Strange times. Pictures of a 16 year old venting her anger at the UN, while we await a decision as to whether our government has acted illegally. Meanwhile we learn the Softbank founder secures his WeWork shares for loans from banks such as Credit Suisse (SIX:CSGN) and provides loans to staff in order to invest in the Vision fund. We Work IPO bank pitch documents are revealed by the FT too coiinciding with with Metro Bank pulling its 7.5% senior unsecured bond issue. At the same time airlines triple their fares to repatriate Thomas Cook customer.s I find myself wondering if WeWork is the next Thomas Cook (LON:TCG).
News
Mortgage Advice Bureau (LON:MAB1) – H1 Results
Share Price 568pMkt Cap £293mConflict Disclosure: No Holding- Results. Revenue up 5% to £61m. PBT up 6% to £7.4m. Adjusted EPS up 5% to 12.3p. Average number of advisers up 13% to 1,242. Gross mortgage lending up 6%. Current trading is in line and the company is confident in achieving its strategic aspirations.
- Estimates Given the recent acquisition the 11.2% EPS growth to Dec 19 looks likely.
- Valuation PER 19.7X, Yield 4.4%
- Conclusion I am always wary when market consensus is that a mortgage network is not cyclical. We have slow housing transactions, buy to let under pressure and a move from 2 year to 5 year mortgages creating a slow down. But as long as the adviser number keep growing so do the earnings. Perhaps even in a downturn they will pick up more advisers. So it looks OK – just expensive for underlying 6% PBT growth.
Close Brothers (LON:CBRO) – FY Results
Share Price 1375p
Mkt Cap £2.08bn
Conflict Disclosure: No Holding
S & U (LON:SUS) – H1 Results
Share Price 2100p
Mkt cap £253m
Conflict Disclosure: No Holding
Conclusion – Cheaper than Close but I guess it is car finance. Now with comfort over impairments and the business starting to become a little more diversified there is a lot of upside over coming years. With the shares down 20% over 12 months it is easy to see them retrace that is short order.