Looks like these Guys like it aswell. 'Share Of The Week' at everyinvestor.co.uk
ANOTHER SOFTWARE DEVELOPER WITH MASSIVE GAINS POTENTIAL. 12/5/2003

Bond International Software

Business Summary
Provision of software, hardware and related support services, principally to the recruitment services.

Market: AIM
Website: www.bond.co.uk

Bond International Software, although only a tiny company, has a leading position in the market for software for recruitment businesses. After a disastrous year in 2002 the company slashed costs, especially in its US operations, and has just reported a return to modest profits for the first half of calendar 2003. But the excitement in the share price is the potential for the soon-to-be-launched Version 11 of its software.

Version 11 may sound no big deal but the company has been working on this for years and says the improvements are so massive that it is really a new product. Chief executive Steve Russell says the product will be launched with an important customer signed up. Even more significantly he says that there is scope to sign up some giant customers for the software. A single order could be for as much as 5m which would have a transforming impact on a company with sales last year of 6.4m and a market capitalisation of 4.9m.

I should caution here that managements at small software companies are not noted for their pessimistic outlook on life. A more down-to-earth note from stockbrokers, Seymour Pierce, published after the latest interim figures, forecasts sales rising to 7m this year and 7.5m next, with profits of 300,000 and 500,000 respectively. Even that provides reasonable underpinning for the present share price, but Russell says those forecasts could be left way behind by events. Analysts are paid to make assumptions about the future but they can hardly factor into their forecasts sales from unknown customers for a product that has not even been launched yet. Alan Matthews, author of the Seymour Pierce note, says that he has not built into his numbers any upside for Version 11.
Massive cost-cutting restores profitability
Bond received a bloody nose in 2002 from an over-ambitious expansion in America. It built up a far-flung sales and support operation with 55 employees to service and build the expected fast-growing US arm of the business. The catastrophic attacks on the World Trade Centre on 11 September 2001 were a commercial disaster for the group. New orders for software dried up completely and the business began haemorrhaging cash. In a spectacular slash-and-burn exercise the US labour force was cut from 55 to 6. Amazingly, the group claims that this has been done without destroying the ability of the US arm to operate successfully.

The result of the staff cuts is that administrative costs have dropped from 4.85m to 2.95m. At the same time turnover has crept up from 3.18m to 3.37m enabling the group to turn a 2.1m loss into a 155,000 profit. Profits are also helped by capitalising 75 per cent of the anticipated 1m cost of developing Version 11. These costs will be amortised against revenues once the product is completed.

At the same time as cutting overheads drastically, the group has been focusing on building recurring revenues from customers. These are sales from maintenance, support services and from the managed service package. In the latest year recurring revenues represented 70 per cent of overheads against 37 per cent the year before. The plan is to build recurring revenues to cover 100 per cent of overheads so that new license sales will be pure profit. If the company can reach this position by 2005 and make big license sales the impact on the business will be dramatic.

Who;s who of recruitment giants already customers
As well as having what it believes to be an exciting new product the group also has a formidable customer base with a whos who of the worlds leading recruitment businesses like Manpower already clients. In the UK the group is growing its managed services business through a relationship with recruitment and support services giant, Hays.

Bond’s software helps recruitment companies manage the personnel they are supplying to their customers right across the relationship. Version 11 is a vastly upgraded product that is compatible with third party databases rather than requiring bespoke systems. This has the advantage that customers can configure their systems to their own particular requirements while still using highly cost-effective software. The company claims that there is already considerable interest from potential customers, hence its confidence that some large orders will be signed over the next couple of years.

The risks are obvious. There could be delays in launching the product. Customers may not respond as hoped. But meanwhile there are positive developments including signs of life in the recruitment market, an improving order book with more large prospects in the pipeline and a major deal in the UK and two in the US already won in 2003. The shares look a solidly based speculation with the potential to really hit the jackpot. ENDS.

Quite a breathtaking report with fair warnings given. I think the most important aspect being that the brokers have not even factored anything in yet for version 11 and they have to my knowledge a BUY note on it whith a further add note after the results on the 9th.

GF PDYOR.

Certainly been a star for me over the last 6 months since I've held it!
Up another 5% today so far....any ideas how far this could go gf?

Very good resuts out this morning & another jump of 5%. Now up to 118p

Superb results out this morning and not accompanied by a share fall like many.

cheers GF.

Hi gf - any views on the sp over the next 6 mths say?
The results were very good on a poor day in the market...the future still looks bright to me.

Well G649456 Growth Company Investor had these as a Strong BUY only a few month ago and I cant see any reason to change that.

cheers GF.

