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Grainger resilient despite challenges Date: Thursday 14 Apr 2011 LONDON (ShareCast) - Residential housing specialist Grainger said it expects completed sales from its UK portfolio in the six months to 31 March 2011 to be £89m from £88m the year before as tough economic conditions continue. The group, which is headquartered in Newcastle upon Tyne and manages properties in the UK and Germany, said profit before tax for the six month period will be materially enhanced by two items, firstly the partial reversal of mark to market movements on its long term financial derivatives and secondly by the gain on acquisition arising from the purchase of HI Tricomm. There was £1m of sales from its German portfolio compared to £3m in 2010. Sales on vacancy in its wholly owned portfolios have been made at values in excess of September 2010 vacant possession values. "We anticipate that the value of our UK portfolios will increase by around 2% at the half year," it said. Banking covenants are forecast to continue to be comfortably met.

Trading Update GRAINGER REPORTS ONGoING OPERATIONAL AND SALES MOMENTUM Grainger plc ("Grainger" or the "Company" or the "Group"), the UK's largest quoted residential property owner, today provides a trading update in advance of its interim results for the six months to 31 March 2011 which will be announced on 19 May 2011. For the six month period to 31 March 2011, we expect completed sales from our UK portfolios (UK residential, home reversions and development) to be £89m (2010: £88m). In addition, there were £1m of sales from our German portfolio (2010: £3m). Sales on vacancy in our wholly owned portfolios have been made at values in excess of September 2010 vacant possession values. We anticipate that the value of our UK portfolios will increase by approximately 2% at the half year. As previously reported we have made two strategic portfolio acquisitions in the first six months. These were HI Tricomm Holdings Limited from Invista Castle and our partner's share in the Grainger GenInvest LLPs. These acquisitions brought approximately £400m of assets onto the Group balance sheet. Acquisitions through ordinary trading in our UK residential and home reversion businesses were approximately £9.6m (2010: £14.4m). Banking covenants are forecast to continue to be comfortably met and we will show continued re-shaping of Group debt with £290m of debt provided by lenders new to the Group. This increases the maturity of our debt and the number of lenders to the Group, and is in line with, and delivers on, our previous statement in our Preliminary Year End Results on 25 November 2010, which was that "going forward, our focus will be on early consideration and implementation of debt financing options". Profit before tax for the six month period will be materially enhanced by two items, firstly, as anticipated, the partial reversal of mark to market movements on our long term financial derivatives and secondly by the gain on acquisition arising from the purchase of HI Tricomm Holdings Limited as referred to in our statement on 4 February 2011. The Company will comment in more detail on its progress at the time of its interim results announcement in May.

http://www.investegate.co.uk/Article.aspx?id=201104140700098795E

WH Smith demonstrates resilience Date: Thursday 14 Apr 2011 LONDON (ShareCast) - Interim results from newsagent WH Smith were in line with expectations, with like for like sales (LFL) down 6% on the high street and 3% lower in the group's travel outlets. Group total sales in the six months ended 28 February were down 4% on a year earlier, with LFL sales down 5%. High street sales were down 6%, with LFL sales, excluding Entertainment, 3% down on a year earlier. Profit before tax edged up to £64m from £62m the year before, despite the fall in group revenue to £686m from £716m. Gross margin improved by 1.7 percentage points year on year. The business remains extremely cash generative. At the end of the reporting period WH Smith had net cash of £70m, and felt able to bump up the interim dividend by 18% to 7.2p. "During the first half we have returned £27m to shareholders through the share buyback and increased the interim dividend by 18%, demonstrating the board's confidence in the future prospects of the group and its continued cash generative nature,” said group chief executive, Kate Swann. “In Travel we have grown profit by 9%, demonstrating the strength of the business model. We are encouraged by the performance of our international units and now have a total of 40 units either opened or planned,” Swann added.

Commenting on the results, Kate Swann, Group Chief Executive said: "We have delivered a good performance across the Group, despite a difficult consumer environment. "In Travel we have grown profit by 9%, demonstrating the strength of the business model. We are encouraged by the performance of our international units and now have a total of 40 units either opened or planned. Our High Street business continues to be highly profitable and cash generative. "During the first half we have returned £27m to shareholders through the share buyback and increased the interim dividend by 18%, demonstrating the Board's confidence in the future prospects of the Group and its continued cash generative nature. "Looking forward, we expect the economic environment to remain challenging and we have planned accordingly."

KEY POINTS · Group profit from trading operations1 up 3% to £72m (2010: £70m): · Travel operating profit1 up 9% to £25m (2010: £23m) · High Street operating profit1 £47m (2010: £47m) · Group profit before tax up 3% to £64m (2010: £62m) · Earnings per share2 up 11% to 35.2p (2010: 31.6p) · Group total sales down 4% with like-for-like (LFL) sales down 5%: · Travel total sales in line with last year with LFL sales down 3% · High Street total sales down 6% with LFL sales excluding Entertainment down 3% and overall LFL sales down 6%, in line with our strategic plan · Gross margin improved by 170 basis points year on year · Strong balance sheet and cash generation: · Net cash of £70m at half year end · Strong free cash flow3 of £74m for the half · Good progress with return of cash to shareholders through on market share buyback programme · Replacement £70m committed revolving credit working capital facility agreed, maturing in 2016 · Interim dividend of 7.2p, up 18% on the prior year

