Member Info for mulledwine

Diploma, which supplies specialist technical equipment and services to a number of industries including the construction sector, revealed a rise in its pre-tax profits of 50%, while revenues climbed by nearly a third. We’ve been recommending Diploma for a while now, says the Independent, and our faith has certainly been rewarded with its share price more than doubling in the past 14 months. But the stock still appears to have upside, especially considering the fact that it could potentially be in line for promotion to the FTSE 250. Buy, it says.

The Independent says some investors may be attracted to the potential dividend and will be pleased to note that Enterprise trades on a cheap forward earnings ratio of 3.6. However, given its high debt levels and sprawling estate, it doesn�t see much fizz in its shares for the foreseeable future. Sell, the newspaper advises

Pub group Enterprise Inns has repaid �800m of debt. Bank borrowings of �545m are comfortably below banking facilities and the rest of the �3.1bn of debt is in the form of long-term instruments raising no concerns for now. Enterprise is well along the way of sorting out its bottom-end pubs, with about 700 still to be sold or upgraded, or 10% of the estate. The shares trade on less than four times� this year�s earnings. Without any certainty over the dividend, there seems no obvious reason for any sharp recovery, says the Times.

Derwent London issued an encouraging update yesterday, with the property group’s chief executive, John Burns, confirming that the central London office market had continued to “perform strongly” over the first quarter. Panmure Gordon puts the stock on a 13 per cent premium to net asset values, which makes the Independent cautious. There is no reason to sell. But it would wait for a better time to buy. Hold, it recommends.

Car rental group Avis Europe was always going to be affected by last year�s Icelandic ash cloud. In the event, the effect was twofold and probably broadly neutral. Obviously, fewer flyers meant fewer cars being picked up at the airport. But there were an awful lot of desperate one-way rentals covering long distances from country to country. The shares, on about 11 times� this year�s earnings, are an obvious play on further growth but may be hard to track down, says the Times.

The imponderables for Robert Wiseman are whether the price of raw materials falls and how much more of the existing rises can be passed on to customers, after some degree of success in this in February. Assuming that nothing gets much worse, the dividend looks safe, which gives a yield of about 5.6 per cent, which is attractive enough. The shares, off 11p at 323�p on the profits update, sell on nine times� this year�s earnings, but further progress on that front looks limited. Hold, says the Times.

London-based Intandem Films* (IFM) has reached an agreement with Mary Alice Productions, a Los Angeles based film production company, for the production and international sales of a slate of films in the budget range of between 20 million dollars (12 million pounds) and 40 million dollars (25 million pounds). Both companies will work together in closing the financing for the films, with Mary Alice sourcing the equity and Intandem closing pre-sales and gap finance. Shares in Intandem were untouched at 6.25p.

http://investegate.co.uk/Article.aspx?id=201105170700166814G

http://investegate.co.uk/Article.aspx?id=201105170700126902G

Full-year trading at Best of the Best (BEST) has been in line with current market expectations, the luxury car competitions company announced in a trading update after making a number of changes to its principal Supercar Competition and introducing new products and price points. Shares in Best of the Best, which is currently trading from 10 sites in the UK and Europe, lost 0.5p to 18p

News that pre-tax profits at Arden Partners (ARDN) are likely to be "significantly" ahead of current market expectations pushed the stockbroker's shares up 10p to 69p. The company, which provides broking services to, and advises on, a range of corporate finance transactions for small and medium sized companies, said it has seen a strong performance both in its core UK business and Indian franchise in the first six months of the current financial year.

http://investegate.co.uk/Article.aspx?id=201105170700157017G

Looks like 45p may be looming

http://investegate.co.uk/Article.aspx?id=201105170700136954G

Cello Group (CLL) said it maintains its belief that full year expectations can be met despite the continued flat condition of the UK economy, as the marketing company continues to explore expansion opportunities. The company said the core healthcare activities of the group have continued to perform well during the first quarter of the year, offsetting slower spending in UK dependent sectors, particularly retail. Shares in Cello, which operates in more than 70 countries, decreased 3.75p to 47.5p.

http://investegate.co.uk/Article.aspx?id=20110517070000Z3810

Shares in Dori Media Group (DMG) lost 8p to 36p on news the international media company received confirmation from a member of the company's controlling shareholders' group that it has decided not to move forward with a contemplated tender offer. The shareholder had previously confirmed its intent in making a tender offer for up to 2.7 million shares at a price of 50p each, reflecting a premium of approximately 13.6% to the closing market price on 13th April 2011.

http://investegate.co.uk/Article.aspx?id=201105170700126928G

Regus (RGU) continues to make progress despite a muted economic backdrop and is trading in line with management expectations, the office space provider announced in its annual general meeting as it remains cautions on the economy. The group said revenues for the four months to 30th April 2011 have increased 8.1% at actual exchange rates to 368.4 million pounds compared to the equivalent period in 2010. Shares in Regus, which operates over 1,000 business centres across 450 cities in 75 countries, gained 1.9p to 110.2p.

http://investegate.co.uk/Article.aspx?id=201105170700136959G