Auction Technology Group PLC (LSE:ATG) has been one of the relatively rare successes from the 'class of 21' IPO group, in as much as it has not crashed and burned like Made.com, Parsley Box and Revolution Beauty.
On Thursday investors will get the first update on the performance in the second half of the year from the group that owns the Auction Trade Gazette and websites such as thesalesroom.com, i-bidder.com and US-based liveauctioneers.com, which floated in February last year at a price of 600p per share that valued it at £600mln.
After rising above 1,500p in the second half of last year, the shares have dropped back to 888p.
Analysts are expecting full-year revenue of £116.7mln, with underlying earnings (EBITDA) of £51.8mln.
Broker Peel Hunt sees ATG as "a potential counter-cyclical play", citing auctioneers Ritchie Bros and Sotheby's as comparable, and management's argument that the is cycle-neutral.
In the first half, around two-thirds of revenue came from listing-based commissions, driven by number/value of transactions.
"But we estimated that only less than a third of revenue may be pro-cyclical," said the Peel Hunt analysts, also noting that investment is being made in "value add" services to make auctioneers’ lives easier and create incremental revenues.
"In addition, ATG’s majority US exposure, where recession appears less likely (or less severe) than the UK, should soften the impact further."