How much is one chief executive worth? To some investors in Scapa (SCPA), the answer appears to be 'everything'. Shares in the adhesive products specialist crashed as much as a fifth on news that Heejae Chae is to step down after a decade at the helm. Record revenue and adjusted profits, detailed in the accompanying results, were sidelined.
Such apparent panic has a bit more context, given the remainder of the executive team – finance chief Oskar Zahn, healthcare president Joe Doherty and fellow director Sevan Demirdogen – have all joined within the past year.
This is a management team in transition, but the handover starts from a place of strength. Despite a tough market backdrop and a 4.6 per cent dip in revenues, the industrial division saw an improvement in margins, and remains on track to hit a medium-term trading profit target of 15 per cent. The acquisitions of BioMed and Systagenix – which alongside several site closures explain the dip in group profits – offset some operational and client issues in the healthcare segment, where adjusted profits rose by a fifth.
Analysts at Berenberg forecast adjusted pre-tax profit of £41.2m and EPS of 21.2p in the year to March 2020, rising to £46.4m and 23.9p in FY2021.
| SCAPA (SCPA) | ||||
| ORD PRICE: | 314p | MARKET VALUE: | £486m | |
| TOUCH: | 312-314p | 12-MONTH HIGH: | 492p | LOW: 270p |
| DIVIDEND YIELD: | 0.9% | PE RATIO: | 59 | |
| NET ASSET VALUE: | 90.1p* | NET DEBT: | 40% | |
| Year to 31 Mar | Turnover (£m) | Pre-tax profit (£m) | Earnings per share (p) | Dividend per share (p) |
| 2015 | 236 | 13.7 | 6.5 | 1.5 |
| 2016 | 247 | 9.8 | 4.1 | 1.75 |
| 2017 | 280 | 21.8 | 11.6 | 2.0 |
| 2018 | 292 | 28.8 | 15.4 | 2.4 |
| 2019 | 312 | 14.9 | 5.3 | 2.9 |
| % change | +7 | -48 | -66 | +21 |
| Ex-div: | 25 Jul | |||
| Payment: | 23 Aug | |||
| *Includes intangible assets of £119m, or 77p a share | ||||
