Shares: Epic prospects

"Online training company Epic (EPI) was recommeded in TechByte a year ago at 62p after the interim results. A year later, the shares trade at 78p and still look terrific value.

EPS came in at 2.7p against forecasts of 2.2p, as the pre-tax hit £1 million, up from £200,000.

Broker Altium has raised its full-year forecast to 4.9p from 4.4p. It now expects 5.8p for May 2004, an 11% upgrade.

The public sector has become Epic's biggest market, but private sector sales still rose 20%. Total revenue was £4.6 million, up 39%. The forward rating of 16 is ridiculous. Even in current markets, it is safe to predict this share will be higher a year from now."