sharegardener
06 Jun 2017
Large volume traded today 4.7M shares traded today out of 43M total. Went through at 215p in 2 trades. There may be an RNS on institutional holding changes in a few days! SG
gretel
01 Jun 2017
GMAA to benefit from BA chaos? Regarding the chaos at BA, Air Partner have just released this statement noting that private aviation numbers have soared - in particular, note that Farnborough Airport was the "most popular" amongst their clients.It just so happens that GMAA's main base of operations is at Farnborough - perhaps this explains why the GMAA non-exec decided to buy those shares on Tuesday:Htp://www.airpartner.com/es/notas-de-prensa/air-partner-supports-clients-through-travel-chaos/"Air Partner, the global aviation services group, has swung into action to support its clients through the chaos that impacted commercial flights during one of the busiest weekends of the UK holiday calendar, with people wishing to take advantage of the bank holiday and half term get away period. Julia Timms, Air Partner’s Group Marketing Director, commented: “Enquiries for Air Partner’s private jet services have been up 76% compared to the same bank holiday weekend last year.” “Colleagues have worked over the weekend to support new enquiries and our existing JetCard clients – to help get them to their destinations at the last minute.” “While private jets supply has held up - landing and take-off slots into popular and restricted destinations, such as Ibiza - have become hard to come by as the number of people turning to private jets increased.” “The most popular destination enquires have been for Barcelona, Lisbon, Nice, Palma and Faro - often for family holidays.” “Many families had planned to go abroad for the bank holiday or half term holiday, and traditionally there are very few last minute seats available at this time of year – so some people have been turning to private aviation as an alternative.”"One client and his wife were separated from their two young daughters and nanny, when their original flight from London to France was cancelled. Air Partner arranged a charter as quickly as possible to reunite the family."“However, we’ve also seen some clients booking ahead for business trips next week, as they’re expecting the chaos to linger for a few days. One FTSE 100 CEO was unable to get from Geneva to Heathrow today on a commercial service, so called on us to charter an aircraft to Farnborough airport so that he could attend critical meetings."“Clients flew out of the typical private airports – with Biggin Hill and Farnborough the most popular amongst our clients.”
gretel
30 May 2017
RNS : director share buying RNS - encouraging to see a non-exec buying £21,800 of shares at 218p today (via his wife), and also transferring his own shares into his wife's name, presumably to mitigate any forthcoming gains tax-wise:[link]
gretel
30 May 2017
Good news from Middle East [link] Sharjah International FBO sees a 45% rise in aircraft movementsIn the first four months of 2017 our Sharjah International FBO saw a 45% rise in aircraft movements.We have seen a 45% rise in aircraft using its FBO at Sharjah International Airport, according to figures compiled by Airops Movement-Executive.Martin Ringrose, MD Middle East commented:“We have worked hard to encourage traffic into Sharjah International Airport from Dubai’s main hubs, the fruits of which we are starting to see now. Wing X Live data1 is showing a growth of 16% in Europe bound movements from Sharjah and the two Dubai Airports in the first four months of 2017 compared to the same period in 2016. At Sharjah we have seen a 45% increase in all movements over the same period as flight departments recognise there is a closer alternative to Downtown Dubai than Dubai South. This is high quality ‘sticky’ traffic, with multiple returns, as crews and principals experience the benefits of our location.”Sharjah International Airport remains somewhat of a business aviation hidden gem. With no slot restrictions, plenty of parking, hangarage, security and customs clearance and almost immediate passes providing access to aircraft, the facility is becoming a popular access point to owners seeking to access Dubai and the Northern Emirates. Ringrose, continues: “We have a long-term strategy for Sharjah International that includes the development of a new Business Aviation Centre for the airport. These figures and the feedback we receive from crews, flight departments and Principal’s, reaffirm to us that we provide a very credible alternative to Dubai South and Dubai International.”"
gretel
25 May 2017
RNS : excellent trading update Very strong trading update out today - on course for a current year P/E of 8 or even less now.I'll be amazed if there isn't a chart breakout upwards after this.Every aspect of the update is upbeat - strong US growth, improvement in Europe, BBA integration going well, acquisitions performing strongly....[link] Khalek, Chief Executive Officer commented: We continue to build on the significant progress made last year and trading remains in line with our full year expectations. Our management team has been strengthened with the recent key and high quality appointments across many of our divisions. We are focused on building on the improvements in operating margins, working capital and cash conversion that we delivered in 2016 and the Group remains well positioned to deliver on its strategic objectives."
