Centurion Electronics CUC. Traded on the Aim Market.
Drat, Shares mag got in before me and had this one as one of their plays of the week and I feel they are justified in their tip.

Heres a recent article I have lifted from another site and it sums up the company and its prospects.


Nice one, Centurion
By Neil Thapar

- Is Steven Cunningham of Aim-quoted Centurion Electronics set to become the next Alan Sugar of consumer electronics?


The short answer is that it is far too early to tell. But Cunningham's Centurion is potentially as well placed in a rapidly growing segment of the electronics market as Amstrad was during the 1980s personal computer boom. If Cunningham comes anywhere near to replicating Amstrad's success, investors can look forward to outsize gains in the years ahead.

Few have heard of either Centurion or its founder and 41% shareholder. However, there are parallels between the two entrepreneurs. Aged 37, Cunningham went to school in Enfield - not far from Sir Alan's stamping ground in the East End. Both essentially found their calling in sales and marketing. Cunningham started out as a photocopier salesman in the City while Sugar cut his teeth selling car aerials in the market stalls of Petticoat Lane.

As chairman and chief executive, Cunningham has now positioned Centurion for the emerging market for in-car entertainment systems such as flat screens, DVD players, and portable connectivity devices that enable games consoles to be used while on the move. Its products are mainly aimed at backseat passengers and should be a godsend for harassed parents on long journeys with a carload of kids.

The company, floated on the stock market last Christmas, claims pole position in the UK in-car entertainment market, ahead of brands such as Alpine, Pioneer, Sony and Philips.

Centurion designs, markets and distributes products under its own brand, subcontracting manufacture to the Far East. Its products can be factory-fitted to order, or in the aftermarket at a dealer's showroom. A separate range of portable "plug and play" systems is also available that can be connected ti a cigarette lighter socket in a car, caravan or boat.

The market for in-car entertainment and navigation systems is expected to grow rapidly over the next decade as miniaturisation, new technology and carmakers' desire to introduce new optional accessories helps to drive up demand. According to industry estimates, the aftermarket in-car entertainment systems grew eight-fold to about 235m in the past three years.

Cunningham says one of the group's key strengths is its ability to integrate small, flat screens and other devices into headrests, the car roof or other parts of the interior. It also has the know-how to develop products that are compatible with a car's electronic systems, power supply and wiring.

"Many of our rivals are focusing on developing information systems for the driver but we are concentrating on leisure and entertainment products," he says.

As a result, Centurion has signed up some big names in the car industry including BMW, Toyota and Nissan to offer its products as optional accessories. The group is also in talks with other manufacturers.

Separately, its products are also sold through retailers Argos, Currys, Dixons and Halfords. Among motor dealers it boasts Pendragon and CD Bramalls as its partners. On average, its products cost about 350, making them affordable and competitive against rival systems that can cost as much as 1,500.

Given that Centurion is reaching consumers through many different channels, growth is likely to be explosive. Moreover, this segment of the electronics industry is still at an early stage in its cycle and should underpin several boom years for Centurion.

Although Centurion, with a 14m market value, is still small, its results are already beginning to demonstrate the scale of its market opportunity. [/b]Maiden interim profits, reported in May, surged ahead 211% to 398,000 on a 95% increase in turnover to 2.8m.[/b]

It puts the company in on course to at least double taxable profits to 1.4m for the year ended 30 June 2003 but not yet reported. Taxable profits of over 3m in 2004 also look achievable according to the sole published forecast by its house broker Daniel Stewart.

For now the group also has sufficient resources to fund its growth. It had more than 1m cash in the bank at the half-year and recently also moved into new premises of 25,000 sq ft in Welwyn Garden City, Hertfordshire.

The shares have doubled since they were floated at 30p last December but canny fund managers such as Katie Potts of Herald continue to mop up the shares. Pent-up demand has led Cunningham to sell some shares in recent weeks. But the shares still look good for the long term and are likely to attract further attention as it becomes better known in the City.

