Aug 2010 this was 35p - yet now it's 2.6p

Anyone understand this, or was the earlier sp too much "hope" -
I understand the other hire co Ashtead is down also.
Any views - ?

Final results next month - Financial Calendar

Next stop 15p if they can breakout.

Straining at the leash now !

We should get an update on the Autofocus insurance payout when the results are announced, reportedly worth £millions.

Could be a great recovery play this - mind the gap!

You mean - mind the gap! :-)

Thank you skinny - I need to get better at posting charts! I like that blue line there.:-)

Accidents involving 100 car pile-ups, as happened in Kent yesterday, are going to happen more frequently in this country. The roads are over crowded and there are far too many 18 year-old boy/girl racers on four wheels trying to emulate Louis Hamilton, it's a recipe for disaster - bad news for the emergency services and A&E, but good news for HHR.

I imagine 10p at some point.

to new highs today

and a follow through this morning 5.77p now

Results due any day now.

Final Results

Operational and financial headlines

· Adjusted* operating profit of £8.0m (2012: £1.4m)
· Adjusted* profit before taxation of £4.3m (2012: loss of £4.1m)
· Adjusted* basic EPS 1.25p (2012: EPS 1.13p loss)
· Net cash inflow from operating activities of £31.2m (2012: £21.1m)
· Net cash inflow to EBITDA ratio of 197.7% (2012:140.7%)
· Debtor days reduced to a record 126 days from 165 days
· Net cash of £1.1m (2012: net debt of £110.8m)
· Open case count reduced by a further 10,000 cases to 39,000 cases
· Return to dividend list - special dividend for the year of 0.165 pence paid on 24 July 2013
· First interim dividend for 2014 declared of 0.110 pence and payable on 25 October 2013
· £4.3m in dividends paid or declared since raising £25.6m in March 2013 placing

Commenting on the Group's results and prospects, Martin Ward, Chief Executive Officer, said:



"We are pleased to report that the business has completed some significant changes to its financial structure, business model and cash profile during the year. The Group is now generating cash, is profitable and has shareholders' funds of over £77m. Significantly, we have returned to the dividend list with total dividends of £4.3m paid or declared. This is an outcome of the implementation of a number of changes made to build a more sustainable business model which has better secured the margins in the business as well as a renewed confidence from our long-standing shareholders who supported our financial restructuring plans in March 2013. Our people have played an important part in driving this change and we look forward to making further improvements going forward.



In a market that has remained challenging and competitive against a background of falling national accident rates our focus on providing a quality service to all of our Partners and their customers has been a key driver in our goal for success. The improvements in our operational systems and processes together with the efficiency and transparency achieved when presenting claims to insurers has also contributed to reducing debtor days to a record 126 days which is probably one of the best in the industry."

On the road to recovery with these results - mind the gap on skinny's chart, post 24!

From Paul Scott:

Helphire management pulled off a remarkable turnaround, somehow persuading the Bank to write off a large chunk of the bank debt, plus they have drastically reduced debtor days, and pretty much fixed all the other legacy issues (e.g. surplus properties), and even resumed dividends. I was expecting about £7.5m underlying profit, but they have delivered £8.0m, so these results are good.

With 1.561m shares in issue by the year end, following a Placing, you need to be careful when looking at EPS, because that has been calculated using a weighted average number of shares of 653.8m for basic EPS, and 780.1m for diluted. So you cannot just take the 1.25p basic EPS and say that it's on a PER of 4.5, at 5.6p per share, since that would give a misleading result for the future, given the larger number of shares now in issue.

I cannot find any broker forecasts for the current year, so it's not the easiest share to value at the moment. However, the way I look at it, is that in a turnaround year they made an underlying profit of £8.0m, so there should be upside on that figure going forwards. Also, it is now completely debt-free, including vehicle finance, and paying dividends again, so taking that all into account the market cap of £87m at 5.6p per share doesn't look expensive to me.

Debtor days are at a record low of 126 days, since Helphire now work collaboratively with insurance companies. Indeed I note that their largest shareholder is Aviva. Another dividend has been declared, for 0.11p which goes ex-divi on 9 Oct 2013. The strength of the Bal Sheet is now such that I would expect another special dividend in due course.

There is further upside from the eventual settlement of the Autofocus dispute, where insurers relied on false data on hire pricing rates, and are now liable to pay compensation to companies such as HelpHire. I am not sure of the likely amount there, but it's just icing on the cake, and some of the figures being talked about are pretty substantial. So all in all, it looks like a solid hold to me, although I am keen to see some up-to-date broker research, if anyone has any.



I see that the market is not really sure how to react to the Helphire figures, and after initially being up, the shares are now down 11% to just over 5p. I think that is a pretty good entry price actually - perhaps some investors have been spooked by all the exceptionals (none of which were new though, all previously disclosed), or the outlook statement?
- See more at: http://www.-.co.uk/content/small-cap-value-report-27-sep-hhr-77637/#sthash.hqLsscNF.dpuf

Director Shareholders

Hawk Investment Holdings Limited* 17.95%
Raymond McKeeve 2.20%
David Wright 1.68%
Brian Blasdale 1.10%
Gene Golembiewski 0%
* A Company beneficially owned by Bob Morton and his wife.

Other Shareholders

Hargreave Hale 11.18%
Graham Herring 5.59%
Gary Wyatt 4.75%
Michael Richards 3.55%

Looks ready to bounce from here.

On the move now, immediate target 6p - and then there's a nice gap!

Something has sparked this off now - tipped somewhere?