Member Info for mulledwine

CONT NOTHS has grown significantly over recent years and the finance raised will be used to expand the business further. SPARK originally backed the business as a start-up in 2007 and provided £0.7m of finance in total. Today, SPARK plays an active role on the NOTHS board alongside several more recent venture capital investors. To date, SPARK has received £1.8m as sales proceeds from NOTHS whilst retaining a stake currently worth £10.2m.The IRR on this investment for SPARK is currently 83% - a remarkable performance and one for which we wish to congratulate the founders, Holly Tucker and Sophie Cornish. SPARK will provide details of all other valuation changes when it releases its annual results, currently expected to be in the week beginning 18 June 2012.

Partial sale and substantial increase in portfolio company valuation The Company is pleased to announce that Notonthehighstreet.com ("NOTHS"), which SPARK backed as the first outside investor as a start-up in 2007, has closed a substantial financing round with a new investor at a significant premium to the previous financing round which closed in June 2010 and from which SPARK's previous valuation was derived. As a consequence, the value attributed to SPARK's stake, which will be included in the Company's results for the year ended 31 March 2012, has increased from £4.5m to £11.0m - a rise of £6.6m or 148% of the previous value. As part of this funding round (having been an investor for 5 years) and in-line with its investing policy, SPARK has taken the opportunity to sell-down a portion of its stake in NOTHS and has received consideration of £0.8m for selling 7.3% of its stake. Following this sell-down and new outside investment in NOTHS, SPARK's shareholding has reduced to 16.2% of NOTHS' equity capital, equivalent to a value of £10.2m at the current valuation.

http://www.investegate.co.uk/Article.aspx?id=201205180700166254D

FUND ACTIVITY Sensing at the beginning of the year that momentum was nowhere to be found on the diamond market, DCC's Board decided to slightly raise cash levels in January by selling one of the stones bought in October, with a 10% profit on the purchase price. Trade at dealers' level subsequently trickled to a virtual halt, preventing new sensible arbitrages, and the Board therefore opted to retain its relatively high cash position (around 11.5% at the end of the period), which will enable the Fund to take advantage of a meaningful opportunity whenever that arises. Despite the fact that investment activity was dramatically hindered by very poor trading liquidity, the Fund's NAV nevertheless slightly increased over the period from 7.20 to 7.25, a gain of 0.69%. This outperformance, albeit slight, ultimately reflects the aforementioned price strength of top quality fancy coloured stones.

MARKET COMMENT The period extending from January till the end of April 2012 was certainly one of the quietest ever witnessed in the diamond market. This extreme quietness is very much apparent in the performances of the various diamond indices: The PolishedPrices Diamond Overall index decreased over the period by a fairly insignificant 1.8%, while the Composite Rough Diamond Index returned a slightly better but equally unimpressive 2.6%. Moreover, performances alongside various diamond sizes confirmed this sheer lack of dynamics: the RAPI indices for 0.30, 0.50, 1.00 and 3.00 carats returned 1.4, 0.7, -2.9 and -1.6%, respectively, over the period. This contrasts strikingly both with 2011 price patterns and the current volatility of diamond-related stocks (e.g., Petra diamond was up a staggering 35% over the period, before - quite revealingly - losing most of those gains in the first two weeks of May!). The objective lack of global macroeconomic visibility at this stage and the fact that the diamond market needed to take a breather after, by all accounts, a very positive 2011 vintage are probably the two main factors that explain diamonds' quiet performance. But this has by no means been synonymous with bearishness yet: first, sentiment remains constructive overall, as was quite apparent at the Hong Kong International Jewellery and BaselWorld Shows; besides, this constructive stance is firmly rooting itself in ongoing cautious supply from the major miners (De Beer's production decreased 16% in Q1 on a year-on-year basis). Second, prices recorded at auctions remain very high indeed, especially for top fancy coloured stones, e.g., an emerald-cut 8.01-carat Fancy Vivid Blue sold in April at Sotheby's Hong Kong for USD 1 595 000 per carat, close to a world record, while a 23.03-carat Fancy Vivid Yellow cushion sold for USD 81 400 per carat at the April Sotheby's New York sale. All in all, trade may well be disappointingly sluggish at dealers' level but the market still clearly demonstrates an underlying strength and stamina.

http://www.investegate.co.uk/Article.aspx?id=201205180700105750D

Menzies Distribution is trading ahead of last year after a positive first four months. Monday to Friday newspaper revenues have continued to be positive driven by cover price growth, with weekend titles performing largely as expected. Overall magazine sales are broadly in line with our expectations although sales in the weekly magazine category continue to be disappointing. Year on year sales of Sticker collections are ahead following the release of stickers relating to Euro 2012. The evolution of the branch network is on track with rationalisation plans in the Scottish central belt continuing and further changes proposed in Yorkshire and the East of England. Projected efficiencies following the implementation of SAP are being delivered and this, together with other cost saving initiatives leave the division well on track to deliver its targeted savings for the year. Plans are in place for the logistical challenges that will be encountered during the London Olympics, but we expect that sales will receive a short term boost leading up to and for the duration of the Games. John Menzies plc remains financially sound. There has been no material change to the Group's financial circumstances since the announcement of the Preliminary Results in March and we remain well placed to deliver sustainable earnings growth.

