Pennant International - FY23A swings upwards, record gross margin, healthy bid pipeline, software investment

This morning's results release from PEN reflects good progress made during FY23, notably a big turnaround in numbers, with an upwards swing in profits in line with our forecast £15.5m revenues and adj. PBT at £1.3m (adjusted for amortization and costs of halted acquisition). The company provides software / integrated product support solutions to a long client list of OEM's and governments, while also supplying complex training systems to household name global clients, mainly in the defence secto

Hybridan Small Cap Feast - 21 June 2024

21st June 2024 * A corporate client of Hybridan LLP ** Arranged by type of listing and date of announcement *** Alphabetically arranged **** Potential means Intention to Float (ITF) has been announced, or it is a rumour Dish of the day Admissions: Delistings: Chamberlin (CMH.L) has delisted from the AIM market. What’s baking in the oven? ** Potential**** Initial Public Offerings: ITF announced: 19 June 2024: IntelliAM, an artificial intelligence company focused on the consumer goods industry, is

Pennant - Propellant FY23A Results for Pennant

The defence industry is in a period of long-term secular growth driven by ever-increasing friction between superpowers and their allies. As equipment becomes more complex and interoperability between allies more crucial, Pennant’s market-leading integrated software suite (Auxilium) will become ever more critical to maintaining armed forces’ effectiveness. Pennant trades at a discounted FY25E EV/EBITDA multiple of 5.3x versus its UK small cap data and productivity software peer group on 11.4x. We

Hybridan Small Cap Feast - 24 May 24

24th May 2024 * A corporate client of Hybridan LLP ** Arranged by type of listing and date of announcement *** Alphabetically arranged **** Potential means Intention to Float (ITF) has been announced, or it is a rumour Dish of the day Admissions: Delistings: What’s baking in the oven? ** Potential**** Initial Public Offerings: ITF announced: 7th May: Time To ACT plc, an engineering business focused on technology for the energy transition sector, has announced its intention to seek Admission to t

Pennant International - Proposed £1.51m

Yesterday's close of play announcement from PEN heralds gross proceeds to the tune of £1.51m (assuming among other things completion of a meaningful Directors' Intended Subscription of £0.2m, priced at 25p (a 16% discount to the closing mid-market price on May 22nd). The new shares will represent c.12.5% of the enlarged share capital (including 3.7m placing shares), delivering net proceeds of c.£1.4m

Hybridan Small Cap Feast - 14 May 2024

14th May 2024 * A corporate client of Hybridan LLP ** Arranged by type of listing and date of announcement *** Alphabetically arranged **** Potential means Intention to Float (ITF) has been announced Dish of the day Admissions: Delistings: What’s baking in the oven? ** Potential**** Initial Public Offerings: 7th May: Time To ACT plc, an engineering business focused on technology for the energy transition sector, has announced its intention to seek Admission to trading on the Aquis Stock Exchange

Pennant International - Software launch underpins revenue shift, material prospects despite tricky timeframes

This morning's update from PEN highlights major developments on the software front, where the latest version of its successful GenS product, which supports the maintenance of key assets, was launched as flagged at the end of April, to be followed by the integrated solution in Q4 – encouraging developments given the high gross margins available to PEN in these product areas. The company provides software / integrated product support solutions to an extensive client list of OEM's and governments,

Pennant International - FY23 update and appointment

We view confirmation of market forecasts / PEN's February update as providing further validation for the company's strategy. Ongoing business streams (including the concluding stage of the Boeing / Apache contract) provide underpinning for forecasts for the current year and software-derived earnings as strategized look set to rise in FY24 with the launch of the company's GenS technology (well-regarded and long-established OmegaPS series update). Tuesday's statement from the Prime Minister ple

Hybridan Small Cap Feast: 07 Feb 24

7th February 2024 @HybridanLLP Status of this Note and Disclaimer This document has been issued to you by Hybridan LLP for information purposes only and should not be construed in any circumstances as an offer to sell or solicitation of any offer to buy any security or other financial instrument, nor shall it, or the fact of its distribution, form the basis of, or be relied upon in connection with, any contract relating to such action. This document has no regard for the specific investment obje

