Member Info for mulledwine

Tempus in the Times is uncharacteristically effusive over engineering investor Melrose. To be fair, the company consistently beats expectations by buying under-performing companies, making them ship-shape and flogging them. With revenues up 11% over 2010 and pre-tax profits flying 32% ahead, you can see where Tempus is going. The main point is that by offering a very generous dividend policy, Melrose has handed back roughly the £785m investors paid for it at its initial public offering in 2003, and is now worth £1.5bn. Buy.

Shore Capital kept its "sell" stance on RSM Tenon (TNO) following a disappointing first half performance from the accountancy firm, with revenues falling by 9.3% to 107.8 million pounds in the six months ended 31st December. The broker believes the firm's current net debt stands at around 80 million pounds, which is somewhat concerning considering its total debt facility stands at 88 million pounds. As a result, Shore believe the firm will have to dispose of some divisions in order to raise funds.

Panmure Gordon reiterated its "sell" recommendation for Home Retail Group (HOME) with a 60p target price and cut its pre-tax profits targets for 2013 and 2014 by 34% and 45% respectively. The broker is disappointed that the Argos and Homebase owner has not begun an accelerated store closure programme, which it believes will damage margins. On the broker's reduced forecasts the shares trade on a prospective multiple of 17.2 times for 2013, offering a yield of just 2.9%

KOFAX TO WEBCAST INVESTOR BREAKOUT SESSION AT ITS TRANSFORM EVENT Live Webcast and Replay Available March 12 IRVINE, CA, MARCH 8, 2012--Kofax plc (LSE: KFX), a leading provider of capture enabled business process management (BPM) solutions, today announced it will provide a live webcast of its investor breakout session at Transform, its annual customer and partner event, from 10:00 am - 12:00 pm PST on Monday, March 12. A replay of the event will be available by 3:00 pm PST that same day. The session will include presentations on the strategic value of capture enabled BPM as well as a customer presentation about how the organization is using Kofax Capture and Kofax TotalAgility today. The live webcast and replay will be available at http://www.kofax.com/ir/presentations.asp.

http://www.investegate.co.uk/Article.aspx?id=201203080900009143Y

Commenting on today's announcement, Laurie Hunter, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, said: "2011 was ultimately a year of great progress for Madagascar Oil, with the Company continuing to develop our principal asset, the Tsimiroro field in Madagascar. Tsimiroro will continue to occupy our operational focus in the near term, and we were delighted when Netherland, Sewell & Associates recently revised upwards the Best Estimate Contingent oil-in-place number for the block by 75% to 1.7 billion barrels. "After a challenging year, we are poised to see first oil production in Madagascar in 2012. This will be an historic event in that it will represent the first sustained production in the country. We are delighted to be working with the Government to play a significant role in this potentially world class development."

Highlights Financial Results: Ø Net loss for the year was $13.2 million compared to a loss of $11.6 million in 2010 Ø Capital expenditure amounted to $16.8 million (2010: $12.4 million) Ø The Group ended the year with $40.5 million of unrestricted cash and cash equivalents (2010: $67.5 million) and a further $2.6 million of restricted cash (2010: $1.8 million) Ø The Group remains debt free, other than trade payables and accrued expenses in the ordinary course of business, which ended the year at $5.4 million (2010: $2.8 million) Ø Post year end share placing in February 2012 raising gross proceeds of US$26.5 million Operational: Ø Dispute over Tsimiroro resolved in June 2011, with the Government of Madagascar acknowledging the validity of the Tsimiroro production sharing contract and approving the 2011-2012 budget Ø Netherland, Sewell & Associates revised upwards the Best Estimate Contingent oil-in-place number for the Tsimiroro block by 75% to 1.7 billion barrels Ø Construction of the Tsimiroro nine pattern steam flood pilot project began in July 2011 Ø First oil production from the Tsimiroro steam flood pilot project expected in the fourth quarter of 2012 Ø Granted a modification of our work programme at Bemolanga to shift the focus to exploration activity for one year, with an option to extend this exploration phase further by two years

http://www.investegate.co.uk/Article.aspx?id=201203080703139287Y

The Italian government has pledged to investigate how a BG Group project in the south of the country was held up for 11 years by a nightmare of bureaucratic red tape. The British firm announced this week that it was shelving plans to build a liquefied natural gas (LNG) import terminal near Brindisi, in Puglia, after more than a decade of trying in vain to acquire the necessary permits from the Italian authorities. The company said it had spent €250m on developing the project, which would have created hundreds of jobs in an area which suffers from high unemployment. The withdrawal prompted much hand-wringing in Italy about the obstacles the country often puts in the way of foreign investment, The Telegraph explains.

Hamish Purdey, CEO of FFastFill said: "We are pleased to have been selected by INTL FCStone as the supplier for full end-to-end connectivity for the London Metal Exchange trading, clearing and settlement and look forward to working with them to build a successful base metals brokerage business." Philip Smith, Chief Executive of INTL FCStone (Europe) Ltd, commented: "Our adoption of this technology further demonstrates INTL FCStone's commitment to providing our customers the best possible trading & risk management platform. We're thrilled about what FFastFill brings to the table and what it means to our ability to meet our customers' needs."

