Lo-Q's (LON:LOQ)  new water park product Q-band has made a bright start in the first two US water parks to roll-out the technology this season, the virtual queuing specialist said today.

In total, eleven new water parks are scheduled to start using Q-band this year, after very strong demand for the product from operators. Three different water park operators signed to take Q-band over the past six months. 

Lo-Q said Q-band went live in the two new parks in the first weekend in May and both sites received encouraging early user numbers and good inital user feedback. 

Q-band, which uses RFID technology, is waterproof and worn on the wrist like a watch. 

Users can reserve a time to use a park's most popular slides, which Lo-Q says cuts they time they have to queue and allows them more time to enjoy the park.

Tom Burnet, Lo-Q’s chief executive said:  "I am delighted with the excellent visitor reaction to Q-band at our first two roll-outs of the year.

This is a really encouraging start to our Q-band operations, and we are now increasingly excited about the next nine roll-outs on the horizon: each of which remains on track to launch in the coming weeks." 

Lo-Q's customers including Parques Reunidos, Six Flags, Dollywood and Merlin Entertainments. 

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A “booming” African economy and strong growth from its agribusiness and airline operations helped underlying revenues surge at Lonrho (LON:LONR).

On a comparable basis, sales rose by 26 per cent in the three months to March while gross margins improved to 24.7 per cent.

Total turnover at the Africa-focused conglomerate rose by 75 per cent to £58.9 million.

Its Agri-logistics business had been helped by new contracts that allowed it to increase load capacity, efficiency and volumes and boosted margins across the agribusiness division, it said.

Lonrho also agreed to buy LonAgro Tanzania to add a third territory to the Lonrho - John Deere partnership in Africa, supplementing the existing relationships in Mozambique and Angola.

Lonrho has also agreed with John Deere for the opening of a dealership in South Sudan, to become operational this quarter.

Agribusiness revenues rose by an underlying thirty per cent, while the airline and transport arm saw a 55 per cent leap as a second aircraft at Fly540 Angola increased the number of routes and capacity. A third aircraft will become operational this month.

Lonrho also recently signed an exclusive franchise agreement for Africa with Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou's easyGroup. 

It will develop the first easyHotel at the historic former Stuttafords department store building in the Johannesburg Central Business District in South Africa.

The hotel is scheduled to be open before the end of 2012.

David Lenigas, Lonrho's executive chairman, said: "Lonrho's core businesses remain focused on servicing the growth of the emerging African market and in contrast to much of the world, the continent's economy is booming. 

"As a result of our strategic alignment with the growth of Africa, Lonrho continues to see strong demand across each of its business divisions."

Broker Panmure said today's results were an early indication of Lonrho's potential growth.

"We expect momentum to build as new contracts in agribusiness, infrastructure and hotels ramp up through FY 2012E, and we maintain our forecasts for adjusted PBT (profit before tax) of £20.8m," said analyst Damian McNeela in a note.

The broker repeated its 'buy' rating for the stock and 21 pence-a-share price target.

As at 2.10pm, Lonrho shares were up 2.33 per cent, to change hands at 11 pence each.

On a comparable basis sales rose by 26 per cent in the three months to March while gross margins improved to 24.7 per cent.

Total turnover at the Africa-focused conglomerate rose by 75 per cent to £58.9 million.

The firm said its Agri-logistics business had been helped by new contracts that allowed it to increase load capacity, efficiency and volumes and boosted margins across the agribusiness division.

Lonrho also agreed to buy LonAgro Tanzania to add a third territory to the Lonrho - John Deere partnership in Africa, supplementing the existing relationships in Mozambique and Angola.

Lonrho has also agreed with John Deere for the opening of a dealership in South Sudan, to become operational this quarter.

Agribusiness revenues rose by an underlying thirty per cent, while the airline and tranpsort arm saw a 55 per cent leap as a second aircraft at Fly540 Angola increased the number of routes and capacity. A third aircraft will become operational this month.

Lonrho also recently signed an exclusive franchise agreement for Africa with Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou's easyGroup. It will develop the first easyHotel at the historic former Stuttafords department store building in the Johannesburg Central Business District in South Africa.

The hotel is scheduled to be open before the end of 2012.

David Lenigas, Lonrho's executive chairman, commented:  "Lonrho's core businesses remain focused on servicing the growth of the emerging African market and in contrast to much of the world, the continent's economy is booming. 