gretel
24 May 2017
Great new article about GMAA If everything is going as well as the portents suggest, we should be in for a big re-rating once the market latches on:[link] Aviation Eyes Single-Engine Growth Potential May 23, 2017, 9
0 AMFarnborough, UK-based Gama Aviation comes to EBACE with three fresh contract signings: a premium service provider agreement with Pratt & Whitney to support its popular PT6A engines across Europe; an agreement with Textron Aviation unit Cessna for a new service center at Gama’s Glasgow facility; and the renewal of Gama’s Beechcraft authorized service facility status at Farnborough.Gama said that the PT6 agreement comes “at a time of apparent growth in the engine’s use with 7,089 Pilatus PC-12 and 15,001 King Air 200/350 movements in the last quarter across Europe. In addition to the current departure volumes, changes in UK air operations regulations are predicted to see a further increase, as single-engine commercial operations begin.”Paul Bristow, head of engineering for Europe, commented: “With single-engine operations a regulatory reality, we are ideally placed to assist operators of PC-12s, Cessna Caravans and the Daher TBM930s with engine-related AOGs across Europe. This will be particularly important to new operators who are establishing their reputations and business models in a new and dynamic sector.”Gama also reports that the company’s Glasgow facility is to become a factory-recognized facility for the Cessna Caravan. “We are positioning Glasgow as a center of excellence for the Cessna Caravan, extending this in due course to other Cessna single-engine models,” said Bristow. “With Fairoaks and Farnborough in the south and Glasgow in the north, we are providing a breadth of capability and depth of experience to this sector that few others can provide at scale.”Last but not least, Gama’s Farnborough facility has had its authorized service facility status renewed by Beechcraft, having recently completed the acceptance (through its delivery center in Wichita), delivery and extensive modifications to a King Air 350ER, including the installation of the Raisbeck Performance System.“Our Beechcraft clients have for years benefitted from a highly skilled team,” said Bristow. “Our service center status only reconfirms this. When combined with our new Pratt & Whitney agreement, our Rockwell Collins, Garmin and Raisbeck expertise, we provide a class-leading solution, whatever our clients’ needs.”U.S. BoostGama Aviation (Booth V36) also says that its U.S. operations are going from strength-to-strength, flying 54,533 hours last year, the highest of any Part 135 charter operator in the U.S., according to Argus TRAQPak. This was over 5,000 hours more than the number-two ranked operator and represents an increase of 55 percent over 2015, which accompanied a fleet size that also increased more than any other operator. Earlier this year Gama Aviation Signature was created through the merger of Gama’s U.S. division with Landmark Aviation.Thomas Connelly, president and CEO of Gama Aviation, said: “Last year we were the top U.S. Part 135 operator by number of hours. In 2017, we are likely to be the top U.S. operator by fleet size and hours flown. We believe [this growth rate] is down to ensuring our clients receive not only the economies of scale that our size can provide, but also the bespoke concierge service that they expect and deserve.”Marwan Khalek, group chief executive of Gama Aviation, said, “The Argus figures evidence the success of our U.S. associate business to capture and convert the organic growth opportunities available in the world’s largest business aviation market.“The Landmark Aviation merger adds further scale to this already strong position, delivering more choice, greater proximity to our fleet and ultimately higher levels of service to our Part 135 clients.”
