kam - 11 Dec 2002 10:33

IT solutions group Anite saw its half-year pre-tax profits dive into the red after it booked a hefty ?39m goodwill write-off. Pre-tax losses for the six month to October totalled ?43.4m against a profit of ?1.96 last time.

Before exceptionals its profits slumped to ?8.9m against ?14.3m on turnover up 20% to ?111.5m. The company blamed increased R&D and restructuring costs for the fall in profits.

Basic earnings per share for the six months to October were 2.1p against 3.9p last time, in part reflecting 14.7% increase in shares in issue.

The ?39.1m goodwill write-off has led to basic and diluted losses per share of 14.0p

The group assured investors that it is `operating comfortably? within its banking facilities. Anite remains confident that for the year as a whole, the group will perform in line with expectations.

Anite said order intake has been `strong? during the six months, totalling ?114m with IT contracts from the public sector up 47%. The prospect for potential new contracts is `excellent?

Commenting on the results John Hawkins, Chief Executive, said Anite?s strategy of focusing on building strong market positions in chosen sectors means that the Group, following the actions taken to renegotiate the earnout obligations, reduce costs
will be `well placed to recover strongly in 2003/4.|

In early morning trade Anite was up 1.25p to 23.25p, valuing the group at ?86.5m.

nickdr99 - 08 Jun 2005 16:54 - 2 of 6

good move today, now near 3 year high. something happening?
nickdr99 - 08 Jun 2005 16:57 - 3 of 6

anybody hold this?
cynic - 01 Jan 2008 11:42 - 4 of 6

time to revive this little stinker! ..... the company never seems to have got its act together, though certain elements of the company, noticeable travel software, perform consistently well ..... the telecom side is horrid ...... certainly thngs seem to be afoot here though it is still uncertain as to exactly what will happen .... may be worth a flutter on the basis that some sort of t/o or break up seems on the cards and sp has bounced neatly off 50 dma


cynic - 28 Sep 2010 15:46 - 5 of 6

certainly not the most exciting of stocks but perhaps worth tucking some away ..... there have certainly been stories of late that the telecom division is firing on all cylinders and i suspect their travel software biz is likewise prospering - i think it's (one of) the largest in its field
cynic - 10 Jan 2011 13:44 - 6 of 6

very boring this consistent little riser!

Panmure Gordon Hold 128.85 170.00 170.00 Retains

Rumours of a predator having a look.

Trading Statement

industries, today announces a trading update for its financial year ended 30 April 2013. Anite intends to issue its final results on 2 July 2013.

Overall trading in the final quarter was strong, slightly ahead of that predicted at the time of the Group's Q3 IMS issued on 11 March 2013. As a result, Group adjusted1 profit before tax for the full year will be towards the top end of market expectations. Revenue will be slightly below market expectations, but margins in the final quarter were strong across all three businesses, continuing the positive trends seen in the first half of the year. Cash generation was in line with expectations, with net debt at 30 April 2013 of £0.9m (28 February 2013: £8.5m) following the recent £1.5m purchase of further shares for the employee benefit trust.

The Handset Testing business closed the year strongly, with Q4 revenue, margin and operating profit all ahead of the Board's most recent expectations. Organic revenue growth for the year was around 10% with a higher software mix improving margins. The Propsim Channel Emulator product line, acquired on 31 January 2013, performed slightly above expectations for revenue and operating profit in its first quarter of ownership, with particularly encouraging order intake.

Network Testing continued the progress seen in Q3; second half revenues and profit grew in line with the mid to high single digit growth rates expected of this business. Full year revenue in sterling terms was flat year-on-year due to the adverse currency impact seen in the first half. Good progress has been made in America and Asia Pacific, particularly with the Invex benchmarking product, although Europe remains tougher given the economic back-drop.

Travel profit equalled that achieved last year despite the business securing only a relatively small element of the £1 million licence revenue that it targeted for Q4 due to a few specific customer-related delays. This was mitigated by a combination of extra man-time revenue and cost controls. Prospects for the business remain encouraging, with all the opportunities deferred from Q4 continuing as live sales prospects for the new financial year.

Northland Capital Buy 128.45 167.00 167.00 Reiterates

Investec Hold 127.85 - 135.00 Reiterates

Canaccord Genuity Buy 127.85 121.50 175.00 175.00 Retains

Finncap Buy 130.40 180.00 180.00 Reiterates

Finally looking positive - recent high @132.

cynic do you see any upside potential?

I see plenty of upside as the fall from 160p on 11th March was apparently ludicrous. I have read that IMS statement and the subsequent trading update of 9th May together and all I can see is the opposite of a profits warning. There simply was not one, just a dose of realism and good guidance and if anything the expectation from management is higher now than it was before 11th March. Look at how debt levels fell from over £8m in Feb to less than £1m at 30th April. Seems to me that Q4 has been a belter. Try reading the 11/3 and 9/5 updates again and see if you can spot the profit warning.