INTERIM MANAGEMENT STATEMENT In advance of its Annual General Meeting today, John Menzies plc, is issuing an Interim Management Statement in accordance with its obligations under Section 4.3 of the Disclosure and Transparency Rules for the period from 1 January 2012 and is based on trading results for the four months ended 30 April 2012. John Menzies plc has made a positive start to the year, trading in line with the Board's expectations. Trading at Menzies Aviation is ahead of last year, excluding start up costs associated with contract gains. In March this year, the division was awarded a five year contract by British Airways to handle some 19,500 flights per annum out of Manchester, Edinburgh and Glasgow. This new contract, together with gains from FlyBe announced previously, represent significant wins and reinforce our belief that our superior safety record and customer service is winning and retaining customers. Across the rest of our network, while some contracts were lost due to airline failure, net contract gain momentum has continued to be positive. Our cargo forwarding business, AMI, which tends to do well during market downturns, is performing above expectations as it benefits from its strong buying power with airlines and its investment in new routes to market. Overall, year to date like for like ground handling volumes are up 2% (absolute 5%) as the underlying business continued to perform well. Like for like cargo volumes declined by 7% but absolute volume was up 4% reflecting the annualisation of contracts won in the prior year. Against a backdrop of global uncertainty, some of our markets remain challenging and currency impacts, particularly in Europe, are difficult to predict. However, our strategy of focussing on attractive airlines in attractive markets where we can grow our business together with financially stable, expanding airlines remains constant.

http://www.investegate.co.uk/Article.aspx?id=20120518070045P56C3

http://www.edisoninvestmentresearch.co.uk/researchreports/Ricardo170512qv.pdf

http://www.edisoninvestmentresearch.co.uk/researchreports/Stratec170512qv.pdf

Tullett Prebon: UBS upgrades from sell to neutral, target upped from 275p to 290p.

Oriel Securities upgrades JKX Oil & Gas from add to buy.

Bob Ivell, Executive Chairman, commented: "We have remained firmly on the front foot with a relentless focus on actions that will drive the medium and long term success of the business. We are continuing to deliver a resilient operating performance, maintaining the roll-out of our industry-leading brands and progressing our major business change programme. I am pleased with the progress being made to appoint a new CEO and further Non-Executive Directors and look forward to being able to make an announcement at the appropriate time. Despite challenging trading conditions, we remain confident that we can deliver a full year result in line with expectations."

Resilient operating performance; business transformation programme underway Financial performance - Retained Estatea revenue growth of 6.3% to £969m, with like-for-likeb growth of 2.7% - Retained Estatea operating profit up 1.5% to £138m before exceptional items, with net operating marginc down 0.7 percentage points as a result of inflationary cost increases in energy and food - Exceptional operating costs of £20m include £14m of business and systems restructuring costs, delivering annualised savings of £10m - Adjusted earnings per shared up 10.6% to 12.5p after lower interest and tax charges - Net cash flow of £12m after expansionary capital and exceptional items - Net debt of £1.9bn representing 4.6 times EBITDAe Statutory results - Profit before tax down £1m to £42m - Basic earnings per share down 0.3p to 8.8p Brand roll-out - 35 new site openings and 7 conversions in the period with expansionary capex of £42m - 200th Harvester opened, a major milestone for the brand - EBITDA returns of 17% achieved on expansionary capex invested over the last two years Strategic progress - Business transformation programme underway, simplifying our support functions and sharpening focus on guest service throughout all areas of the business - IT infrastructure upgraded, laying the foundation for technological enhancements including wi-fi rollout and a faster menu development cycle - Service quality enhanced through increased investment in site-level operations

http://www.investegate.co.uk/Article.aspx?id=201205180700146231D

Tempus still think Invensys is worth a punt if you can stomach risk. A foul-up over contracts to help build eight nuclear plants in China cost the firm £60m in profits in the financial year to the end of March but the company appears to have taken this on the chin and the stock gained yesterday. The argument for a buy is that there may well be an offer for Invensys from the likes of Siemens or GE, but as Tempus points out, who knows when? For the faint of heart this is a time to sell, for the brave, Invensys is a hold.

In the Times, Tempus likes pub and brewing company Marston’s, which is behind the Pitcher and Piano chain, but also has hundreds of tenanted pubs and makes Hobgoblin beer. Profits reported yesterday were up 14.7% on the prior year after the first six months of the year, although like-for-like sales dropped in April because of the weather. Marston’s’ strategy is to build new pubs as opposed to making purchases - it gets good returns from this and the stock is only at around 7.7 times 2012 forecast earnings, with a yield at 6%. Not a bad shout although Tempus, perhaps mindful of Eurozone meltdown, is wary of consumer focused investments.

Questor in the Telegraph still holds a candle for National Grid, which manages electricity transmission across the UK, while also having interests in the US. The big question is how much the power regulator Ofgem will let it charge its customers in the next regulatory period, but the firm generated profits ahead of expectations in the financial year to the end of March, trades at 12.2 times forward earnings and yields around 6%. Questor says hold until Ofgem’s announcement in July.

Group Performance The Group is performing well amid continued uncertainty globally and weak market conditions. Despite the ongoing challenges posed by the current market, the Group is strategically focussed, financially sound and continuing to make progress. On 29th March, we announced that we had signed an agreement for the sale of the entire International Division (Segment) to AnaCap Financial Partners II LP for £70m (€88m). The agreement for sale is subject to the Shareholders approval and regulatory consent. The regulatory process is underway and the circular is being prepared and will issue in order to allow shareholders to vote in advance of the AGM. We believe that there is a compelling strategic logic for this transaction as it provides financial flexibility and a clearly focused advisory and administration business in the UK and Ireland.