Member Info for mulledwine

Financial Key Points · Revenue up 5% at £24.67m (2009: £23.52m) − includes contribution of £1.22m from two acquisitions in Q2 and benefit of acquisitions earlier in 2010. Challenging market backdrop · Adjusted profit from operations*1 up 14% at £6.24m (2009: £5.49m) Profit from operations up 7% at £4.66m (2009: £4.34m) · Profit before tax up 8% at £4.23m (2009: £3.91m) · Good cash flows - operating cash generation of £4.91m, 79% of adjusted profit from operations*1 · Adjusted earnings per share*2 up 13% to 16.9p (2009: 15.0p) Basic earnings per share*³ up 9% to 12.7p (2009: 11.6p) · Increased banking facilities negotiated in September 2010. Net debt at 31 December 2010 of £11.48m (2009: £5.38m, 30 June 2010: £10.98m) after £5.0m drawdown to fund acquisitions. · No interim dividend in line with dividend policy but final dividend expected · Board views full year prospects for the Group positively

http://www.investegate.co.uk/Article.aspx?id=201103070700204110C

Who would Altium Securities recommend then? JD Weatherspoon is tipped to be a good punt ahead of interims due next Friday. "We have maintained our Buy recommendation on JD Weatherspoon, not because it will not be subject to the widely acknowledged taxation, input price inflation and consumer spending pressures, but due to the fact that its new openings programme relative to its current estate size is more meaningful. "Additionally its leverage level is substantially lower than other operators at 3x net debt/EBITDA vs. an average of 4.9x at GNK, MARS and MAB and it is trading on an EV/EBITDA multiple at least 1 point lower than the peer group."

Salamander Energy Plc (LON:SMDR) is 1.36% higher at 316.20, and according to J Wong at Investors Intelligence there is more to come. A look at the Salamander Energy charts makes an obvious case for going long on the stock, as Wong says, "Salamander Energy is another stock that is holding on to the uptrend. A momentum long may be opened here."

Buy Town Centre Securities (TCSC) at 192.5p Says The Small Cap Shares Team

Emerging markets equity manager Charlemagne Capital (CCAP) saw pre-tax profits jump 50.7% for the year ended 31st December 2010 as growth in high-margin business - including hedge funds - helped offset net withdrawals. The group posted net outflows of 64 million dollars (39 million pounds) as investors moved money to developed economies because of mounting concerns about the sustainability of growth in some emerging markets. This was, however, offset by the substantial performance fees received from beating pre-determined benchmarks, boosting pre-tax profits to 10.4 million dollars (6.4 million pounds). Charlemagne shares gained 0.75p to 22.5p.

Trading at Brulines Group (BRU) is likely to be lower than anticipated for the second half ending 31st March 2011, the provider of real time monitoring systems and data management services for the leisure and forecourt services sectors announced, resulting in full-year profits expected to be around 4 million pounds. However, the group added that it anticipated maintaining its progressive dividend policy given its continuing cash generation from the core business. Brulines shares dropped 14p to 88.5p.

Commenting on the results, Barry Whittles, Chief Executive of Just Car Clinics, said: Just Car Clinics' proactive approach to client relationship building, its relentless commitment to top quality customer service and its flexibility to move resources to meet demand has enabled the Group to post solid results against a difficult market backdrop. In 2010 Just Car Clinics increased sales and added two further accident repair sites to the Group, further increasing our geographical footprint. Although margins came under some pressure, partially due to the variability of repair volumes throughout the year and the extreme weather conditions, our continued confidence in the prospects and financial strength of the Group mean that the total dividend for the year has increased by 13.5% to 1.85p per share (2009: 1.63p)."

