Wednesday January 1st 2020

travel agent - high-protein sports food - restaurant group

- capital markets analytics -

financial analytics 

Sunspot Tours £65.9m | Musclefood £45m | Ottolenghi £17.2m | First Derivatives £151.7m | Statpro £37.5m

News about 5 UK growth companies and/or accelerators + turnover in the GRID marketplace 31st December 2017 – 6th January 2018:

SUNSPOT TOURS: travel agent - Kent
Founders of travel agent Sunspot in line for bonanza | Ben Harrington, The Sunday Times. December 31 2017
DZ profile: Sunspot Tours Limited (Mercury Holidays)
Business: travel agent that specialises in holidays to Malta and Cyprus
Launched: 1990
Location: Sevenoaks, Kent
Founder: Martin Bugeja, 60, chairman
Financials: The most recent accounts show that the business, which also trades under the name Mercury Holidays, generated £3.5m of operating profits from £65.9m of revenues.
Investment: Martin Bugeja is one of the largest shareholders
News: working with corporate financiers from Catalyst on “strategic options”, which could lead to a sale of a stake in the business. ….bankers said Sunspot Tours was forecast to make operating profits of £5m this year, so a deal could value the company at about £50m.

MUSCLEFOOD: high-protein sports food - Nottingham
Darren Beale's MuscleFood beefed up by £10m investment | Peter Evans, The Sunday Times. December 31, 2017
DZ profile: Muscle Foods Limited
Business: maker of high-protein meals and snacks which sells lean meats and sports supplements through its website and in supermarkets. Beale launched MuscleFood to appeal to athletes and bodybuilders, but the product range has expanded to include food for dieters and health-conscious shoppers.
Launched: 2014
Location: Nottingham
Founder: Darren Beale, 34
Staff: 120
Financials: posted sales of £45m in the year to March 31, up from £14m for the previous 12 months.
Investment: is part of DB FOOD GROUP, a meat wholesaler.
News: £10m investment from the BUSINESS GROWTH FUND. MuscleFood will use the cash to expand on the Continent and to develop its online platform.

OTTOLENGHI: restaurant group - London
Restaurant group Ottolenghi warns of potential staff concerns thanks to Brexit | Joanna Bourke The Evening.
January 3, 2018
DZ profile: Ottolenghi Limited
Business: London deli and restaurant chain which comprises four deli cafés, the NOPI restaurant in Soho and an online store
Launched: 2002
Location: London
Founder: Renowned chef and Israeli-British entrepreneur, Yotam Ottolenghi and Sami Tamimi
Staff: more than 260 people
Financials: results for the 53 weeks to April 2. Sales rose 5.4% to £17.2m and pre-tax profits hit £1.1m from £737,431 despite food price inflation. The privately owned firm said each branch, including those in Notting Hill and Islington, outperformed sales expectations. A dividend of £900,000 was paid to four directors, including Ottolenghi, and shareholders, up from £700,000.
News:
1. on Wednesday joined rivals in warning Brexit could lead to a shortage of staff. In accounts just filed, the firm said it “is exposed to the risk that the supply of labour may fall as a result of the UK leaving the customs union”.
It added: “There is also uncertainty over the performance of the UK’s economy.”
2. Planned openings include a new restaurant at 55 Wells Street in Fitzrovia.

Small-cap focus: grandfathers of fintech enjoy boost | Nic Fildes, FT. January 5, 2018

Fintech has been one of the key buzzwords for the European technology sector in recent years. The phrase tends to be used mostly to describe start-ups and incubators funded by well-known banks — but an older generation of companies, more prosaically lumped under the software bracket, have also enjoyed a boost. The share prices of Fidessa (£331.9m revenue last year), First Derivatives and StatPro rose 11 per cent, 86 per cent and 42 per cent respectively last year. The three companies have been in business for an aggregate 80 years, making them the grandfathers of fintech.

FIRST DERIVATIVES: capital markets analytics - Northern Ireland
DZ profile: First Derivatives Plc
Business: technology company. First Derivatives spent years working with financial services on a consultancy basis before developing its own product, called Kx, to provide in-depth analytics across capital markets. It has signed up 19 of the top 20 global investment banks as customers.
Launched: 1996
Location: Newry, Co Down, Northern Ireland
Staff: chaired by Seamus Keating, the former Logica executive
Financials: is expected to post strong growth for last year. Investec forecasts revenue rising to £175m from £152m with earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation reaching £29m, compared with £23m in 2016. Key Fundamentals to 28-Feb-17: Revenue £151.7m; Pre-Tax £12.5m.
Investment: Listed on AIM since 20012.
News: has looked to apply its expertise from financial services into other industries. Kx has been pushed into new markets including retail, marketing and utilities. The latest move is into telecoms, after First Derivatives paid €2.5m for the Spanish analytics company, TELCONOMICS, last year.

STATPRO: financial analytics software - London
DZ profile: Statpro Group Plc
Business: software company that sells analytics products to pension funds, banks, asset managers and insurance companies and, like Fidessa, expects to benefit from the introduction of the Mifid II rules. StatPro hopes to finally make headway with its cloud-based product, which it launched last year.
Launched: 1994
Location: Wimbledon, London
Founder: Justin Wheatley, who owns 22.6% of the company
Financials: The Revolution analytics platform was credited with driving a 35 per cent rise in ebitda to £2.8m in the first half of the year and transforming a £2.4m cash outflow to a £3.5m inflow. For the full year StatPro is forecast to grow ebitda by 36 per cent to £7m on a 30 per cent rise in revenue to £49m, including the UBS Delta business. Key Fundamentals to 31-Dec-16: Revenue £37.5m; Pre-Tax -£10.1m)
Investment: has been listed on the London Stock Exchange, AIM since June 2003
News: StatPro has also been bulking up, acquiring a small risk and performance analytics business from Swiss bank UBS in April.