in to 2017 - a financially more significant year. Like-for-like bookings are already 10 per cent ahead of 2016, while the big biennial events have reported record rebookings. Broker Investec therefore expects adjusted EPS of 27p for the year to December 2017, up from 12.9p in 2016 and 24.6p the year earlier.
TARSUS (TRS) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ORD PRICE: | 278p | MARKET VALUE: | £314m | |
| TOUCH: | 275-280p | 12-MONTH HIGH: | 289p | LOW: 228p |
| DIVIDEND YIELD: | 3.3% | PE RATIO: | 40 | |
| NET ASSET VALUE: | 61p* | NET DEBT: | 97% | |
| Year to 31 Dec | Turnover (£m) | Pre-tax profit (£m) | Earnings per share (p) | Dividend per share (p) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2012 | 51.5 | 8.4 | 5.6 | 6.8 |
| 2013 | 75.9 | 15.9 | 12.2 | 7.3 |
| 2014 | 50.9 | 7.1 | 5.0 | 7.8 |
| 2015 | 82.0 | 19.1 | 14.4 | 8.4 |
| 2016 | 68.4 | 8.6 | 6.9 | 9.1 |
| % change | -17 | -55 | -52 | +8 |
Ex-div: 25 May Payment: 6 Jul *Includes intangible assets of £187m, or 166p a share | ||||
