If you’d invested in: Genus and SDL

published 4 May 2018

If only...

Genus (LSE: GNS) provides cattle-breeding and agricultural consultancy services. At the end of February, the firm reported a 10% increase in revenue at constant currency during the first half of the year to £239m, with operating profit up nearly a fifth to £28.3m. This was mainly driven by the bovine division, where sales increased 13%, compared with the porcine business, where revenue was up 3%. Genus also launched its selective-breeding technology product, which raises the chance of cows having female calves, after overcoming regulatory hurdles.

Be glad you didn't buy...

SDL (LSE: SDL) offers software services to create and maintain multilingual content. Its shares fell in August last year as it reported that half-year profits before interest, tax and amortisation had slumped from £9.5m to £4.9m over the same period in 2016. They fell again in December after SDL said full-year like-for-like profit was expected to fall short of the market estimate, as some deals weren't expected to close by the year-end. SDL, which has been refocusing on its core business, said that, while costs rose, revenue was deferred into future years.