As a result of our strategic alignment with the growth of Africa, Lonrho continues to see strong demand across each of its business divisions."

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Africa-focused conglomerate Lonrho (LON:LONR) has started 2012 encouragingly with new business wins across all divisions.

The company today reported strong revenue and profit growth in 2011 as the firm sees rapid development in the emerging African market.

It reported revenue for continuing operations of £46.1 million in the final quarter of an extended 15 month financial year to December 31 - representing a 67 per cent increase from the same period in 2010.

Of this, the firm's major agribusiness accounted for £22.1 million of revenue.

Because of the group's increasing profit expectations over coming years, it intends to introduce a dividend policy to be announced this year and put in force in 2013.

For the 15 months, net operating profit was £6.8 million, up from a break-even position in the 12 months to September 2010.

As at December 31, net assets stood at £155.7 million, compared to  £151.6 million as at three months earlier on September 30, 2011 and £127.7 million on September 30, 2010.

A the end of last year, the firm had £12.7 million in cash, compared to £14.6 million at September 30, 2011 and £7.8 million at September 30, 2010.

Chairman David Lenigas said: "Lonrho has made good progress during the period to the end of 2011. Financial performance in the final quarter of the year has been very encouraging and gives confidence moving into 2012.

"Having completed the company's strategic investment programme, each operating division is well aligned to service the expansion in demand from the growth in emerging Africa and now has the necessary infrastructure and platforms in place to deliver strong growth and improved margins for 2012 and beyond."

The group operates across five divisions - agribusiness, transportation, infrastructure, hotels and support services.

Among the highlights of the final quarter, in the infrastructure business, Luba Freeport, the oil logistics terminal, saw a significant increase in drilling and exploration activity in the Gulf of Guinea.

In transportation, Fly540 began flights in Ghana between four domestic destinations completing the third strategic hub to the network.

The airline also enjoyed a strong Christmas period flying a total of 58,619 passengers in December, Lonrho said.

Passenger numbers continue to grow on all routes, it added.

Following today's results, broker Panmure said in a note: "We continue to believe that the 2012 will be a year of significant profit growth and reiterate our Buy recommendation and 21p price target."

Africa-focused conglomerate Lonrho (LON:LONR) has started 2012 encouragingly with new business wins across all divisions.

The company today reported strong revenue and profit growth in 2011 as the firm sees rapid development in the emerging African market.

It reported revenue for continuing operations of £46.1 million in the final quarter of an extended 15 month financial year to December 31 - representing a 67 per cent increase from the same period in 2010.

Of this, the firm's major agribusiness accounted for £22.1 million of revenue.

Because of the group's increasing profit expectations over coming years, it intends to introduce a dividend policy to be announced this year and put in force in 2013.

For the 15 months, net operating profit was £6.8 million, up from a break-even position in the 12 months to September 2010.

As at December 31, net assets stood at £155.7 million, compared to  £151.6 million as at three months earlier on September 30, 2011 and £127.7 million on September 30, 2010.

A the end of last year, the firm had £12.7 million in cash, compared to £14.6 million at September 30, 2011 and £7.8 million at September 30, 2010.

Chairman David Lenigas said: "Lonrho has made good progress during the period to the end of 2011. Financial performance in the final quarter of the year has been very encouraging and gives confidence moving into 2012.

"Having completed the company's strategic investment programme, each operating division is well aligned to service the expansion in demand from the growth in emerging Africa and now has the necessary infrastructure and platforms in place to deliver strong growth and improved margins for 2012 and beyond."

The group operates across five divisions - agribusiness, transportation, infrastructure, hotels and support services.

Among the highlights of the final quarter, in the infrastructure business, Luba Freeport, the oil logistics terminal, saw a significant increase in drilling and exploration activity in the Gulf of Guinea.

In transportation, Fly540 began flights in Ghana between four domestic destinations completing the third strategic hub to the network.

The airline also enjoyed a strong Christmas period flying a total of 58,619 passengers in December, Lonrho said.

Passenger numbers continue to grow on all routes, it added.

Yesterday, the company announced it would open the first easyHotel.com branded hotel by the end of the year under its exclusive franchise agreement with Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou's easyGroup.

The Africa-focused conglomerate is turning the historic former Stuttafords Department Store building in the Johannesburg Central Business District (CBD) in South Africa into the easyHotel Rissik Street.

