News blog
Universe
- BY: Andrew Hore |
- POSTED: 15/04/2008 |
Retail and loyalty systems provider Universe believes it has laid the foundations for a more prosperous future.
Profits in 2007 were not as good as it hoped they would be 12 months ago but it invested an additional £600,000 in sales and marketing activities. There were also £2.53m of exceptional write-offs, the vast majority of which were previously capitalised product development costs.
The underlying pre-tax profits of the group more than doubled to £700,000 on turnover 16% ahead at £13.2m.
Universe has tried to improve sales in its existing markets and move into new ones. The move into car washing and valeting will begin to generate significant revenues in the second half. Universe shares revenues with the retailer where the units are sited and it uses its existing managed services software to run the operations. It has signed up the Co-op and there is potential to win over retailers.
The shares jumped 0.75p to 6.125p on the day of the figures.
House broker Charles Stanley forecasts an increase in profits to £1.3m in 2008. That puts the shares on eight times prospective earnings. The improvement is likely to be skewed towards the second half. Previously announced contract wins with the likes of Murco mean that Universe has already won a significant amount of the work it needs to achieve this forecast. The company’s AGM is due to be held on 30 May.
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