Member Info for jange

Paragon Mortgages and Mortgage Trust, its buy-to-let origination brands, now fully re-established following the recommencement of new lending in 2010, advanced new loans of £184.3m (2011: £127.0m). In addition, a strong pipeline of business was in place at the end of the year, which, combined with the 125% increase in warehouse capacity (a short-term revolving credit facility extended by a financial institution to a mortgage loan originator for the funding of mortgage loans), illustrates its belief that lending volumes will increase in the new financial year. It has proposed a final dividend of 4.50p per share (2011: 2.65p) which, when added to the interim dividend of 1.50p, gives a total dividend of 6.00p per share for the year (2011: 4.00p), an increase of 50%. It intends to pursue a progressive dividend policy so that, by 2016 and thereafter, dividend cover will be maintained in the range 3.0 to 3.5 times.

The Paragon Group produced record profits for the full year, enabling a 50 per cent hike in its dividend and the promise of a progressive payout policy. For the year ended September 30th, this specialist buy-to-let and consumer finance group saw total operating income of £170.2m (2011: £150.9m), producing pre-tax profits of £95.5m (£80.8m). Earnings per share were 24.2p (2011: 20.2p), an increase of 19.8% from last year reflecting the improved profits earned by the group and a reduction in the tax rate. The increase in profit has also improved Paragon's return on equity to 9.3% from 8.3% for the previous year. The company said that its strategic focus has remained unchanged; to generate growth through its buy-to-let origination franchise, through investment in loan portfolios and by exploiting new opportunities; and to maintain close management of the existing loan portfolio, which performed well in the year. Idem Capital, its dedicated investment subsidiary, successfully built on the five portfolios purchased in prior years with further investments during the financial year totalling £115.4m.

Experian, the FTSE 100 global information services company, has said that at an emergency general meeting held on Tuesday, its shareholders approved the acquisition of an additional 29.6 per cent interest in Serasa, the Brazilian credit data provider. The move will take the company's stake in the business to nearly 100%. 99.99% of shareholders voted in favour of the decision. Experian now needs the approval of the Brazilian authorities, but said it expects the purchase to be completed shortly.

Donald Brydon, the Chairman of advanced technology giant Smiths Group has announced his intention to retire from the board next year. The revelation came at the company's annual general meeting on Tuesday, in which the firm reported that its underlying revenue has grown across all divisions in the three months ended November 3rd, with full-year expectations remaining in line with previous guidance. Brydon, who has been in his position as Chairman since 2004, said in a statement: "I have today informed the board of my intention to retire in 2013 and have asked that the board, led by the Senior Independent Director, undertakes a process to determine the selection and appointment of my successor." He said: "I will, of course, remain fully engaged until that process is completed." The shares held on to gains after the announcement, trading 0.87% higher at 1,048p before the close.

Despite what looks like a period of treading water for Johnson Matthey, Charles Stanley is expecting the company to whack the interim dividend up from 15.7p last year to 22.2p this. "This would not be too surprising. At the release of its preliminary results for the year ended March 31st Johnson Matthey announced a special dividend payment of 100p per share, in addition to a final dividend payment of 40p per share. The rationale behind the special dividend payment was continuing strong growth in both profits and cash flow and the belief that the group has 'ample resources' to fund these expenditures," writes Rae Ellingham of Charles Stanley. Johnson Matthey is a world leader in emissions control technologies, e.g. catalytic converters, so it does have exposure to the struggling French motor car industry, which might persuade the board to be a bit more careful with the divi.

Contract caterer Compass will give investors food for thought on Wednesday when it releases full-year results. The market has pencilled in a figure of £16,869m for revenue, which is a lot of sausage rolls and crudités in anyone's language. Profit before tax is expected to break through the billion-pound barrier to £1,074m. Earnings per share are tipped to be around 42.37p, with the full-year dividend roughly half that amount at 21.18p. Strong showings in North America plus Fast Growing & Emerging regions should compensate for soft markets in Europe and Japan. Panmure Gordon is hoping for an update on plans to return additional cash to shareholders and believes the market would "welcome a commitment of a further £500m" by the end of fiscal 2013, which, if done in the form of buy-backs, would enhance earnings per share by around two or three per cent. Platinum refiner Johnson Matthey's half-year results are expected to see the company unveil a 1.5% decline in revenue to £5,810m while operating profit is predicted to be virtually flat at £213.5m.

