In February 2019 management at Amino Technologies (AMO) announced a transformation programme to increase the technology company’s focus on higher-margin opportunities and reduce costs. The latter part of that plan is now complete, with more than $5m (£4m) in annualised cost reductions, coming mainly from a 33 per cent cut in headcount across the research and development and general administration departments. As a result, Amino reported a pre-tax profit of $2.5m, compared with a loss of $0.1m in the first half last year, despite a 16 per cent decline in revenue to $34.6m.
The group made progress on its aim to focus more on higher-margin opportunities, reflected by a three percentage point improvement in the adjusted gross profit margin to 45 per cent. North America – which remains Amino's largest market – saw revenue fall 16 per cent to $17.2m. Management said that this was due in part to some customers moving from a phase where a product is implemented to the maintenance phase. The stock-keeping unit reduction programme, aimed at limiting the number of products on offer, is under way and is expected to have further benefit in 2020.
Broker FinnCap expects adjusted pre-tax profit of $10.1m and EPS of 13¢ for the year to November 2019, against $11.2m and 14.5¢ in FY2018.
| AMINO TECHNOLOGIES (AMO) | ||||
| ORD PRICE: | 118p | MARKET VALUE: | £86m | |
| TOUCH: | 115-121p | 12-MONTH HIGH: | 214p | LOW: 75p |
| DIVIDEND YIELD: | 6.2% | PE RATIO: | 10 | |
| NET ASSET VALUE: | 97¢* | NET CASH: | $19.3m | |
| Half-year to 31 May | Turnover ($m) | Pre-tax profit ($m) | Earnings per share (¢) | Dividend per share (p) |
| 2018 | 41.2 | -0.16 | 0.21 | 1.68 |
| 2019 | 34.6 | 2.51 | 3.28 | 1.68 |
| % change | -16 | - | - | - |
| Ex-div: | 8 Aug | |||
| Payment: | 2 Sep | |||
| *Includes $52.9m of intangible assets, or 73¢ a share | ||||
