Report

Upgrading forecasts again

Disruptive technology is turning the world upside down. Look anywhere from online retailing, autonomous vehicles and social media, to big data, augmented reality and artificial intelligence. Life is changing, and fast. Similarly we think Elektron’s Checkit service is set to transform the workplace, simplifying everyday tasks such as cleaning schools, monitoring food safety and testing patient blood samples, whilst simultaneously delivering substantial time/cost savings, along with improving customer service and regulatory compliance.

So far 281 customers have signed up, generating annualised revenues of >£1m (vs £780k Jan’18 & £540k Jan’17) - including John Lewis, the NHS, Claridges, Alton Towers, Compass, Cambridge University and Center Parcs. The latter decided only last month to extend coverage from 2 to all of its 5 UK locations – “freeing up more than 20,000 hours of resource per year”.

Elsewhere, we think there are material opportunities in leveraging the data, where Checkit already collects >35m measurements/month. For instance, providing industry benchmarking services (re continuous improvement), and ‘anomalous’ data sets to other 3rd parties, say for advertising purposes.

So how is the business performing? Well encouragingly, the firm reported this morning that it is set to beat consensus estimates, thanks to record H1’19 sales (+14%)/orders at Bulgin, a 144% jump in turnover at Checkit to £0.4m (re contract implementations) and a 33% leap in EET revenues, reflecting the pull-through of orders and improved distribution.

All told, group H1’19 sales came in at £15.9m or 16.9% above LY, driving est PBT to £1.4m and closing net cash of £6.8m, boosted by the £0.8m disposal of Queensgate Nano. CEO John Wilson, adding “strong double digit growth during H1’19 is representative of the multi-year transformation of our business. We now expect to be ahead of market expectations."

Lifting estimates & SOTP valuation to 66p/share

Accordingly, we have increased our FY19 turnover and adjusted PBT forecasts by 4% and 17% respectively to £31.9m (£29.8m LY) and £2.7m (£2.7m). We have nudged up the Jan’19 closing net cash position to £8.3m (£5.2m) and lifted the sum-of-the-parts (SOTP) valuation by 6.5% (or 4p) to 66p/share (see below) - split 46p Bulgin, 14p Checkit, 3p EET and 3p net funds.
Underlyings
Accesso Technology Group

Accesso Technology Group is engaged in the development and application of ticketing, mobile and eCommerce technologies, and virtual queuing solutions for the attractions and leisure industry. Co.'s solutions include accesso LoQueue, accesso Passport, accesso Siriusware and accesso ShoWare. Co. primarily has operations or customers in the U.K., the U.S., Canada, Italy, Germany, Australia, Brazil, and Mexico.

Autodesk Inc.

Autodesk is a design software and services company. The company is engaged in 3D design, engineering and entertainment software and services. The company's product offerings include: AutoCAD, which is a customizable and extensible CAD application for design, drafting, detailing, and visualization; AutoCAD Civil 3D, which provides surveying, design, analysis, and documentation solution for civil engineering; CAM Solutions, which is a computer-aided manufacturing software that provides solutions for computer numeric control machining, inspection, and modeling for manufacturing; and Inventor, which provides tools for 3D mechanical design, simulation, analysis, tooling, visualization, and documentation.

Blue Prism Group Plc

Blue Prism Group is a global software company. Co. is engaged in Robotic Process Automation which enables blue-chip organizations to create a digital workforce powered by Co.'s software robots that are trained to automate routine back-office clerical tasks. Co.'s enterprise-grade software enables the automation of manual, rules-based, administrative processes. Co. is engaged in licensing, which involves the provision of software licenses, where the agreement is established of a legally binding contract between Co. and its customers. Co. is also engaged in services and training, where the customer requires consultancy or training on a project by project basis.

Checkit

Elektron Technology is a global business that designs, manufactures and markets products that connect, monitor and control. Co. has three business segments: Bulgin, which products are sealed connectors for the demanding environments, and custom product and system development; Instrumentation, Monitoring and Control, which key products are ophthalmic instruments, nanopositioning and sensing equipment, and materials testing equipment; and Checkit, which key products are cloud-based work management software based on interactive checklists, and smart wireless sensors for continuous automated monitoring.

Crimson Tide

Crimson Tide is a holding company. Through its subsidiaries, Co. is engaged in the provision of mobility solutions and related software development. Co. also provides management and support to other group companies.

Emerson Electric Co.

