Year-to- March figures were in line with forecasts with Ebitda, dropping to £16.5m from £27.8m a year ago, after a period of heavy investment Sales grew 26 per cent to £232.2m. Capex totalled £162m and will be a similar amount this year.With a £250m bank facility, Kingston is fully funded through to profitability expected in 2004. The company is also comfortable with analysts' forecasts for 2002m, when sales are predicted to rise to around £330m.While the picture is rosier than even a quarter ago, Kingston still has much to prove. Moreover, should the company decide to roll out a residential DSL service, it will need to raise more cash.Just over a year ago, Kingston's shares hit 1592p.
Yesterday's close at 120.75p, up 4.75p, values Kingston on a 2002 revenue multiple of around 1.4. That is lower than some rivals such as Thus.Though sentiment is still against telecoms stocks, that discount seems unfair.. Zara is probably more powerful an international symbol of Spain than Tio Pepe the famous brand of sherry, and it's a lot more fashionable. Launched by the reclusive businessman Amancio Ortega from his sister-in-law's kitchen table in A Coruna, the chic clothing chain has boomed so spectacularly that even snootier Spanish competitors acknowledge it has educated a nation's dress sense and revolutionised the wardrobe of a generation.
Zara is probably more powerful an international symbol of Spain than Tio Pepe the famous brand of sherry, and it's a lot more fashionable. Launched by the reclusive businessman Amancio Ortega from his sister-in-law's kitchen table in A Coruna, the chic clothing chain has boomed so spectacularly that even snootier Spanish competitors acknowledge it has educated a nation's dress sense and revolutionised the wardrobe of a generation. Zara is the mightiest arm of Mr Ortega's Inditex textile empire, whose phenomenal growth has made its founder Spain's wealthiest man, supplanting even the banking supremo Emilio Botin. Today 26 per cent of Inditex floats on the Madrid stock exchange in an initial public offering oversubscribed five times. With shares fixed at 14.7 euros, the Ortega family will make 2.4bn (£1.45bn) euros from the move.The company is valued at around 9.3bn euros, putting it up there with Gap, Benetton and H&M, and 52 per cent of sales are generated from stores in 33 countries outside Spain. Zara's first British branch opened in November 1998 in Regent Street and was a runaway hit from day one.
