Small Cap Catch-Up: Global Ports, Cohort And More
Global Ports Holdings (LON:GPH) – Take The Cash And Immediately Reinvest
On Wednesday 19th June I suggested that lucky holders should wait until we heard the actual terms of the cash bid being made by majority holder Global Investments Holdings, before selling into any strength.
The shares were then 249p, with whispers that a $3.00 a share could be possible from the 59% holder of the cruise port network operator’s equity.
Last Thursday morning saw the actual bid terms being announced, with $4.02 (some 313p) cash being the figure.
Take it!
That has been an excellent win for this column’s participators, over 384% up over the last 20 months, or nearly 60% up in the last year.
Take the cash offered now in the market and reinvest immediately – there really are so many cheap small cap opportunities out there for cashed-up investors.
(Profile 11.11.22 @ 81.5p set a target Price of 100p*)
(Profile 19.06.23 @ 196.5p set a target Price of 220p*)
Cohort (LON:CHRT) – Finals Due This Wednesday, More Growth To Come
Next Wednesday, 17th July, will see the Final Results for the year to end April being declared by this independent technology group.
The end May Trading Update for the period noted that the group’s trading performance was slightly ahead of expectations, while stating that its Order Book was standing at record level.
It also commented that the group had an encouraging pipeline of order opportunities for the current year, providing a positive outlook for organic growth in the years ahead.
CEO Andrew Thomis stated that:
“Cohort’s performance was slightly ahead of our previous expectations for the year with growth in revenue and profits.
Following strong order intake, we have a record closing order book with encouraging prospects for further orders.
Our strong closing net funds position provides a robust platform from which to invest in the business and, potentially, acquisitions.
We expect to continue our organic growth in 2024/25 and beyond.”
Current market estimates for the 2024 year look for £189m sales, £18.7m profits and 36.5p of earnings, with 14.7p of dividend per share.
This year to end April 2025 could see £200m revenues, £22.0m profits. 40.5p earnings and 15.5p dividend per share.
The group’s shares are trading around 824p ahead of the results and accompanying statement.
Hold very tight.
(Profile 06.08.19 @ 446p set a target Price of 607p*)
Hunting (LON:HTG) – Record Order Book And Almost Doubled Profits This Year
A week ago, this global precision engineering group issued its First Half Trading Update to end June.
This is another group showing excellent an Order Book from its worldwide clientele, some $700m against $565m as at end December 2023.
That was boosted by some $231m of orders from Kuwait Oil.
CEO Jim Johnson stated that:
“At c.$700m, our sales order book nears the highest in the Company’s history, which supports strong revenue and earnings visibility well into 2025.
We are delighted to have secured the significant orders from KOC.
This achievement is the result of over six years of collaboration with KOC, supported by Hunting’s industry leading premium connection technology, our strategic supply chains and our commitment to our clients to deliver value.
Our business success has supported strong delivery of the Hunting 2030 Strategy. Management remains confident of delivering our EBITDA to Free Cash Flow target of 50% based on our expected financial performance for the remainder of the year.”
Analyst Daniel Slater at Zeus Capital is now looking for sales this year of $1.09bn ($929m) and almost double adjusted pre-tax profits of $93.2m ($50.0m), generating earnings of 39.6c (20.3c) covering a 13c (10c) dividend per share.
We will have to wait until the end of August for the Interims to be announced.
In the meantime, the shares, which touched 465.37p a week ago, are currently seeing some profit-taking, at 414p at which level they are a cracking medium-term prospect.
(Profile 15.03.21 @ 275p set a target Price of 350p*)
(Profile 12.04.23 @ 240p set a target Price of 300p*)
Beeks Financial Cloud Group (LON:BKS) – Next Monday’s Trading Update To Give Fresh Guidance
Monday 22nd July is the date set for this technology group to issue its Trading Update for the year to end June.
The SaaS cloud computing and connectivity provider for financial markets is already trading on a very high historic price-to-earnings ratio of 37 times, but that is not putting off the company’s followers.
Expectations for the last year are for around £30.0m (£22.4m) sales, with adjusted pre-tax profits of £4.1m (£2.3m), lifting earnings to 5.5p (4.1p) per share.
The year now underway could see £40.0m revenues, £6.0m profits and earnings of 7.6p per share, which would put the shares out on only 27 times, which many might still consider fairly fancy in rating.
However, I look forward to next week’s news while also awaiting market reaction to fresh guidance being given.
Having more than doubled this year to date, the shares at 210p are trading within pennies of their recent 5-year High.
(Profile 01.03.23 @ 145p set a target Price of 180p*)
Corero Network Security (LON:CNS) – 15-Year High Shows Strong Momentum
Last Wednesday recorded a statement from this group of ‘distributed denial of service’ protection specialists.
The company reported that it had been winning new business for its SmartWall ONE DDoS protection solutions.
With operational centres in Marlborough, Massachusetts, in the USA, and in Edinburgh, Corero is a leading provider of DDoS protection solutions, specialising in automatic detection and protection solutions with network visibility, analytics, and reporting tools.
Its technology protects against external and internal DDoS threats in complex edge and subscriber environments, ensuring internet service availability.
CEO Carl Herberger stated that:
“These key customer wins build on our continued new business momentum generated throughout Q2 2024, with all four choosing to replace their existing solutions with Corero’s market-leading SmartWall ONETM technology.
Securing these significant new mandates completes a successful half-year period for the Company and provides a strong base from which we can further grow our global market presence and enhance our service offering in the remainder of the year and beyond.”
Analyst Bob Liao at Zeus Capital is impressed by the group’s continuation of its contract momentum.
For the current year to end December he anticipates $25.4m ($22.3m) revenues, with pre-tax profits of $0.7m (loss of $0.2m), with earnings of 0.14c (loss of 0.03c) per share.
But going forward he sees $28.8m sales, $1.9m profits and 0.37c per share in earnings for 2025.
The following year Liao suggests even better returns – $32.6m sales, $2.9m profits and 0.57c per share in earnings.
This column has enjoyed a good run with Corero shares, now just 1p off their recent 15-year High at 19.50p.
Certainly, they are enjoying a good upward momentum, so Hold.
(Profile 14.04.20 @ 4.2p set a target Price of 6.5p*)
(Asterisks * denote that Target Prices have been achieved since Profile publication)
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