Originally posted 28th February 2019
The latest example of a public company publishing misleading accounts is Metro Bank (MTRO). Both the FCA and PRA (the bank regulator) are looking into the “misclassification” of some loans which resulted in the bank overstating its regulatory capital. The result was that it has had to do an equity share issuance to bolster its capital.
There was a very good letter to the FT today on the subject of improving accounting and audits from Tim Sutton. He suggested the US Sarbanes-Oxley Act had improved the standards in the USA enormously so that revision of financial statements has been declining. To quote: “Section 404 requires management to assess and report annually on the effectiveness of the company’s internal control structure and procedures. In addition, the company’s external auditors must attest to the effectiveness of those controls”. As he points out that might have prevented the fraud at Patisserie (CAKE), and no doubt avoided the issues at Metro and other companies. It sounds an eminently good idea. I realise Sarbanes-Oxley did receive some criticism in the USA after it was first introduced due to the extra costs it imposed, but if that is the only way to ensure reliable accounts, I suggest it is worth paying. It was perhaps over-complicated in implementation in the USA but some of the key features are worth copying.
This morning Telford Homes (TEF) published a trading statement which was mostly bad news and the shares fell over 15%. This is a London focused housing developer which I used to hold but I got nervous some months ago about the housing market in the capital. You can read my acerbic comments made in last October here: https://www.sharesoc.org/blog/company-news/black-hole-in-patisserie-holdings-audit-reviews-telford-homes-and-brexit/
The latest announcement says that “the London sales market remains subdued”. Sales are being achieved but at a slower rate and margins are under pressure due to increased incentives and discounts. So they are putting an increased focus on “build-to-rent”. Other bad news is that contracts are being delayed on larger projects, partly due to planning delays. The result will be profit before tax for FY2020 will be significantly below FY2019.
Another announcement this morning was the preliminary results from GoCompare (GOCO). This is a price comparison web service, particularly focused on car insurance, but also covering utilities and other products. It is of course fronted by “Italian opera singer Gio Compario” (aka Welsh tenor Wynne Evans) in TV advertisements which I certainly prefer to the Moneysupermarket ones.
It was particularly interesting watching the results presentation – probably available as a recording on their web site. Results were much as forecast, with only a slight increase in revenue but a 20% increase in adjusted earnings. This is due to optimisation of marketing. You can see that these kinds of companies have to spend an enormous amount on marketing to catch customers when they are thinking of switching suppliers. GOCO spent £80 million on marketing last year, down from £89 million) to achieve revenue of £152 million.
They have made acquisitions to diversify revenue and this has led to an increase in debt, but the interesting news was about a new subscription service called WEFLIP. This automatically switches your energy supplier, among a panel of agreed suppliers, if you can potentially save £50. This will enable them to retain customers, with the suppliers paying the subscription fee. They plan to spend £10 million on marketing this in the coming year and have already done a “soft” launch to ensure the product and market are OK. Clearly though, this might be perceived as a bit of a gamble.
The market was unimpressed and the shares have fallen by another 5% today after a long decline in recent months. It’s now on a prospective p/e of less than 9 and yield of about 3%. I remain a holder at those levels.
Roger Lawson (Twitter: https://twitter.com/RogerWLawson )
