IMImobile’s (IMO) results for the year to March 2019 were broadly solid, though – as at the half-year stage – performance varied across the cloud communications group’s core geographies. Overall, gross profits rose by 23 per cent to £62.6m, or by 7 per cent organically. This partly reflected a 43 per cent improvement in Europe and the Americas to £44.7m, but that's set against a 19 per cent fall in sales for the Middle East and Africa to £9.1m.
This fall stemmed from external factors affecting a single mobile operator client – MTN – particularly in Nigeria. That said, volumes here are now “nominal”, meaning such headwinds pose less of a problem. Meanwhile, the group saw strong growth in its South African enterprise business.
Statutory pre-tax profits plunged, after contingent consideration charges, acquisition costs and amortisation. Still, the group’s M&A strategy appears to be panning out. Its focus on North America has intensified via the purchases of Impact Mobile and ExpressPigeon, and it continues to look for opportunities to strengthen its foothold here.
Investec expects EPS of 8.3p for the year to March 2020, from a loss per share of 2.6p in FY2019.
| IMIMOBILE (IMO) | ||||
| ORD PRICE: | 324p | MARKET VALUE: | £ 217m | |
| TOUCH: | 320-328p | 12-MONTH HIGH: | 376p | LOW: 203p |
| DIVIDEND YIELD: | nil | PE RATIO: | na | |
| NET ASSET VALUE: | 90p* | NET DEBT: | 12% | |
| Year to 31 Mar | Turnover (£m) | Pre-tax profit (£m) | Earnings per share (p) | Dividend per share (p) |
| 2015 | 48.9 | -2.3 | -13.5 | nil |
| 2016 | 61.6 | 4.2 | 7.1 | nil |
| 2017 | 76.1 | 5.1 | 11.8 | nil |
| 2018 | 111 | 2.7 | 1.5 | nil |
| 2019 | 143 | 0.7 | -1.9 | nil |
| % change | +33 | -73 | - | - |
| Ex-div: | na | |||
| Payment: | na | |||
| *Includes intangible assets of £73m, or 109p a share | ||||
