EMIS enjoys the best of health
PERSISTENT buying helped EMIS Group close in the best of health, rising 68p to an alltime high of 1005p following strong interims. Revenues were up 17pc to £77.8m, with operating profit 16pc higher to £16.9m resulting in earnings per share 18pc better at 20.5p. The dividend is lifted 15pc to 10.6p and with net cash of £1.3m in the bank, analysts believe prospects look good.
EMIS has gone from strength to strength since hooking up with Apple in September 2014. Since then patients at thousands of GP surgeries have been able to link health information recovered on their iPhone with their confidential medical records using a new app that promised to transform the care of the long-term ill.
The free app, which was developed by EMIS working alongside Apple, allows blood pressure readings, asthma breath tests, exercise charts and other information to be immediately fed into GP’s patient records.
A bullish development for the growing number of the UK population who are living with long-term conditions and enabling the authorities to reduce the burden on the NHS.
Numis has a target price of £11 and believes EMIS has almost unparalleled visibility of organic growth within the UK software sector. The group remains the top pick in the sector.
Already well in the red, the Footsie eased further to finish 151.18 points down at 6042.92 following weaker-than-expected US jobs data, which made it almost certain a US interest rate increase would not be happening this month. The FTSE 250 closed 279.22 points down at 16,808.02. Wall Street traded 298.14 points lower at the outset with neurotic fund managers on both sides of the Pond in no mood to participate until they saw how the Chinese market would trend on it’s re-opening on Sunday following a two-day bank holi- day. A bearish JP Morgan Cazenove note on the mining sector left Anglo American 56.5p lower at 668.5p, Glencore 7.8p off at 123.15p and BHP Billiton 58p lower at 1052p. Vedanta Resources slumped 72.5p to 511p amid reports its Zambia Konkola Copper Mines subsidiary has asked 133 employees to stay away from work on full pay while the company undertakes a review of the operations.
British Airways owner IAG edged up 0.5p to 565p. August group traffic rose 8.6p.
And on the subject of August, news the month was the worst for UK retail sales since 2008 hit the High Street. Investors pulled the plug on Dixons Carphone, 18.6p down at 412.3p, after broker Exane BNP Paribas slashed its target price by 7pc to 510p. Following its relegation from the FTSE 250 amid continuing concerns about its balance sheet, platinum miner Lonmin shed 1.52p more to 27.44p.
Betting shop group Ladbrokes cheapened 2.15p to 97.25p following news Darren Shapland will retire from the board on 24th September after six years as a non- executive director. Five of those years was as chair of the Audit Committee.
Beowulf Mining jumped 19pc to 2.8p after reporting it has been invited by the Swedish Department of Enterprise and Innovation to respond to comments made by Norrbotten County concerning the company’s application for an exploitation licence for its Kallak North iron ore project. The company has until September 14 to make its representations and that it expects a government decision on Kallak North ‘in autumn 2015’.
Goldplat added 17pc at 2.62p after making significant progress on capital projects and news contracts to improve production and efficiency at its gold recovery operation in South Africa, which process mining by products to recover gold.
Northcote Energy closed flat at 0.17p despite touching 0.1828p after announcing that it will be participating in the Mexican onshore field bid round, with a view to increasing its activ- ity in the region following the reopening of the vast Mexican energy sector. Agricultural bioscience company Plant Impact advanced 5.25p to 56.75p after saying it now expects to break even after trading profitably through the last year. The board predicted growth for 2016 on the back of substantial sales in Brazil of its soyabean crop efficiency product, Veritas. Sales of Veritas, which is sold in Brazil by German multinational Bayer, were encouraged and helped group revenue expand 80pc to £4.5m, of which £1.4m came in the fourth quarter, itself a 75pc increase.
An uplifting profits forecast helped Bioventix climb 140p to 1075p. Broker finnCap upgraded earnings forecasts after the company intimated that revenues for the year ending June 2015 are expected to be in excess of £4.2m.
A Berenberg downgrade to ‘hold’ from ‘buy’ left HSS Hire 1.75p off at 64.25p. The broker’s target price is 60p because the management has a lot to prove, particularly given growth expectations remain high for 2016. ÷ PENNY share punters were all over Agriterra like a rash and the close was 11pc better at 0.6p. They piled in after Philip Richards, co-founder of hedge fund RAB Capital, increased his stake to over 5pc. The pan-African agricultural firm has established beef, cocoa trading, maize processing and palm oil operations and has been friendless for months. Chairman is former England cricketer Phil Edmonds.