Member Info for mulledwine

Gold Programme Following the successful identification of an area of anomalous gold mineralization in the project area in 2009-2010, an attempt was made to locate a suitable joint venture partner to share the risk of ongoing exploration. With no suitable partner found, Spitfire continued with further gold exploration during 2011 as part of the minimum expenditure requirements of the licences. The gold exploration program consisted of drilling further reconnaissance holes over theoretical targets in each of the licences, although one area was omitted due to logistical concerns. The results were disappointing in that most of the anomalous indicators were found to be insignificant. Given these results, it was decided that Spitfire should discontinue further gold exploration in the area.

Introduction Spitfire and its subsidiaries (together "the Group") recorded a loss before tax for the six months ended the 31st December 2011 of A$211,889 (2010: A$189,684). With cash balances of A$7.5m, the Group has benefited from interest receipts of A$181,000 in the period. Spitfire has continued to monitor the technologies available for processing the Salmon Gums lignite into a saleable gas or distillate. Several proposals have been investigated during the year but the Board is yet to be convinced that any are commercially viable. However, as world fuel prices continue to rise, several technologies are emerging. The Company remains convinced that being patient until a suitable process is developed is the prudent course of action. Accordingly, Spitfire has continued conducting work to maintain the exploration licences in good standing while looking at other investment proposals and maintaining its cash funds. Several new proposals were progressed during the year but they either failed to meet the Company's investment criteria or failed to come to fruition.

http://www.investegate.co.uk/Article.aspx?id=201203090700119665Y

such Companies are often overlooked by many an investor - I need to widen the net also - looks good here for this year too

Goodwin PLC today announces its third quarter Interim Management Statement for the period 1st November 2011 to 31st January 2012. The consolidated, abbreviated and unaudited income statement below for the nine months' trading ending 31st January 2012 shows revenue of £83,877,000 and profit before taxation of £8,918,000. The order input so far this financial year is more than 20% up as compared to last year and the Board are optimistic that the Group's performance in the last quarter of this financial year will be better than last year.

http://www.investegate.co.uk/Article.aspx?id=201203091008470491Z

Xanth - howdy back - the news today - although it looks potentially devastating ie possible loss of licences - its more than likely a mechanism to try and remove the Murdoch name and replace them with a new face and try and repair the trust.- however Im sure they will always be somewhere near to pull the strings!

Commenting on the results, Tim Martin, the Chairman of J D Wetherspoon plc, said: "The outcome for the first half of the financial year was reasonable, given the pressures on the UK consumer. As previously stated, the main challenges for the company, in this financial year of 53 trading weeks, will be the continuing cost pressures resulting from government legislation, including further increases to excise duty, business rates and carbon tax. Sales since our 18 January 2012 pre-close statement have been disappointing, with like-for-like sales in the six weeks to 4 March declining by 0.7% and total sales increasing by 6.1%. As previously stated, we expect the operating profit margin before exceptionals to decline in the second half of this financial year due to continuing cost increases, with the current quarter particularly affected. We are, therefore, slightly more cautious about the potential outcome for the current financial year."

FINANCIAL HIGHLIGHTS Ÿ Revenue £569.4m (2011: £525.4m) +8.4% Ÿ Like-for-like sales +2.1% Ÿ Free cash flow per share 27.5p (2011: 16.9p) +62.7% Ÿ Free cash flow £34.9m (2011: £22.7m) +53.7% Before Before exceptional items: Ÿ Operating profit £53.1m (2011: £49.6m) +7.2% Ÿ Profit before tax £35.8m (2011: £32.2m) +11.1% Ÿ Earnings per share 20.2p (2011: 16.5p) +22.4% Interim Interim dividend 4p (2011: 4p) maintained

http://www.investegate.co.uk/Article.aspx?id=201203090700100188Z

Tempus also thinks shares in shipping services firm Clarkson will struggle to leave port. It is a “proxy” for world trade says the column but that is no particular reason to jump on board: leave.

Stocks to watch Savings, investments and insurance giant Old Mutual saw a strong increase in adjusted profits in 2011 despite a fall in funds under management and net client cash flows. Adjusted operating pre-tax profit jumped 14% to £1,515m in the 12 months ended December 31st.

Philip Rogerson, Chairman, commented: "I am pleased to report that Aggreko has delivered another strong performance in 2011, with underlying growth in revenues of 22% and in trading profit of 26%. The Group also achieved solid headline growth despite the fact that 2010 was an extraordinary year for our revenues from major sporting events, with the FIFA World Cup, the Vancouver Winter Olympics and the Asian Games together accounting for about £87 million of revenue in 2010. The strength of our performance is tribute to the breadth and diversity of the Group and the continuing demand we see in all our key markets." Rupert Soames, Chief Executive, commented: "The business has had a strong start to the year and the growth rate in both International Power Projects and the Local business has accelerated. We are planning to increase the rate of investment in fleet and we now expect that our fleet capital expenditure in 2012 is likely to be about £30 million higher than we anticipated at the end of December, at around £350 million. We are confident that the business will deliver strong growth in the first half of 2012; at this early stage of the year, we are more cautious about the second half of 2012, when, in any case, comparatives will be tougher. Overall we continue to believe that we will deliver another year of good growth in 2012."

Highlights: · Underlying Group revenues up 22% and trading profit up 26%. Good growth from both International Power Projects and the Local business. · Strong performance from International Power Projects; underlying revenues up 25% and trading profit up 33%. o Over 1,200 MW of new work won; Asia and Latin America particularly strong o Closing order book up 21% on prior year; 14 months of revenue at current run rate. · Local businesses underlying revenues up 21% and trading profit up 15% o North America performed extremely well; strategy to develop oil & gas working well o Revenues up in both Europe & Middle East; Middle East profits impacted by project mix o Aggreko International's Local business underlying revenues up 37%; strategy of expanding our footprint in fast-growing markets is delivering strong growth; 16 new locations opened or acquired in 2011. · Over £200m paid out to investors and capital investment increased by 55% to £418m.

http://www.investegate.co.uk/Article.aspx?id=201203090700140190Z

Numis downgrades RPS Group from buy to add, target price raised from 227p to 255p.

JP Morgan Cazenove upgrades Cobham from underperform to neutral, target price raised from 189p to 224p.

Roger Whiteside, Chief Executive Officer of Punch Taverns plc, commented: "Punch has a clear operational plan to return the core estate to growth in the medium-term and extract maximum value from our non-core assets. Profitability in the first 28 weeks of the financial year has been broadly in line with management expectations. While we remain cautious on the near-term consumer environment, we have strong plans in place and expect to benefit from the Queen's Diamond Jubilee, the UEFA European football championship and the Olympic Games in the second half of the year. In the current difficult climate we have worked hard to contain costs and as a result we remain on track to meet our full year profit expectations."

ON TARGET TO MEET OUR FULL YEAR PROFIT EXPECTATIONS Trading summary · Growth in average net income per pub across the full estate of 0.8% · Regionally mixed, stronger performance in the South of England · Core estate: Like-for-like net income -2.9% (-2.1% 28 weeks to 3 March 2012) · Disposal proceeds of £62 million, slightly ahead of book value · Non-core estate: Like-for-like net income -10.2% (-9.7% 28 weeks to 3 March 2012) Average net income per pub across the full estate of 4,790 pubs increased by 0.8% over the half year, benefiting from the ongoing disposal of non-core assets.

http://www.investegate.co.uk/Article.aspx?id=201203090700140164Z