For nearly a decade, Lo-Q shares struggled, but now they stand at an all-time high and were recently reclassified in the high-flying software sector.

This is also before a new management team, led by chief executive Tom Burnet, has been fully able to make its mark on the company. The recent figures show the initial benefits of Burnet’s new management team but he insists there is a lot more to come. 

Berkshire-based Lo-Q joined AIM in April 2002 at 100 pence a share. At one stage, the share price slumped to 3 pence but Lo-Q was always making progress with the business itself. 

One of the most important phases of a small companies’ existence is the move from its early stages to a more commercial, sales-based business. It is rare that the person running the business in its early years has the different skills needed to run an established company.

Lo-Q is just such a case and that is why Burnet was made chief executive 18 months ago from outsourcing giant Serco, where he was managing director of their defence operations business.

He immediately set about beefing up the sales and marketing operations with the hiring of new management in these areas. 

In April last year, former BAE Systems chief executive John Weston was appointed as chairman of Lo-Q. He is also chairman of a number of aerospace and defence companies and presumably would not have got involved with Lo-Q if he did not think that it could become a much larger business. 

Burnet himself is hugely enthusiastic about Lo-Q. “I am enormously pleased by the potential I have discovered in the business,” he said.

Lo-Q’s unique Q-bot technology has satisfied a real need but it has taken time to build up the customer base. The Q-bot is a handheld device that enables customers to reserve places on rides and avoid physical queues. The Q-bot beeps and vibrates when it is time for the ride. 

The customer pays to rent the Q-bot, on top of the park entrance fee, and revenue, after operating costs, is shared between Lo-Q and the park operator. The technology benefits both customers and the park because customers can visit other parts of the park, such as gift shops or restaurants, instead of standing in line. 

Lo-Q is developing a smartphone app that can be used instead of a Q-bot.  “Customers can use their own devices and engage with our system,” said Burnet. 

If smartphones replace the physical Q-bot there will not be the need for the same level of investment in hardware and infrastructure as there is now so the cost will be reduced and it will be easier to install in additional sites. 

The smartphone version could make the system attractive in places where it was previously thought not to be economic.  A 12-week trial with a major London attraction was announced last November and a trial in a theme park should commence this year. 

The range of products also includes Q-band, which brings virtual queuing technology to the water park market. The Q-band is a wristband that is lightweight and waterproof and it can be used for cashless payments. This technology is RFID-based and it can be swiped at kiosks around the park in order to book a ride. This is the area which is set to grow fastest this year. 

Following trials, new installations have been won. The latest is with US-based ZoombeziBay, which is operated by Columbus Zoo and Aquarium, and this will be the eleventh installation since the Q-band’s launch in October 2011. 

“It looks as though the water park business is going to be fantastic”, said Burnet. “To sign up 11 parks in the first season is stellar. I am really pleased.” 

“We have had to change our installation model because of the large number of new contracts,” admitted Burnet. “We previously did everything ourselves but we are now working with a network of subcontractors." 

Lo-Q has signed a global partnership with MasterCard so that it can develop a contactless payment system combining Lo-Q’s technology with MasterCard’s Tap & Go PayPass payments technology. This will be incorporated into the Q-band.

Revenues grew by one-fifth to £24.5 million in the year to October 2011. Pre-tax profit improved from £2.32 million to £2.7 million. 

There were four installations in the period. There was a 9 per cent increase in park customers using Lo-Q systems and a 17 per cent like-for-like increase in average customer spend. This was despite a 3 per cent decline in overall theme park attendances.

The profit improvement was achieved even though Lo-Q has been building up its sales and marketing investment. Net cash improved from £6 million to £7.5 million. This is a high point for the year, although October revenues were relatively strong so trade debtors increased.  Net cash could be more than £10 million in two years time if Lo-Q meets expectations. This is despite the substantial investment in new installations.

Longer-term, there are growth prospects outside of the theme park sector. 

“Anywhere there is a queue” is a potential market, according to Burnet. This will initially be in areas of sports and entertainment that are similar to the present market. There is also potential for acquisitions that add to the intellectual property that can be supplied to the existing customer base or new sectors. 

However, the core business can still grow rapidly even without moving into new sectors or acquisitions. 

This year, there are a larger-than-normal number of new installations with 11 Q-band systems and a Q-bot system for LEGOLAND Deutschland. 