Pennant International - FY23 update – well on track and strategy delivering

This morning's update from PEN confirms that the company delivered significant upside to numbers in FY23E, in line with our forecasts (£15.5m sales, £1.3m adj. PBT). PEN provides software / integrated product support solutions to an extensive client list of OEM's and governments, while also supplying complex training products to a prestigious global client base including BAE Systems, Boeing and others. The gross margin has again moved ahead materially, to 50% (H1-23E: 47%, FY22A: 42%) as the

Pennant International - Benefitting from complexity; positive H1's and growth / margin agenda

H1 results from PEN today reflect further progress with its agenda of growing the business across a range of activities, with software a key component and complex work for global OEM's continuing to contribute meaningfully, given the technical nature and complexity of assets and the requirement to manage through-life costs. PEN provides software / integrated product support solutions to an extensive client list of OEM's and governments, while also supplying complex training products to a prestig

Hybridan Small Cap Feast - 11 Sep 23

11th September 2023 @HybridanLLP Status of this Note and Disclaimer This document has been issued to you by Hybridan LLP for information purposes only and should not be construed in any circumstances as an offer to sell or solicitation of any offer to buy any security or other financial instrument, nor shall it, or the fact of its distribution, form the basis of, or be relied upon in connection with, any contract relating to such action. This document has no regard for the specific investment ob

Pennant International - New Pennant, new partnership, attractive beachhead in training information management systems

This morning's Reach announcement from PEN highlights a further step forward for the company as it continues to grow the software orientation of the business. We anticipate that the new partner, Aquila Learning Ltd, will form an attractive enhancement of PEN's capabilities in training information management systems based on Aquila's Learning and Requirements/Resource/Record Management System (ALaRMS). The agreement is expected to provide a platform for growth to PEN's partner, given PEN's extens

Pennant International - Much improved margins reflect business upgrades; order intake up on back of wins

PEN's update this morning reaffirms the company's strategy of developing higher value added business streams, while showing impressive increases in margins at gross, EBITDA and EBITA levels. PEN supplies software / integrated product support solutions to an extensive client list of OEM's and governments, with its products in general becoming ever more software-orientated and software licenses and related streams key to the mix. With large training product contracts being fulfilled, it is impress

Hybridan Small Cap Feast - 13 Jun 23

13th June 2023 @HybridanLLP Status of this Note and Disclaimer This document has been issued to you by Hybridan LLP for information purposes only and should not be construed in any circumstances as an offer to sell or solicitation of any offer to buy any security or other financial instrument, nor shall it, or the fact of its distribution, form the basis of, or be relied upon in connection with, any contract relating to such action. This document has no regard for the specific investment objecti

Nanoco - Trading update, revised FY24 forecasts

Nanoco has released a trading update for the year ending 31 July 2024. The company continues to deliver on its milestones for its Joint Development Agreements (JDAs) for second-generation sensing materials. However, in the near-term, Nanoco is being impacted by a delay to some previously expected production orders for first-generation sensing materials, and also by some one-off increases in overheads. We are reducing our revenue forecast for FY July 2024 from £8.45m to £7.90m, and our EBITDA for

Craneware Group | Microsoft Alliance to bring multiple benefits

Craneware has announced the formation of an extensive alliance with Microsoft Azure, its leading cloud partner, which will leverage Azure's capabilities, increase access for customers to Craneware's products, and improve Craneware's cost efficiency. Craneware's ability to partner with Microsoft in this way is a demonstration of the strength of Craneware's position in the US healthcare market for value cycle software, and furthers its ambition to become ubiquitous in US hospitals with enhanced pr

CML Microsystems+ (CML, House Stock at 338p) - Foundations laid for a significant uplift

Nanoco Group - Visibility pushed back

Nanoco Group’s trading update flagged that, while its development work on second-generation materials continues to progress as expected, it does not expect to receive a follow-on order for commercial materials in FY24. These orders were expected to be low volume, hence the delay is not particularly material from a financial perspective, although it does remove an expected milestone to gauge Nanoco’s pathway to volume production. We have adjusted our estimates to reflect a more cautious scenario

