Member Info for mulledwine

Valuation: Regulatory timeline a factor Our DCF model to 2024, with a 2.5% long-term growth rate and a 12% WACC, provides a valuation of £97.7m, assuming Aorfix approval and equity funding in 2012 (equivalent to 335p/share, assuming c 9m additional shares). If approval slips into 2013, we would adjust our valuation according to the terms of the new issue.

http://www.edisoninvestmentresearch.co.uk/researchreports/Lombardupdate221012.pdf

I am surprised at the drop today - will have to read again to see what Im missing!

Outlook Whitbread delivered a good first half performance in flat market conditions. Revpar in the total UK hotel market grew by 2.1%, with London up 5.4% benefiting from the Olympics, and the UK regions continued to decline. As expected, the London hotel market is settling post the Olympics and we wait for a clearer trend to emerge. The regional hotel market has continued its revpar decline. More generally, our consumer market context continues to be broadly flat. Against this background we expect to continue to outperform our competitors and like for like sales growth to be more moderate than the high levels achieved in the first half. We expect continuing rapid growth in total sales on track towards our five year milestones. Premier Inn is benefitting from a structural shift in the UK towards strong branded hotels. Costa's growth is supported by its leading UK position in a robust category, together with exciting international opportunities. This growth in total sales, coupled with our clear focus on good financial returns, is creating substantial value.

Anthony Habgood, Chairman, said: "Whitbread is continuing on its rapid profitable organic growth path in difficult economic conditions. This is due to our unrelenting customer focus and the use of our strong balance sheet to invest in building powerful brands, developing our people and renewing our estate." Andy Harrison, Chief Executive, said: "Whitbread delivered a strong first half performance with total sales growth of 14.2% and underlying earnings per share growth of 13.1%, driven by our outperformance in a broadly flat market. The combination of our strong sales growth and good returns drove an 11% increase in cash flow from operations to £285.3 million. This created the financial capacity to continue investing in our brands and the quality and breadth of our estate, finance our organic growth and the 11.4% increase in the interim dividend. Premier Inn delivered a 2.4% growth in revpar during the first half, compared to a decline of 3.6% in the Midscale and Economy5 sector. As expected, the London hotel market is settling post the Olympics and we wait for a clearer trend to emerge. The regional hotel market has continued its revpar decline. More generally, our consumer market context continues to be broadly flat. Against this background we expect to continue to outperform our competitors and like for like sales growth to be more moderate than the high levels achieved in the first half. We expect continuing rapid growth in total sales on track towards our five year milestones. Premier Inn is benefitting from a structural shift in the UK towards strong branded hotels. Costa's growth is supported by its leading UK position in a robust category, together with exciting international opportunities. This growth in total sales, coupled with our clear focus on good financial returns, is creating substantial value."

Statutory Highlights · Profit after tax and exceptional items for the half year up 8.9% to £173.4 million (2011/12: £159.2 million) · Total basic EPS 98.20p up 8.2% (2011/12: 90.79p) Growing Strong Brands · Premier Inn UK grew total sales by 12.9%, with significant outperformance against its competitive5 set. Like for like sales1 up 3.7% · Premier Inn opened 1,591 net UK rooms taking the total to 49,020; with a secured pipeline of over 11,000 rooms; on track for 2016 milestone of 65,000 rooms · Restaurants performance continued to improve with total sales up 5.3% and like for like sales1 up 3.4% · Costa delivered another outstanding performance. Total sales up 25.0%, UK like for like sales1 up 6.8% and underlying profits up 29.9% · 141 net new coffee shops taking total to 2,344, up 6.4% from 2011/12 · 1,500 new UK jobs created by Whitbread brands, with 10,000 expected over the next three years

WHITBREAD PLC RESULTS FOR THE SIX MONTHS ENDED 30TH AUGUST 2012 Financial Highlights · Total revenue up 14.2% to £1,018.1 million (2011/12: £891.3 million) · Group like for like sales1 up 4.3% · Underlying profit2 before tax up 10.6% to £193.4 million (2011/12: £174.9 million) · Group return on capital3 increased to 13.7% (2011/12: 13.4%) · Whitbread Hotels and Restaurants underlying profit2 up 8.5% to £181.3 million (2011/12: £167.1 million) · Costa underlying profit2 up 29.9% to £36.1 million (2011/12: £27.8 million) · Underlying diluted EPS up 13.1% to 81.65p (2011/12: 72.20p) · Strong cashflow from operations4 up 11.0% to £285.3 million (2011/12: £257.1 million) funding capital investment of £187.6 million (2011/12: £129.0 million) · Strong balance sheet, half year net debt of £525.8 million (versus £520.1 million at 1St September 2011) · Interim dividend up 11.4% to 19.50p (2011/12: 17.50p)

http://www.investegate.co.uk/Article.aspx?id=201210230700062669P

spotdog - I have just cashed in - look at the charts - 650 is the high with 625 being around the norm for a peak - she could of course go higher but it would mean new highs and a new range - not sure she is ready for that yet considering the current climiate - I could be wrong of course and have been many times ! GL

Martin Perry, CEO commented "Enteq continues to progress the strategy of building a leading oil & gas products and technology business. Despite short term volatility in North American capital spending, the Directors believe that in the medium term through a combination of acquisition, organic product line growth and geographic expansion some significant market share from a $30bn market can be achieved."

