i'm buying on the blips

Bid rumours

Mar 19: Citigroup: Neutral - TP: 490p

New polymer £5 note in Scotland from today

Nice big gap on the chart to fill .....plus a nice divi in May? (Divi not yet announced that I can see).

Normally announced end of May and paid August?

StockMarketWire.com
Bank note printer De La Rue's revenues fell to £472.1m in the year to 28 March - down from £513.3m last time but in line with its revised expectations.

Underlying operating profit fell to £69.5m from £89.3m and underlying profit before tax dropped to £57.7m from £77.3m. Reported profit before tax of £38.9m was down from £59.8m.

Chief executive Martin Sutherland said: "These results are in line with our revised expectations and include the benefit of further operational efficiencies. However, these have been outweighed by the impact of the challenging market conditions on revenue and operating profit across the group.

"In my first seven months, I have strengthened the leadership team and restructured the organisation to better align the business with its strategic needs as well as initiating a number of actions to achieve substantial cost savings which will be largely reinvested in the business to drive growth.

"I have completed a review of the business and formulated a clear strategic plan to deliver growth and improved profitability in the long term through a greater focus on customers, innovation and delivery."

Another gap to fill Harry!

JP Morgan Cazenove Neutral 500.40 580.00 570.00 Retains

Investec Hold 500.40 560.00 540.00 Downgrades

Yep, fairly glad I stayed out, but not much to attract me in at the moment.

(No idea why this is bold as haven't activated B feature)

That will be my previous post - now corrected!

I thought Oberthur would have come back after its first failed bid
four years ago.

A reminder - Financial Calendar

Investec note today:
"Full year profits are ahead of our and consensus forecasts in what has been a very challenging year. The cautious outlook does not give us any comfort that the headwinds, especially in Currency are easing, and note that the current Euro weakness against the US dollar is aiding European competitors. The proceeds from new cost saving initiatives will be reinvested to provide some much needed revenue growth. As we did in FY15, we conservatively downgrade our EPS forecasts due to lack of visibility. We move to Hold.
Trading: Full year revenue decreased 8.0% to £472.1m, below our estimate of £497.4m and consensus (£497.5m) with Currency revenue representing the majority of the gap. This has been offset by higher operating margins, at 14.7% (-200bps y-o-y and +120bps above our forecast) to result in an adjusted operating profit of £69.5m, ahead of our forecast (£67.0m). Lower interest and tax costs cause adjusted (and fully diluted) EPS to be 6.5% ahead of our estimate at 44.5p (we had 41.8p, consensus: 43.5p). Net debt ended the period better than expected, at £111m, aided by lower capex spend (we had £114m).
Outlook: The 12 month order book, on a new revised basis, which includes estimated call-off orders for material contracts, was £243m, down 21% y-o-y, but still provides a good level of coverage. Pricing in recent tenders continues to reflect on-going challenging markets which continue to suffer from over-capacity and the current Euro weakness is aiding European competitors. Positively, the dividend in FY16 will be maintained at 25p providing yield support.
Forecasts: Taking the cautious outlook and making only small adjustments to our existing low revenue growth rates and margins on the lower FY15 revenue outturn results in a downgrade to our FY16E EPS of 8% to 33.5p. With improved visibility into the interims, this could prove to be conservative.
Valuation: Our TP declines 20p to 540p reflecting lower CY15E and CY16E EPS forecasts and the 10-year average 12m forward PE declining to 14.8x."

Bank of Scotland new polymer £5 and £10 notes to be printed by DLAR

Re post 113 - gap filled.

xd 2 July 16.70 p payday 3 Aug

De La Rue launches the next generation of identity management solutions

Chairman: Order book has increased substantially

StockMarketWire.com
Banknote printer De La Rue posts underlying operating profits of £18.9m for the six months to 26 September - down 29% on last time.

Revenues were 5% lower at £204.8m and operating margins fell to 9.2% from 12.4%.

The group said the results were slightly ahead of expectations and its full year forecasts are unchanged.

Highlights:
· Group 12 month order book up 37% year-on-year at £405m, though market conditions remain volatile · Print and Paper volumes better than expected, benefited from large overspill contracts · Progress on Polymer marked by significant three-year contract · Launched first software solution for both Identity and Security Products, and secured first customers · Reorganisation complete with new CFO on board; functional structure in place to support delivery of strategy; net headcount reduction of 6% · Manufacturing footprint review near completion, expect more than £13m of annual savings from 2018/19, <£30m capex investment and £8m restructuring cost over next two years · 'Root and branch' review initiated to address CPS poor performance · Interim dividend maintained at 8.3p Chief executive Martin Sutherland said: "De La Rue's half year performance has been better than expected. The Currency business has shown strength and resilience against the ongoing volatile market conditions. Identity and Security Products have also progressed well with the launch of the first digital solutions. However, the overall performance was dampened by the poor results in CPS. Our success in winning large overspill orders in the period has strengthened the Group's order book, which gives us confidence and visibility for our full year performance. "Implementation of the five year plan we set out in May is now well under way. We have restructured the business to support the delivery of the strategy and increased investment in product development and new technologies. Our review of the manufacturing footprint to improve efficiency and reduce costs is near completion and we will provide more details in the coming weeks. Whilst it will, of course, take time to deliver the full potential of the strategy, we are pleased with the progress made at this early stage."

StockMarketWire.com
Banknote printer De La Rue expects underlying operating profit for the year ended 26 March to be around GBP62m which is above previous forecasts.

Full year revenue for the group has been broadly in line with expectations.

The higher level of operating profit has been driven mainly by strong operational outperformance on certain contracts within the Currency business. Identity Solutions and Product Authentication and Traceability (PA&T, formerly Security Products) have been trading broadly in line with expectations.

Net debt at 26 March was GBP5m lower than at the end of the prior year at GBP106m.

Taking into account the above outperformance in the second half of 2015-16 the board's expectations for 2016/17 remain unchanged.

The broup will issue its 2015-16 full year results on 24 May.

StockMarketWire.com
Banknote printer De La Rue has completed the sale of Cash Processing Solutions Limited and related subsidiaries (together 'CPS') to CPS Topco Limited, a company owned by Privet Capital. CPS is one of the market leaders providing cash processing hardware, software and associated services used in banknote processing to manage banknote production, cash in circulation and the maintenance of banknote authenticity, condition and fitness.

Following an extensive review of the business, De La Rue has concluded that cash processing is non-core to the Group's business and that CPS does not fit in its current product portfolio and growth strategy.

In the year ended 28 March 2015, CPS generated sales of £49.3m and an operating profit of GBP 0.4m. In the year ended 26 March 2016, CPS is expected to generate sales of c£34m and an operating loss of c£8m. The gross assets of CPS were £32.8m at 26 September 2015.

Under the terms of the agreement, De La Rue has received £2.1m upon completion of the transaction. In addition, a deferred consideration totalling £1.5m will be payable in two equal instalments on the first and second anniversaries of the transaction.

The Group will also be entitled to a further contingent consideration with a maximum payout of £6.5m in the event that certain performance related and event driven milestones are achieved by CPS. Taking account of associated costs, the transaction is anticipated to be cash neutral overall to the Group at completion. Separately, the Group has entered into a strategic partnership with CPS.

In relation to the sale, the Group expects to recognise a £23.4m non-cash exceptional charge in 2015/16