Telecom Plus (#TEP) – FY adj. EPS +7%, DPS +4%, “continuing steady growth”
- 2019-06-18 07:48:36
UK 19:30 Friday, 9 October 2026
Breaking news and expert analysis on fast-moving AIM and LSE listed shares
Fully-listed Telecom Plus (TEP) is a member of the FTSE250 and it announced its interims this morning. The shares are currently up 56p to 1258p, valuing the company at £982 million. With an expected full year dividend of 52p that puts the shares on a dividend yield of 4.13% which appears quite tasty when compared to a bank account. So are they for dividend munchers, or is there something lurking beneath the surface to make me run a mile? Covering the company in the past I was less than convinced, but with fresh eyes let’s take a look.
Last week fully-listed Telecom Plus (TEP) released its full year (to Mar 2016) trading update ahead of results to be published in mid-June. It all looks great on the surface, but I think the shares look very toppy.
Shares in Telecom Plus (TEP) are down 40p to 843p thanks to a downgrade of stance from buy to hold by Berenberg in the note below. The target price comes down from 1400p to 1000p so with upside at the start of the day of 14% surely that makes the shares cheap? Whatever. It seems an anodine note to me. I remain a bear as per Kevin Ashton's most awesome analysis HERE but you make up your own mind
That soft spot for fully listed Telecom Plus (TEP) is hardening. Looking at Companies House filings and analysing accounts seems to present a less than convincing case that the company can afford to repay its loans and continue to meet its progressive dividend policy, especially in the light of the (as yet, still) unannounced new borrowing facility of £150 million. But today it is time to look into the company’s investment into Opus Energy. Oh goodie: another excuse to trawl through Companies House filings. Anorak at the ready….
Since raising a few questions over a new £150 million loan facility which fully-listed Telecom Plus (TEP) has not yet announced but is filed at Companies House (see HERE), I had a Broker note and some comments from an analyst (see HERE) drop into my inbox. But some more numbers arrived the other day.
Yesterday I wondered why shares in fully listed Telecom Plus (TEP) had been dropping, and turned up a few nuggets in its interim statement and, of greater concern, a new £150 million loan facility on the Companies House website. Were these the cause of the drop since the turn of the year? Well perhaps not, for into my inbox has dropped an “underperform” note from top analysts RBS Capital Markets.
Shares in fully listed Telecom Plus (TEP) seem to have fallen off a bit a cliff over the last few weeks. I’ve not seen anything terrible in the way of RNSs to explain it and although falls in the wider market would contribute to weakness a 20% drop seems hefty. But I did turn up something at Companies House which I think the company should explain.
It has been quite easy to be short to be short of Telecom Plus (TEP) in recent months given the quite painful looking decline that we have seen on the daily chart since the stock peaked out in the first quarter of 2014.
What can be seen on the daily chart of Telecom Plus (TEP) is the way that there has been an extended decline since the final big bull trap through the 50 day moving average in October, effectively a momentum signal that is one of the more difficult to shake off.
Although the bull run at Telecom Plus in the early part of this decade did seem to be a little too good to be true, the price action was so strong until the middle of last year that there seemed little point questioning either the technicals or the fundamental situation.
From the FCA's spreadsheet of short positions required to be disclosed to it, the following details changes to net short positions in the last week (red if short increased, green if reduced)...
At the last minute free speech denying broker Charles Stanley, (Nomad to POS companies such as Tungsten and Coms) forced the world’s top tech analyst Kevin Ashton not to speak at UK Investor. Luckily I have his notes sent to me earlier in the week and so here is why I think Telecom Plus (TEP) is such a stonking sell.
