Diary: mai

MAI - Maintel - Support Services - 252.6p/£27m

I'm pretty sure I got this suggestion from S Baines at Cautious Bull, who unfortunately doesn't blog anymore. So here's a bit of a rundown.

Some stats: PER 9.5. ROE 78.5%, gearing £-120m, net cash £3.3m, z-score 5.58, yield 4.1%. EPS projections: 2011F 26.6p + 31%, 2012F 34.8p + 31%

Spread is 6.1%. AIM index.

What it does:

Maintel Holdings Plc is engaged in the provision of contracted maintenance services, the sale and installation of telecommunications systems and the provision of fixed line, mobile and data telecommunications services, predominantly to the enterprise business sector. The Company operates in two segments: telephone maintenance and equipment sales, and telephone network services. The maintenance and equipment division provides maintenance, service and support of office-based voice and data equipment across the United Kingdom on a contracted basis. It also supplies and installs voice and data equipment to maintenance customers. The network services division sells a portfolio of services, which includes telephone line rental, inbound and outbound telephone calls, data connectivity, Internet access and Internet protocol telephony solutions. Its subsidiaries include Maintel Europe Limited and Maintel Voice and Data Limited.

 Director holdings: Booth £7.0m, McCaffery £5.5m, others neglible.

Latest interim results for 6 m/e 30-Jun-2011 issued 12-Sep-2011:

 Underlying revenues up 10%. Dividends up 18%. While market conditions remain challenging Maintel continues to grow, with the equipment pipeline healthy and the maintenance and network services sales pipelines remaining strong in the medium term. With the market consolidating at a renewed pace, we continue to actively seek acquisition opportunities to enhance our service offering.

Fundoo Professor blog

Worth a read despite the goofy title. Seriously, forget what the blog is named, just soak up the quality of his writing. He doesn't post often.

An interesting point was raised in his post "Vantage Point":

”How is much its worth,” is tougher than the question, “Is this likely to be worth a lot more than my price?”

 This harks back to my observation that whenever I've seen Ackman being pressed for a value for a business, he never gives an answer X. This point was covered in a post by Geoff Gannon:

You don't need to use a lot of math to prove exactly what something is worth. You just need to present a convincing case for buying it.

 Tweets

 I jotted some tweets a week or so back of what some good private investors think. It'll be interesting to review this 6 months down the line.

27-Nov-2011 MrContrarian Mr Contrarian
French Connection (FCCN) article on Expecting Value "Even strong bal sheet doesn't give much of a margin of safety" I hold

 28-Nov-2011 MrContrarian Mr Contrarian
Thomas Cook Gp (£TCG) +8.4 on conf of re-fin to Apr 2013, relaxed covenants. Will seek 'more appropriate capital structure'. I have shorted.

28-Nov-2011 paulypilot Paul Scott
Back into QED at 34p. Seems a good price, deep discount to NAV. Quality lettings at London Outlet centre.