KMS / Pro-Flow Utilisation of existing drilling equipment and demand for consumable products remains high. Trading is in line with expectations and there is a strong order book. Corporate Development Enteq is looking to gain exposure to new customers outside North America and has recently made a senior appointment to assist with this. The finance organisation has also been strengthened in preparation for further expansion. First-Half Trading Group sales which incorporate 4 ½ months of XXT and 2 months of KMS / Pro-Flow sales are approximately US$5.2m. Positive operating profits are being generated from the acquisitions. After group overheads which are appropriate to an anticipated increased scale of the business, it is expected that a net operating loss from continuing operations before exceptional items will be reported for the period. Enteq has strong cash balances and, with the availability of the agreed revolving credit facility, is well positioned to continue to deliver the planned growth strategy.

H1 Operational and Trading Update Ahead of the interim results announcement for the six month period ended 30 September 2012 scheduled for 28 November, Enteq Upstream today provides an operational and trading update. Enteq Drilling Tools Division Enteq completed the acquisition of XXT in May 2012 and KMS & Pro-Flow in July 2012. These companies now form the core of the Enteq Drilling Tools Division. Investment has been made in manufacturing capacity and engineering skills with the first combined product being released for the common customer base of North American directional drilling companies. Further down-hole data communication products are close to field trials. XXT As indicated in recent updates, in the short term a tightening of capital expenditure in the North America upstream market has adversely affected the purchases of high value Measurement While Drilling equipment. As a consequence sales from XXT have been lower than originally envisaged. A good pipeline of sizeable opportunities exists which, when customer budgets are released, would deliver a strong recovery in sales.

http://www.investegate.co.uk/Article.aspx?id=201210230700062667P

In for a bounce !

Bruno Guillon, Chief Executive Officer, commented: "Mulberry's core UK retail business and key wholesale accounts continue to perform well in the context of a more challenging external environment. Although international retail sales are behind expectations, newly opened stores are performing satisfactorily and we are on track to open our target of 15-20 stores during 2012/13. The steps we have taken to improve the quality of Mulberry's distribution network in both the retail and wholesale channels will result in the short term slowing of sales growth. However, we firmly believe these steps are in the long term interests of building Mulberry into a global luxury brand. The Mulberry brand continues to gain recognition globally and we remain very confident in the outlook for the business. We continue to focus on creativity, craftsmanship and quality and in this context will start the construction of our second UK factory within the next few weeks."

on the other hand it may be a bland day !

Kerr Anderson, Ormonde's Managing Director, said: "These are extremely good results from the first detailed work carried out on the Cabeza Prospect, with significant gold mineralisation being identified over wide zones of good grade. This indicates that we may have identified a new, near surface gold system. We will undertake further trenching to follow up on these first results, with drilling of targets likely to follow. The effectiveness of the soil geochemistry in identifying this mineralised zone has led us to plan a widening of this programme with the objective of defining further such targets on the licence area. In addition, applications have now been submitted for further exploration permits in the immediate area."

Excellent Gold Results from Trenching on the Cabeza Prospect The Board of Ormonde is very pleased to report the results of the first trenching completed on the Cabeza de Caballo ("Cabeza") Gold Prospect in the Salamanca Province, western Spain. This prospect is part of our joint venture with Aurum Mining plc from which results of soil sampling on the Pino de Oro permits in the Zamora Province were recently announced. The Cabeza Prospect is located some 60km southwest of Pino de Oro and some 30km northwest of the Peralonso Prospect, where drilling is currently in progress. Results have been received from samples collected in four trenches excavated on an extensive gold-in-soil anomaly, which have encountered gold mineralisation over wide zones of good grades. No trenching or drilling has previously been carried out on this area. Applications for further exploration permits in the immediate area have been submitted. Main Points · Trench CABTR004 returned 21 metres grading 3.71 grams per tonne ("g/t") gold from a zone of intense quartz-sulphide veining within altered granites. · Trench CABTR003, some 75 metres along strike from CABTR004, returned several intervals within an overall zone some 40 metres wide including 4m grading 1.96 g/t, 4m grading 1.85g/t, 3m grading 2.13 g/t and 1m grading 11.8g/t gold. · A gold-in-soil anomaly on which the trenches were sited has a strike length of some 800 metres.

http://www.investegate.co.uk/Article.aspx?id=201210230700042598P

The Department for Business Innovation & Skills announces Regional Growth Fund support for investment in a new steam raising plant James Cropper is pleased to notify the market that The Department for Business Innovation & Skills ("BIS") has announced that the Company's proposed steam raising plant has been selected for support from the Regional Growth Fund ("RGF"). The RGF grant is conditional upon the Company's proposal satisfying BIS's due diligence process. If this process is successful a grant of up to £3.1 million would contribute to the capital investment of approximately £7.0 million at the Company's site in Kendal, Cumbria. Assuming that the due diligence process has been satisfied and that the project is approved by the Board it is anticipated that the steam raising plant would be operational by late 2014. When operational, the steam raising plant would significantly reduce the Company's energy costs, CO2 emissions and rising environmental taxes. It is estimated that the savings for the Company would exceed £1.0 million per annum by 2015. The plant would consume a mixture of solid recovered fuel ("SRF") produced from municipal waste and the Company's own paper-making effluent residues. Planning permission for the project has already been granted.