Cohort’s (CHRT) half-year results revealed lower contributions from all four of its businesses, against last year’s comparators. “The first half of the year wasn’t as good as hoped,” admitted chief executive Andrew Thomis, who largely attributed the defence contractor's poor headline figures to orders being received towards the end of the period.
Delays plunged the EID business, which provides communications technology for the defence and security sectors, into an operating loss. It recently announced a €10m (£9m) order from a customer in the Middle East – this had been anticipated earlier in the year, and was the prime cause of the division’s £0.3m operating loss, compared with its £0.7m profit at the 2017 half year.
Management nevertheless anticipates a record full-year order book, and is talking up an expected £50m deal with the Ministry of Defence before the end of FY2019. Despite this, overall performance is expected to sit in line with levels achieved last year, excluding the contribution from its latest acquisition. Cohort announced its largest ever single acquisition in the form of Chess Technologies, which will cost up to £41.9m and become Cohort’s fifth business in its portfolio.
Investec forecasts adjusted pre-tax profits of £16.1m for the April 2019 year-end, leading to EPS of 31.3p, up from £15.2m and 28.8p in FY2018.
| COHORT (CHRT) | ||||
| ORD PRICE: | 410p | MARKET VALUE: | £168m | |
| TOUCH: | 400-420p | 12-MONTH HIGH: | 422p | LOW: 318p |
| DIVIDEND YIELD: | 2.1% | PE RATIO: | 27 | |
| NET ASSET VALUE: | 169p* | NET CASH | £4.7m | |
| Half-year to 31 Oct | Turnover (£m) | Pre-tax profit (£m) | Earnings per share (p) | Dividend per share (p) |
| 2017 | 44.0 | 0.4 | 0.92 | 2.55 |
| 2018 | 39.5 | -2.0 | -3.52 | 2.85 |
| % change | -10 | - | - | +12 |
| Ex-div: | 31 Jan | |||
| Payment: | 27 Feb | |||
| *Includes intangibles of £43m, or 105p a share | ||||
