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.

CUC tipped by Everyinvestor - Shareweekly newsletter...


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 Sugars 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 Centurions 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 groups 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 companys 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.

What spooked the price at midday ? fell out of bed, no apparent reason.

Jimmy Bond: More people might use your site if you didn't require quite so much personal information on registration. Until then, I'm sure you really don't mind a bit of free publicity. It acheives what you set out to do, after all!

Jimmy Bond; If you want to advertise another website please feel free to contact our advertising dept:-)

sales@moneyam.com

Feel this one will move north on Monday.

GF.

Good call GF, up 9.5% as i type, smiling again!!!!

Booming along this morning and way undervalued. If you havent got these, you should have.

GF

planttec, I know you from somewhere else but I darent say, the bouncers on here are very sensitive. Good luck and regards. - that should give you a clue.

Nicely up today and we should have reports on this weeks Shares mag and Investors Chronicle. Well worth getting into before the updates.

GF.

GF
My roof needs fixing, know anyone good in that dept, a tiler for instance !!
:)

Hotest company on the market at the moment. Short term price target 149p based on both fundies and charts.

GF.

Planttec - I'll go up on your roof. Provided GF will hold the ladder.....

Anything for you are linzi.

GF.

Just been told this is another one lined up for Aim stock of the year. Anyone know results?????.

gf.

Dropped a few pence this morning and this represents a great bBuying opportunity, Ive added this morning. 200p by Jan next year.

gf.

A good day for this company but blimey are these shares volatile. Only one I can think of is worse is Psion. Own them and you never sleep, was I glad to get shut.

Not joking now but was on the computer a few months back owning Psion and they had risen 5p, i thought oh brilliant, anyway went for a quick slash,2 mins at most, and banged up the real time portfolio when I got back and the buggers had gone down 2.5p. Couldnt beleive it, but its true. Never buy those again. GF.

Does anyone know when results are due as they are likely to be very good. Help appreciated.

cheers gf.

Charles Stanley @ Co Ltd, placed a Buy note on these yesterday although the price has drifted down I feel due to instituion sells.

Worth sticking in there, has a very high Beta and when the pick up comes will certainly move northwards.

cheers GF.

Top bombing this afternoon on the back of a shareholder buying and the Buy note above.

cheers GF.

Another very good day for this one. Anyone know when results are, cant get into hemscott where I normally get them.

cheers GF.