Member Info for mulledwine

http://www.investegate.co.uk/Article.aspx?id=20111017070000H5112

Adrian Whitfield, Chief Executive of Yule Catto, said: "We are delighted with the acquisition of QP, which supports our strategy of increasing sales into Asia and other developing economies. QP's assets complement our existing plants in Malaysia and Vietnam, which are operating at or near to capacity."

Acquisition Yule Catto is pleased to announce the acquisition of Quality Polymer Sdn Bhd ("QP"), a Malaysian aqueous polymer producer, for a consideration of £10M (cash and debt free). This acquisition will allow Yule Catto to expand its South East Asian production and sales of acrylic and vinylic polymer dispersions for the adhesives, building products and coating sectors. QP employs 30 staff at its factory located close to Yule Catto's existing plant in Pasir Gudang. The vendor is Nippon Paint Malaysia. Quality Polymer has historic annual sales of some £10M. It is expected that the acquisition will be earnings enhancing in financial year 2012. Following the acquisition, QP will operate as a subsidiary of Yule Catto, directly owned by the Group's 70% subsidiary, Revertex Malaysia SB.

http://www.investegate.co.uk/Article.aspx?id=201110170820122781Q

Trading Statement and Notice of Results Dart Group PLC, the aviation and distribution Group, updates the market on trading for the first half of the financial year ending 31 March 2012 in its principal businesses, Jet2.com, the northern UK based leisure airline, Jet2holidays.com, the ATOL protected holiday operation, and Fowler Welch, one of the UK's leading logistics providers. Despite the challenging economic environment, Jet2.com has had a satisfactory summer, with passenger growth of 32% to 3.2m in the 6 months to 30 September 2011. Load factors have increased by over 2% to almost 90% but yields have been under pressure. Margins are below last year principally as a result of higher fuel costs. Our ATOL protected holiday operation, Jet2holidays.com, continues to grow strongly, meeting customer demand for attractively priced package holidays from local airports and will take more than 200,000 customers on holiday this year. Our distribution business, Fowler Welch, which specialises in the distribution of chilled and ambient foods on behalf of leading supermarkets and their suppliers, continues to deliver leading customer service. Revenues have grown in line with the Board's expectations, although the business has also experienced some pressure on margins. Overall, the Group's profit before taxation for the first half of the year will be ahead of the same period in the prior year, with a similar level of losses expected in the second half of the year. The Board still hopes to meet market expectations for the current year. The Group intends to announce its interim results on 17 November 2011.

http://www.investegate.co.uk/Article.aspx?id=201110170700092438Q

erchant Securities" or the "Company") Update on possible offer On 31 August 2011, Merchant Securities announced that it had received a preliminary approach in relation to a possible offer for the Company from Sanlam UK Limited ("Sanlam"), a wholly owned subsidiary of Sanlam Limited, a leading South African Financial Services group. On 19 September 2011, the Company made an announcement in which it was stated that, in accordance with Rule 2.6(a) of the City Code on Takeovers and Mergers ("the Code"), Sanlam must, by no later than 5.00 p.m. on 17 October 2011, either announce a firm intention to make an offer for the Company in accordance with Rule 2.7 of the Code or announce that it does not intend to make an offer, in which case the announcement will be treated as a statement to which Rule 2.8 of the Code applies. It was further stated that this deadline will only be extended with the consent of the Panel in accordance with Rule 2.6(c) of the Code. The Board of Merchant Securities has today requested that the Panel, pursuant to Rule 2.6(c) of the Code, extend the current deadline of 17 October 2011, as set out above. Although discussions in relation to a possible offer for the Company by Sanlam are at an advanced stage, certain aspects of the possible transaction need to be concluded before Sanlam can announce a firm intention to make an offer. In light of the progress that has been made in relation to the possible offer, the Panel has agreed that Sanlam must by no later than 5.00 p.m. on 31 October 2011, either announce a firm intention to make an offer for the Company in accordance with Rule 2.7 of the Code or announce that it does not intend to make an offer, in which case the announcement will be treated as a statement to which Rule 2.8 of the Code applies. This deadline will only be extended with the consent of the Panel in accordance with Rule 2.6(c) of the Code. Although discussions in relation to a possible offer by Sanlam are at an advanced stage, shareholders should be aware that there can be no certainty that an offer from Sanlam will be forthcoming.

http://www.investegate.co.uk/Article.aspx?id=201110170700082181Q

Nik Philpot, Chief Executive Officer of Eckoh, commented: "Addison Lee has established a tremendous reputation for technical innovation combined with high quality customer service, so we're delighted that they've selected Eckoh as their exclusive partner for speech automation. We're looking forward to partnering with them over the next 3 years and providing a range of services that helps enhance their reputation through technical excellence and customer satisfaction." Peter Ingram, IT Director of Addison Lee, added: "We have been really impressed with how responsive and flexible Eckoh have been to our needs and how well they've delivered on our requirements, and this is why we've decided to extend our relationship with them until 2014. Over the last year the automated solution has helped us manage our incoming calls much more effectively, which is particularly useful in a business like ours where call levels can increase massively and unpredictably. The service has given our cash customers an alternative way of booking over the phone and we're looking forward to offering the same flexibility to our account customers."