FFastFill signs INTL FCStone for front, middle and back office base metals trading, clearing and settlement FFastFill plc (LSE: FFA), the leading provider of Software as a Service ("SaaS") to the global derivatives community, today announced that INTL FCStone (Europe) Limited, formerly Ambrian Commodities, the metals futures trading arm of Ambrian Capital plc, has signed for both its Trading Pro, SEALS and Eclipse applications for execution, matching and settlement. The addition of INTL FCStone to the FFastFill Horizon network takes the number of category one and two members accessing FFastFill services to 22 members for the London Metal Exchange and FFastFill continues to be a leading provider of technology to the base metals markets. Built on FFastFill's highly resilient and scalable architecture, the front to back suite of applications is delivered from FFastFill's low latency, high availability global network which provides access to over sixty trading and clearing venues across a range of asset classes.

http://www.investegate.co.uk/Article.aspx?id=201203080700169169Y

Jefferies has reiterated its buy rating and 230p target price for defence technology group Cobham, saying that the firm's full-year results appear 'robust and encouraging'. Jefferies says that if worst comes to worst, Cobham's strong balance sheet and cash flows gives it scope to reduce the dividend cover or to do further share buy-backs. "We believe that Cobham will ultimately strike a balance between investing for future growth, bolt-on acquisitions and a return of capital to shareholders. We sense that sentiment towards Cobham remains quite negative, but that could change rapidly, in our view."

Shares in car insurance group Admiral raced 11 percent ahead on Wednesday morning following the release of its full-year figures, with Nomura giving a lift after saying that the results give comfort on prospective forecasts. Importantly, Nomura says that the ultimate loss ratio (ULR) of 74% was in line with its forecast and slightly better than consensus. It also highlights that claims trends are appearing to stabilise. "The focus of today’s results was primarily on claims experience, and we feel there have been encouraging developments in this regard. All else being equal, the slightly better than consensus ULR for 2011 should mean earnings upgrades," the broker said. Nomura has reiterated its buy recommendation and 1,100p target price following this morning's statement.

Commenting on these results, Stephen Wiener, Chief Executive Officer of Cineworld Group plc, said : "In 2011 we once more increased revenues and profits, showing the continuing appeal of cinema even in difficult economic times, and claimed the title of number one operator in the combined UK and Irish market for the first time. I'm delighted that we are able to report an increase in EPS of 6.1% and a proposed full year dividend of 11p. In the year we continued our expansion with a new cinema in Leigh, invested in options for future growth including a new premium concept cinema in Cheltenham, and installed our first IMAX screen in Edinburgh in late 2011." "This year's strong release schedule features many high profile sequels and takes into account the timing of the Olympics. We expect to complete our digital roll-out by the end of the summer, expand further with a new seven screen cinema in Aldershot in the fourth quarter and continue our investment in innovation to improve the customer experience. We will shortly be opening two additional IMAX screens, in Sheffield and Crawley, as well as trialing our first interactive D-Box seats, in Glasgow. These measures will help maintain our market-leading position and underpin growth in 2012 and beyond."

http://www.investegate.co.uk/Article.aspx?id=201203080700139261Y

Italy - Guendalina Gas Field (MOG interest 20%; ENI 80% and Operator) Announcement of Gas Sale Contract The Board of Mediterranean Oil & Gas Plc (AIM: MOG), the central Mediterranean focused producer, developer and explorer of oil and gas assets, announces that its subsidiary Medoilgas Italia SpA ("the Company") has signed a gas sales contract with Repower Italia SpA covering the entirety of the Company's net gas production from the Guendalina gas field. The term of the contract is one 'thermal' year, commencing from 1st October 2012, and is automatically renewed by a further year unless terminated by either party.

http://www.investegate.co.uk/Article.aspx?id=201203080700109040Y

Shore Capital reiterated its "buy" recommendation for Hydrogen (HYDG) after the recruitment agency performed in-line with expectations in 2011. The broker was pleasantly surprised by the firm's 5% dividend increase to 4.3p, reflecting an improved net debt position of 0.8 million pounds from 1.4 million pounds at the end of 2010. As a result of the strong performance, Shore raised its adjusted earnings forecasts to 12.6p for 2012, rising to 16.5p in 2013, putting the shares on a prospective multiple of 6.7 times, falling to 5.2 times

Seymour Pierce upgraded its stance on Asos (ASC) from "sell" to "hold" and raised its target price to 1,700p from 1,300p. The broker upped its pre-tax profit forecast for 2013 from 52 million pounds to 57 million pounds, although maintained its concerns over the strength of the online clothing retailer's brand internationally. The broker also noted interest from Danish retailer Bestseller and believes it will look to raise the level of its holding in Asos to 30%.