The shares are valued at less than ten times expected earnings for 2003 and offer a dividend yield of 1.3%. Although small companies can trip-up if they fail to control and manage their rapid growth, Centurion's rating is low enough to justify the risk. Climb aboard.ENDS.

Looks like an excelent growth story to me.

GF.

Up 8.5p on the day, good stuff. Hope you bought a few. Trading is going fantasticly well in the first two months of the new financial period.

Watch out for even further upgrades.

chers Gf.

looks good. i found on iii

11th December, 2003
>
>Centurion Electronics (CUC) - buy at 126.5p
>
>
>We make no apologies for putting what is by most standards a high-risk
>punt in front of Analyst readers today. Centurion is still in its
>fledgling phase, having floated on the Alternative Investment Market a
>year ago. The shares have had a good run since then, but we believe they
>have further to go, based on the increasing credibility of the company's
>in-car video products. These shares are not being given away, but if
>current projections are borne out, the price will more than justify the
>rating. Buy.
>
>Bull features:
>
>* increasingly established, profitable track record;
>
>* string of deals with blue-chip customers;
>
>* fast-growing niche in robust UK car market;
>
>* reasonable barriers to entry.
>
>* strong balance sheet
>
>Bear points:
>
>* rating is full after strong run;
>
>* potential competitors are much larger and better established;
>
>* still suffering massive cash outflows.
>
>Analysis by Magnus Grimond and Bill Adlard
>
>Key Statistics
>
>EPIC: CUC
>Mkt. Cap: 29.2m
>
>PER: 20
>EPS growth: 48%
>Prospective yield: 0.9%
>
>Rel. Strength:
>1m: +4.5%
>6m: +166%
>1y: +205%
>
>Next Results:
>interims in May
> _____
>
>Centurion Electronics is not a typical Analyst tip. For that reason, it
>will not appeal to everyone. However, for those who fancy a punt with
>money they are prepared to lose, this AIM-listed supplier of video
>players for cars looks quite exciting.
>
>The company was launched in 1993 originally as a supplier of electronic
>car security products. By 1999, it had become apparent there was a big
>opportunity in supplying DVD players operating on flat screens for use
>in cars - the sort of thing Tony Blair uses to keep the children happy
>in the back of his people mover. In May, the company launched its
>"Professional" range of Centurion-branded products fitted in the factory
>or the dealer's showroom. Six months later came the "Plug & Play" range,
>a retail version of the player which sells for between 250 and 350 and
>plugs straight into the cigarette lighter and is ready for use.
>
>The products includes 5-inch to 15-inch flat screens mounted either from
>the roof or in the back of the front headrests (for the "Professional"
>range) or free-standing screens which sit between the front seats. They
>also include DVD and video players and television tuners, all compatible
>with cordless headphones, remote controls and games consoles.
>
>The degree with which the equipment has been accepted by the market can
>be seen in the company's range of customers. These now include car
>manufacturers like Nissan, Toyota, Fiat and Alfa Romeo; retailers such
>as Halfords, Argos, Dixons, Costco and Makro; and dealers like CD
>Bramall, Pendragon, Arnold Clark and Hartwell. According to Centurion,
>Plug & Play is available from more than 400 car dealerships, while the
>"second generation" version, launched in January, has become the
>biggest-selling in-car multimedia product in the UK.
>
>Up until now, the retail side has really carried the rest of the
>business. The chairman and chief executive, Steven Cunningham, says the
>split of turnover was 70:30 in favour of retail in the last year to
>September. That equates to sales of around 4.4m - around 20,000 units -
>out of the group total of 6.25m reported in yesterday's maiden
>preliminary figures.
>
>However, that belies the value of the Professional business, where the
>unit value is much higher - the latest ViewTech model sells for 399 -
>and the margin is around five percentage points fatter. These so-called
>OEM (or original equipment manufacture) deals require from 12 to 24
>months of design and development before they begin to generate sales.
>However, they are starting to kick in.
>
>The system is now available on the Nissan Micra, Toyota's up-market
>Lexus RX300, the Kia multi-purpose vehicle range and the Toyota Avensis.
>As examples of what is possible, the company points to the 300 units
>sold with the Kia since August, and the numbers are rising by the month.
>There may be even more potential from the Toyota Avensis, of which
>167,000 are sold in Europe every year. The company is expecting to gain
