Member Info for mulledwine

TUESDAY 5 JULY 2011 Persimmon plc announces the following update ahead of its Half Year Results to 30 June 2011, which will be released on Tuesday 23 August 2011. Market conditions during the first half of the year have been stable allowing the business to focus on delivering improved operating margins, generating good levels of free cash flow and successfully securing residential consents on a number of strategic land parcels. During the first six months of 2011 we have legally completed 4,439 homes (2010: 4,657) with sales improving from the lower sales order book at the start of the year. As previously indicated we anticipate delivering a similar number of legal completions this year as in 2010, with an increase in volume in the second half over the prior year. Turnover for the first six months was c. £715 million. Sales rates continued to improve through the spring selling season. Since our Interim Management Statement in April the value of our private sales reservations is 6% higher than the same period last year. Our order book at 30 June 2011 is now ahead of the same point last year with forward sales at c. £725 million. This places us in a strong position for the second half. We are currently selling new homes from c. 380 sites and healthy visitor levels demonstrate that underlying demand is resilient. We have successfully opened 70 new sites in the first half of the year and have identified a further c. 70 sites for sales release during the second half. Cancellation rates continue to run at a low level of c. 17%. Underlying pricing remains firm for the year to date. Average selling price for the first half of the year was c. £162,000 (2010: £168,936) reflecting the legal completion of a greater proportion of smaller house types in the period. However, we anticipate that our average selling price for the full year will increase as we legally complete more detached house sales already included in our forward order book. We anticipate underlying operating margins for the first half, before exceptional items and goodwill charges, will show further improvement to c. 9.0% (H1 2010: 8.0%).

http://www.investegate.co.uk/Article.aspx?id=201107050700077521J

Charter to weld Brazilian group to ESAB Date: Tuesday 05 Jul 2011 LONDON (ShareCast) - Charter International, the engineer currently resisting the advances of its larger rival Melrose, has been on the acquisition trail itself, acquiring a shareholding in a Brazilian gas apparatus manufacturer. Charter’s welding, cutting and automation business ESAB is taking a 60% stake in Condor Equipamentos Industriais. This will help significantly expand ESAB’s revenues, by selling Condor’s products through ESAB's established distributor network and other sales channels in Brazil and other South American markets. ESAB had sales of £242.3m in South America in 2010. “This acquisition is in line with our strategy of growing ESAB's presence in emerging markets, which are already responsible for around one-half of ESAB revenues,” said Charter’s chairman Lars Emilson. “We believe that South America provides one of the major growth opportunities in the worldwide welding market over the coming years and that Condor, as a market leading gas apparatus manufacturer in Brazil, will contribute to ESAB's continued growth in the region." Charter last week rejected a 780p-a-share approach from Melrose saying it “substantially undervalues” the company.

Bill Oliver, chief executive of St. Modwen, commented: "We have achieved very strong results for the first half of the year in markets that continue to present challenges. Even in this market, our skilled regional teams have been able to drive income and valuation gains through active management and progressing sites through the planning process in London and across the UK. We are also seeing an increase in demand for developable residential land and we continue to progress our residential development programme both in-house and through joint ventures. "Our long term focus, track record of delivery, strong asset management skills and ability to secure new projects, either on our own behalf or in joint venture, give us continued confidence in both the results for the current financial year and our future growth."

Operational Highlights: · Contracts signed following the period end to develop a 135,000 sq ft office and production facility for Siemens in Lincoln. Further to the commercial developments already signed in the first half of the year this points to an increasingly secure development programme for 2011/2012. · Positive outlook for residential land with strong progress on the Persimmon joint venture, with construction at Wolverhampton now underway and detailed planning secured at Glan Llyn and Sunderland. Four further developments with Persimmon are expected to commence on site in the next 12 months. · Significant planning permissions secured at Longbridge, Birmingham; RAF Uxbridge and RAF Mill Hill; and in South Wales at Coed Darcy and for Swansea University's second campus. · Active portfolio management successfully generating value in flat market conditions. · Vacancy levels maintained at 12%.