Highlights: ▪ Turnover increased by 8.6% to £46.54 million (2009: £42.86 million) ▪ Gross margin of 40.2% (2009: 41.0%) ▪ Profit before taxation £1.11 million (2009: £1.15 million) a decrease of £47,000 ▪ Operating costs reduced to 37.8% of sales (2009: 38.2%) ▪ Earnings per share 5.4p (2009: 5.6p) ▪ Total dividend up 13.5% to 1.85p per share (2009: 1.63p)

http://www.investegate.co.uk/Article.aspx?id=201103040700073095C

Despite posting narrowed pre-tax profits, Just Car Clinics Group (JCR) announced a 13.5% increase in total dividend for the year ended 31st December 2010 as the collision repair chain remained confident in the prospects and financial strength of the group. The group reported that, while sales increased slightly, pre-tax profits fell by 4% to 1.1 million pounds in the 12-months as a result of the adverse weather conditions and ongoing price pressure from corporate clients. Total dividend per share jumped to 1.85p. The shares declined 3p to 54p

Dr. Gordon Baxter, CEO and Founder of BioWisdom, stated: "The acquisition of BioWisdom by Instem creates opportunities for both companies in new but closely related markets. The combined businesses have a fantastic depth of experience across both regulated and non-regulated data environments, which will stimulate the development of new products and services for our pharmaceutical industry customers. The BioWisdom team has already identified a number of areas where our existing business will be improved by the acquisition and we look forward to working with Instem to create new, compelling solutions for data collection, management and analysis right across the R&D continuum." Phil Reason, CEO of Instem Life Science Systems plc, further commented: "Integrating the BioWisdom products into Instem's Centrus suite will significantly accelerate the introduction of new capabilities that focus on data integration, visual analytics and knowledge extraction. "The BioWisdom products come with many prestigious and highly satisfied clients, which is always a key factor when building market penetration with a solution suite that is unique in the industry. Following this acquisition, all of the world's top 12 pharma companies and 16 of the top 20 will be Instem clients, as well as thousands of academic and not for profit researchers. "The talented and complementary BioWisdom team has a very similar outlook to the existing Instem team, and their integration will increase our ability to help our clients bring new products to market quickly and cost effectively, while minimising any possible safety implications."

http://www.investegate.co.uk/Article.aspx?id=201103040700093214C

In a move to expand its capabilities, Instem Life Science Systems (INS) has acquired Biowisdom, the provider of software solutions for extracting intelligence from R&D related healthcare data, for a maximum value of 1.5 million pounds. Commenting on this, Dr. Gordon Baxter, chief executive and founder of Biowisbom, said: "The acquisition...creates opportunities for both companies in new but closely related markets." The deal is expected to be earnings enhancing in its first full financial year of ownership. Instem shares remained unchanged at 222p.

Al ot of staffing Companies doing very well just now.

Russell Clements, Chief Executive, commented: "For seasonal reasons, the first quarter is the Group's least significant in terms of the year as a whole. Nonetheless, it is encouraging to see that all of the regions in which we operate have remained on an upward trend. We also take confidence from our deal pipeline, with deals agreed but yet to start up by more than 30% year on year. In addition, the performance of our contract business during the quarter has been the strongest in recent years. We have started 2011 in good shape to take full advantage of an improving market opportunity and as a more international and diversified business than at any time in our history."

Highlights: · All regions continuing to show improving performance · Permanent gross profit up 32%* year on year · Contract gross profit up 8%* year on year · Group gross profit up 19%* year on year · Permanent deal pipeline volume up in excess of 30% year on year · Strong financial position with net cash of circa £49m at period end

http://www.investegate.co.uk/Article.aspx?id=201103040700083158C

Recruiter SThree (STHR) reported a jump in year-on-year gross profit for the first-quarter ended 27th February 2011, helped by improved performances across all of its regions, and said 2011 has started well. The company, which provides both permanent and contract specialist staffing services in the UK and Europe, said gross profit increased by 19% on the comparable period a year earlier to approximately 42 million pounds. Commenting on this, chief executive Russell Clements said: "We have started 2011 in good shape to take full advantage of an improving market opportunity and as a more international and diversified business than at any time in our history." SThree shares fell 9.8p to 420p.

In line with its strategy of growing its business in emerging markets, ESAB, the welding, cutting and automation business of Charter International (CHTR), has acquired Russian electrode manufacturer LLC Sychevsky Electrodny Zavod for an undisclosed fee. "This acquisition is in line with our strategy of growing our business in emerging markets with around half of ESAB revenues now coming from emerging markets," commented chief executive Michael Foster. Charter shares moved up 4p to 759p.