Member Info for jange

Keller Group (KLR) Director name: Mr Paul Withers Amount purchased: 10,000 @ 647.90p Value: £64,790

Top Director Buys Caterpillar Inc. (CTA) Director name: Mr Douglas R Oberhelman Amount purchased: 140,000 @ € 20.52 Value: € 2,872,170

Sir Ron Brierley, a non-executive director of Guinness Peat Group (GPG), sold five million shares in the investment holding company for a second week running. Brierley, a well-known New Zealand investor, offloaded the shares on Wednesday at a price of A$0.47 each (30.31p), pocketing a total of A$2.35m (around £1.52m). This follows his £1.55m sale on December 12th. The director, who joined GPG in 1990 and was running as Chairman until 2010, trimmed his stake to 2.01%, from 2.33% after the last sale. The sales come after the stock's recent rise; over the last six months, the shares have risen 27%. The company, listed in London, Australia and New Zealand, invests in a number of businesses, mainly in Europe and Australasia.

Investec has expressed optimism regarding the long-term outlook for newly de-merged company Vesuvius, but has started with a 'hold' recommendation for the shares. "Today's de-merger of the former Cookson Group presents an opportunity to leave behind an unfortunate legacy. The group was a serial equity fund-raiser - to finance acquisitions or survival - and it had a record of value destruction. "In spite of the undoubted cyclicality of its markets, we believe that Vesuvius can break with the past and be managed prudently to generate robust cash flows, underpinning a good and progressive dividend."

Nomura has initiated coverage of engineering group GKN with a 'neutral' rating and 245p target price, saying that it is "waiting for the green shoots of an EU car demand recovery". "An attractive valuation is what limits underperformance from here. We would turn more positive on GKN on signs of a recovery in EU car volumes with the focus on German and UK consumer indicators and a bottoming of France, Italy and Spain."

Panmure Gordon has trimmed its target price for distribution and outsourcing group Bunzl following the company's poorly-received pre-close trading update on Wednesday morning. "We adjust our FY expectations marginally for foreign exchange, though we believe the shares remain a 'hold' and Bunzl one of the more consistent performers out there." The target price is cut from 1,051p to 1,023p.

Positive Points: Including the two new acquisitions which it announced in conjunction with the update, Bunzl has announced nine acquisitions year to date with annualised revenue of approximately £210 million. Two new acquisitions were announced, McCordick Glove & Safety of Canada, a distributor of gloves and other personal protection equipment to a variety of industrial and retail customers, and Atlas Health Care Pty Limited of Australia, a supplier of medical consumables to the healthcare sector. The board highlighted that "the current environment for acquisitions remains positive." Trading had remained consistent with management’s expectations at the time of its third quarter October update. Both geographical and customer industry diversification are enjoyed. Management highlighted both strong cash flow and a strong balance sheet. The group has recently refinanced some of its debt facilities. A progressive dividend policy continues to be pursued. The half year payment was increased by 9%.

Negative Points: Management has highlighted "a challenging comparative in the second half due to a particularly strong performance in North America last year." Just over half of the group's revenues are generated in North America. Economic uncertainty persists, with the so called 'fiscal cliff' still casting a shadow. Bunzl remains sensitive to currency fluctuations, particularly the US dollar. Acquisitions always bring an element of risk.

Financial Highlights: Revenue growth for the year is expected to be approximately 6% on a constant currency basis Excluding acquisitions, underlying revenue growth is forecast at around 2.5%

Acquisitions/trading update: Management used the opportunity to underline the importance of acquisitions to its growth strategy. Including the two new acquisitions which it announced in conjunction with the update, Bunzl has announced nine acquisitions year to date with annualised revenue of approximately £210 million. As for trading over the full year, it had remained consistent with management's expectations at the time of its third quarter October update. Including acquisitions and on a constant currency basis, revenue growth of approximately 6% is forecast. Excluding acquisitions, underlying revenue growth is expected by management to be about 2.5%. The board highlighted a challenging comparative in the second half due to a particularly strong performance in North America last year. The share price declined by over 3% in early trading. On balance, the group's strong cash flow and balance sheet currently weigh against some concerns for slowing growth and tough comparatives

Ground engineering specialist Keller said overall market and trading conditions have remained stable since mid November and it remains on track to meet full year guidance. In its interim statement in November the group said 2012 full-year revenue was expected to be around £1.3bn, with full-year profit before tax significantly above the then range of market expectations. Most of its growth has been fuelled by progress in its North American business, as the US construction market slowly picks up. Since November the overall market and trading conditions have remained largely unchanged, the group said. "Accordingly, the board continues to expect that the full year results will be in line with the guidance given in November," it said.

"I am very excited about Polymetal's first acquisition in PGMs. I see great upside in the platinum price and am optimistic about our ability to successfully define the hard-rock source of the largest alluvial platinum deposit in the world", said Vitaly Nesis, the Chief Executive Officer of Polymetal.

Precious metals group Polymetal is to buy up the Svetlobor platinum exploration project in the Sverdlovsk region of Russia through two transactions, the company announced on Tuesday morning. The company said that the acquisitions gives it meaningful exposure to platinum, "a precious metal with limited production outside South Africa and Zimbabwe, countries which face a material risk of significant supply disruptions" Polymetal has acquired a 24.99% stake in Svetlobor from Ubergot Investments in exchange for 130,053 Polymetal shares. Meanwhile, CJSC VTB Capital has bough the remaining 75.01% interest in exchange for 390,369 Polymetal shares and has agreed to sell this stake on to Polymetal for $6.9m (plus interest) following receipt of regulatory approval. The transactions will see Polymetal take full ownership of CJCS Nevyansk, a Russian legal entity which holds the mining and exploration licence for the Svetlobor area until November 2031.

