Half-year numbers for Plexus (POS) are of secondary importance following the October deal to sell the Plexus Jack-up Business to a subsidiary of TechnipFMC (US: FMCT), alongside a collaboration agreement for new and existing products based on Plexus’s POS-GRIP technology. What we can say is that the half-year figures reflect the downturn in oil and gas capital and exploration budgets, particularly in relation to offshore drilling, with the cash loss for continuing operations up 14 per cent to £1.88m and a profit of £105,000 for the discontinued unit, against £1.53m in 2016.
The focus now switches to the earn-out potential of the deal with TechnipFMC. Plexus received an initial net consideration of £14.1m post period-end and there’s a three year-earn-out provision representing a maximum additional payment value of £27.5m. The company is also looking to generate further revenues via a purchase order from a subsidiary of Centrica (CNA), in addition to a licence agreement with Gusar and CJSC Konar, two independent Russian oil and gas equipment manufacturers, which has already seen the sale of two POS-GRIP rental wellhead sets to Gusar for £1.4m.
| PLEXUS HOLDINGS (POS) | ||||
| ORD PRICE: | 50p | MARKET VALUE: | £52.7m | |
| TOUCH: | 49-51.5p | 12-MONTH HIGH: | 90p | LOW: 50p |
| DIVIDEND YIELD: | nil | PE RATIO: | na | |
| NET ASSET VALUE: | 35.6p* | NET CASH: | £5.3m | |
| Half-year to 31 Dec | Turnover (£'000) | Pre-tax profit (£m) | Earnings per share (p) | Dividend per share (p) |
| 2016 | 179 | -2.6 | -2.5 | nil |
| 2017 | 40.0 | -2.7 | -2.6 | nil |
| % change | -78 | - | - | - |
| Ex-div: | - | |||
| Payment: | - | |||
| *Includes intangible assets of £14m, or 13.3p a share. | ||||
