The Small Cap team gives a quick wrap up of three stocks that had mixed reporting seasons. Kip McGrath Education Centres (KME) A well-executed birdie At its 2018 AGM, Kip McGrath, Chairman of KME, a leading tutoring company, noted that its FY18 result (41% increase in profit) was the seventh consecutive year of increased profits. Further, based on results to date, FY19 would likely continue that trend. At the time, we suggested EPS should increase by around 20%. Well, it looks like that initial assessment will prove to be far too conservative. In H1, revenues were up 18% driven by an increase in marketing spend. A key feature of the result was the fall in royalties after KME bought back a number of master franchises and are now servicing the franchisees directly. This trend should continue over the next year. Online tutoring rose 50% off a low base. Overall, KME reported a 50% increase in EBITDA and a 41.3% increase in NPAT. The dividend is also up 50% on last year. KME results are seasonal and we expect a stronger second half. Kip McGrath stated in the outlook statement “we expect this increase in EBITDA and Net Profit to continue in the second half”. With a strong balance sheet and proven IP and systems, KME is very well positioned to continue to take market share as the leading national player in what is very much a cottage industry. CML Group Limited (CGR) A solid par CGR provides invoice and equipment finance to Australian SMEs through its brand Cashflow Finance. It is the number two player in invoice factoring after Scottish Pacific. In last month’s report, we outlined what we would be looking for in the report:
The invoice purchases for the half year came in at $838m. Our analysis indicates that the company should come in close to that target.
Gross Margins fell. The company stated that it …“anticipates an opportunity over time to improve on current Gross Margin of 2.3%”. We will keep a close eye on this metric in future reporting periods
As predicted, the division was loss-making, but is expected to break even during 2H19.
Receivables increased from $14m as at 30 June 2019 to $21m as at 31 Dec 18.
Bad and doubtful debts did increase broadly in proportion with the invoices purchased. Aging analysis was not provided. The company presented new charts that highlight the growth potential of the company. With new business segments and digital transformation of its business, CGR are able to widen the size and type of lending they perform. This will allow for a 300% increase in the total addressable market. Given the nature of the business activities (lending), growth usually comes with the prospect of a capital raise. However, in this case, the company has sufficient headroom to expand its invoice volumes by more than 30%. Pleasingly, CGR reaffirmed its forecast of an Underlying NPATA in FY19 of $9m+, which will be up 38%+ on FY18. This leaves the company trading on a PE of around 11x with plenty of scope for growth. Overall, this was a par result with a couple of items to monitor. We will be catching up with management in March where we will discuss progress, and we remain excited about the growth prospects of the business. Pioneer Credit Limited (PNC)
A double bogey Following a positive AGM, we were expecting financial services company Pioneer Credit to report, as it historically has, a strong report ahead of market expectations. Unfortunately, the market reacted negatively to the PNC report, where there was two key issues:
Our position in PNC is under review, and we are meeting Management this week to better understand a number of outstanding concerns.
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