Underpinning this is the six year contract extension with the company’s main customer Six Flags, which is performing well following its previous financial problems. 

In the year to October 2012, house broker Canaccord Genuity forecasts a rise in revenues to £30.1 million and a pre-tax profit of £3.1 million. 

Water park revenues are lower margin than normal Q-bot revenues and so gross margins are expected to decline as the Q-band generates a bigger slice of the revenues. The shares are trading on 23 times prospective 2011-12 earnings. That seems high but it reflects the growth potential for the business.

The new financial year has started well but it has yet to get into full swing with only a handful of parks open. 

There could still possibly be further new installations this year. “We are beginning to see the end of the time window for new business before the season starts," argued Burnet, but he still believes there are two or three additional contracts that could be gained. 

Whatever happens with these contracts, Burnet says there is already reason to be confident about winning more business in 2013. 

Underlying the all-round confidence in the story, Canaccord Genuity has increased its share price target to 325p from 280p, the second increase in five weeks.

Africa-focused conglomerate Lonrho (LON:LONR) today revealed that its prefabricated construction unit, Kwikbuild, has won a new contract worth £10.2 million.

The contract sees Kwikbuild building 116 new schools in remote parts of South Africa, in the Eastern Cape. 

In all, Kwikbuild will create 398 classrooms and eight laboratories.

"There is a chronic shortage of adequate classroom facilities throughout Southern Africa and Lonrho is pleased that it can offer a solution to Governments to help address the current demand for this type of infrastructure,” said chairman David Lenigas.

"Kwikbuild is seeing increasing demand for its products not only in South Africa but across the Continent. Quality pre-fabricated buildings are a quick and cost effective way to meet the demand for schools, clinics, offices and accommodation. 

"The benefit of the prefabricated building is that it can be up and working in days rather than months."

The prefabricated classrooms will be manufactured at Kwikbuild’s facilities in Cape Town. These buildings have a design life of more than 30 years.

Virtual queuing specialist Lo-Q (LON:LOQ) has made an encouraging start to the new trading year, it told shareholders at its annual meeting today.

Lo-Q said that while it is still very early in the trading year for the majority of its theme and water park customers, a healthy sales pipeline and encouraging early trading made it confident of hitting market expectations.

The company had a strong year to October 2011 with profits rising by 17 per cent to £2.7 million and Six Flags, its main customer, signing a six-year contract extension for its core product, the Q-bot.

Six Flags also agreed to put Lo-Q’s new water park product, the Q-band, into nine of its water parks.

Other major theme park customers include Parques Reunidos, Herschend Group and Merlin Entertainments.

“Having secured strong new business momentum, the main challenge for Lo-Q in this first half has been to ensure the efficient implementation and installation of each new customer mandate.  

"The board is pleased with the progress that the company's service teams have made in this regard ahead of the important peak park trading season,” it said.

The group added that its performance is traditionally significantly second-half weighted and this weighting will increase this year due to the investments made in supporting new products and new customer installations.  

Lo-Q shares have almost doubled over the past twelve months to stand at 295 pence. 

Zoombezi Bay, owned and run by the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium, is a new customer for Lo-Q and has signed a five-year agreement for Q-band.

Visitors renting the RFID-enabled wristband can reserve a "virtual" place in line at a park's most popular slides using kiosks located throughout the park. 

When their reservation time arrives, guests enter via a separate entrance and have their band scanned to get on the ride.

Zoombezi Bay is the eleventh US water park to sign up for Q-band since its launch last year. US theme park giant Six Flags has already agreed to install the system in nine of its water parks.

Tom Burnet, Lo-Q’s chief executive, said: “Today's news is yet another example of the enthusiastic response our recently launched water park product has received from the operator community.”

“Both large-scale groups and individual park operators such as Zoombezi Bay have been quick to realise the revenue enhancing and experience enhancing qualities of the product and its ease of use.

Zoombezi Bay’s general manager John Gannon added: “We believe our guests will greatly appreciate having the option to make ride reservations to avoid waiting in line for our exciting rides.”  

AS well as Six Flags, Lo-Q has installed its virtual queuing systems in parks run by Lo-Q's system has been adopted by leading theme park and attraction operators globally, with customers including Parques Reunidos, Herschend Group and Merlin Entertainments.

