30 April 2018 – trading update
Sanderson Group released a trading update ahead of the announcement of its interim results for the six months ended 31 March 2018, which are due to be released on 23 May. Results for the six months ended 31 March 2018 were slightly ahead of management’s expectations with revenue and profit both growing by over 30%. Revenue was just above £14.5m (2017: £10.9m) and operating profit (stated before the amortisation of acquisition-related intangibles, share-based payment charges, acquisition-related and restructuring costs) increased to over £2m (2017: £1.55m). On a ‘like-for-like’ basis, excluding the acquisition of Anisa, revenues were just over £11m (2017: £10.9m) and operating profit over £1.7m (2017: £1.55m). Pre-contracted recurring revenues increased to above £8m. Sales order intake continues to be good and the value of the order book measured on a ‘like-for-like’ basis at the end of March 2018 was over 15% ahead of the comparable order book value a year earlier. The net cash balance at 31 March 2018 stood at over £1.3m (31 March 2017: £4.51m). The outlook is relatively upbeat and even though the shares have had a good run we keep our BUY rating.