25 May 2012

21st Century piles up cash

13/12/2011 Miles Nolan

CCTV supplier 21st Century (C21) has issued a positive trading statement, with profits in line but cash well ahead of expectations.

The AIM counter has been working hard on its strategy of developing its UK business as well as furthering its efforts overseas. It is the preferred supplier to three of the top five bus operators in the UK, indeed last month it secured the leading operator FirstGroup - operator of more than 8,000 buses.

21st Century has established a new subsidiary in Scandinavia to tap into the country, and this is already its second largest market. From here, the plan is to further expand in mainland Europe.

To date the company has sold in excess of 6,500 of its EcoManager driver aid systems, which provide a number of benefits including fuel savings of up to 12 per cent and a sharp fall in accidents. It has signed up its first distributor in Europe to sell the product and is also trialling the system with a number of new customers.

There is no bank debt and the cash pile is now a chunky £2.6 million, which equates to almost one-quarter of the current market value. It also retains its valuable freehold head office building in Mitcham. Daniel Stewart forecasts 2011 pre-tax profits of £1.3 million and EPS of 1p, the broker has held its price target at 20p a share.

We recommended the shares in Growth Company Investor a year ago at 7.5p, so its pleasing to report such good momentum in the busines. With the price up 0.5p to 12.5p this morning, we retain our view. Buy.

Tags: AIM market, Cash pile, CCTV for public transport, FirstGroup, Growth company

Sector: Support Services

Companies: 21st Century Technology

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