Temporary power supplier APR Energy has blown a fuse as investors had their first chance to react to an after hours update from the company on Tuesday.
APR, which last year reversed into the Horizon company owned by Pizza Express and Punch Taverns tycoon Hugh Osmond, had been due to issue results on Thursday. But it said late on Tuesday that it would not now be putting the figures out until 16 April
due to the complexities in reporting and accounting for the various corporate transactions which have taken place during the period.
It said the financial results for 2011 were in line with current forecasts, with revenues up 65% and earnings up 63%, and it continued to see strong demand across all regions. But its shares are down 250p to 850p - a 23% decline. Analyst John Lawson at Investec said:
APR Energy has taken the market by surprise by publishing pro-forma twelve month 2011 figures two days ahead of schedule. These look fine (in line with estimates), but the group will not be publishing full audited figures until April. This is unfortunate and will not be well received by investors, whatever the reasoning, as it leaves more questions unanswered. There is still be a good underlying story to tell, we believe, but this hiatus will not help the near-term investment case - even more proof of the pudding will be needed to galvanise some investors now.
Peel Hunt moved from hold to sell, and analyst Andrew Nussey said:
We remain supporters of the APR model, the attractive levels of returns and the long-term potential of the independent power producer market. However, we believe that until the order intake accelerates, visibility on 2013 increases and the uncertainties associated with the delay in results are removed, the shares are likely to come under pressure. We therefore downgrade our target price to 975p, and move our recommendation to sell.
