PTB Group is a specialist global aviation services business headquartered in Brisbane. It was founded in 2001 and listed December 2006 and is led by one of the co-founders, Managing Director Stephen Smith, who has an 8.8% interest in the company.
WHY WE LIKE IT
Specialist aviation services provider PTB provides a lower risk exposure to the growing market for global aviation. Aircraft engine maintenance is core to the business, which is something aircraft owners can’t delay or skimp on. There are strict regulatory requirements for aircraft engine maintenance, as unlike a car the consequences of an engine failure could be dire and makes demand much more stable than for an airline.
The stock trades on a one year forward EV/EBITDA multiple around 6.4 times; a big discount to the average 13.5 times multiple of peers. This is a fair price for a profitable Small Cap that pays dividends and has good growth prospects. If the dividend is held at 7 cents, the 8.7% yield alone is appealing. There are risks, including exchange rate, credit and low share turnover, so keep positions small.
WHAT'S NEW?
Commentary at the AGM held at the end of November 2019 indicated PTB was trading well and ahead of budget. This supports management comments at the FY19 result release in August that improvements achieved in FY19 that saw underlying profit before tax increase 20% to $5.3m, would continue into FY20. Consequently the company also provided first time guidance. 1H20 underlying profit before tax (PBT) is expected to be between $2.9m-$3.1m versus $2.9m for 1H19. For FY20, the result is guided to be in the $5.6m-$6.0m range or 5%-13% higher than the prior year.