gretel
22 May 2017
P/E of 7.4, plus new interview Latest consensus forecasts are 26.1p EPS this year and 28.67p EPS next year. Those are P/E's of just 8.1 and 7.4 respectively.Here's a good new interview with the CEO re the JV with BBA:[link] Alliance For the U.S.May 22, 2017 Mike Vines, in Birmingham, England Marwan Khalek explains how the Gama/BBA deal came together. “It’s very simple, we’re in the marketplace, we’re attuned to what’s going on and you look at opportunities and pursue them.”BBA acquired the Landmark Aviation business aviation empire early last year. “Simon Pryce [group CEO at BBA Aviation] would tell you he didn’t do the $2 billion Landmark deal because of the aircraft management business, but because of its FBOs.”Gama then approached BBA, as did many others, regarding BBA’s newly inherited aircraft management business. But BBA didn’t want to divest it, they wanted to be part of it.“It wasn’t part of their core skills and they wanted to partner with someone and we were flexible enough to create that partnership and it seems to have worked to our mutual benefit,” Khalek told ShowNews.The two companies formally merged their U.S. aircraft management and charter business on January 1 under the new brand of Gama Aviation Signature Aircraft Management. This increased the new company’s U.S. aircraft management fleet by 90 aircraft to around 200, – the U.S.’s largest aircraft management business. On top of this Gama Aviation manages another 50 aircraft worldwide.“The BBA deal has no ramifications for Europe,” says Khalek. “Because there is no overlap – Signature is not in the aircraft management and charter business anywhere other than in the States.” The deal with BBA is only in the aircraft management and charter business in the U.S. “We haven’t merged with them on their ground business or anything else. The relationship we have is not to compete with each other in the U.S.“This is not a global agreement with them but the reality is that they’re not in the market [aircraft management] elsewhere but we are and at the moment they have no intention to do that,” Khalek says. “Obviously if they do come across to Europe and buy an FBO chain that happens to have an aircraft management company, I’d like to think that the first discussion would be could we replicate what we’ve done over there?”Gama Aviation (Booth V36) is also the aircraft operator behind the very successful Wheels Up membership program in the U.S which has shown phenomenal growth. “Three to four years ago this was a business case on a spread sheet and we’ve gone from zero aircraft to 80 and probably recruited 400 pilots in that time,” Khalek says.“We’ve always worked on the basis that if you want to grow a business you’ve got to create a scalable platform. Two things are for certain: things can turn for the better or worse very quickly so you’ve got to be able react quickly.”He says that whereas some fractional or membership programs are perhaps flying 300 to 400 hours per aircraft year on two-hour sectors; Wheels Up is flying 800 to 900 hours per aircraft per year with an average sector length of about an hour and 20 mins. “In fact,” he says, “we’re flying more hours and more sectors than some regional airlines.”"
gretel
11 May 2017
Excellent news on three fronts [link] & Witney PT6A agreement, Beechcraft King Air and Cessna Caravan service centre statusFurther depth to our UK turbo-prop offerGama Aviation adds further depth to its UK turbo-prop offer with Pratt & Witney PT6A agreement, Beechcraft King Air and Cessna Caravan service centre status.Farnborough, 9th May 2017 – Gama Aviation Plc, the global aviation services company, is pleased to announce the signing of a premium service provider agreement with Pratt & Witney to support its popular PT6A engine across Europe; the agreement of a new Cessna Caravan service centre in Glasgow and the renewal of its Beechcraft Authorised Service Facility status at Farnborough.The PT6A agreement comes at a time of apparent growth in the engine’s use with 7,089 Pilatus PC-12 and 15,001 King Air 200 / 350 movements in the last quarter1 across Europe. In addition to the current departure volumes, changes in UK air operations regulations are predicted to see a further increase as single engine commercial operations begin.Paul Bristow, Head of Engineering, Europe Ground commented:“With Single Engine Operations (SEO) a regulatory reality, we are ideally placed to assist operators of PC-12s, the Cessna Caravans and the Daher TBM 930s, with engine related AOGs across Europe. This will be particularly important to new operators who are establishing their reputations and business models in a new and dynamic sector.”Additionally, the business has also confirmed that the company’s Glasgow facility is to become a recognised Cessna facility for SETOps favourite, the Cessna Caravan. Paul Bristow continues:“We are positioning Glasgow as a centre of excellence for the Cessna Caravan, extending this in due course to other Cessna single engine models. With Fairoaks and Farnborough in the south and Glasgow in the north, we are providing a breadth of capability and depth of experience to this sector that few others can provide at scale.”In a busy period for the company, its Farnborough facility has once again achieved authorised service centre status for the Beechcraft series of aircraft. The facility has recently completed the acceptance (through its delivery centre in Wichita), delivery and extensive modifications to a King Air 350ER including the installation of the Raisbeck Performance System.Paul Bristow continues:“Our Beechcraft clients have for years benefitted from a highly skilled team. Our service centre status only reconfirms this. When combined with our new Pratt & Witney agreement, our Rockwell-Collins, Garmin and Raisbeck expertise we provide a class leading solution, whatever our clients’ needs.”