The company said the 17 per cent increase in profits to £2.7 million and 20 per cent increase in revenues to £24.5 million exceeded both its own and the market's expectations.

Like-for-like sales rose by 17 per cent, while there was a nine per cent increase to 1.2 million in people at the parks using the company’s virtual queuing products, which mean customers do not have to wait in line to get on a ride.

The increase was despite a 3% drop in the total number of people who attended the theme parks overall.

The company’s main customer is US theme park operator Six Flags, which recently extended its contract with the company for another six years.

Lo-Q’s core offering is Q-bot. This is a handheld unit that park visitors can rent.

After making a reservation with a Q-bot unit, the system registers that person or group into a virtual queue.

Guests are informed via the Q-bot’s display, and with a beep and vibration, that their ride is ready, while the device can also inform users of a ride’s breakdown and allow rescheduling of reservations.

Lo-Q also recently introduced a water resistant product, the Q-band, for water theme parks. Six Flags has already said it will install it in nine of its water parks.

Other customers include Parques Reunidos, Herschend Group and Merlin Entertainments.

In December, Lo-Q also signed a global partnership with MasterCard to develop a new contactless payment solution that combines MasterCard's Tap & Go PayPass payments technology with its software and systems.

In the coming year, the group said it also intends to trial a smartphone–based Q-bot in a North American park, while it has also agreed a 12 week pilot for smartphone based solution with one of London's best known 'single-line' attractions.

Chief executive Tom Burnett added that smartphones are an important development in both its current  geographies and as it focused more on Asia.

“We will also continue to develop our mobile ticketing, payments and scheduling software capability as we look to develop further business in 'single-line' attractions and in adjacent markets,” he added.

“Notwithstanding the challenges of opening 11 new operations around the world, I am confident that we have initiated the momentum that will define our future business,” Burnet said.

Research house Edison said that the growth last year was underpinned by strong demand from customers, which supported management’s plans to widen the group’s end market.

“The new Q-band will be in 10 water parks in the current season following last year’s successful trial.

Meanwhile, the group is developing cashless payments functionality with MasterCard and smartphone apps incorporating Lo-Q’s virtual queuing IP.” 

These initiatives position Lo-Q for potentially strong growth, said Edison, none of which is  yet factored into its forecasts.

Edison expects revenues to grow to £30.4 million in the current year to October with profits of £3.4 million, rising to revenues of £34.1 million and profits of £3.7 million in 2013.

Shares rose by 4.5p to 245p.

The broker suggests Lonrho’s strategy of tapping into Africa’s growth through exposure to oil & gas, mining & agriculture has started to reap rewards.

Crucially, the acquisition of businesses particularly in Agri-division has allowed Lonrho to control the supply chain more effectively.

This involves increasing its control over fresh produce (OceanFresh & Fresh Direct) to processing & packaging and transporting (Lonhro Logistics, formerly Grindrod & Rollex) products to supermarket shelves in the US, Europe, South Africa and Asia. 

As the US economy comes out of recession large retailers like Costco and Wal-Mart are well placed to benefit, which is good news for Lonrho (Oceanfresh in particular) as it can supply rising consumer demand in the US.

Furthermore, Wal-Mart’s international reach provides opportunities for Lonrho to expand into markets outside of the US such as Mexico, Brazil and China.

The group’s hotels, transportation and support services divisions are also well placed as business activity and consumer demand across Africa increases generally.

Daniel Stewart expects the firm to make pre-tax profits of £18.8 million in 2012 rising to £37.2 million in 2013 on revenues of £282m and £370m respectively. Its sum-of-the-parts value is 19.2p per share.

The broker has a buy stance on the shares, which rose 6% to 12p today.

Shares in the firm were up 5.88 per cent in early deals, to trade at 216 pence.

It is adding two new territories, Tanzania and South Sudan, to its current business network. Lonrho is already the exculsive supplier of John Deere tractors and farming machinery in Mozambique and Angola.

"The expansion of Lonrho's exclusive John Deere dealerships, adding Tanzania and South Sudan, builds on the company's excellent relations with John Deere and our continued aim to develop John Deere distribution in the agricultural markets in Africa,” said chairman David Lenigas.

“The established Lonrho / John Deere dealerships in Mozambique and Angola are demonstrating that the fully supported approach offering comprehensive maintenance, training and spare part support, and not just sales, delivers increased market share and long term growth for the businesses." 

