Given the modest scale of TP’s (TPG) operations, a once-over on the cash front is always advisable. Last year’s placing and open offer left the multi-discipline engineer in a solid net cash position at the year-end, while a £4.4m net cash outflow was largely attributable to an increase in receivables. Offsetting this, management notes, was the receipt of a major customer payment (£2.6m) after the bell in early January 2018.
Top-line growth was split roughly between existing enterprises and acquired assets, with gross profit up by around a third to £8.2m, and the margin constrained by continued exposure to oil and gas markets. A marked rise in administration costs fed through to another earnings loss, although the group had to book one-off restructuring and share option costs, together with an impairment on old assets, which came to £1.4m.
During the period, TP acquired ALS Technologies, Flexible Software Solutions, and Polaris Consulting, all of which sell into the defence and security sectors (together with additional activity in energy and transportation). The pre-existing four business units have been pared down to two: TPG Engineering and TPG Services. The former division incorporates TPG Maritime, the only segment to book an operating profit in 2017, although management anticipates good growth rates for TPG Services, which will benefit from the newly acquired assets.
| TP GROUP (TPG) | ||||
| ORD PRICE: | 5.75p | MARKET VALUE: | £44m | |
| TOUCH: | 5.5-6p | 12-MONTH HIGH: | 8p | LOW: 5.1p |
| DIVIDEND YIELD: | nil | PE RATIO: | na | |
| NET ASSET VALUE: | 5.3p* | NET CASH: | £21m | |
| Year to 31 Dec | Turnover (£m) | Pre-tax profit (£m) | Earnings per share (p) | Dividend per share (p) |
| 2013 † | 19.3 | -4.34 | -1.09 | nil |
| 2014 † | 21.7 | -3.89 | -0.87 | nil |
| 2015 † | 20.4 | -2.22 | -0.44 | nil |
| 2016 | 21.2 | -0.33 | -0.05 | nil |
| 2017 | 29.5 | -0.60 | -0.12 | nil |
| % change | +39 | - | - | - |
| Ex-div: | na | |||
| Payment: | na | |||
| *Includes intangible assets of £15.9m, or 2.1p a share. †Per share figures adjusted for 2017 1:7 open offer | ||||
