10 February 2020 – trading update
The company has announced a detailed trading update ahead of final results, which will be announced in March this year rather than April as is the norm. Group revenue for the full year ended 31 December 2019 increased by nearly 20% to £38.8m and profit before tax is expected to be well ahead of the prior year. A number of factors have been highlighted which could impact trading in the current year. There have also been some Board changes announced, with Chairman Mervyn Keene due to retire on 31 July 2020, CEO Steve Grant becoming Non-Executive Chairman following this and Finance Director Jim Shears stepping up to become CEO. The update also included some peculiar comments with regards to ‘keyboard warriors’ who it would seem have upset the company with ‘inaccurate statements and offensive remarks’. Final results next month should return focus to the performance of the business and ahead of this announcement the shares look extremely good value. There are no forecasts in the market but even based on results for 2018 the shares are on too low a rating and figures for 2019 are set to show considerable improvement. We keep our BUY rating.