According to Lonrho, Tanzanian growth will outperform both sub-Saharan Africa and global growth rates over the coming years. It believes that agriculture will contribute 45 per cent of the country’s GDP.

It says the market for agricultural equipment is already substantial in Tanzania.

But the market will grow quicker in the future as the Tanzanian government is giving significant attention to the sector. A government backed public-private partnership aims to stimulate commercial scale agricultural productivity, Lonrho added.

Lonrho is paying US$1.4 million to acquire the Tanzanian business. This is being funded from the firm’s existing cash reserves.

Meanwhile, Lonrho says the South Sudan territory has a vast natural resource base and huge agricultural potential. According to Lonrho more than 90 per cent of the country’s land being suitable for farming.  

Additionally significant foreign direct investment and international donor funding is expected to support large scale agricultural development in the future.

African conglomerate Lonrho (LON:LONR) today announced that it has become participant in a United Nations initiative to promote corporate responsibility.

It is now a signatory of the UN Global Compact.

Lonrho explain that the Global Compact is a strategic policy initiative for businesses that are committed to aligning their operations and strategies with ten universally accepted principles in the areas of human rights, labour, environment and anti-corruption. 

This helps ensure that markets, commerce, technology and finance advance in ways that benefit economies and societies everywhere, it added.

"The Board is delighted to become a participant in the UN Global Compact,” said chief executive Geoffrey White.

“Through our commitment to the ten principles, and our own corporate responsibility values, we encourage all our subsidiaries throughout Africa to achieve greater social, environmental and local economic benefits - and encourage others within our sphere of influence to do the same."

According to Lonrho the Global Compact is the world's largest voluntary corporate responsibility initiative with over 8,700 corporate participants and other stakeholders in over 135 countries.

The company said it will report on the ways in which it follows these ten principles each year. Lonrho has accepted an invitation to serve on the initiative’s advisory group. 

Lo-Q (LON:LOQ), the provider of virtual queuing systems used in theme parks, is teaming up with MasterCard to create its latest innovation.

Under the terms of the memorandum of understanding the pair will develop a new contactless payment device that combines the card gaint’s PayPass payments technology with Lo-Q's software.

Once developed, they will then promote the combined product to theme parks, water parks and other attractions.

Lo-Q chief executive Tom Burnet said: "This really is an exciting partnership for all concerned.  

“Lo-Q's queuing solutions are highly sophisticated and routinely trusted by some of the world's largest, most demanding attractions operators.  

“Visitors like our products and they get much more from their days out by leaving the queues behind and focusing solely on having fun.  

“By combining these qualities with the world-class payment technologies and reach offered by MasterCard means that we can now work together to create new and exciting growth opportunities for both our firms."

Lo-Q’s flagship offering is the Q-bot, a handheld device that allows theme park visitors to queue virtually. After making a reservation with a Q-bot unit, the system registers that person or group into a virtual queue. 

Guests are informed via the Q-bot’s display, and with a beep and vibration, that their ride is ready, while the device can also inform users of a ride’s breakdown and allow rescheduling of reservations.

The advantage of Q-bot is that it enables theme park visitors to reserve their rides without having to queue, so a visitor does not have to spend their time waiting in a line and he or she can spend time enjoying other attractions or do something else at the park, such as go to a restaurant.

A wristband product for water park visitors and a smart phone app can also provide a similar service

Lo-Q operates primarily on a revenue share basis with its clients, thus sales are hugely skewed towards the summer but the vast majority of deals are actually signed over the winter off-season, Jeans explained. 

Lonrho (LON:LONR) moved to re-assure investors on current trading as it said there had been no “material change” in its prospects.

It issued a brief stock exchange statement following a sharp dip in the share price towards the end of business yesterday.

The short message to shareholders also revealed: “Lonrho is currently in the process of meeting with its major shareholders and other current and new institutional investors to explore ways to fund exciting new growth opportunities that are available for the company and will only proceed with a funding providing such terms are acceptable to the board.”

Lonrho is an Africa-focused conglomerate whose interests span agriculture, hotels and transportation.

Its focus is sub-Saharan Africa where gross domestic product is forecast to grow at over 5.8 percent in 2012. 

In its last update earlier this month the company revealed it was making strong progress as it reported a 190 per cent jump in pre-tax profit for the six months to September 30 to £5.8 million.