Lowland Investment Co (LWI) Director name: Mr Peter Troughton Amount purchased: 1,173 @ 955.00p Value: £11,202

El Oro Ltd (ELX) Director name: Mr Robert E. Wade Amount purchased: 15,880 @ 98.00p Value: £15,562

Penna Consulting (PNA) Director name: Mr Graham Paton Amount purchased: 20,000 @ 88.30p Value: £17,660

But drilling of Petrel’s prospect is still some way off. It still has much work to do. It needs to employ the dark arts of petrographic analysis and acoustic inversion to better assess rock characteristics. It also wants to do further interpretation of the 2D and 3D seismic data that has been gathered in past years. In short, it is still at quite an early stage, and the likely next step will see Petrel bring in a partner to help bear the cost of more 3D seismic surveying and, eventually, a drilling campaign.....

Global Energy Development (GED) Director name: Mr Stephen C Voss Amount purchased: 25,000 @ 93.00p Value: £23,250

FBD Holdings (FBH) Director name: Mr Andrew Langford Amount purchased: 5,000 @ € 9.45 Value: € 47,250

Peter Stephens, a Non-Executive Director of GETECH, an oil services business specialising in the provision of exploration data and geological exploration studies, earned a tidy sum after trading in around a third of his stake in the company. Stephens sold 550,000 ordinary shares at 42.00p each for a total of £0.23m, taking his holding in the company to one million shares, equal to 3.42% of the issued share capital. Three weeks ago, the group posted a leap in pre-tax profit to £1.25m in the year ended July 31st from £0.67m the year before, on turnover that rose to £6.44m from £5.33m. The company's Chairman, Stuart Paton, said that continued high oil prices have led to companies expanding their international exploration efforts, resulting in increased requirements for its products. GETECH's share price has more than doubled over the last year, equal to an increase of 22.25p, although the stock has dipped 4.5% over the past month.

This positive tone was helped by analysts at Liberium Capital declaring the share price did not reflect the underlying value of its business and that the outfit has "competitive advantages" in many of its markets. With the bulls in the ascendency the shares were up 18% by 11:15. The new losses announced on Monday included around $28m on its Windcarrier 1 and Windcarrier 2 projects. Amongst others, the firm's Caspian Sea jack-up project is expected to see a shortfall for 2012 of $24.6m, while bad debts and other losses are slated to come in at $8.1m. At the start of October the firm lost 40% of its share value after it said delays and extra costs would make 2012 losses significantly larger-than-expected. At the time the firm announced a purge at the top, saying "changes to the leadership and senior management team are required to ensure Lamprell begins to rebuild its reputation with both investors and customers". It has since re-appointed former Chief Executive Peter Whitbread, as well as Frank Nelson as Chief Financial Officer.

Shares in Lamprell faltered then jumped after it announced details of even greater losses for 2012, but said it was on the road to recovery. The oil and gas engineering firm now anticipates a total projected loss for 2012 of around $105m. The costs were pinpointed by an independent review of the business, which uncovered further losses and delays on a number of projects. The news had initially pushed the shares down around 10% in early trading. However, the company said despite the significantly higher forecast of losses it would move back into the black during 2013. Lamprell also said it remained in discussions with its lenders to seek waiver of certain of its banking covenants before the year-end, and a reset of applicable covenants in the first quarter of 2013. "The company expects 2013 to be a recovery year, with revenue broadly flat compared to 2012 and a gradual return to profitability during the year," its statement said.

