Member Info for mulledwine

http://www.investegate.co.uk/travis-perkins-plc-(tpk)/rns/trading-update/201212120700052989T/

Ubisense has announced a strategic partnership with Daifuku, a Japanese supplier of material handling and warehouse management systems with a strong presence in the automotive market. Daifuku will integrate Ubisense technology into its demonstration facilities in Shiga prefecture in Japan. Ubisense’s technology is being used to help automate various processes such as pick-to-light, pick-to-voice, product identification and verification, personnel safety, line-side supply and automatic guided vehicles (AGVs). Ubisense already has a strategic partnership with Atlas Copco, whereby Ubisense technology is integrated into Atlas Copco tools. This is a similar type of relationship, with sales forthcoming when Daifuku sells a system containing Ubisense technology to an end-customer. With Ubisense seeing increasing interest from Japanese and Korean car manufacturers, this presents an additional sales channel into the Asian market and could drive revenues in the longer term, although we do not expect any short-term impact on sales.

Ubisense has been selected by Daifuku for use in its next-generation material handling 12 December 2012 systems. This agreement represents a new channel to market for Ubisense, strengthening its presence in the Asian high-value manufacturing market. While we believe this could lead to revenue upside in the long term, we do not anticipate any short-term impact.

http://www.edisoninvestmentresearch.co.uk/researchreports/Ubisense121212Flash.pdf

Nomura has cut its target price for drinks group Diageo following the cancelled talks with tequila maker Jose Cuervo, but has retained its 'buy' recommendation, saying that the deal was dropped for the right reasons. Nomura said that although market expectations for the Cuervo deal were high, Diageo has shown "capital discipline in not over-paying or agreeing to uncommercial demands" from owners, the Beckmann family.

GKN Sell 11-Dec-12 £148,584.52 Andrew Reynolds Smith 65,935 @ 225.35p

Joe Mescall, the Divisional Chairman of General Merchanting at Travis Perkins, sold 14,854 shares post-exercise, one day before the company warned that market headwinds have continued, although assured investors the outlook for the year as a whole remains unchanged. Mescall sold the shares at 1,098p each for a total of £163,097. The Northampton based builders merchant said on Wednesday that like-for-like sales fell 1.8% for the 11 months to the end of November 2012 while total sales for the period increased 1.6%.

Nick Robertson, CEO, commented: ""I am pleased to report strong trading for the three months to 30 November 2012 with total retail sales up 30% to £166m. Our UK performance was ahead of expectations at +24%, driven by better conversion of traffic alongside continued investment in both our proposition and pricing. Our International business grew by +34% and now accounts for 63% of our total retail sales. We achieved +57% growth in the US, +42% growth in ROW, and +15% growth within the EU. Once again the performance of countries where we have dedicated websites was significantly better than the EU performance as a whole. The retail gross margin performance reflects a combination of a particularly strong comparative period, the UK accounting for a larger percentage of the total retail sales mix than initially planned and continued price reinvestment. We remain positive in our outlook and continue to trade in line with expectations." *Defined as having shopped in the last 12 months

Q1 Highlights · Retail sales +30% year on year (UK +24%, International +34%) · International sales 63% of total (61% last year) · Retail gross margin down 100bps on prior year (+440bps in Q1 2011/12) · In-country offices opened in USA, France and Germany · 5.4 million active customers* at 30 November 2012 (+35% year on year)

http://www.investegate.co.uk/asos-plc-(asc)/rns/trading-statement/201212110700041948T/

Outlook Historically, revenue has been weighted towards the second half of the year. However, if the levels of client activity seen in the first half persists, revenue in the second half is likely to be similar to that delivered in the first. This does not, though, factor in any increase in market activity and if markets do start to provide more attractive opportunities for clients to trade IG remains very well placed to take advantage of this. Against this backdrop of continuing subdued activity levels, the more uncertain short term outlook and lower levels of competitor activity, IG has taken, and will continue to take, a disciplined approach to managing the cost base, whilst continuing to invest in developing the business to reinforce its market-leading positions. To date the company has made some headcount reductions, reduced some planned marketing spend and deferred some recruitment. These savings are over and above those costs which would naturally flex with revenue. IG continues to extend its market lead in key territories and has a strong financial position. The company remains confident in its long-term growth prospects. Today there will be a conference call for analysts and investors at 8.30am (UK time). The call can be accessed by dialling +44(0)203 106 4822 and using the passcode 5364379. A replay of the conference call will be available for a period of 14 days after the event by dialling +44(0)203 427 0598 and using passcode 5364379 and it will be archived for access at www.iggroup.com/investors.