Agreed everything I read seems to conclude with a 'BUY' recommendation on this one & the sp movement & results back this up.
PS I agree with your views on NLR too & I'm looking forward to April on that one.....some of the NLR fall back over the last 2 days is some profit taking as well, but like BDI I think it'll be a real star too

Cheers g64946

Taken the opportunity to add again significantly in these. Ive heard whispers of new contracts on the Horizon from new customers. The Recruitment market is in a cyclical upturn aswell and established customers are re tooling their software. Could move very quickly with an high beta.

cheers GF.

Worthing based recruitment IT group Bond International BDI unveiled a 36% hike in annual turnover to 9.58m, with pre tax profits rocketing to 1.88m from 451,000 last time. Cash balances are strong at year end, up to 3.8m from 1.6m previously, and strong operational cash flow sets the group up well for 2005, the start of which has been extremely encouraging.

cheers GF.

Certainly worth taking the p-lunge on the TA alone.



cheers GF.

Well it was there, dont know if adfvn have pulled the plug.

cheers GF.

Another one on the up. NICE.

cheers GF.

Buyers moving in.

cheers GF.

Tipped into days Investors Chronicle......................

INVESTORS CHRONICLE
Tips:
* Buy BT Group at 203p - T&F Informa at 421p - Center Parcs at 73p - Widney at 109p - Dream Direct at 81p - Vane Minerals at 17p.
Updates:
* Buy Intek Telecom - Paypoint - Daniel Stewart.

Company Results:
* Buy James Fisher - Hill & Smith - Headlam - Rok Property Solutions - Bovis Homes - Roxboro - Public Recruitment - Balfour Beatty - Aviva - Bond International - Tolent - Entertainment Rights - Mayborn - NSB Retail Systems - Ark Therapeutics.
* Sell Intercontinental Hotels Group - Zotefoams - Deltex Medical - Restaurant Group - Eidos.

cheers GF.

Back to form, NICE. Watch out for contract announcements.

cheers GF

This is one of my favourite stocks & run of the risk of 'being too attached'!Seems to move a bit like this - all quiet for a bit & then 3 or 4 days positive.
Any ideas on any possible contract announcements GF?

Its all in the last results g64946. We could hear news any day now.

cheers GF.

from shares mag today

SOFTWARE & COMPUTER SERVICES
BOND INTERNATIONAL (AIM: BDI)
106P +

The last few profit results have been spectacular
and this was no different. Profit jumped to 1.9
million from 0.5 million the previous year. The
company provides software to the recruitment
companies in the US and UK, as well as
Australasia, but also receives income from
ongoing maintenance contracts. Cash flow has
been helped by its recent acquisition of Prairie
Developments in the US, and this year will be
supplemented by the launch of a new product
into a division of one of the worlds largest
recruitment companies. (EP)

Excelent piece that HM.

cheers GF.

Lifted from another board, many thanks to the author for an excelent piece of research which I fully agree with. Nice yo see someone doing the P/E the right way after tax................................

My justification for buying stems from the following.
Substantial current growth performance - 36% increase in turnover, 205% increase in EPs. The results have been upgraded and beaten. I noticed Seymour Price had upgrade 2004 figures to 1.7M pre - tax and 5.7EPS which was substantially below actual result. So as for 2005 - is the 3m pencilled in figure to prove to low?

Next we have outlook - '2005 extremely encouraging' as posted in the results, and the recent aquisition Prairie expected to have an impact in overall figures. This points to upgrades!

Next we have the large orders which were feeding through last year - the largest ever for the Company of 500,000 which was then topped by another a few months later. The frequent mention of targetted large recruitment Companies in the figures indicates confidence (no doubt discussions were already in place in some instances).

Then there is the launch of next generation of Adapt recruitment this month, again with larger Companies targetted here - I.e a nice new product which puts new clients on the radar.

So we have a pencilled in EPs of 9.1p next year (growth of 35%), that is without any upgrades, followed by more growth in years to come as the new markets open up. This was also mentioned in results the comment '2005 and beyond'.
All this with a Pe of around 11 for 2005 - I don't think so.

The shares are worth considerably more, I usually look for a minimum 30% annual return (not always acheived, but also sometimes substantially beaten).

I feel extremely comfortable that this share will cover my ambition. In fact, on a PE of just 14 I will be just about there, but I am looking longer term and hope for much more - both this year and beyond.

Oh, and forgot to mention the debt free position and increasing margins. ENDS.

cheers GF.

Excelent news on the technology front, lets hope those orders come piling in.......................

Bond International launches new 'Adapt' software for staffing agencies
AFX


LONDON (AFX) - Bond International Software PLC, which provides systems to staffing agencies, said it has launched 'Adapt On-site' which it claims will help line managers and HR managers hire more effectively.

'(They) have a custom set of menu options that grant access to submit jobs,

view progress on existing assignments including short-listed applicants, run

workflow, authorize timesheets, run reports, etc,' the company said.

bam

cheers GF.