Maker of premium drink mixers Fever-Tree (LSE: FEVR) has been on a roll ever since going public in late 2014 and the company’s latest half-year results show no sign of momentum slowing. Revenue over the past six months rocketed 69% year-on-year as the company expanded abroad at a rapid clip.
Aside from high growth, the appeal of Fever-Tree is enviable and growing. Think of EBITDA margins of 30.7% and a healthy balance sheet with net cash of £18.6m. Even though shares are valued at a whopping 53 times forward earnings, the company’s asset-light approach to growth leads to high margins and the ability to continue growing at an impressive pace.
Purple rocket
One AIM star that has out-clipped even Fever-Tree in growth has been hybrid online estate agent Purplebricks (LSE: PURP). The company’s first annual results as a public company showed revenue rocketing 448% year-on-year and the announcement that it would launch Australia operations later this year could mean more of the same.
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But pushing into Australia while still posting losses due to heavy marketing spend is a risky proposition. However, that country’s £3.3bn market is an attractive one for disruption. If Aussies are as crazy about Purplebrick’s low, fixed-fee charge for selling a home as Brits are, then the coming years could treat shareholders quite well.
Softbank’s offer of £24.3bn for chip maker ARM Holdings shows the great potential for Internet of Things (IoT) companies in the coming years. IoT product designer Telit Communications (LSE: TCM) has been riding the wave for several years including a 13.4% rise in sales over the past year.
Telit doesn’t offer the scale of ARM but is no minnow in the field with £333m in revenue in 2015. As the company continues to expand organically and through acquisitions while placing greater focus on gross margins, which improved to 39.9% last year, Telit could be a hidden winner in the burgeoning IoT field.
Wise bet?
This year’s tie up between gambling firms Paddy Power and Betfair into the aptly named Paddy Power Betfair (LSE: PPB) may just prove one of the wisest recent mergers. Combining Paddy Power’s over-the-top, but effective, marketing campaigns with Betfair’s veritable cash printing online betting exchanges has created an industry giant in a sea of consolidation.
Although Paddy Power Betfair is already in the FTSE 100, the company remains a growth stock in my eyes due to its overseas expansion potential, the fact that it’s already a major player in Australia, and the potential for greater online betting. If the combined company can continue to grow revenue by double-digits, as its separate entities did last year, the future look bright for this gargantuan gambling firm.
Interim results for challenger Metro Bank (LSE: MTRO) showed the potential to be had in disrupting the stodgy world of retail banking. Year-on-year, the company’s revenue rose 63% and underlying losses narrowed by 45% to £4.1m. This shows that the company’s objective to turn its first profit in the coming quarters is well on track.
The long-term potential for Metro Bank is significant as larger rivals continue to struggle with high operating costs and legacy misconduct issues that challenger banks by and large have avoided. If the company can open new branches at the same pace it has while maintaining the push towards profitability, it could be a good long-term bet no matter the short-term implications of Brexit for the domestic economy.