Business Update In September the group carried out a significant relaunch of the IG brand, bringing the external image up to date with the company's market positioning and delivering continuity and consistency across websites and dealing platforms. The initial roll-out of the mobile applications has now been delivered in all regions and the business continues to see an increase in the proportion of both client trades and account openings coming through mobile. IG also continued its development of the Insight research tool with a roll-out onto mobile applications. Recent market research studies(1) in the UK, Australia and Singapore have been very encouraging, with IG continuing to increase its market share in all three countries. In the UK, market share in spread betting increased from 41% in 2011 to 44% in 2012 and in CFDs from 24% to 32%; in Australia market share increased from 34% to 37%. Recent results in Singapore show IG increased its share of the CFD market from 12% to 15% and is now the joint largest provider in the forex market, with a 13% share, up 4 percentage points on the prior year.

Trading in the period In the UK and Australia revenue per client was broadly flat, with the fall in revenue driven by fewer clients trading in the period. In Europe the number of active clients increased, but this was more than offset by the decline in average revenue per client. Across the rest of the world IG continued to see strong growth in active clients in all countries except Japan, but revenue per client also fell in these markets in line with other less mature regions. As previously stated, levels of account opening are affected by market conditions in the same way as client activity. In subdued markets the total level of account openings was 26% behind the same period in the prior year. There was some pick-up in this measure in the second quarter, with sequential quarter growth of 7%. The development of the IG platform and customer proposition continues to be directed towards attracting and retaining higher value clients.

IG GROUP HOLDINGS PLC First Half Trading Update IG Group today issues the following Trading Update for the period from 1 June 2012 to 30 November 2012. Unless otherwise stated, trends and figures highlighted below refer to the six months ended 30 November 2012 and the corresponding period last year. · Short term trading continues to be subdued · Consolidating leadership position in key markets with further market share gains(1) · Ongoing technology differentiation through mobile applications and Insight research tool · Second half revenue likely to be in line with first half if recent activity levels persist · Disciplined approach towards managing costs and investment Revenue in the period was £169m, 14% lower than the prior year. Revenue in the second quarter, at £87.5m, was 7% higher than the first quarter, although still 9% behind the prior year. This performance reflects the particularly tough comparators which the group faced, as previously stated, due to the extreme levels of volatility in financial markets in 2011, and the continuing subdued markets which are impacting client activity. During the period the business did respond well to short spells of heightened market activity and continued to grow market share in its biggest markets(1).

http://www.investegate.co.uk/ig-group-hldgs-plc-(igg)/rns/first-half-trading-update/201212110700071996T/

Summary and Outlook The Group grew underlying profits and generated cash in line with our expectations during the first half, with an encouraging increase in UK retail store like-for-like sales and a significant improvement in gross profit percentage year on year, although trading conditions in the Netherlands remained difficult. Historically, trends in housing transactions and mortgage approvals have been useful lead indicators of consumer demand in our sector, bearing a positive correlation with floor covering sales. UK mortgage approvals have recently shown some encouraging signs of improvement, although this is from a very low base and it remains premature to call a wider recovery in sentiment. Having been with the business for seven months and seen it trade through the important September to November peak has confirmed my initial view that the Group is well managed and that no fundamental shift in strategy is required. That said, we believe there are opportunities to accelerate the pace of a number of current self-help initiatives, notably the ongoing modernisation of the store estate, building customer awareness of our bed offer and further improving customer service, to enable us to grow our market share. While we expect trading conditions to remain challenging, we are confident that the combination of these self-help initiatives will underpin the positive momentum of the Group and our expectations for the year as a whole remain unchanged.

Commenting on the results, Darren Shapland, Chief Executive, said: "The Group grew underlying profits and generated cash in line with our expectations during the first half, with an encouraging increase in UK retail store like-for-like sales and a significant improvement in gross profit percentage year on year, although trading conditions in the Netherlands remained very difficult. "Having been with the business for seven months and seen it trade through the important September to November peak has confirmed my initial view that the Group is well managed and that no fundamental shift in strategy is required. That said, we believe there are opportunities to accelerate the pace of a number of current self-help initiatives, notably the ongoing modernisation of the store estate, building customer awareness of our bed offer and further improving customer service, to enable us to grow our market share. "While we expect trading conditions to remain challenging, we are confident that the combination of these self-help initiatives will underpin the positive momentum of the Group and our expectations for the year as a whole remain unchanged."

Rest of Europe • Revenue in local currency, declined by 9.7% with like-for-like sales down by 10.1%. (note 3) • Difficult trading conditions in the Netherlands, where the floor coverings market remains weak. • Net reduction of one store during the first half to 141 stores.

First half highlights UK • Like-for-like revenues increased by 0.7%. Excluding the expected contraction in sales from wholesale business, the core retail business like-for-like grew by 3.0%. (notes 3, 4) • Gross profit percentage increased by 370 basis points to 61.7% (2011: 58.0%). (note 5) • 58 stores refurbished in the period taking the total to 92 stores, with sales uplifts of over 10% above the core retail business. • Store base reduced by a net 10 during the first half to 480 stores. • Exceptional charges of £12.4m related to a combination of onerous lease provisions, net losses on disposal of properties and non-cash impairment of property assets. (note 6)

http://www.investegate.co.uk/carpetright-plc-(cpr)/rns/interim-results/201212110700071991T/