value and opportunity

Gronlandsbanken

Already some weeks age, Gronlandsbanken reported 2013 numbers and published their 2013 annual report, which is again a must read for anyone interested in Greenland. The bank seems to be a little bit more optimistic than last year.

Profit was around 10% lower than in 2012, which is not bad for a stagnant economy. The dividend has been kept stable which means the dividend yield of around 7,8% at current prices. Overall, Gronlandsbanken in my opinion still offers a lot of positive optimality, although it might need a few more years to really see an impact of potential large-scale mining projects. Better than with a “classical” option, I get paid for waiting.

SIAS Spa

Sias released 2013 results last week (in Italian only). Traffic was again down compared to 2012, but revenues increased due to the purchases out of the South America proceeds. They earned 0,61 EUR per share resulting in a trailing P/E of 13.8. For a “average” company like SIAS, this is already relatively expensive in my opinion, so I will sell down half of my current position (5,3%) at current prices, which would result in a profit of close to 100% for this part.

Thermador

Finally, Thermador released 2013 numbers and its English language annual report. Sales declined in a tough market by -2%, profit slightly more from 4.96 EUR per share to 4,68 EUR. Cash flow however was very strong due to a significant release of working capital, net cash is now around 32 mn EUR or ~ 7,4 EUR per share. The cash adjusted P/E of around 14 for a high quality firm like Thermador is in my opinion still adequate.

April SA

Already a few day<s ago, April presented preliminary 2013 results. Overall profits were a little bit lower than in 2012 resulting in 1.22 EUR Earnings per share against 1,38 EUR in 2012. Although this is the 5th decline in a row, this time the reason seems to be almost exclusively in the lower interest rates. I think one can expect that from a operational point of view, the bottom should be near.

Interestingly, they still earn very nice ROCEs even at those depressed levels. Adjusted for cash, they trade at single digit P/E which implies in my opinion still a good risk/return relationship.