Contract Extension with Addison Lee Eckoh plc (AIM: ECK), the UK's leading provider of customer service solutions using speech recognition, is pleased to announce it has entered into an exclusive contract with Addison Lee to provide automated speech recognition services until 2014. Addison Lee is Europe's largest minicab service with over 3,000 premium minicabs, taking approximately 150,000 calls a week and has more than 28,000 corporate accounts including 50% of the FTSE 100. Eckoh announced an initial two year agreement, on the 15 November 2010, to undertake a pilot project providing a telephone booking service to allow Addison Lee's cash customers to book a minicab without necessarily having to speak to a contact centre agent. Using Eckoh's advanced speech recognition technology the service allows a cash customer to provide the time they need a cab and the pickup and drop off locations, and the details of their journey are then confirmed to their mobile by text. Eckoh also use any previous journey information for that customer to improve the accuracy and speed of the system. This service launched just before Christmas in 2010 and helped Addison Lee to manage more efficiently the time of the year when calls to their contact centre are at their highest, eliminating the need for callers to queue for an agent. As Christmas 2011 approaches the new contract will see the automated phone service being extended to allow Addison Lee's 28,000 account customers to also book journey's using the Eckoh solution. Eckoh are also working with Addison Lee on other services that will launch in 2012.

http://www.investegate.co.uk/Article.aspx?id=201110170700092292Q

To date, 57 drill holes have been completed over a total of 8,600 metres in the upper levels of the underground ore zones and the results are consistent and in many areas exceed the previous geological and mineral resource modeling. The assays were carried out in the Altai Ken-Bayitu laboratory with independent verification to be undertaken by the Alex Stewart Group in Karabalta, Kyrgyzstan. The Sekisovskoye deposit comprises approximately ten large mineralised zones intermingled with numerous narrow and sinuous mineralisation zones. The zones of mineralisation show wide variation in thickness from 0.35 metres to 30 metres, with a weighted average of 5.5 metres. The zones display a localised pinch and swell structure, with variable gold and silver content. The large average width makes for easier and lower cost mining. The ore body to be mined in 2012 is ore body number 11 with a width of 10-30m, and an average grade of 5.5g/t Au. Recent drilling in Q3 has been centred around this mineralisation in preparation for mining in late Q4 2011. The results of the drilling programme will provide the basis for the upgraded modeling of Sekisovskoye and for the excavation schedules and detailed mine engineering that is being undertaken by Golders Associates UK, and Canada. Upon completion of these studies late in 2011, Hambledon will be able to update its mineable reserve statement. Good progress has been in made in advancing the underground excavation works with extraction on target to commence in late Q4 2011. The trial mining areas will be treated in a batch manner through the mineral process plant to confirm gold and silver grades. Geological and rock mass characterisation will also take place to ensure that the mining operation advances in tandem with the sound engineering knowledge guiding the development of the project. This will enable production schedules to benefit from the lowest possible operational costs.

http://www.investegate.co.uk/Article.aspx?id=20111017070000Z4441

Geoff Davis, Non-executive Chairman of Medusa, commented: "The Co-O Mine drilling continues to deliver confirmation of the extent of this vein system. Following on from the new resource announced on 27 July 2011 of 1,960,000 ounces, we expect positive drill results to continue as drilling expands the vein system. Drilling is continuing with six surface rigs and five underground rigs."

http://www.investegate.co.uk/Article.aspx?id=201110170715002537Q

dotDigital BUY 13/10/2011 Miles Nolan Digital marketing specialist dotDigital (DOTD) has reported a stellar set of results for the year to June, which reveal a jump in pre-tax profits of 140%. Croydon-based dotDigital has five brands, the largest being dotMailer, which has a particular focus on monetising the use of email marketing. As clients look to maximise their marketing spend, the AIM counter is clearly reaping the benefits. It is now sending out 130m emails each month, a rate that is growing rapidly – indeed, at the end of September it sent 10m emails in just one day. The AIM counter has been investing in its infrastructure, so with good operational gearing it should be able to push more volume through, without a major increase in costs. It targets a broad spread of market segments, and last year boosted client numbers by 30% to 4,500, of which the top 20 account for less than 15% of total revenues. Monthly billings make up two-thirds of revenues, with little in the way of bad debts due to a raft of clients paying by direct debit. Sales jumped 49% to £9m, but the profit line of £3.3m was flattered as dotDigital added back £1.1m from the likely final payment due to search engine optimisation (SEO) business Netcallidus – an acquisition made last year. A number of new initiatives are under way, including a rival product to 'Survey Monkey', an online surveys operation. The product is on trial with 500 customers. If successful, dotDigital sees big upside, as it has the ability to integrate it with its clever use of email marketing. Moreover, with net cash doubling to £2.6m, it is well placed to target bolt-on acquisitions. Chief executive Peter Simmonds says 'we have enjoyed a strong start to the current year, with revenues significantly ahead'. Due to ongoing investment, broker Charles Stanley predicts a flat 2012 pre-tax profit of £2.2m (after stripping out the one-off gain this year), producing EPS of 0.59p. This is a great little business, enjoying excellent margins, and strong demand for its products. Buy.

http://www.growthcompany.co.uk/recommendations/1661568/dotdigital.thtml

No - Im out of DXNS - having to rush out - hope you have a lucrative day

Hargreaves Lansdown has proved itself to be an impressive business down the years but it is fair to say that the investment manager now faces some powerful headwinds, according to the Investment Column in the Independent. First it should be said that the trading update last night was very much what we have come to expect from the business. Despite the all-pervasive gloom surrounding the economy – and the stock market – Hargreaves still took in £680m of client funds for the three months ending 30 September. That is a 24 per cent increase on the first quarter of 2010. Meanwhile revenues were up 27 per cent to £57.2m while client numbers rose by 8,000 to 388,000. The trouble, as the company has noted, is that current conditions mean that clients have started to put off making investment decisions. We said take profits in February at 570p, which was the right move. With the shares trading on 24 times full-year forecast earnings (albeit with a decent prospective yield of 3.5 per cent rising to 4.6 per cent) now is not the time to jump back in. Avoid, suggests the paper.

Apologies for last posts - on the wrong Hargreaves board