MTI Wireless Edge LON:MWE, published its full-year results to end December 2023 today. The Israeli antenna manufacturer should have had a good year on the back of increased political instability.
The company has three business units: Commercial Antennas, RFID Antennas and Military Antennas. The Commercial Antennas unit manufactures antennas from between 470MHz and 60GHz and Dual Band PTP; RFID Antennas between 433MHz and 2.5GHz and Near Field UHF; and Military Antennas for Naval and Submarine Units, Ground Forces and Aerial and Aerospace.
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Based in Rosh-Ha’Ayin in central Israel, the AIM-listed company has been around since 1970 as part of the MTI Group, which also is involved in Water Control and Irrigation, Distribution and Logistics and Consultancy.
Uptick in revenues
MTI Wireless Edge reported revenues of USD45.6m, down 1.5% in real terms, but the company said was a 2% uptick when reporting on a constant currency basis. Operational profits were up 1% to USD4.65m, but this included a USD200,000 impairment for goodwill taken in from the acquisition of PSK, an Israeli communication equipment company, which MTI Wireless took a 51% shareholding of in January 2022.
Profit before tax was up 12% to USD4.84m and earnings per share increased 9% to 4.58 cents. Net cash was flat at USD8.1% and the company increased its dividend to 3.1 cents/share up from 3c/share in 2022.
The company are feeling confident about 2024 with Moni Borovitz, MTI Wireless Edge’s chief executive saying in a statement this morning: “We made good progress this year growing revenue on a constant currency basis and growing overall profits despite the challenges in Israel in the last quarter of the year. We are seeing compelling opportunities in all segments of our operations. In particular, the increase in defence budgets worldwide and the opening of the Indian market for E-Band 5G backhaul, which represents a substantial opportunity for us over the medium term.”
MTI Wireless Edge share price has been disappointing
The share price has been disappointing, trading at 52p one-year ago, and over one-year ranging between 30p and 54.5p. Shares closed last week around 36.5p, but on release of MTI Wireless Edge’s results jumped up to 40.97p today (11th March) in early trading before falling back to 39p by 10:00.
Over one-year the company’s shares fell 30% and over three-years are down nearly 60%.
The company has been buying back its own shares since January 2019, and this morning announced that it was to extend the buyback programme from 12th March 2024 to 31st March 2025 increasing the amount of the programme to GBP0.7m at a maximum purchase price of 105% of the daily average of the middle market quotations. The company is buying back the shares through subsidiary MTI Engineering.
Bridgewise the AI-powered analyst rates MTI Wireless Edge as a ‘Buy’. The analyst said: “In light of MTI Wireless Edge’s recent financial performance, the company’s stock appears to be an attractive investment choice in the Communications Equipment industry. MTI Wireless Edge’s latest financial results position the company in the top 10% of Information Technology companies, highlighted by its strong performance in Net Change in Cash and Period P/B Ratio relative to its peers. Strong performance in these two metrics has historically had a positive correlation with Information Technology stocks outperforming industry competitors.”