Brokers' views: Evolution Securities

UK media concern Coolabi wins the approval of Evolution analyst Adrian Kearsey.

The London-headquartered media group recently reported a rise in underlying pre-tax profits from £300,000 to £500,000 in 2010. Kearsey notes that the internally generated Poppy Cat television series is due to go on air in May and adds that it has been pre-sold to 16 territories, including Nick Jr. in the UK.

He adds that the company has ‘maintained’ licensing income from the Purple Ronnie brand and that its Postgate and Firmin properties, which includes the Bagpuss brand, are being ‘reinvigorated’.

Arguing that ‘the company has managed to navigate the recession, hitting all key earnings milestones’, he identifies a target price of 14p and rates the shares  as a buy, pencilling in a doubling in pre-tax profits to £1 million on sales up to £6 million (2009: £2.9 million) in 2011.

Russian dreams
Mining explorer Petropavlovsk wins the approval of  analyst Charles Kernot. He argues that with a ‘significant land position in Russia’, the company should be able to ‘grow organically by identifying additional resources and reserves’.

Kernot rated the shares as a buy following Petropavlovsk’s announcement on its JORC-compliant ore reserves and mineral resources. The Russian-focused company declared that ore reserves at the Malomir and Pioneer gold operations had increased by 36 per cent.

Reiterating a target price of £16, he enthuses that ‘this company is the most undervalued of the larger gold stocks in our coverage universe’, adding that the target price ‘demonstrates on almost 60 per cent upside from our current
share price’.