Companies: KWL   

Originally backed by Growth Company Investor at 57p in 2003, Kewill is a cannily managed concern whose growth prospects are linked to high levels of global trade and the rising regulatory pressures facing shippers.

The supply chain software group’s technology helps clients minimise costs, run more efficiently and reduce the risks related to delivering accurate information, securely and to deadline, thereby helping them meet regulations and industry standards. Clients ranging from Allianz and Nintendo to Sainsbury’s entrust their supply network information to this £70m cap.

Kewill has just issued an upbeat trading update, in which chief executive Paul Nichols flagged up good progress since June’s full-year announcement. Trading has apparently met management expectations, with the company yet to see any negative impact on its US business, despite the parlous state of the US economy, enjoying strong organic growth in Europe and successfully progressing ‘One Kewill’, its product cross-sell and margin-enhancement initiative. All of this, allied to the growing contribution from repeat revenues from hosted solutions, means management is confident about hitting full-year numbers.

Kewill’s financials for the year to March were excellent, showing sales increased 22% to £50.9m and a strong rise in ‘normalised’ PBT to £7m (2007: £4.7m). Margins were on the rise and cash generated from operations improved to £9.9m (£5.3m), allowing for a 50% increase in the total dividend to 0.75p.

For March 2009, the market expects profits of £8.6m and 10.5p of earnings, placing the shares on a forward multiple of just 8.2. That is way too low for a fast-growing, quality operator enjoying a high proportion of recurring sales. Now is the time to top up holdings. Add.

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Kewill	LSE	£69.69m	85.75p	-0.25p
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Kewill			22/07/2008
Web 2.0 set for spending splurge			28/04/2008
Kewill Systems			14/11/2007
Kewill Systems			17/11/2006
Kewill in cross-selling mode			03/08/2005