Member Info for mulledwine

http://www.investegate.co.uk/Article.aspx?id=201206290700124373G

CONT In Wood Group PSN we continue to expect improved performance over 2011. In the UK, we are seeing good activity levels on our long term operations & maintenance contracts, including those with BP, Shell, Talisman and TAQA. The Americas remain strong, particularly in the provision of production support services in the US shale regions where we see opportunities for further growth. In International markets, losses are continuing on our significant long term contract in Oman. Elsewhere, we remain active in Australia, Africa and the Caspian. In Wood Group GTS, we expect good growth in EBITA for the year, weighted to the second half. In Maintenance, power markets continue to be relatively challenging although we are seeing some early indications of improving conditions in the US. In Power Solutions, there has been some delay in anticipated completion on our GWF contract although we continue to schedule completion in the second half of 2012. The Dorad contract remains on track and scheduled for completion in 2013. We continue to pursue additional Power Solutions prospects in Africa, the Caspian and the Middle East. Our balance sheet remains strong and provides a robust platform for growth. The Group has delivered good growth in the year to date and remains confident of achieving full year performance in line with expectations.

rading update for the six months to June 2012 John Wood Group PLC ("Wood Group") issues the following pre-close trading update for the six months to 30 June 2012. Results for the first half will be released on 21 August 2012. The Group has delivered good growth in the year to date and remains confident of achieving full year performance in line with expectations. Our Engineering division continues to perform well, delivering revenue growth and margin improvement which is expected to result in full year EBITA up around 30% on 2011. In upstream, we are seeing high activity levels supported by a good order book and future prospects. We are working around the world for clients on a broad range of projects, including the Inpex Ichthys project in Australia for Samsung and Chevron's Mafumeira Sul project in Angola for Daewoo Shipping and Marine Engineering. In subsea and pipelines, the strong overall performance continues, driven in particular by the UK and Australia. Earlier this year we secured an Enterprise Frame Agreement with Shell, under which we are executing a range of work including the Linnorm FEED study in Norway. In downstream, process and industrial, performance continues to be impacted by lower expenditure in the refining market in North America.

http://www.investegate.co.uk/Article.aspx?id=20120629070000P01E6

thinksmart - doh - apologies - you are correct - I was on the wrong board

Valuation: Discount above long-term averages The current discount is 10.2%. This is wider than its average for the past year of 8.7% and towards the bottom end of the range for the trust’s immediate peer group, but still some way off its widest point of the past 12 months of 13.9%.

http://www.edisoninvestmentresearch.co.uk/researchreports/PAC260612Initiation.pdf

Shares of Photo-Me International, the photo booth and vending machine operator, shot ahead after it said it expects further progress in the year ahead and posted a 12% increase in full year profit. Pre-tax profit rose to £20.1m for the year ended April 30 from £18m the previous year. Revenue fell to £207.8m versus £219.8m in 2011 after continued weakness at its sales and servicing division overshadowed a robust performance at its operations division. "Despite the difficult trading background we intend to press ahead with new product development and we remain keen to add to our current portfolio of businesses if the right opportunities arise," said non-executive chairman John Lewis. "Subject to the risks and uncertainties detailed in the business and financial review, the Board once again anticipates further progress over the coming year," he added. Net cash resources climbed £11m to almost £52m. The group is recommending a final dividend of 1.25p a share, giving a total dividend of 2.5p for the year, up 25%.

Valuation: Growth company with a value rating We are not changing our estimates. While the price cuts will have some impact on gross margins, our model was already reflecting this. With volumes from the Chinese OEMs likely to start building from Q3 onwards, we believe that there remains scope to expand gross margins in 2013 as fixed overhead recovery improves. We currently forecast 46% margins for both 2012 and 2013. On these estimates, we see Xaar’s rating of 13.4x 2012 and 10.1x 2013 earnings as very undemanding. A peer group of UK high-tech electronics manufacturers are rated at respective multiples of 15.2x and 13.8x. The 2013 EV/sales ratio of 1.2x and 9% estimated free cash flow yield both look value multiples for an IP-underpinned growth company.

