The vehicle tracking specialist Quartix Holdings plc (LON:QTX) enjoyed a strong year with sales up 19% to £23.3mln.
Fleet, its largest operation, expanded by 15% in the year to December 31, while insurance grew by 25%. Profit before tax was up 9% to £6.5mln, while investors will be rewarded with a bumper payout.
WATCH:Boss provides his take on the results
READ: The results statement in full
The final dividend more than doubles to 9p a share from (4p), including a supplementary divi of 4.7p. That takes the total distribution for the year to 11.2p a share, representing a yield of 3.4%.
Net cash at the period-end was £6.2mln - up from £3mln a year earlier.
Quartix completed some key product initiatives and expanded its footprint in the US, a market it reckons is five times the size of the UK.
US firing on all cylinders
Stateside it now has 1,075 customers (up from 693), with 6,191 vehicles under subscription.
“We will be making additional investment in the year in the development of our fleet business including further development of the US market,” said managing director Andy Walters.
The company has also seen strong growth in France, where it now has 1,428 customers accounting for almost 10,000 vehicles under subscription.
The global subscription base stands at just under 88,000 units, up from 73,774 12 months earlier.
Looking ahead, an upbeat Walters said: "The group has made a good start to the year, in line with our expectations.
“The high levels of recurring revenues and opportunities to grow in the UK, France and the USA in fleet combined with continued progress in our insurance business underpin our confidence for the rest of the current financial period and beyond."
How it works
Quartix supplies tracking systems for vehicles. These were adopted first by the managers of big car and truck fleets. However in the last 18 months its insurance services arm has taken off.
Quartix’s driving tracker plugs into a vehicle’s diagnostic port and measures vehicle data such as acceleration, turns, speed, miles driven and in some cases location, to determine the competency and safety of the driver.
The information is then collected by the provider’s database to help insurance companies to determine tailored rates for drivers. For safer drivers that can mean discounts on policies.
Brokers see value
Small-cap specialist finnCap values Quartix at 400p a share, which reckons the stock is “extremely cheap” on a cash sum-of-the-parts basis.
Shore Capital, which has the same price target, said: “We believe UK fleet growth can accelerate again and that there is nothing in the price for the US [and] international."
At 1.20pm, the price was up 8% to 350p.