Zeus Video Games Sector Quarterly review - July 2024

Demand and supply drivers: Video games demand data, summarised on page 9, suggests that the market is in the early stages of recovery and we can see market growth continuing to accelerate, but we have yet to see supply growth moderate. For example, rolling twelve months spending on video game content growth in the US continues to accelerate from a low of -8% in October 2022 to flat in August 2023 and to 4% in April 2024, according to Statisa and Gamesindustry.biz, whilst rolling LTM game release

Zeus UK smallcap technology sector update - 28 June 2024

The companies in the Zeus smallcap technology universe with the highest earnings growth potential are Seeing Machines, ZOO Digital, CyanConnode and Ensilica. Their surprisingly low earnings multiples indicate to us that investors are sceptical of their anticipated growth. The companies that are well positioned to meet earnings expectations may offer potential price upside. We review their growth prospects below and highlight CyanConnode. The median stock in the Zeus UK smallcap technology index

1Spatial - Contract wins underpin US growth opportunity

1Spatial’s announcement of contract wins in the US, spanning a number of products across several states, highlights the company’s progress and opportunity in the world’s largest market for software. It also gives an early indication that management’s investment in strengthening the US business development team could yield good results. In the US 1Spatial now has contracts or framework agreements with 21 states, up from 18 at year-end, with management setting a longer-term ambition of generating

musicMagpie - Strategically positioning for profitability

musicMagpie’s (MMAG’s) H124 results reflected several strategic decisions taken by the management team to improve profitability and cash generation. The decision to make the US a sourcing-only geography to benefit margins had a notable impact on revenues, with US revenues declining by more than half. Despite the double-digit decline in group revenue, the adjusted EBITDA margin remained relatively stable at 4.4% (H123: 4.5%), reflecting the focus on profitability. The outlook remains challenging,

PROGRESSIVE: CML Microsystems: A year of operational and strategic progress

CML’s FY24 results, released this morning, confirm that while markets have been difficult and customer inventory issues linger, overall performance has been resilient, and CML has made important strategic and operational progress. With a healthy balance sheet, strong positions in its current core markets and a growing portfolio of products and technologies directed at next-generation wireless (5G, industrial internet of things, satellite etc.), CML is an interesting, exciting and resilient inves

Craneware Group: Initiation – In the sweetspot

Craneware is the market leader in value cycle SaaS provision in the US with a 40% market penetration and the ambition to become ubiquitous in US hospitals. The shackles of Covid disruption, digestion of the Sentry acquisition, and the transitioning of its customers to the fully cloud based Trisus platform, have fallen away and opened up new sales opportunities for the group. While the shares have out-performed strongly, multiples look reasonable compared with peers. We calculate a DCF based fair

Hardman & Co Monthly: July 2024

Feature article: UK life sciences needs more local institutional support to survive. For two years running, the Hardman & Co Healthcare index has declined, underperforming both the FTSE 100 and the FTSE All-Share indices. This is quite unusual for healthcare stocks. Apart from the general economic influences, which have made institutions more risk-averse, there was a common knowledge that several companies were in need of additional working capital; so, share prices were marked down in anticipa

Morning Note – 4 July 2024

Allenby Capital TMT Update - 01.07.24 - PPS.L, MIRI.L, ENET.L, MWE.L, CPX.L, TRAK.L, CLCO.L

Please find below our weekly update covering themes that we feel that are of interest to investors and participants in the small and mid-cap TMT sector as well as commentary on recent newsflow.

Hybridan Small Cap Feast - 3 July 2024

3rd July 2024 * A corporate client of Hybridan LLP ** Arranged by type of listing and date of announcement *** Alphabetically arranged **** Potential means Intention to Float (ITF) has been announced, or it is a rumour Dish of the day Admissions: IntelliAM AI plc (AQSE: INT) has joined the Aquis Stock Exchange Growth Market. IntelliAM, an artificial intelligence company focused on the consumer goods industry, acquired 53 Degrees North Engineering Limited, to become the Company’s Consultancy divi

Nanoco Group - Sensing the opportunity

With the successful Samsung litigation now in the rear-view mirror, Nanoco’s focus will be fully on building the business as a developer, manufacturer and licensor of nanomaterials. With its extensive expertise in quantum dots, validated IP and high-volume manufacturing facilities backed up by a strong balance sheet, we believe that the business has a robust platform for growth. Partnerships with STMicroelectronics and an Asian chemicals supplier position Nanoco strongly to participate in the an