>4% of those, suggesting a figure of close to 7,000 a year.
>
>Real sales now coming through
>The benefits of the Toyota deal started to come through in the final
>quarter, with around 2,000 units being shipped. That helped Centurion
>announce more than doubled pre-tax profits for last year. The reported
>figure jumped from 435,000 to 1.18m, although 160,000 related to an
>insurance claim from the theft of stock. Sales advanced 51%, while
>diluted earnings per share more than doubled to 4.27p.
>
>Cunningham admits that the dollar has been kind to the company. The
>depreciation of the US currency by around a fifth, while the pound has
>weakened against the euro, could hardly have been better for Centurion.
>Some 90% of its purchases, mostly in the Far East, are in dollars, while
>it sells in pounds and euros.
>
>However, there is no reason to think that the dollar's slide will not
>continue, while sales are going like a train. Orders taken in October
>and November, the first two months of the new financial year, stood at
>3.5m, of which about 2m related to the Toyota deal. If all that work
>comes through this year, it would represent more than a quarter of house
>broker Charles Stanley's projected sales for the whole group of 12.9m.
>
>That gives Centurion a pretty fair wind in what is still only the early
>stages of the current financial year. Cunningham says they are looking
>at a couple more OEM contracts in Europe which he expects to announce
>before the date of the interim results in May.
>
>Working capital worry
>There are, however, a couple of caveats to this rosy picture. Perhaps
>the most important is the surge in working capital evident at the year
>end in September. Stock and debtors jumped to 4.54m from 1.81m the
>September before, with each individual figure equivalent to over four
>months' sales. Add in capital expenditure of around 448,000, and it is
>little wonder that Centurion suffered a cash outflow before financing of
>1.74m during the year.
>
>Had the company not raised 2.3m at the float and a further 1.2m in
>August in a placing at 63p, it would have been deep in the red. As it
>is, the 3.5m of funds raised were reduced to a net figure of 768,000
>by the year end. Finance director Amanda Thorneycroft justified the
>large amount of money tied up in working capital by referring to the
>Toyota deal. She said they typically hold stocks to cover the following
>three- to four-months sales, while for monitors the lead time was more
>like six months. Add in the fact that inventories were building up in
>September to supply the Japanese contract, at a time when sales were
>picking up, and it is not hard to see why the company had to tie up so
>much of it funds.
>
>In any case, working capital ratios can be misleading in a fast-growing
>company, when the historic reported sales figures may be a long way
>behind the current level for which stocks are being accumulated. In
>addition, Centurion factors most of its debtor payments, a type of
>short-term finance where the bank takes the risk, which provides virtual
>certainty that they will ultimately convert into cash.
>
>Nonetheless, the company says it will aim to generate more cash in
>future and certainly "would hope" not to need to raise more cash from
>shareholders. Cunningham points out that, although development spending
>remains high, Centurion still has at its disposal 6m of undrawn
>borrowing facilities which should be more than enough to tide the
>company over.
>
>The more generalised risk for Centurion comes from competitors, who are
>likely to be deep-pocketed. Cunningham sees less threat from the giant
>Japanese electronics groups, which he thinks are more focused on
>developing and selling screens aimed at assisting the driver to navigate
>than for entertainment. More likely rivals include the consumer
>electronics group Alba, or the big US car parts groups Delphi and
>Visteon. Even so, he believes Centurion has around a two-year head start
>on these companies.
>
>Charles Stanley is looking for underlying pre-tax profits to double
>again to 2.1m this year, with underlying earnings per share rising by
>around three-quarters to 6.3p. That would still put the shares at 126.5p
>on a hefty forward price-earnings ratio of 20, where the yield would be
>a slim 0.9%. We freely admit that this is a full rating for a share
>which floated at just 30p only a year ago. Centurion is not something to
>put money into that you can't afford to lose, but as a punt it looks
>very interesting. (And remember, an investment in the company is likely
>to benefit from the very favourable tax treatment of shares traded on
>AIM.) Long-term buy.
>
>

Wow just look at this one fly.

cheers GF.

