Thursday, 8 January 2015

Nichols - Pre-Close Trading Update

I added this AIM-listed soft drinks company to my ISA portfolio in September 2013. Here’s a link to my post last year following the full year results.

In a trading update today, Vimto maker, Nichols have reported that sales for the full year will be around £113.6m up 3.4% on 2013 and an increase of 4% during the second half of the year (link via Investegate).

International revenues increased 4.3% (7.3% on a like-for-like exchange rate basis) with sales in the Middle East significantly ahead over the second half.

The Company says: “In summary, 2014 has been another successful year for the Group. Our key Vimto brand has outperformed the UK soft drinks market and we have delivered good growth in our international business. We expect the full year profit and earnings per share to be ahead of the prior year and at least in line with management expectations“.

The share price has seen a decline over the year, partly knocked by losing a litigation case in Pakistan involving one of its distributors.

The update has been well received by Mr. Market - at the time of posting, the share price is up over 3% at 930p. I have a dividend figure of 23p pencilled in for the full year.

The Group's Preliminary results will be announced on 5th March 2015.

3 comments:

  1. Thanks for highlighting this share. I always wondered who made Vimto!

    I was just wondering, how do you find new opportunities to invest in? Do you run a screener on investegate or somewhere, according to your criteria (1.6 div cover, 2.75% yield+ etc.)?

    Best,

    M from There's Value

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    Replies
    1. Hi M,

      Good question! To be honest, I tend to hoover up info from all the blogs/articles I read online and make a note of any company that is of interest or has something new to offer - product, management, increase dividend etc. I also have a look over the holdings of my various investment trusts.

      I will then carry out some further research to check whether anything of interest meets my criteria for consideration e.g. yield, free cashflow, debt etc. I would also look up the latest full year accounts on Investegate. If everything checks out OK I will place the company on my watchlist of possibilities to add to my portfolio and at the same time set a price alert. The hardest part is the 'being patient' and waiting for a suitable entry point - a good example of this was the purchase of Nichols!!

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  2. pretty similar ot me then, although i find investegate, as well as most of the investing websites, not all that great to use...

    patience is definitely the key

    cheers

    ReplyDelete