Turnover at technical plastics fell to £26.4m from £28.3m before due to timing delays on the recognition of sub contract tooling revenues. LED Technologies was boosted by growth in its supercar lighting business and improved manufacturing efficiencies while precision engineering saw underlying operating profits rise to £0.7m from £0.6m. The interim dividend has increased to 0.80p per share compared to 0.75p in 2011. Carclo said its balance sheet has been strengthened by the equity fund-raising and its financing is secure.

Plastics business Carclo said it continued to trade in line with company expectations during the first half and expects to generate a stronger second half performance. Pre-tax profit for six months ended September 30th came in at £1.9m versus £1.3m the year before. Revenue fell to £40m compared to £47m previously while operating profit grew to £2.2m from £945,000 before. Carclo said its core operations remain on track to deliver a satisfactory year. Chairman Michael Derbyshire said: "Our businesses continue to win new contracts despite the uncertain global economic environment. Contract awards throughout our businesses, coupled with further capital investment in infrastructure and technology support our confidence in the future growth of the group." Conductive Inkjet Technology (CIT) made its first production shipment for touch sensors for a low volume smartphone and is in the final stages of production validation for a high volume tablet computer, the group explained. "We are now starting to see the first substantial rewards from the significant investment in CIT and anticipate a good maiden contribution from CIT's touchscreen business in the final quarter and rapid growth thereafter. Our CDS business has also made considerable progress and has attracted a high level of interest from a wide range of potential partners," it added.

ATH Resources, one of the UK's largest coal producers, said it faces a comprehensive review and restructuring of its business after some of its debt was bought by an investment fund. It said in light of the development, and given the existing level of liabilities, "it is unlikely that existing shareholder value will be maintained". The firm said its lenders, HSBC and Clydesdale Bank had sold some of its banking facilities and their related rights to Guernsey-based BECAP Fund. "As a result of initial discussions with representatives of BECAP Fund the board understands that a comprehensive review and restructuring of the Group's business," the statement said. "Following completion of the review the new lender may be prepared to inject new capital into a restructured business." Shares dived 54.5% following the announcement, leaving them 98.9% down on a year ago.

Omega Diagnostics has been awarded a grant of up to 150,000 pounds from Scottish Enterprise to help scale up manufacturing facilities for the company's new CD4 test for monitoring HIV positive patients. The facility will be located at the company's headquarters in Alva, Central Scotland and the grant will be payable in three installments dependent on the attainment of employment targets and capital expenditure. The project is split into two phases: the first phase being conversion of a part of the existing premises to meet initial customer demand and a second phase to allow further scale up to meet future anticipated demand. It is expected that a first instalment of £32,000 will be received in the current financial year. Dr Robin Campbell, healthcare analyst, at House Broker Seymour Pierce has a 'buy' recommendation with a price target of 25p on the stock. He commented that CD4 testing is a bottleneck in starting anti-HIV drug therapy, particularly in emerging economies with poorly funded healthcare systems. Therefore, a convenient, low-cost point-of-care (POC) test would be a boon for healthcare workers in helping identify HIV-positive sufferers with declining CD4 counts - the World Health Organisations's guideline is for anti-HIV drug therapy for those with counts below 350 cells/microlitre of blood. He added: "Omega Diagnostic's Visitect CD4 test (one drop from a finger prick, result in 40 minutes) is set to be the only lower cost, low complexity POC test on the market. ODX plans to make commercial quantities of product for evaluation by December this year. There are over 20m HIV-positive individuals in developing countries."

Positive Points: Underlying revenues grew across all divisions. Management expectations for the year remain in line with guidance given at the full year results. John Crane delivered sustained underlying revenue growth in the period. The division, which makes mechanical seals for the oil and gas industry, enjoyed ongoing demand for its first-fit original equipment and aftermarket services. Growth in Emerging Market revenues remains a focus. The board noted that its Flex-Tek division had started the year well. Underlying revenue growth was driven by a strong performance in aerospace and US residential construction. A progressive dividend policy continues to be pursued. As an industrial conglomerate, speculation that the company could eventually be taken over/broken-up continues to linger.