STRONG FIRST HALF PERFORMANCE DRIVEN BY ACTIVE MANAGEMENT INITIATIVES HIGHLIGHTS St. Modwen Properties plc (LSE: SMP), the UK's leading regeneration specialist, announces half year results for the six months to 31 May 2011. Financial Highlights: · 40% increase in profit before tax to £37.4 million (H1 2010: £26.7 million). · 6% increase in NAV per share in first six months to 226p (Nov 2010: 213p). · Property valuations increased by £25 million, of which 96% or £24 million were achieved through active management. This represents an increase of 59% over the £15.1 million of valuation gains achieved in H1 2010. · 11% increase in development profits to £11.2 million (H1 2010: £10.1 million). · 2% increase in net rental income to £17.8 million (H1 2010: £17.4 million). · 10% increase in interim dividend to 1.1p per share.

http://www.investegate.co.uk/Article.aspx?id=201107050700077543J

3i Infrastructure has ample liquidity Date: Tuesday 05 Jul 2011 LONDON (ShareCast) - 3i Infrastructure, the infrastructure investment company, said its portfolio assets continue to perform well and are generating good income. Dividends and interest received from assets in the first quarter to 30 June 2011 totalled £19.8 million. Since 1 April, the group has raised £55m from the early redemption of investments into Thames Water and the sale of its debt tranche in NGW Arqiva. Its interim management statement also revealed a cash balance of £248.2 million. "The company has ample liquidity to invest in the current pipeline," revealed Peter Sedgwick, the group's chairman. The group also highlights the previously announced award of “preferred bidder status” for the Thameslink project in London. 3i is operating with Siemens Project Ventures and lnnisfree to deliver and maintain 1200 vehicles due for delivery in 2015. The shares edged up 0.30p to 121p in early trading on Tuesday.

Reckitt Benckiser rumours drive price higher Date: Tuesday 05 Jul 2011 LONDON (ShareCast) - Reckitt Benckiser, the maker of brands as diverse as Cillit Bang, Durex and Nurofen headache tablets, is being pushed higher on persistent rumours it's being lined up for a takeover. In early trading the firm was up 2% at 3,553.00p on speculation the US giant Procter & Gamble is considering a bid. As ever in this kind of situation, other names are being bandied about, including Reckitt's UK rival Unilever. The final price for any bid is rumoured to be anywhere between 4,000 and 5,000p a share but as yet there has been no official word from the firm itself. Reckitt Benckiser's share price took a dive in April when the company's long serving and highly rated Chief Executive Bart Becht announced he was to step down in September. He had been the highest paid Chief Executive of any FTSE-100 company, receiving over £90m in remuneration in 2009 The sense is that Becht's departure has changed the strategic outlook of Reckitt, as it looks to move on from his nearly 12 years at the helm.

Autonomy bags another contract Date: Tuesday 05 Jul 2011 LONDON (ShareCast) - Data search software giant Autonomy has bagged a contract with a global insurance company to license its Intelligent Data Operating Layer (IDOL) software. IDOLuses sophisticated pattern-matching techniques and probabilistic modelling to process digital information. The agreement has an expected value of about $20m (£12.4m) over the next few years, Autonomy said. The company, as is its normal practice, has not revealed the name of its customer due to client confidentiality. Autonomy caters to more than 20,000 companies globally, including financial services related firms like Citigroup, Deutsche Bank, Lloyds Banking Group, Bloomberg, Reuters, and the New York Stock Exchange, among others. Shares of the Cambridge-based company were trading up 0.8% at 1,752p in London.

Broker Peel Hunt expects 2011 pre-tax profits of £4.1m and EPS of 7.3p. Porvair is a quality business, with strong niche products that are largely regulatory driven. However, after the rally over recent months the shares now rate as a hold.

Porvair HOLD 27/06/2011 Miles Nolan Specialist filtration company Porvair (PRV) has pleased investors with better than expected interim results, driven by a recovery in its end markets. The metals filtration arm has benefited from the strengthening of the aluminium price, coupled with the development of new patented products which offer higher margins and are winning acceptance. A stronger US car market has helped drive demand in the iron foundry space, and higher airline passenger numbers have also helped. Porvair has a low-cost manufacturing plant in China, this doubled sales and achieved its first profit - expect this to continue, with the transfer of $1m of steel foundry filter business from the US. In the microfiltration division Porvair edged sales up 3% to £19m, within this aerospace revenue was up a useful 17%. It took record orders in the second quarter, with large deals signed in the nuclear and gasification markets. New products include a bioscience filtration offering, this filters at a molecular level and will be used in epigenetic research. Against a strong comparison, the Seal water analysis arm suffered a 9% fall in sales, however the current order book augurs well for the second half, with a number of orders due for delivery into China. Group pre-tax profits in the six months to May jumped 27% to £1.6m, as sales stepped up 5% to £31.1m. The order book has strengthened over the period, though Porvair will not be drawn on its current value. Strong cash flow has helped slash net debt by £5.4m to £8.9m and this will fall to nearer £7m by the year end, which leaves Porvair in a good position to finance an acquisition - most likely to be based in the US.

