Member Info for jange

On Tuesday morning high performance polymer manufacturer Victrex announced that annual group profit before tax increased to 94.5m pounds, marginally above year ago levels, much the same as its basic earnings per share of 85.7p. Group revenue rose by just 2% to £219.8m for the year ending on September 30th 2012. Nevertheless, sales volumes in the current fiscal year-to-date at its main Victrex Polymer Solutions (VPS) unit is said to be showing "good growth" although it has been progressing at a lower run-rate than in the record second half of the last financial year. Amongst the company's products from its VPS unit is the polymer-based pipe system for the cargo drainage system on the Airbus A350 XWB line of passenger jets. The company can also count US aerospace giant Boeing among its main clients. The company's other main product line, Invibio, provides access to highly specialized biocompatible (can be used within the human body) materials and services for medical device manufacturers. Full year gross margin remained in line with the company's own expectations, at 66.3%, but came in below last year's level of 67.8%. Earnings benefited, nonetheless, from an improvement in the effective tax rate to 23.9%, predominantly reflecting the reduction in the UK corporation tax. The company had cash of £83.9m and no debt at the end of the financial year

The group will realise an exceptional profit in respect of the disposal of Jena Tec of approximately £8m and will incur exceptional costs of £0.35m linked to the acquisitions of PFW and Aerotech. The company's trading update stated that the sale of Jena Tec, and the subsequent acquisitions described above, had provided Avingtrans with a more focused business and a stronger balance sheet which would enable it to invest in each of the businesses and pursue opportunities which it would otherwise have been unable to target. Group cautiously optimistic about 2014 financial year The group is confident that it will see both revenue and margin improvement during the 2014 financial year, which will deliver results marginally above previous board expectations. Coupled with an improved and more robust balance sheet, the Board believes that the recent transformational transactions place the Group in a much stronger position for the future, both financially and strategically.

Profitability at Avingtrans will be impacted by the loss of margin resulting from the sale of subsidiary Jena Tec, the company announced in a trading update published on Tuesday morning. Avingtrans - which manufactures critical components for the global aerospace industry - said that, in the short-term, the margins realised from sales at PFW Farnborough and Aerotech Tubes would not compensate for the loss of margin in respect of Jena Tec. Sales revenues for this year were expected to be in line with original board expectations, with the loss of revenue replaced by revenue streams from PFW and Aerotech in the second half of the 2013 financial year. On November 5th the company announced the sale of Jena Tec, its industrial division, for a cash consideration of £13.45m and set out a strategy focused on the Group's two core divisions: Aerospace and Energy & Medical. In line with this strategy, the company subsequently announced the acquisitions of certain assets of PFW Farnborough for £1.85m and Aerotech Tubes for £2m.

Rio Tinto has agreed to sell its 57.7 per cent stake in Palabora Mining Company for 373m dollars. The purchaser is a consortium comprising South African and Chinese entities led by the Industrial Development Corporation of South Africa Limited and Hebei Iron & Steel Group, who are committed to the ongoing sustainable management of Palabora. The sale is subject to customary regulatory approvals in South Africa and China which are expected to take four to six months. Guy Elliott, Chief Financial Officer of Rio Tinto, said: "Palabora is a good business but is no longer a natural fit within Rio Tinto's portfolio. Selling our stake reflects Rio Tinto's policy of continually reviewing our portfolio to generate best value for shareholders. "I expect Palabora to continue prospering under its new ownership. During the transition we will continue to run the operations efficiently and safely."

Polymetal stated: "Polymetal intends to exploit the deposit using much higher cut-off grade with the objective of generating ore with grade exceeding 10 grams per tonne of gold and trucking it to Lunnoye via the winter road. It is currently estimated that approximately 250 Koz of contained gold will be mined under this approach." The Company plans to start open-pit mining in the first quarter of 2014 and processing in the second quarter of 2014. Vitaly Nesis, Chief Executive Officer of Polymetal, said: "Olcha represents a good opportunity to add another high-grade source of feed for the Lunnoye plant. In addition, Olcha is a natural extension of our portfolio of advanced exploration properties in the Magadan Region".

Polymetal International and its subsidiaries have entered into a definitive agreement with AIM-listed Ovoca Gold to acquire the Russian legal entity Olymp, which holds the mining and exploration license for the Olcha gold-silver deposit. Polymetal will acquire the Olcha gold-silver deposit together with all inter-company debt owed by Olymp in exchange for 775,000 ordinary shares in Polymetal. The mining and exploration licence covers an area of 2.5 square kilometers in the Srednekansk district of the Magadan Region in Russia and is located approximately 215 km from the Lunnoye processing plant and 230 kilometres from the Kubaka processing plant, which belong to Polymetal's Dukat and Omolon processing hubs, respectively. Olcha mineralisation is of the conventional low-sulfide epithermal type, free milling and with very high-grade bonanza-type shoots. The audited mineral resource estimate of Olcha in accordance with the JORC Code 2004 guidelines is approximately 653 Koz of gold in 9.2 Mt of mineralised material at an average grade 2.2 g/t at 1.0 g/t cut-off grade.

JPMorgan Brazil Inv Trust (JPB) Director name: Prof Victor Bulmer-Thomas Amount purchased: 24,000 @ 83.40p Value: £20,016

Gable Holdings Inc. (GAH) Director name: Mr William Dewsall Amount purchased: 50,000 @ 41.50p Value: £20,750

Cineworld Group (CINE) Director name: Mr Philip Bowcock Amount purchased: 10,000 @ 245.00p Value: £24,500 Cineworld Group (CINE) Director name: Mr David Maloney Amount purchased: 10,000 @ 245.00p Value: £24,500

F&C Asset Management (FCAM) Director name: Mr Edward Bramson Amount purchased: 35,221 @ 97.22p Value: £34,242

Xchanging (XCH) Director name: Mr David Bauernfeind Amount purchased: 39,800 @ 119.90p Value: £47,720

Cineworld Group (CINE) Director name: Mr Peter Williams Amount purchased: 20,000 @ 245.00p Value: £49,000

Cineworld Group (CINE) Director name: Mr Rick Senat Amount purchased: 20,408 @ 245.00p Value: £50,000

Cineworld Group (CINE) Director name: Mr Steve Wiener Amount purchased: 40,816 @ 245.00p Value: £99,999

Top Director Buys Symphony International Holdings Ltd. (SIHL) Director name: Mr Anil Thadani Amount purchased: 600,000 @ $0.68 Value: $405,480

Thorntons: Panmure Gordon initiates with a target price of 50p and a buy recommendation.

Spectris: UBS raises target price from 2100p to 2300p and maintains a buy recommendation.

Rio Tinto: Nomura raises target price from 3600p to 3700p; buy recommendation remains unchanged.

Prudential: UBS raises target price from 950p to 1000p and keeps a buy rating.

National Express Group: Deutsche Bank reduces target price from 235p to 210p maintaining a hold rating.