Cello Health (CLL) has said that the coronavirus crisis means some client spending may be disrupted because of travel restrictions. But its customer base largely comprises businesses that are less sensitive to short-term shifts in consumer behaviour. The healthcare advisory group has not yet endured any material client impact from the outbreak – although management noted that it will be more cautious about hiring this year.
For 2019, Cello continued to focus on its Healthcare division while significantly cutting down the size of its smaller Signal business. To that point, the group sold off its social media and analytics segment Pulsar in October. In January 2020, it brought its core digital and marketing capabilities in Edinburgh into the Cello Health division’s operating structure under the umbrella title ‘Cello Connect’. Utilising this new format, health would have represented 82.2 per cent of net revenues last year – up from 67.6 per cent.
Reported group net revenues edged up by 6.5 per cent to £108m. Pre-tax profits sunk considerably, after the group took a £2.7m impairment charge against Signal. The latter saw net revenues slip by 3.9 per cent to £34.8m, with operating profits sliding by over a quarter to £3.8m.
Prior to these numbers, in January, broker finnCap had expected adjusted EPS of 9.7p for 2020 – up from 9.2p in 2019.
| CELLO HEALTH (CLL) | ||||
| ORD PRICE: | 107p | MARKET VALUE: | £ 113m | |
| TOUCH: | 105-108p | 12-MONTH HIGH: | 149p | LOW: 105p |
| DIVIDEND YIELD: | 3.8% | PE RATIO: | 24 | |
| NET ASSET VALUE: | 77p* | NET DEBT**: | 4% | |
| Year to 31 Dec | Turnover (£m) | Pre-tax profit (£m) | Earnings per share (p) | Dividend per share (p) |
| 2015 | 157 | 5.00 | 3.90 | 2.86 |
| 2016 | 165 | -1.70 | -2.90 | 3.40 |
| 2017 | 169 | 5.80 | 4.10 | 3.50 |
| 2018 | 159 | 9.38 | 6.96 | 3.85 |
| 2019 | 167 | 7.11 | 4.51 | 4.10 |
| % change | +5 | -24 | -35 | +6 |
| Ex-div: | 23 Apr | |||
| Payment: | 22 May | |||
| *Includes intangible assets of £71.8m or 68p a share**Includes lease liabilities of £9.1m | ||||