"During the period, Lonrho has completed five synergistic and strategic acquisitions to further develop our core capabilities and add further to revenues and margins. 

“We believe that in an increasingly turbulent global economic environment, Africa is a very attractive investment opportunity," said chairman David Lenigas at the time of the last results.

Lonrho is an Africa-focused conglomerate whose interests span agriculture, hotels and transportation. Its focus is sub-Saharan Africa where gross domestic product is forecast to grow at over 5.8 percent in 2012. 

In a note to clients today WHI’s Mathew Davis said that many of the ‘headwinds’ that have held back Lonrho’s financial progress in 2011 are not likely to be repeated next year.

Davis believes that Lonrho is set for a period of growth should the expansion go to plan, although some execution and delivery risks still exist. 

“Material contract awards have further evidenced the significant opportunities sub-Saharan Africa can offer Lonrho and what should be a period of significant future revenue and profit expansion,” Davis said. 

He added: “Assuming roll-out proceeds to plan, our model looks for a 60 per cent compound increase in revenue over the two-year forecast horizon, earnings estimated to increase by 324 per cent.”

The analyst’s sum-of-the-parts valuation suggests that the stock’s medium term fair value of 23p. He repeated a ‘buy’ recommendation for the stock.

“For Full Year 2012 we look for pre-tax profit to increase to £23 million, driven by contract awards, full year contributions from recent acquisitions and the launch of new airline routes by Fly540,” Davis added.

He says working capital demands are set to increase further in Full Year 2012 driven by export orders for the Oceanfresh and Rollex agri-distribution businesses. 

According to Davis Lonrho needs an additional £10 million and this would be financed by specific stock backed trade-based financing.  

Earlier today Lonrho moved to re-assure investors on current trading as it said there had been no “material change” in its prospects.

It issued a brief stock exchange statement following a sharp dip in the share price towards the end of business yesterday.

The short message to shareholders also revealed: “Lonrho is currently in the process of meeting with its major shareholders and other current and new institutional investors to explore ways to fund exciting new growth opportunities that are available for the company and will only proceed with a funding providing such terms are acceptable to the board.”

In its last update earlier this month the company revealed it was making strong progress as it reported a 190 per cent jump in pre-tax profit for the six months to September 30 to £5.8 million.

"During the period, Lonrho has completed five synergistic and strategic acquisitions to further develop our core capabilities and add further to revenues and margins. 

“We believe that in an increasingly turbulent global economic environment, Africa is a very attractive investment opportunity," said chairman David Lenigas at the time of the last results.

Edison’s Richard Jeans said that Monday’s extension to Lo-Q’s relationship with US theme park operator Six Flags substantially underpins the market’s consensus forecasts for 2012 and beyond. 

Additionally, the analyst points out that a three-month smartphone-based pilot at the EDF London Eye begins next week.

"We understand that Lo-Q is receiving a lot of interest elsewhere for this (smartphone) product,” he added. 

“Further contract announcements over the coming months could lay the foundation for positive earnings surprises and lend substantial credence to management initiatives to broaden both the product offering and customer base.” 

Lo-Q’s flagship offering is the Q-bot, a handheld device that allows theme park visitors to queue virtually. After making a reservation with a Q-bot unit, the system registers that person or group into a virtual queue. 

Guests are informed via the Q-bot’s display, and with a beep and vibration, that their ride is ready, while the device can also inform users of a ride’s breakdown and allow rescheduling of reservations.

The advantage of Q-bot is that it enables theme park visitors to reserve their rides without having to queue, so a visitor does not have to spend their time waiting in a line and he or she can spend time enjoying other attractions or do something else at the park, such as go to a restaurant.

A wristband product for water park visitors and a smart phone app can also provide a similar service

Lo-Q operates primarily on a revenue share basis with its clients, thus sales are hugely skewed towards the summer but the vast majority of deals are actually signed over the winter off-season, Jeans explained. 

“(Monday’s) agreement with Six Flags extends its existing agreement (covering 11 sites) by five years to 2017 and also extends the scope to cover eight water park sites for the Q-band solution. 

“The trial with the London Eye is unlikely to be material financially, but we understand that interest in the product is healthy and broader uptake could add incremental revenue streams, diversify customer exposure and reduce seasonality.”

The analyst says that the current valuation is not demanding. “Further, the scalability of the business suggests there is a realistic potential for growth and positive earnings surprises,” he added.