Member Info for jange

Trinity Mirror is moving to a seven-day publishing model with the Daily Mirror, after jettisoning Richard Wallace and Tina Weaver, the editors of the Daily Mirror and the Sunday Mirror, respectively. The move, which comes just one day after David Grigson officially took over as Chairman of the crisis-torn company, echoes the set-up of rival red-top tabloid The Sun, which recently moved to a seven-day publishing model when a Sunday version of Britain's best selling daily newspaper was launched.

British-based Giga develops, manufactures, sells and supports fixed, mobile and transportable satellite earth stations. The company has recently received type approval to operate terminals on both the US Defense Satellite Communications System and the Wideband Global Satellite and has received contracts from the US Department of Defense. The acqusition is being financed through Ultra's existing funds and is set to become earnings enhancing in the current calander year.

Ultra Electonics, a technology company with interests in defence, transport and energy, has acquired satellite company Giga Communcations along with its associated businesses in Australia and the US. The £12.4m initial cash consideration will be followed by an additional £24.6m, subject to earnings growth over the next two years.

"We expect management's tone for the division to be one of moderating expectations given the challenging comparatives that the group will face in 1H2013 [first half of fiscal 2013]," Dawson said. It is a quiet day on the economic front in the UK, with the GfK Consumer Confidence Survey for May the highlight. In April the confidence level stood at -31, and it is expected to have moved further into negative territory to -33 in May.

On the Speciality Food Ingredients side, having recorded some early customers wins in Latin America in the first half of the year, "investors will be looking for signs from management that there are further customer account wins within the near term pipeline, especially as the enhanced sales team becomes more established," according to James Dawson, of Charles Stanley.

Sweeteners firm Tate & Lyle said at the end of March that full year results are expected to be in line with expectations, so interest in Thursday's announcement will focus on current trading. Those expectations are for sales to just skip over the £3bn mark, and for profit before tax to rise to £323.6m from £263m the year before. Earnings per share (EPS) are seen advancing to 55.24p from 45.7p last year, paving the way for an increase in the total dividend from 23.7p last year to around 25p this year.

"We expect a similar story in France, where April was the wettest for 60 years. Here, we look for a LFL decline of around 1% after a decent start to the year. We expect International markets to be flat in like-for-like terms (strong Russia; weak Poland and Spain)," the broker added.

"We expect to see an 11% fall in B&Q's like-for-like [LFL] sales, due to the impact of tough comparisons (late Easter, hot weather), compounded by the effect of the rain upon seasonal ranges," Panmure Gordon revealed, adding that April was the wettest in the UK for a century.

"Strong progress on the gross margin front should limit the damage," the broker reckons. "In addition, the increasingly variable nature of staff costs is set to have provided further downside protection, particularly in the UK," it added. Panmure Gordon notes that the first quarter is not particularly an important one for Kingfisher.

Do-it-yourself retailer Kingfisher's first quarter earnings are set to confirm a weather-challenged UK performance and slowing trends in France, according to Jefferies, the US investment bank which bought venerable City broker Hoare Govett earlier this year. It thinks first quarter sales will be down by almost 4% year-on-year, or down 2% with foreign exchange (forex) movements stripped out. The broker thinks EBIT will be up by 1%. Comparative figures in the UK are tough, given the weather was better last year and the royal wedding provided an extra bank holiday.

Positive Points: Severn Trent said it had reduced leakage to a record low level and it pledged to invest an additional £150 million in its network over the next three years to enhance water security, on top of the £1.6 billion already planned. The company stated that water lost through leaks fell 7% in the year to the end of March, below the target set by its regulator. This led the group to repeat its expectation that it will not have to enforce a hosepipe ban over the current financial year. The company will return about £150 million to investors in the form of a special dividend. Severn Trent is subject to occasional takeover speculation. The group's defensive nature provides investor attraction when set against an uncertain economic backdrop.

Negative Points: Profitability from Severn Trent's core water business is dependent on the group’s ability to meet tough regulatory efficiency targets. Exceptional charges of £50.9 million were reported that included operational costs of £34.4 million. Within this figure, costs arising from Severn Trent Water's programme to restructure and realign the business resulted in an exceptional charge of £11.5 million. Within the company's services business, which provides water and waste treatment in Europe and North America, Severn Trent said market environments remain challenging. Raw materials and consumables at £46.8 million were 1.3% higher than the same period in the prior year.

Financial Highlights: Severn Trent posted a profit before tax of £156.7 million, down 38% from £253 million reported a year ago. Turnover for the group was £1.77 billion, up 3.5% from a year earlier. Exceptional charges during the year to 31 March of £50.9 million were reported (£21.4 million – 2011). The company have recommended a total dividend of 70.1p, up 7.7% from 65.09p. In addition, a special dividend of 63p has been proposed, subject to shareholder approval.

Full year results: Severn Trent's full year results exceeded market expectations which saw a rise in prices offset an increase in expenses and lower consumption from its metered users. At its water division, turnover increased by 4.9% to 1.5 billion pounds after the firm put up prices in line with inflation at the start of the year. Prices were also increased in April by 5.2%. Consumption from customers with water meters was lower, reducing turnover by some 10 million pounds, while business customers used water more efficiently. Severn Trent added that it expected measured consumption would continue to fall this year, and anticipates a decrease of about 2%, in line with a 1.6% drop last year. Profit before tax for the year fell 38% to 156.7 million pounds from 253 million pounds a year earlier, while revenues rose 3.5% to 1.77 billion pounds, in line with estimates.

Severn Trent is a group of companies employing more than 15,000 people across the UK, US and mainland Europe, with some involvement in the Middle East. It is traded on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index. Severn Trent Water provides water and sewerage services to over 3.7 million households and businesses in the Midlands and mid Wales. The group also operates a non-regulated business. Severn Trent Services is one of the world's leading suppliers of water and waste water treatment solutions. Headquartered in the US, it has a growing presence in Europe, the Middle East and Asia. The business has three main divisions: Water Purification, Operating Services and Analytical Services.

"But teachers and administrators need to understand how to use the information effectively. Our collaboration with Tribal will be critical in training teachers and administrators to use value-added analyses to improve teaching and student performance," she added

"SAS provides both value-added analysis as well as student projections and a variety of diagnostic reporting. The system provides a valuable resource for professional development conversations with school administrators as well as important information to improve student outcomes."

Commenting on the deal, Tribal chief executive Keith Evans said: "Our skills in the area of evidence-based school improvement are complementary and we feel that, in combination, Tribal and SAS can make a significant contribution to the development of predictive tools for education improvement". Paula Henderson, Vice President, SAS State and Local Government Practice added:

Public sector support services firm Tribal Group and SAS have entered into collaborative discussions to develop new software tools to support education improvement programmes in Tennessee. "Both Tribal and SAS have existing contracts in the region which will benefit from this collaboration, with both companies excited by the wider potential of such products," Tribal explained in a company statement

Sorry posted on wrong board all the best mate......