Some good news this morning from them, it looks like 2004 will be a excellent year for them and the shares increased by 13%
Is this the start of another upward trend for them??

Keith - dont know if more contracts are going to be announced etc. The problem with this share is that it is not liquid and big falls and big rises are common. Overall if you want to hold for long term this is ok. Some comments from citywire:


Chelford is worth a look.

827 words
23 April 2004
Citywire
English
(c) 2004 Citywire.co.uk. All Rights Reserved.

S & P code for assoc. stock..: E:CHRCHR

Chelford, the AIM-listed supply chain software company, has kept its head beneath the parapet for the past couple of years but it is emerging as a force to be reckoned with.

At its annual general meeting yesterday the company said the first quarter to March has got the year off to a strong start and was significantly ahead of the first quarter of 2003. The company has signed some 'significant contracts' with new customers, including Cotton Traders and Fox's Confectionery and already has contracted revenues covering more than 88% of its costs for the current year. The company was formed when SSI, a privately-owned software company, reversed into cash shell Chelford in August 2000. The original business provided its own ERP (enterprise resource planning) software to small and medium-sized businesses, particularly in the process manufacturing sectors such as food, chemicals and pharmaceuticals.

In December 2002 Chelford (CHR) acquired a business from UK company Notability, which sells software from German giant SAP for the wholesale distribution sector in general, and which has developed specific vertical industry applications within that.

Chief executive Trevor Lewis told Citywire that SAP has been trying, 'unsuccessfully' to tap into the mid market, and has now changed tack, partnering with companies like Chelford that already have experience in the sector. The market for this sort of software in companies with turnover of between ;10 million and ;150 million is extremely fragmented, Lewis said, as demonstrated by the fact that the company was SAP's number one reseller in the UK on turnover of just ;2.2 million in that division.

Cotton Traders was the biggest deal signed in the first quarter and is important to Chelford because not only is the business in its core wholesale and distribution market through its mail order business, but it also has 29 retail stores, giving Chelford a good opportunity to move into the retail sector.

The company has developed some 'cut down' versions of SAP for specific sectors including healthcare, fashion and grocery, and these have become SAP 'certified solutions'.

Lewis said SAP is looking to grow by at least 50% in the next few years in the smaller companies market. Another big opportunity for Chelford is that SAP has to date not sold direct to any company with turnover of less than ;1 billion. With companies like Chelford selling only up to about ;150 million businesses, the ;150-800 million market has been under served. SAP is now turning to value added resellers (VARs) like Chelford to support them in addressing this market segment, and Lewis reckons this will present a 'huge extension to our market opportunity.'

Results for the year to December published last month show a turn-round to profitability in the second half of the year the SAP business was loss-making when Chelford bought it. Turnover was up 35% to ;9.9 million with profit before tax, goodwill and reorganisation costs of ;434,000 and losses after goodwill and reorganisation of ;373,000 down from ;1 million last time. The company generated cash in the second half leaving it with net cash at year-end f ;1.4 million.House broker Arbuthnot is looking for turnover of ;11 million this year with profits of ;900,000 and earnings per share of 0.14p rising to ;13.5 million, profit of ;1.5 million and 0.21p of earnings per share next year.

However apart from the fact that the company was ahead of expectations in the first quarter, Lewis said the company is now ready to look for acquisitions to help it scale up more rapidly.

He believes there are a lot of small companies with legacy software that cannot afford to invest in new product, but which have a good customer base.

The company has proven itself so far with the acquisition of Notability's business, which it has turned around and improved quite dramatically.

Shares have already had a good run this year having started at around 0.77p. Today they are up 13.6% or 0.03p to 2.5p, valuing the business at ;16.5 million.

Citywire Verdict:

Chelford is a well established, serious software and services company with a deep knowledge and experience of supply chain software.

It, like so many others, has had a tough time in the past couple of years, but it has emerged in a strong position, with strong recurring revenues, profits, cash and no debt.

The SAP relationship could well launch the company into bigger and better things and a well judged acquisition or two would certainly help.

Failing that, Chelford could find itself an acquisition target. Even at today's price the shares are valued at 17.8 times this year's earnings and just 11.9 times next year's. As a consolidation play Chelford ought to be worth a second look.

Jen 2001 when you mean Chelford shares are illiquid is this because there are few shares not held by major holders or few shares in circulation or another reason such as small nms?

James

Still holding and still very much confident on this star performer of the year so far...Strong Hold in my books at the moment..

Keep posting all...

Jules99..

p.s. Todays news by Chelford is excellent, set to rise much further as private investors starts to take note

everything i read about this company seems to be poitive, surely this can be a very very good investment in the medium to long term

Does anyone know why this one as lost this past week?????? On good results for the first quarter as well!!

No, it seemed to be climbimg up to the 3p level. Just seems to had a bad week????

This share still keeps falling. I cannot find any information on Chelford to indicate why the constant share price fall. Has touched the 1.80p today. Having a hair pulling moment!!!!!!!!!!

goss,
everything was down yesterday. I don't believe that this is to do with the company itself but external market forces and sentiment. Keep in there and we shall be rewarded

Cheers Witchdok

Goss,
the Chelford Website: www.chelfordgroup.com Has all the latest contract win news etc on it. Well worth a look and it shows that progression is being made on a daily basis

Witchdok

Thank you, i'll have a look.

I was tempted to buy back in to these this morning at 1.65p as there was no reason to reduce the sp but missed the boat, but now it's heading south again on some heavy selling, haven't seen this sort of vol for a while - so it looks like the mms have successfully rattled the bigger holders. I wonder why?

Buy price back up to 2.20...i missed them at 1.65p, the market as a whole was down so catch most and you would have made something...

The wessite link is great to check on company progress..thnks for that...

This company has a long way to go...still a seed inthe infancy stage...needs to grow further to attract attention from institutes further...

Been a bit quiet lately...bought some on the cheap, couldn't resist, have faith and it will reward gladly...!

.

picked a few more of these at 1.71p for the long term ...

(grt discount to previous highs of 2.90p..)

Still not picked up despite good results and target price of 4.50

Hello Jen, this is a solid company with great prospects. It just needs to be tipped by a couple of brokers and mentioned in the papers and volume will shoot up.