Bohoo’s Record-Breaking Black Friday

Boohoo (BOO) continue to trade comfortably in line with expectations as they updated the market this week with news of a record-breaking Black Friday performance.

In a brief but bullish statement the online fashion house said:

“…trading has remained strong across key brands with a record performance across the Black Friday weekend. Both warehouses have had a strong operational performance.”

“Our new brands, Karen Millen, Coast, and MissPap, have been successfully integrated onto our platform. Initial ranges have been very well received, and we continue to broaden our product ranges as we progress our multi-brand strategy.”

“The group continues to trade comfortably in line with market expectations…”

Growth Strategy Paying Off for GB Group

Cyber security stock GB Group (GBG) posted an impressive set of first half numbers last week.

Half year revenue hit £94.3m versus £58.3m during the same period last year and profits after tax almost doubled to £5.7m.

Chris Clark, CEO, commented:

“I am pleased with the progress we have made against our strategic objectives in the first six months, which has seen us deliver good growth. This was driven by a strong organic performance (helped in part by the accelerated timing of some contracts for our Fraud division), the successful integrations of our acquisitions and ongoing investment to support our differentiation.

The market liked the numbers and the shares surged to new trend highs. Needless to say, we’re happy to hold!

SDI Snap Up Chell Instruments

Tech company SDI Group (SDI) announced the acquisition of Chell Instruments for £4.3m.

Chell specialises in the design, manufacture and calibration of pressure, vacuum and gas flow measurement instruments for a variety of sectors including aerospace, vehicle aerodynamics, gas and steam turbine testing and power generation industries.

Chell achieved revenue of £4.7m, gross profit of £2.5m and profit before tax of £0.78m for the year ended 31 December 2018.

The acquisition is expected to be earnings enhancing in its first full year of ownership and Ken Ford, SDI chairman said:

“Chell Instruments is another step in our Group growth strategy. It is a complementary fit providing potential areas for growth. The acquisition is in line with our previously announced strategy of organic and acquisitive growth and is expected to be earnings enhancing in its first full year of ownership.”

IG Design HY Revenue Up 21%

Giftware group IG Design (IGR) have been spreading the festive cheer as they posted a strong set of half-year results last week.

Half-year revenue jumped 21% to £248.4m and profit before tax increased 14% to £21.5m.

Commenting on the performance, Paul Fineman, Group CEO, said:

“Our strong start to the year highlights the strength and agility of our business. Our initiatives and investments are bearing fruit and will drive further growth into the future.”

The shares continue to look technically very strong with prices consolidating near highs.

Ramsdens On-Track to Meet Full-Year Expectations

Ramsdens (RFX) have broken to new highs this week after they reported a bumper set of half-year results on Tuesday.

Profit before tax increased by 23% to £6.2m during the first half. They also announced a 13% hike in their interim dividend, taking the pay-out to 2.7p per share.

Jewellery retail revenue increased 22% while Pawnbroking income less impairment jumped 17%.

It is also worth noting that gross profit from purchases of precious metals grew 57% to £4.1m.

Ramsdens opened three new stores during the period and four stores were acquired from Instant Cash Loans Limited trading as The Money Shop. 

Whilst the shares have been volatile during the last five weeks, this solid set of numbers should calm the market as we enter the festive period.

Dart Group Rise on Robust Results

Our pick of the year, Dart Group (DTG) is showing no signs of slowing down after what’s been a meteoric rise in the shares during the last four quarter.

The package holiday operator released a strong set of half-year results last month with revenue jumping £2.62bn, up 16% on the same period last year and pre-tax profit increasing by 2% to £339.7m

The company has seen a sharp increase in demand following the demise of Thomas Cook and management expect full year numbers to “significantly exceeded” expectations.

D4t4 Fail to Inspire the Market with In-Line First Half Numbers

Big Data firm D4t4 Solutions (D4T4) released a pretty underwhelming set of half-year numbers last week.

Revenue dropped to £8.8m from £14m the year previous and gross profit came in at £4.6 compared to £7m last year. The only bright spark was a 10% increase in the dividend to 0.77p per share.

CEO Peter Kear commented:

“Overall, our business is in a good position and together with a strong pipeline of opportunities makes this an exciting time for the Group.”

“Our prospects for H2 are strongly underpinned by a high level of contract renewals from new licences signed during the second half of last year and strong visibility on new contracts due to initiate during H2. This, combined with a significant pipeline of new business in negotiation with existing clients wishing either to increase the footprint of our software or to extend the use of our Hybrid Cloud Data Platform solution.”

Whilst the market had been well briefed from previous updates the shares still experienced heavy selling pressure following the numbers release. We’ll be watching closely to see if key support can hold at 170p.

Codemasters Rallies on Planned Purchase of Slightly Mad Studios

Codemasters (CDM) share price sprung back to life last Friday as it was announced that the game developer will buy Slightly Mad Studios (SMS) for a total potential consideration of up to approximately £150m.

SMS is a British developer which worked on titles like Need for Speed, Shift and Test Drive and Ferrari Racing Legends.

The acquisition has many positives:

It is expected to further raise Codemasters’ competitive barriers to entry in the racing game genre.

SMS strengthens and diversifies the Company’s intellectual property (“IP”) portfolio and enhances its product roadmap, bringing three incremental game launches to Codemasters during the year ending 31 March 2021. One of these games is Project CARS GO (a new mobile release), another is based on a licensed IP relating to a Hollywood blockbuster movie franchise (“Movie Franchise Game”), and the third game is based on a proven successful own franchise.

SMS provides additional scale to the Codemasters group, bringing more than 150 product development individuals with experience in the racing genre.

The market has certainly welcomed the news and the shares are now trading back near highs for the year.