Bumi Resources Step-Up Acquisitions Further to the announcements made by the Company on 27 June 2011 and 30 June 2011, Bumi plc announces that applications have been made to the UK Listing Authority for 13,880,082 new Bumi Voting Ordinary Shares to be admitted to the premium listing segment of the Official List of the UK Listing Authority and to London Stock Exchange plc for 13,880,082 new Bumi Voting Ordinary Shares to be admitted to trading on the London Stock Exchange's main market for listed securities (together, "Admission"). It is expected Admission will become effective, and that dealings will commence, at 8.00 a.m., today, 5 July 2011. Capitalised terms not otherwise defined in this announcement have the meanings given to them in the Prospectus, Supplementary Prospectus and Second Supplementary Prospectus. For the purposes of the Financial Services Authority's Disclosure and Transparency Rules, upon admission on 5 July the total number of voting rights in the Company will be 149,759,460. The total number of Ordinary Shares will be 223,592,714 (of which 149,759,460 will be Bumi Voting Ordinary Shares and 73,833,254 will be Bumi Suspended Voting Ordinary Shares). The above total voting rights figure of 149,759,460 may be used by shareholders as the denominator for the calculations by which they will determine if they are required to notify their interest in, or a change to their interest in, the voting rights of the Company, under the Disclosure and Transparency Rules.

http://www.investegate.co.uk/Article.aspx?id=201107050700097715J

Commenting on the acquisition, Lars Emilson Chairman of Charter International plc said: "This acquisition is in line with our strategy of growing ESAB's presence in emerging markets, which are already responsible for around one-half of ESAB revenues. We believe that South America provides one of the major growth opportunities in the worldwide welding market over the coming years and that Condor, as a market leading gas apparatus manufacturer in Brazil, will contribute to ESAB's continued growth in the region."

Commenting on the acquisition, Lars Emilson Chairman of Charter International plc said: "This acquisition is in line with our strategy of growing ESAB's presence in emerging markets, which are already responsible for around one-half of ESAB revenues. We believe that South America provides one of the major growth opportunities in the worldwide welding market over the coming years and that Condor, as a market leading gas apparatus manufacturer in Brazil, will contribute to ESAB's continued growth in the region."

Acquisition expands Brazil gas apparatus capability Charter International plc ("Charter") announces that ESAB, its welding, cutting and automation business, has acquired a 60 per cent shareholding in Condor Equipamentos Industriais Ltda ("Condor"), a leading Brazilian gas apparatus manufacturer based in the city of Contagem, in the state of Minas Gerais. In its financial year ending 31 December 2010, Condor had revenue of R$22.5 million (£8.3 million). As at that date, it had gross assets of R$20.8 million (£8.1 million) and employed around 180 people. Condor's product range primarily comprises industrial gas equipment for use in the welding, heating and cutting sectors, and is sold through a network of distributors and to major end-users. ESAB will assume full managerial control of Condor. The shareholding was acquired from Adelgesio Azevedo and Laercio Ribeiro De Azevedo (who are members of the family that established Condor) who will continue to be shareholders in the company. ESAB has successfully grown its business in Brazil in recent years and it has become a leading player in the South American welding industry. In 2010, ESAB achieved sales in South America of £242.3 million, representing some 21 per cent of ESAB's total revenue and making it ESAB's second most important region behind Europe. ESAB expects to be able to significantly expand Condor's revenue by selling its products through ESAB's established distributor network and other sales channels in Brazil and other South American markets.

http://www.investegate.co.uk/Article.aspx?id=201107050700057455J

In a move to reduce current bank debt, Robinson (RBN), the packaging developer, has agreed to sell its Chesterfield-based subsidiary, Robinson Paperboard Packaging, to Sonoco for an estimated 2.6 million pounds. The subsidiary provided 24% of the company's revenue last year but has failed to be profitable since 2006, following the loss of a major contract. Furthermore, the group added that Sonoco will lease its factory buildings at Goyt Side Road for 15 years at a rate of 0.45 million pounds per year, following an initial rent free period of two years

Commenting on the Standing Committee vote, PureCircle CEO Magomet Malsagov said "This is an important milestone on the path to securing approval for high purity stevia in the important EU market. We know that there is strong consumer and Food and Beverage demand for stevia in Europe. We look forward to being allowed to supply that demand before the end of 2011".