Hasgrove

Progress has been maintained at Hasgrove, the pan-European marketing and communications counter recommended here at 144p in February.

The Manchester and Brussels-based group joined AIM with a £6.25m funding at 120p in November and subsequently impressed with preliminary numbers for the ten months to December 2006, delivering strong sales and profits surges for a transformational 2006. On a 200% plus revenue rise to £15.3m, pre-tax profits powered ahead by 156% to £1.8m, with earnings surging 74% north to 9.2p – the year-end balance sheet was flush with £3.5m of net cash.

Readers may recall Hasgrove is the holding vehicle for a diverse batch of niche, though profitable and highly cash generative, ventures providing services across the public affairs and PR markets, as well as in advertising, graphic design and digital online marketing.

The three core brands are Connectpoint, The Chase, and Interel, the European public affairs and corporate communications consultancy that works with clients like Cisco, Weight Watchers and Shell and which has been benefiting from a burgeoning number of multinationals headquartering in Brussels. Recent acquisition Cabinet Stewart has proved highly complementary to Interel and given Hasgrove a leadership position in the fast-growing EU public affairs consultancy market.

Boasting balance sheet strength as well as a profitable portfolio of businesses, Hasgrove has acquisition targets in its sights and says investors can expect a maiden dividend from results for the year to December 2007. Based on forecast profits of £3.4 million and 12.1p of earnings for 2007 – numbers now looking decidedly conservative – the shares are swapping hands for less than 13 times estimated earnings. That’s undemanding and we remain fervent fans. Keep buying.