I have been buying regularly from 117p - 128p and may add again if the market holds up on Monday and there is strong volume in AIE. Recent volumes suggest a few large investors getting positions in ahead of the 2nd July results day. If the outlook is strong then, I will be looking for 200p later this year.

final results next Tuesday, looking good.

Final Results

Financial highlights (adjusted)1

· Revenue up 8% to £132.5m (2012: £122.5m)
· EBITDA up 18% to £40.5m (2012: £34.2m)
· Operating profit up 20% to £34.5m (2012: £28.8m)
· Operating margin of 26% (2012: 24%)
· Profit before tax up 23% to £34.3m (2012: £28.0m)
· Diluted adjusted earnings per share up 24% to 8.3p (2012: 6.7p)
· Closing order book down 6% to £107.3m (2012: £114.5m)
· Net debt of £0.9m (April 2012: £16.9m net cash) after £26.2m acquisition of Propsim

Statutory results

· Revenue from continuing operations £132.5m (2012: £122.5m)
· Profit for the year £19.3m (2012: £18.5m)
· Basic statutory earnings per share from continuing operations 6.8p (2012: 5.7p)
· Diluted earnings per share from continuing operations 6.3p (2012: 5.3p)

Dividend

· Proposed final dividend up 12% to 1.265p (2012: 1.125p)
- total dividend up 23% to 1.84p (2012: 1.50p)

Operating highlights1

· Wireless revenue as a whole contributed 85% of Group revenue (2012: 84%)
- acquisition of Propsim product line expands addressable market
Handset Testing
- organic revenue growth led by LTE 4G and Conformance Testing ("CT")
- revenue up 14% to £87.0m (2012: £76.4m); operating profit up 22% to £26.3m (2012: £21.5m)
- order intake up 12% to £88.9m (2012: £79.4m); closing order book £26.8m (2012: £24.9m)
Network Testing
- underlying growth accelerated in H2
- revenue £26.1m (2012: £26.0m); operating profit £5.6m (2012: £5.3m)
- order intake up 0.8% to £26.2m (2012: £26.0m)
· Travel:
- increased recurring revenue mitigated impact of lower licences
- revenue £19.4m (2012: £20.1m); operating profit £4.8m (2012: £4.6m);
- order intake £10.2m (2012: £46.6m); closing order book £80.4m (2012: £89.6m).

1Adjusted results are for continuing operations before share-based payments, amortisation of acquired intangible assets, restructuring costs and other gains and losses.

Just had a small dabble here.


Interim Management Statement


Canaccord Genuity Buy 116.90 180.00 180.00 Retains

Numis Add 116.90 - 155.00 Reiterates

not a lot to go for in the short term.

Going down!!

Trading Update

Northland Capital Buy 95.50 160.00 120.00 Reiterates

Buy at 60p.

better to leave well alone, even though i started this thread

Finncap Buy 73.75 180.00 100.00 Reiterates

Canaccord Genuity Hold 75.75 180.00 106.00 Downgrades

Canaccord note today:
The net result is that although Q2 sales are likely to be sequentially higher than Q1, the uplift will not be sufficient to rescue the first half. H1 Handset revenues are now expected to be c.25% down YoY. The combination of lower gross margin as a result of the revenue shortfall and additional fixed costs from the Propsim business acquired in January, management now anticipates that the Handset business will be around break-even in H1. Although market conditions are expected to pick up in H2 – management now anticipates a similar revenue performance as H2 2013 (£46.5m) – they are unlikely to compensate for the H1 miss sufficiently to meet full year forecasts. Trading in Network Testing and Travel have seen encouraging growth YoY and are at least in line with expectations.
We have cut our FY14 PBT forecasts from £37.5m to £20.2m, a reduction of 46%. While a strong rebound in H2 might make such a cut look overly conservative, we believe that caution is appropriate given the lack of visibility in the short term. We have also reduced our FY15 PBT estimates by 24% to £32.1m for similar reasons.
Although today’s news is clearly disappointing, we are confident that the conditions that Anite is experiencing are no different to those that its competitors will be feeling and therefore do not believe that it implies any market share loss. We still believe that Anite is well positioned to capitalise on the medium term drivers in wireless testing, principally the rollout of 4G networks and increasing complexity of chipsets and handsets. We cut our recommendation to HOLD in the short term and our price target falls from 180p to the default Quest™ value per share of 106p, equating to 13.5x our new April 2015 EPS estimate.

Thanks HC. Very interesting. Not sure whether to catch that falling knife though!!