Agreed that the reporting style makes it difficult to analyse...

Agreed that the reporting style makes it difficult to analyse the performance of the company! Gee I hope the extra effort is worth it. Wasn't it convenient to include a revaluation of the Red Hill investment in a year where profit was flat!

Had a good chat to the CEO today about the accounts. The high payables and receivables relates to the recent acquisition of Spectra and the sale of the fasteners business respectively. This should wash through the accounts in the next 12 months with Spectra now being fully paid for, and the remaining $3.75m due for the fasteners business to come in two more tranches in the next 9 months. I indicated I was concerned about the cash balance and queried if AKG need to take on more debt, but he assured me that this would not be required.

I felt these to be the positives and negatives after seeing the result:

Positives
Cash from operations of $3.6m in 2H2014 was much improved.
Spectra to add $4m p.a to EBITDA will be significant.
The company moving into domestic education, acquiring institutions which have Government funding (though some regulatory risk). Rural expansion was also cited by the CEO as a growth path (bought RuralBiz in Dubbo in FY2014).

Negatives
Revenue rose 15% yet underlying NPAT was pretty flat, some one-off expenses were involved but I think margins slipped a little.
Vostro didn't seem to contribute to profitability in its first six months of ownership.
The company tax rate was low at 24%, so it likely will be closer to 30% in FY2015.

The next 12 months will be telling,  IMO.