gretel
10 May 2017
GMAA are number 1 in the USA Big kudos for GMAA here - named the number 1 Part 135 (commercial) operator in the USA based on flight hours (dated 5th May). There's a good league table too on the web page:[link] Aviation named Top U.S. Part 135 OperatorLeading aviation company performs over 54,000 flight hours throughout 2016.Shelton, CT, USA, 01 March 2017 – Gama Aviation, the global aviation services company, has been ranked the #1 U.S. Part 135 operator based upon all flight activity and data collected throughout 2016.According to ARGUS TRAQPak, Gama Aviation performed 54,533 flight hours in 2016, over 5,000 more hours than the #2 ranked operator. Based on the (below) information, Gama Aviation was the only operator to see a significant 55% increase in flight activity compared to 2015. Additionally, Gama Aviation saw one of the highest increases in fleet size, from 2015 to 2016, compared to all 25 ranked operators.Thomas Connelly, President and CEO of Gama Aviation LLC, commented: “We are excited to see the steady growth in both size and flight hours year after year. In 2016 Gama Aviation was the top U.S. Part 135 operator by number of hours, in 2017 we will be the top U.S. operator by fleet size. We continue to work very hard to ensure our clients get not only the economies of scale that our size can provide, but also the bespoke concierge service that they expect and deserve.”With the acquisition of Landmark Aviation as of January 2017, Gama Aviation has once again significantly increased their fleet size with its acquisition of the Landmark Aviation’s aircraft management and charter business. The combined entity now operates a fleet of over 200 aircraft, making Gama Aviation LLC the largest aircraft management business in the United States."
gretel
09 May 2017
Reasons for buying GMAA Per this article, Nigel Thomas, who runs the £3.8 billion Axa Framlington UK Select Opportunities fund, has been buying shares in GMAA's JV partner BBA. The reasons for buying apply just as much to GMAA - but of course BBA is a £3 billion m/cap compared to GMAA's £91m, so the upside imo is much bigger for GMAA:[link] have been adding to our holding of BBA Aviation. BBA refuels and services business jets across the USA and the globe. 65 per cent of the world’s business jets and turboprops are based in North America and BBA services them from 139 sites. BBA has 55 per cent market share in the US which will account for 90 per cent of group profits in the full year 2017. Although flight volumes have only been growing at 1 per cent { a year}. post the credit crunch, according to data from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), fuel burn has been growing 8 per cent ]a year]. Around 75 per cent of BBA’s flight support services are attributable to refuelling.’He continued, ‘Reasons for the increased fuel burn seem to be longer flights and a trend to larger aircraft9. But significantly there is a clear link between business confidence and business jet activity. Small business confidence in the USA is now at its highest level since December 2004. If corporate taxes are lowered during the Trump administration, this can only help confidence amongst BBA’s customers, and BBA itself, with so much of its earnings from North America.’"
gretel
05 May 2017
Nice move up today following a good trading statement this morning from GMAA's JV partner BBA, which should reflect well on GMAA. In particular, the Signature division is trading well, and importantly:"There has been an improvement in B&GA flight volumes reflecting the continued strengthening of the US business confidence indices."
gretel
02 May 2017
New recent highs now Nice start to the week - chart-wise could see a hefty move back up to 270p or so.
San Jaime
27 Apr 2017
Re: WH Ireland raise target to 370p toda... Been quite volatile over the past 3 months unable to break out above 230ish level. Fortunately managed to average down to 191.1 so showing a nice profit and today's rise is welcome. Hopefully no overbooking and no dead bunnies to curtail the rise now GMAA is flying above 200....... ? SJPS - Gretel WJG doing well too.
gretel
27 Apr 2017
Re: WH Ireland raise target to 370p today The WHI upgrade makes good reading.Online looks very good too. You can currently only buy a maximum 150 shares at 214.96p, whereas you can sell at least 12,000 at 211p.It's all set for a re-rating imo.
gretel
27 Apr 2017
WH Ireland raise target to 370p today WH Ireland have today increased their target price to 370p (from 340p). That's a mere 74% upside from here.....They say:"At a price of 370p, the shares would still only be trading on a current PER of 14x, in our view not demanding given the quality of earnings and growth potential, and would still imply a 15% discount to the peer group, illustrating the considerable upside."In summary:"Gama Aviation~ Cleared for take-off – positioned for growth on a PER of 8xGama Aviation is an international business aviation services provider. After facing a number of challenges in 2016, we believe that management actions have positioned the business well for 2017 and beyond. We anticipate growth to be delivered from a number of fronts, including through the recent tie up with BBA, whilst also seeing further improvements in cash generation. Set against this backdrop, the shares currently trade on a FY 2017E PER of just 8.1x falling to 7.4x, which implies a significant 50% discount to our basket of peers. Reflecting the outlook for Gama, in combination with the valuation multiples currently ascribed, we reiterate our Buy recommendation and increase our target price to 370p (340p)"