Emerson Electric is a company that brings technology and engineering together to provide solutions for customers in a range of industrial, commercial and consumer markets around the world. The company 's segments are: Automation Solutions, which provides measurement and analytical instrumentation, valves, actuators and regulators, industrial solutions, and process control systems and solutions; Climate Technologies, which provides products and services for residential heating and cooling, commercial air conditioning, commercial and industrial refrigeration, and cold chain management; and Tools and Home Products, which provides tools for personnel and homeowners and appliance solutions.

Ideagen

Ideagen is a supplier of information management software to regulated industries. Co. supplies Governance, Risk and Compliance solutions principally to the Healthcare, Transport, Aerospace & Defense, Life Sciences, Manufacturing and Financial Services sectors.

Intuit Inc.

Intuit helps consumers, small businesses, and the self-employed prosper by delivering financial management and compliance products and services. The company also provides tax products to accounting personnels, who are main partners that help the company serves small business customers. The company organizes its businesses into three reportable segments: Small Business and Self-Employed, which provides QuickBooks financial management solutions to solve financial and compliance problems; Consumer, which includes TurboTax products and services to prepare and file income tax returns; and Strategic Partner, which includes professional tax offerings and serve professional accountants in United States and Canada.

Littelfuse Inc.

Littelfuse is a manufacturer of technologies in circuit protection, power control and sensing. The company has three segments: Electronics, which provides fuses and fuse accessories, positive temperature coefficient resettable fuses, polymer electrostatic discharge suppressors, varistors, and gas discharge tubes; Automotive, which consists of circuit protection, power control and sensing technologies for original equipment manufacturers, Tier-I suppliers and parts distributors in the passenger car, agricultural, construction and other commercial vehicle industries; and Industrial, which includes power fuses, protection relays and controls and other circuit protection products.

ServiceNow Inc.

ServiceNow provides enterprise cloud computing services that define, structure, manage and automate digital workflows for global enterprises. The company markets its services to enterprises in a variety of industries, including consumer products, education, financial services, government, health care, information technology (IT) services and technology. The company sells its subscription services through direct sales and, to a lesser extent, through indirect channel sales. The company also provides a portfolio of personnel and other services, both directly and through its network of partners. The company's products include IT service management, IT operations management, IT business management, and security operations.

Smart Metering Systems

Smart Metering Systems installs, owns and manages utility assets and provides energy solutions. Co. operates in three division: Asset Installation; Asset Management; and Energy Management. Co.'s asset management division is a direct field force management and asset installation, which comprises regulated management of gas meters, electric meters and ADM™ units within the U.K. Co.'s asset installation division is engaged in investing in assets and providing remote reading solutions, which comprises installation of domestic and industrial and commercial gas meters and electricity meters throughout the U.K. Co.'s energy management division is engaged in providing energy-saving strategies.

Strix Group

Strix Group is a holding company. Through its subsidiaries, Co. is engaged in the designing, manufacturing and supply of kettle safety controls and other components and devices involving water heating and temperature control, steam management and water filtration. Co.'s core products are kettle safety controls, which are responsible for disconnecting the power to the heating element when either water has boiled, operated with no water present, or in some products when the kettle is lifted off its base.

Veeva Systems Inc Class A

Veeva Systems provides industry cloud solutions for the life sciences industry. Veeva Commercial Cloud is a suite of multichannel customer relationship management applications, a commercial data warehouse, territory allocation and alignment applications, master data management applications and customer reference and data and services. Veeva Vault is the company's suite of cloud-based, enterprise content management applications that address the content management requirements for the company's customers'commercial functions, including medical and sales and marketing, and key research and development functions, including clinical, regulatory, quality, and, when available, safety.

Provider
Equity Development
Equity Development

​Equity Development enables companies to become better understood and supported by investors. Since our launch in 1996 we have consistently focused on helping our clients improve their communication and relationships with both existing and potential shareholders. Our clients have come from a wide variety of sectors and domiciles, are both private and quoted and range in size from micro-cap to $multi-billions. We offer free access to company research notes written by experienced analysts. These notes include detailed forecasts, financial models and a fair value. We host regular Private Investor Forums at which investors have the opportunity to hear company directors present, and to ask questions. These are free to attend. We broadcast live Webinars with company management that include active Q&A. We also make the recordings available online. We arrange face to face meetings between private investors and company management. We are active users of Twitter, commenting daily on company news, share price moves, Directors’ Dealings, Equity Development Research Notes & Events.

Analysts
Paul Hill

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