Another good day for this one . Next hurdle is getting over 150p.

cheers GF.

Backed by one Broker as one of its tips for 2004.......

Sky Capital's UK head of research, Kevin Fogarty, lists 11 stocks for 2004; they are Royal Bank of Scotland, Vodafone, WPP Group, easyJet, AstraZeneca, Cambridge Antibody, BOC Group, Persimmon, Centurion Electronics, Invox and Connaught.

cheers GF.

Well we are through the 150p hurdle. Where next?. Some say 200p very quickly, but its a volatile little devil, so Ill take what we can get as long as its north.

cheers GF.

Looking forward to an excelent year from this little gem.

cheers GF.

There is no doubt that golddust is valuable but when it gets in your eyes it obscures your vision.

Forgot to mention that in the last presented results the company informed that it was well ahead of budget in the first two months of the new period.

cheers GF.

Very strong looking TA.



Has risen 336% since the bottom on 2 Dec 2002 at 35.00. Is within a rising trend. Continued positive development within the trend channel is indicated. The stock has support at p 125.


Period Vol.bal. Volatility Liquidity +/- %
1 day - 1.61% 8.42 +0.66%
5 days 84.19 5.91% 10.95 +7.77%
22 days -21.73 18.84% 17.56 +18.68%
66 days 10.10 58.79% 18.76 +56.41%

cheers GF.

This one gone on a roll now just moved up 3p.

cheers GF.

GF

When are the reporting periods?

Scrip, they last reported on the 10th December so I would take it 6 months on from there for next reports. I know your not a fan and theres always two sides to a coin. But if I remember rightly you said their margins would be under attack before the last set of results. In fact the margins increased. Ok I accept the likes of Alba will be competing in this market but like analysts have pointed out Centurion have a 2 year start.

Anyway always prepared to listen to reasoned debate.

cheers GF

5P DROP MID AFTERNOON - MAYBE A GOOD CHANCE TO TOP UP YOUR HOLDINGS FOLKS

Yup already have done as this one always breaks back the following trading day.

cheers GF.

GF,

RSI and momentum look a tad negative.

Interesting chart though!

Wouldnt worry about this one Andy. Last results speak for themselves. Not only that but the first two months of the new period are well ahead of budget.

Piled in Friday and bought myself a load at a cheaper price.

cheers GF.

ps, do you want a copy of the cardpoint brokers note ?????. Sending them out Sunday.

Heres one for you.

Saturday Paper Round: other news
Published: 12:19 Sat 10 Jan 2004
By Richard Lander, Editorial Director
Email to a friend

Wall Street closes lower after disappointing US employment news; the Dow ended 133 points lower while the Nasdaq closed 13 down.

* A deal to jail Andrew and Lea Fastow, Enron’s former chief financial officer and his wife, over the group’s collapse, fell apart yesterday
* Broker tips in the papers:
Cardpoint - Evolution says buy; Auto Indemnity and Next – Teather & Greenwood says buy; Topps Tiles – Panmure says buy; MFI Furniture – Arbuthnot says buy; RM Group – Altium Capital says buy; Homestyle – Arbuthnot says sell; Computacenter – ING says sell; Alliance & Leicester – Citigroup Smith Barney says sell
* British Airways plans a cost-cutting route to recovery, says Merrill Lynch
* Edward Miliband is returning to the Treasury as chair of The Council of Economic Advisers, after a stint at Harvard Investigators raided Bank of America’s offices in Milan as the probe into the Parmalat scandal widened
* The full content of Lord Penrose’s report into the Equitable Life disaster must be made available to the Treasury Select Committee, insists Shadow Financial Secretary Andrew Tyrie
* UK independent financial advisers face a sharp rise in firms about sales of precipice bonds which is likely to push up compensation bills and put some firm out of business.

cheers GF.

Centurion came back with a bang today and through the 150 resistance level.

Cheers GF.

This one a volatile devil. Up one day down the next. Friday should be an up day.

cheers GF.