http://www.edisoninvestmentresearch.co.uk/researchreports/Xaar280612update.pdf

William Comfort, a Non-Executive Director of Kofax, a provider of capture driven process automation solutions, has received over a million shares in the company in exchange for the redemption of his interest in Conversion Capital Master. Comfort received a consideration of just over 1.1m shares, valued at 264.775p each and at a total of £2.9m. He now holds 16.1m ordinary shares, equal to 18.13% of the issued shared capital.

skyaz - no problem. GL

Interim Management Statement and Results of AGM Stobart Group, issues the following Interim Management Statement - covering the near to 4-month period from the commencement of the new financial year on 1 March 2012 to date - to coincide with its Annual General Meeting ('AGM'), which was held today. The Group has continued to make progress across all divisions in the current year with the majority of divisions trading ahead of the previous year. The board remains confident on delivering the strategy over the next three years. The Air division commenced operations from London Southend Airport with easyJet which became fully operational in May alongside a new service with Aer Lingus Regional from Dublin. The airport had serviced 172,000 passengers in the 12 weeks ending 22 June. The Biomass division experienced modestly lower than expected export volumes during Spring due to the mild weather in Scandinavia but is viewing the start of UK power station contracts in the second half of the financial year as the start of long term volume growth. The Transport and Distribution division has experienced mixed fortunes since March with the ambient transport and warehousing performing well and witnessing more new business opportunities than in previous years. However, the restructure of the chilled operations, whilst progressing, has resulted in some further costs. The recently announced Recommended Offer for Autologic Holdings plc will add significant revenue to the division and provide an entry into a new market. In the Estates division opportunities are being pursued at Stobart Park in Widnes where planning for 1.4m square feet of warehousing has been secured. In addition, a number of initiatives are underway with the Moneypenny portfolio and other property assets within the Group. The main focus of the Civil Engineering division is providing value and support to internal infrastructure and development projects. These include the outstanding developments at London Southend Airport and the expected future developments at Stobart Park. Stobart Group expects to announce its results for the six months to 31 August 2012 on 25 October 2012.

http://www.investegate.co.uk/Article.aspx?id=201206281219593734G

UBS has downgraded its recommendation for precious metals miner Polymetal from 'buy' to 'neutral' on the back of the stock's recent strength and weaker silver prices. "We think that sharply weaker silver prices will likely have a read-through for silver-exposed equities through lower earnings and net asset value (NAV) expectations," UBS said.

Consumer products group Reckitt Benckiser was under the weather on Thursday morning after Credit Suisse downgraded its rating on the stock from 'outperform' to 'neutral' and cut its target price to 3,500p from 3,800p. "Reckitt’s historical outperformance in the marketplace was driven by its almost unique ability to garner growth from the developed markets, and in particular Europe," the broker said in a research note. "This hasn’t been the case for two to three years now, and we don’t see that changing any time soon. In part it is the market, but market share is also a contributory factor, and competition isn’t about to ease off."

......................... Evaluation and forecasts As mentioned above, we expect to see the £5.4 million of new business that has been won but has not flowed through to revenue to be recorded gradually over the next three years. We also anticipate revenues increases being spread across all divisions more equally. Consequently, we continue to forecast an adjusted pre-tax profit of £4.1 million on sales of £33 million for FY2013. Adjusted EBITDA is forecasted to come in at £5.4 million, while net debt should decrease further to around £7.8 million. We believe that a 2013 EV/EBITDA multiple of 7 times is appropriate to value the shares given the solid performance reported for the full-year just gone, the cash-generative nature of the operations and the steadily falling level of borrowings. According, we have increased our target price to 109p and maintained our buy recommendation.

27th June 2012 Analyst: Emanuil Manos Halicioglu Email: Emanuil.halicioglu@gecr.co.uk Tel: 020 7562 3368 Plastics Capital - Full-year results in-line with expectations. Buy, with a 109p target price

The News Corporation board has unanimously agreed in principle a plan to split its entertainment and publishing assets into two separate companies, according to reports. News Corp’s board voted to approve the plan at a meeting in New York last night after the company revealed it was considering the radical restructure earlier this week, The Wall Street Journal reported. The decision is yet to be confirmed by the media giant, but a statement on the move - that would see all News Corp newspapers, including The Times, The Sun and The Wall Street Journal, placed in a separate company - is expected to be released later today, writes the Times.

matarakz - I have to agree - nice reading