You can find it on this url, you need to do a free quick sign up.

http://www.everyinvestor.co.uk/index.asp

Speculation is that it is an Electronics company featured on this very board.
We shall see.
GF.

Its here, Ive tipped it above weeks back.

Friday, October 03, 2003


Centurion rides in-car entertainment boom across UK and into Europe


Centurion Electronics
Business Summary
Automotive audio-visual entertainment.

Market: AIM
Website: www.centurionsystems.co.uk



Recently floated on Aim, Centurion Electronics, is enjoying explosive growth on the back of soaring demand for in-car audio-visual entertainment. On one estimate the market grew 10-fold between August 2001 and July 2002, admittedly from a tiny base. As a pioneer in the market Centurion is riding this growth wave and is already making inroads into continental Europe where the market is estimated to be two years behind the UK, i.e, virtually non-existent.


Market Data
EPIC Company Share Price Market Cap m PER Dividend Yield% 12-Month hi-lo Company Report
CUC Centurion Electronics 113 26 n/a n/a 30-113 --



A hint of the potential can be seen from looking at the experience of the US market which, as so often, is two years ahead of the UK. The US market for in-car audio-visual entertainment products is already worth over $250m and growing fast. Another pointer comes from the development of entertainment products for the house. In the 1930s and 1940s every house had a radio; in the 1950s TVs gradually began to penetrate. Now there are houses with a TV in virtually every room. The possibility is that a similar revolution will happen with mobile video- as the product category is known- but much more quickly.


Comparisons with the explosive early growth of Alan Sugar’s Amstrad
Among the few observers who have looked at Centurion, still a tiny company valued at just over 26m, comparisons have been made with the early growth of Amstrad. Under its abrasive boss, Alan Sugar, Amstrad pioneered cheap consumer electronic products ranging from hi-fi to personal computers. Many people had an Amstrad as their first computer and the company enjoyed years of dramatic growth making Sugar a multi-millionaire. There is an echo of this process in Centurion’s ability to design value-for-money screens and accessories for the car market with products sourced from low-cost factories in Taiwan and China.

The change in attitudes to the products is amazing. Two or three years ago I was at the motor show looking at a Range Rover being offered for an astounding 80,000 partly on the strength of flat screens mounted in the seats. The 36-year-old chairman and chief executive of Centurion, Steven Cunningham, says that when he first began talking to retailers about selling DVD players and monitors to go in mass-market cars the reaction was ‘Right, and where do we put the jacuzzi!’


DVD player and easily fitted monitor ready to go in five minutes for just 300
But with Centurion able to supply a DVD player and easily fitted monitor which the buyer can plug in to the car cigarette lighter and play five minutes after buying it, all for around 300, nobody is talking about jacuzzis any more.

Centurion has two principal ranges of products. The dominant range presently is branded as ‘Plug and Play’ and sold through outlets such as Dixons, Argos, Halfords and motor distributors like Pendragon and CD Bramall. These products are based on small screens fitted to the headrests of the front passenger seats and aimed at the after-market. The other range is more expensive with bigger screens and requires professional installation. Car manufacturers like Toyota, Fiat, Lexus, Nissan and BMW on its hugely popular new minis are fitting these products as original equipment.

At the moment the sales split is roughly 70: 30 in favour of after-market products. But with new car manufacturers being signed up all the time, Cunningham expects the split to shift rapidly in favour of original equipment products. There are many other areas where the products can be used including bus stops, caravans, trains, buses and bus stations. Cunningham says the group is also developing products for sale into the home.

Professional products are more expensive. A system for the Nissan Micra costs 699. For the Toyota Avensis, which sells 170,000 annually in Europe, a twin- screen system (screens in both headrests) plus a DVD player in the boot and games-compatible sockets for Playstations and X-Boxes will cost 1600 euros (1000).

An obvious worry is that with the market growing so explosively and set to become huge, that powerful competition will arrive. Centurion is using its growing financial muscle to spend more on research and development and claims its ability to customise its products for each individual vehicle is a major competitive advantage. The group’s engineers are organised in two groups, one working on product development, the other working to customise existing products for different vehicles.


Financial Data
Fiscal Year Proj Turnover m Pretax Profit Change % EPS Change % DPS Change
%
2002 4.14 0.68 NA n/a NA 0 NA
2003 * 10.03 1.48 117.6% 4.06 NA 0 NA
2004 * 19.97 3.45 133.1% 9.69 138.7% 0 NA

EPS - Earnings per Share
DPS - Dividend per Share


Like any spectacularly fast-growing company, Centurion, although profitable from the early days, has needed external funding. In October 2001 a venture capital group put in 500,000 followed by 2.3m when the shares were floated in December 2002. Most recently the group has raised a further 1.2m at 63p to speed expansion into continental Europe.


Growth took off after Stephen Cunningham became CEO in 1999
The company’s growth rate has taken off since 1999 when Stephen Cunningham became chief executive and realised the potential of the new thin-screen liquid crystal display technology to revolutionise the in-car audio-visual entertainment market. Since then sales and profits have been growing explosively, keeping the shares on a modest forward PE ratio.

The group continues to sign new sales channels for its Plug & Play range with seven new distributors in Europe and orders won in Germany, Ireland, Belgium, France and Spain. It plans to sign up further distributors in these countries and expand its reach into Holland and Denmark. In the UK the group has just signed Arnold Clark, a large private group with 120 dealerships. Meanwhile, in response to strong demand, Halfords has increased the number of stores stocking the Plug and Play range from 100 to 250. As an investment in an exciting growth stock, addressing a market which is just taking off across Europe, Centurion looks hard to beat.


The Share Weekly Quality Ratings
Relative Strength 10-year Trend Latest Trading Profit Forecast Ratios External factors TSW Rating
6


GF

Err... the Epic being CUC, yes? It is currently down 13.27% today.

GF

how do you do it, can you smell money?

although I'd never buy/sell on a the strength of a BB posting and haven't had time to dmor on this one, your tip's (for want of another word) are first rate!

Not for long vasey!

I'll watch it with interest, lafiamma. Seems a bit stuck at present.... but certainly it has recovered from its lows of the day.

Their products will be a must have with the hanging dice brigade this xmas.They are bound to do well, being able to make these type of products easily affordable by the masses.This type approach certainly made amstrads fortune.

MMs played silly devils with this one today earlier on and panic set in with a few investors. Next week, we should see gains.

Next week, watch Incite Holdings- only one thing to say, Rugby World Cup.

and also Service Power, SVR, could be news of big contract wins, and somerthing a bit more.

GF.