Whilst the S&P/ASX 200 (Index: ^AXJO) (ASX: XJO) may have climbed higher again yesterday, it certainly wasn't the same story for the shares of leading equipment financier Silver Chef Limited (ASX: SIV). Its share price came crashing down to earth with a 17% drop in late afternoon trade after it released a business update to the market.
Despite the sell off in its shares, the update appeared to be largely positive with management advising that FY 2016 full year net profit after tax (NPAT) is expected to be within its earnings guidance range of $23 million and $24 million. This would represent a huge increase on the $15.5 million it delivered last year.
Management believes the strong earnings result is underpinned by the excellent year-on-year growth in acquisitions across both its Silver Chef and GoGetta businesses.
So why did the shares get sold off to such a degree? Well it would appear as though the market wasn't impressed with management's FY 2017 guidance of NPAT of $23 million to $25 million. In terms of net profit after tax this represents little to no growth year on year. But it is worth remembering that there are one-off items included in FY 2016's NPAT which are inflating the figure.
Stripping out these one-off items related to deferred costs and looking at things strictly on an underlying NPAT basis, this year Silver Chef is expecting $19.3 million to $20.3 million of underlying NPAT. In FY 2017 management expects underlying NPAT of $23 million to $25 million, which would mean growth of 19% to 23% year on year.
The drop in its share price has potentially made it a bit of a bargain now in my opinion. As well as strong growth on home soil, I believe the company has bright prospects ahead of it through its expansion into the Canadian market.
Today's sell-off may well prove to be a complete overreaction and the shares could rebound strongly. But one thing for sure is that I'll be watching its shares with interest tomorrow when the market reopens.