Whitbread has raised over 50m pounds from the sale and leaseback of seven Premier Inns and joint-site restaurants. NFU Mutual and Standard Life Assurance will pay Whitbread £51.04m in cash and enter into 25-year leases who will continue to operate the properties. This represents a net initial yield of under 5.3%, Whitbread said. The company said that the price represents a profit over book value of £19.6m and is 95% of the 2007 valuation of the individual properties. "This sale and leaseback is a continued evolution of our overall funding portfolio, and follows our successful 2011 US private placement and bank refinancing," said Finance Director Nicholas Cadbury. "The significant book profit is a useful reminder of the value we create from our freehold developments, and the strong asset backing to Whitbread's balance sheet."

International specialist insurer Hiscox has today announced an estimate for the impact of Superstorm Sandy. Although considerable uncertainties still exist around the impact of Superstorm Sandy, the insurer said that based on an insured market loss of $20bn, it estimates net claims of approximately £90m. Superstorm Sandy hit parts of North America and Canada in October causing destruction of buildings and infrastructure. Twice a year Hiscox publishes its expected losses for modelled catastrophes including exposure to US windstorm. The insurer stated that the estimate was within the published range, and was within Hiscox's overall budgeted loss expectations for the year.

"Martha is going to play a very important role throughout the construction period of the HRP, and beyond. In the short term, it will allow us to collect valuable oils and ships slops from the Grand Bahama Shipyard, which will generate material initial revenues ahead of commissioning the HRP. We currently forecast that the Grand Bahama Shipyard will generate approximately 50,000 tonnes (approximately 13.5 million gallons) of used oils and slops per annum." Following the completed construction of HRP, Martha will be used to collect used oils and ship slops off ships as they pass close to Freeport in one of the busiest shipping lanes in the world. More than 4,800 ships visited Freeport last year and the traffic is expected to continue to grow. GMG has forecast Barge Martha will generate revenue from early next year.

Grand Bahama Group (GBG) announced Tuesday it was one step further to constructing its hydrocarbon recovery plant in Freeport, Grand Bahama Island. The board said its subsidiary, Morgan Oil Marine Limited, had started to clear the 3.24 acre site ahead of a final structural survey to begin the erection of the HRP. The company has also acquired long term vessel 'Barge Martha' for the shipment of crude, petroleum, diesel and ships slops as an interim measure, while the plant is under construction. Grand Bahama Shipyard is carrying out a final survey for a certificate of seaworthiness for 1 million gallon Barge Martha. David Morgan, Chairman of GBG, said: "We are delighted with progress to date. We are carrying out structural surveys on the land in Freeport, to ensure that the ground can support the large storage tanks that we will be constructing on site.

G4S could be enlisted to provide support to the Department of Work and Pensions in the future if the government needs additional capacity to handle its call centres, Sharecast has learned. A spokesman from the Department of Work and Pensions confirmed to ShareCast that G4S, the security outsourcing group, was among six companies on its list of potential suppliers although he said there was no guarantee that any of the companies would receive any work. "Framework agreements with six suppliers will allow [the] DWP [Department of Work and Pensions] to procure contact centre requirements over the next four years, if needed," the spokesman said. "[The] DWP's own call centres remain the primary point of contact for claimants and there is no guaranteed work for any suppliers on the framework," he added. The inclusion of G4S among a list of prospective support providers comes five months after G4S failed to fully deliver on its Olympic Games contract. During the Games, UK ministers had to mobilise an additional 1,200 troops which had previously been put on standby in order to supplement the security workforce deployment of the Olympic Games.

Budget airline Ryanair announced Tuesday the launch of its first base in Croatia with 16 new routes in the UK and Europe. The European company will open its 54th base at the Zadar Airport next April with one-based aircraft at an investment of more than $70m. Ryanair's new base, north west of Split, will have seven new routes - 16 in total - to and from Dublin, East Midlands, Gothenburg, Haugesund, Liverpool, Paris and Wroclaw. The company expects growth in the New Year with the introduction of the base which will include 68 weekly flights and an additional 300 onsite jobs. Ryanair celebrated the launch with a sale of 100,000 seats with fares starting from £8 for travel across its European network. The sale for its new Zadar routes begins Wednesday and ends at midnight local time Thursday. Ryanair's Michael Cawley said: "Croatian consumers/visitors can now beat the recession and escape Croatia Airlines' high fares and fuel surcharging by switching to Ryanair's lowest fares and our no fuel surcharge guarantee from Zadar to 16 exciting European destinations, including Dublin, London and Paris, amongst others. Ryanair's 300,000 passengers per annum will sustain up to 300 on site jobs in Zadar."

Heritage Oil has acquired 1.9m common shares in PetroFrontier Corp, the company announced Tuesday. Heritage, an independent upstream exploration and production organisation, now holds 15.86m or 19.98% of the outstanding shares of Petrofinder. Heritage has also sold 2.31m previously acquired warrants. The shares were purchased for investment purposes through TSX Venture Exchange for an aggregate price equal to CDN$278,160. The FTSE 250 company may choose to increase or decrease its ownership of securities of PetroFrontier depending upon future market conditions. Heritage shares rose 5.95% to 187.00p at 14:30 Tuesday, while oil and gas company PetroFrontier shares were up 7.69% at CDN$0.14 in Toronto.