A market-leading international specialist professional recruitment group with over 3,600 staff spanning 28 countries.
10-Oct-2017
Trading Statement For The Quarter Ending September 2017 – Gross Profit up 21% (CC) on a LFL basis. The board is also confident “that profit before tax for the full year will be ahead of current market expectations”.
On a PER of 15.4 RWA still looks reasonable value here. It’s a share on my “buy on a general market pullback list” but also one I keep considering paying up for and look back regretting I did not.
12-Dec-2017 – 551p – £414.5m – PER 14.5
Trading Update – PBT for the full year ending 31 December 2017 is expected to be materially ahead of current market expectations.
A short and sweet update which follows the previous “PBT for the full year will be ahead of current market expectations” statement. Remains on my “buy on a general market pullback list” as I just don’t want to be paying up here for a recruitment company.
9-Jan-2018 – 658p – £495.5m – PER 15.9
Trading Update For Q4 2017 – Net income up 19% and comfortably in-line with expectations.
Quite a lot to like here but I am not particularly keen on paying up for a recruitment company at present. If or when I take a liking to the sector this will be near the top of list.
1-Mar-2018 – 668p – £503.0m – PER 15.8
Results For The 12 Months To End December 2017 – Revenue up 14% CC to £1.2bn, PBT up 44% to £40.6m, EPS up 55% to 42.9p and the Final Dividend is up 50%, 9.3p. This year has started strongly.
Like this even more now, it’s going on my Watchlist, 580p.
10-Apr-2018 – 700p – £527.1m – PER 15.3
Trading Update For The 6 Months To End March 2018 – Strong start with Net Fee Income up 17% (13% without FX), £88.5m. Net Cash up to £34.0m (from £13.3m) and current trading is in-line.
This is one that was on my Watchlist at 580p and another one where I missed the boat waiting for a pull-back. Bigger than my usual £500m Market Cap so will remove it from the Watchlist for now. Currently revising my Entry criteria due to missing a few too many boats including this one.
9-Oct-2018 – 640p – £482.8m – PER 13.2
Q3 Trading Update – Net Fee income up 13% (CC), confident FY will be in-line.
Probably fairly priced around this level for me – I am Neutral.
10-Jan-2019 – 556p – £420.2m – PER 11.4
Trading Update For Q4 2018 (To End December 2018) – Expecting FY to be comfortably in-line with market expectations.
I see some potential for upside here but just not enough for me to get involved at this level.
1-Mar-2019 – 526p – £398m – PER 10.7
Results For The 12 Months To End December 2018 – Revenue up 7% (CC) to £1.23bn, PBT, up ahead of expectations, 23% (CC) to £49.1m, EPS up 17% and the Dividend is up 15%. Net Cash stands at £74.3m. 2019 has started well, in-line with the Board’s expectations, 73% of net fee income outside of the UK, should help balance any Brexit type disruption.
I still see some potential for upside here but just not enough for me to get involved at this level.
15-Apr-2019 – 596p – £452m – PER 11.6
Trading Update For The 3 Months To End March 2019 (Q1) – Solid start, in-line.
I reckon this is fairly valued (at best) around this level.
25-Jul-2019 – 520p – £390m – PER 9.4
Results For The 6 Months To End June 2019 – Revenue up 1%, PBT up 4%, Basic EPS up 6% and the Interim Dividend up 13%. FY remains in-line.
Looks overvalued to me.
8-Oct-2019 – 490p – £372m – PER 10
Q3 Trading Update – Net Fee Income up 2%, UK letting the headline figure down, FY PBT to be in-line with last year (I see forecasts for 5% growth), Net Cash at £81.6m (£41.3m).
I expect this to be cheaper and more attractive sometime in the future.
