Secure Trust Bank (STB)

Sector:

Banking

Index:

FTSE Small Cap

798.00p
   
  • Change Today:
    -8.00p
  • 52 Week High: 811.00
  • 52 Week Low: 550.00
  • Currency: UK Pounds
  • Shares Issued: 19.06m
  • Volume: 8,735
  • Market Cap: £152.11m

Sunday share tips: Chime, 3i Infrastructure, Secure Trust

Date: Sunday 29 Jan 2012

LONDON (ShareCast) - "Another share that has caught my eye is Chime Communications, a media agency with interests in public relations, advertising and sports marketing. Whereas the company´s profits have grown steadily for several years, the share price is similar to where it stood in October 2009. This puts the shares on a projected price-to-earnings (p/e) ratio of 7 for 2012, versus an industry average of 9.4. A gap of this magnitude suggests potential for a price gain of one-third to reach the industry average. I believe these shares are significantly undervalued. Advertising firm WPP apparently agrees. It has been a steady buyer and holds 17% of all outstanding shares. A bid for the rest cannot be ruled out," says David Schwartz in the Financial Times´ Weekend Edition.

Coffee capsules such as Nestle's Dolce Gusto and Kraft's Tassimo have proved a hit with caffeine-loving consumers – and the packaging for these products has been developed and manufactured by RPC Group. The company, which counts consumer goods giants such as Unilever as well as smaller, local businesses as customers, continues to benefit from its purchase of peer Superfos and its new strategic direction. (…) The improvement in the sales mix towards higher margin products such as pharmaceutical devices and coffee capsules has continued to boost margins. Questor spoke to Pim Vervaat, RPC's finance director, on Friday, and he said that although the company was looking at potential acquisitions, RPC would only buy quality assets that meet its long-term financial targets. The company will not just buy top-line growth. Expansion into emerging markets is also a possibility. Trading on a March 2013 earnings multiple of 9.6, the shares do not look expensive and are yielding 3.5%. Last tipped at 336.3p in December, the shares are up 12% in less than two months. Buy, says The Sunday Telegraph´s Questor team.

The Telegraph´s Questor team is a fan of infrastructure funds because they offer a relative safe yield in times of low interest rates. An update this week from 3i Infrastructure Fund prompted one analyst to declare that he expected "meaningful growth" in the dividend. In the last three months of 2011 dividends and interest from its investments totalled £14m and the group said its portfolio continues to perform well. The fund's management is now working towards the financial close of its Thameslink project. It is working on the procurement process for the Government's £6bn overhaul of the troubled rail link. With such investments, capital appreciation does not happen fast – it is the income that matters. The shares are at about the same level they were tipped at last year. The full-year dividend last time was 5.3p, giving a historical yield of 4.4%. The shares remain a buy for income.

The cost of living is rising, incomes are static or falling and it is becoming increasingly hard to manage the bills. Customers of High Street banks spent at least £2bn on unauthorised overdrafts last year, while about a million people took out expensive short-term ‘payday’ loans to tide them over from one month to the next. Secure Trust Bank was founded 60 years ago in the Midlands and made its name providing families with accounts to help them to budget. The bank increased its lending by more than 60% to £145m last year and substantial growth is forecast over the next three years, as people who need to borrow money seek alternatives to the High Street or unscrupulous lenders. Chief executive Paul Lynam is ambitious, but not recklessly so. He is determined to retain Secure’s reputation for caution and late last year he walked away from an acquisition at the last minute because the risks appeared to be too high. Growth should deliver a steady increase in profits over the next three years and the bank is also expected to be reasonably generous with its dividends. It is forecast to pay at least 40p for the year ending December 31, 2012 and more than 60p the year after. For the Financial Mail on Sunday´s Midas column, “Secure Trust shares made a strong debut on Aim and are trading at 935p. They should rise substantially as Lynam develops the business. Buy and be patient.”

Midas recommended Afren in January 2007 when it was an oil and gas minnow trading at 56p. The business has since been transformed into a FTSE 250 stock producing more than 50,000 barrels of oil a day. Chief executive Osman Shahenshah announced this month a significant new discovery in Nigeria, close to where it is already in production. The news was welcomed by the company’s followers and the shares rose more than 10% to 131p. Just a few days later, it admitted that production in 2012 was likely to range between 46,000 and 52,000 barrels of oil a day, lower than many had expected. For the Financial Mail on Sunday´s Midas column, “Afren has come a long way over the past five years and today it has a market value of more than £1.3bn. Adventurous investors who bought back in 2007 may want to hang on in there and see what Shahenshah does next. More cautious shareholders may prefer to sell up now. The stock is at 124p, so they have more than doubled their money already.”

AB

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Note 1: Prices and trades are provided by Digital Look Corporate Solutions and are delayed by at least 15 minutes.

 

STB Market Data

Currency UK Pounds
Share Price 798.00p
Change Today -8.00p
% Change -0.99 %
52 Week High 811.00
52 Week Low 550.00
Volume 8,735
Shares Issued 19.06m
Market Cap £152.11m

STB Star Ratings

Compare performance with the sector and the market.
more star ratings
Key: vs Market vs Sector
Value
100.00% above the market average100.00% above the market average100.00% above the market average100.00% above the market average100.00% above the market average
100.00% above the sector average100.00% above the sector average100.00% above the sector average100.00% above the sector average100.00% above the sector average
Price Trend
42.33% above the market average42.33% above the market average42.33% above the market average42.33% above the market average42.33% above the market average
5.88% below the sector average5.88% below the sector average5.88% below the sector average5.88% below the sector average5.88% below the sector average
Income
94.21% above the market average94.21% above the market average94.21% above the market average94.21% above the market average94.21% above the market average
6.67% above the sector average6.67% above the sector average6.67% above the sector average6.67% above the sector average6.67% above the sector average
Growth
8.22% above the market average8.22% above the market average8.22% above the market average8.22% above the market average8.22% above the market average
29.41% below the sector average29.41% below the sector average29.41% below the sector average29.41% below the sector average29.41% below the sector average

What The Brokers Say

Strong Buy 2
Buy 1
Neutral 0
Sell 0
Strong Sell 0
Total 3
strong_buy
Broker recommendations should not be taken as investment advice, and are provided by the authorised brokers listed on this page.

STB Dividends

  Latest Previous
  Final Interim
Ex-Div 25-Apr-24 31-Aug-23
Paid 23-May-24 28-Sep-23
Amount 16.20p 16.00p

Trades for 24-May-2024

Time Volume / Share Price
16:35 458 @ 798.00p
16:35 1 @ 798.00p
16:35 15 @ 798.00p
16:35 150 @ 798.00p
16:35 26 @ 798.00p

STB Key Personnel

CEO David McCreadie

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