http://www.investegate.co.uk/Article.aspx?id=201104140700088650E

Asia a bright spot for PZ Cussons Date: Thursday 14 Apr 2011 LONDON (ShareCast) - More evidence of the threadbare state of the UK consumer's wallet came from consumer goods outfit PZ Cussons, which said trading conditions in the UK remain challenging. Though the group as a whole has been trading broadly in line with management expectations in 2011, despite margin pressures from burgeoning raw material costs, things have been tough in the UK, particularly in areas such as shower gels and hand wash. On the bright side, the top end of the market in the UK, served by the group's brands such as The Sanctuary, St. Tropez and Charles Worthington, have continued to perform well. Elsewhere in Europe, trading conditions in Greece and Poland have also been challenging, but the picture is a lot rosier in Asia, which “continues to perform strongly,” the group said, even though the Australian consumer environment has got tighter. In the group's historical heartland of Nigeria underlying sales rates have improved this year but the group expects some disruption to trading this year from the Nigerian election, which coincides with what are traditionally peak sales months for PZ Cussons. “The trading outlook for the remainder of the current financial year remains challenging and is expected to be impacted by the UK trading environment, the temporary delay to Nigeria's election process and continued high levels of raw material costs,” the group said. “These factors will be partially offset by the resilience of our more premium brands in the UK, by the growth in Asia and by the underlying improvement in demand in Nigeria, all of which give cause for encouragement for the next financial year,” the statement added.

Outlook The trading outlook for the remainder of the current financial year remains challenging and is expected to be impacted by the UK trading environment, the temporary delay to Nigeria's election process and continued high levels of raw material costs. These factors will be partially offset by the resilience of our more premium brands in the UK, by the growth in Asia and by the underlying improvement in demand in Nigeria, all of which give cause for encouragement for the next financial year. A further trading update will be made on 9th June 2011 after the close of the financial year.

http://www.investegate.co.uk/Article.aspx?id=201104140700088629E

Howdy moosh - not necessarily a devoted following but all opinions are valid if backed up ! After tomorrow a 100k shares may provide him with a fair profit ! I have been in and out of here before - unfortunately Im not in just now which is a pity as I see blue tomorrow. GL if you are holding.

UNILEVER REACHES SETTLEMENT WITH EUROPEAN COMMISSION ON LAUNDRY DETERGENTS 13 April 2011 Unilever has reached a settlement with the European Commission after its investigation into the implementation of the European detergents industry's Code of Good Environmental Practice. As part of the settlement, a payment of €104 million has been agreed. This amount falls within the provision made by Unilever in its 2010 results. The settlement relates to the implementation of an industry-wide initiative to concentrate laundry detergents with proven benefits for the environment. The Commission's investigation found that certain aspects of the implementation of this complex initiative infringed European competition rules. Unilever believes it is in the best interests of the company for Unilever and the Commission to have reached this settlement. Unilever has used the findings from this investigation to strengthen further its internal compliance programme. All key managers in Europe have been retrained on the European competition rules and are well placed to participate fully in industry-wide environmental initiatives.

http://www.investegate.co.uk/Article.aspx?id=201104131115018342E

Isotek Isotek is well-positioned to participate on several key programmes, especially in the US 4G market, and has been selected by Alcatel-Lucent as a supplier for both its AT&T and Sprint LTE programs. However, there have been some recent customer programme delays during the early rollout phase. These delays are expected to reduce FY 2011 Isotek sales to £4m with consequent margin impacts compounded by short term component shortages. More encouragingly, investments to replace machined units with cast units on higher volume products in H1 FY 2012 will deliver cost reductions and improved margins on both new and the deferred shipments. Production rates and capacity are starting to ramp, though as stressed in the interim statement, Isotek's programmes largely remain at an early stage. Combined Business Action has been taken to reduce costs in the PTP business where an appropriate headcount reduction has been implemented. Meanwhile the integration of the Isotek and PTP businesses is being accelerated across the group, and specialist PTP resources are being redeployed to maximise mobile basestation product opportunities. In parallel, the company is expanding its business development activity on new opportunities for its innovative filtering products as operational capacity is scaled up. Group sales are now projected to grow from £16m for FY 2011 to circa £25m for FY 2012 with Isotek FY 2012 expectations maintained at £15m. Further consolidation is continuing in the wireless telecomm market at all levels of the value chain, but both OEM's and network operators see significant market opportunities arising from the rapid growth in mobile data traffic. Filtronic believes that its investment in 4G enabling hardware technology is well timed to address these opportunities.

Interim Management Statement Filtronic, the designer and manufacturer of microwave electronics products for the wireless telecoms infrastructure market, issues its Interim Management Statement for the period from 1 December 2010. Point to Point ("PTP") business The Point to Point business continues to be faced with a number of challenges but also new opportunities as its product mix changes significantly over the next 18 months. Recent conversations with customers suggest a faster than expected phase-out of certain mature module products. This will have a negative impact on trading in the remainder of the financial year ending in May as well as into FY 2012. The business has also had to adjust to the impact of Ceragon's acquisition of NERA in January. Whilst sales of short-haul products to Ceragon are tailing off more sharply than expected, long haul product volumes (typically around 40% of historic sales to NERA) are expected to be sustained well into FY 2012. More positively, Filtronic's PTP business transition strategy is gaining traction with first production orders received from Selex Galileo for module supply into their electronic radar system. In addition initial orders for Gigabit radio modules have recently been secured with a further new customer. These new lines will result in initial revenues in FY 2012 and full scale production from FY 2013 onwards. Volume production of modules for another major OEM has now commenced, and the supply of semiconductor solutions for this customer will ramp during FY 2012. FY 2011 PTP sales are expected to be circa £12 million. The early part of FY2012 will be hit by the Ceragon reductions and mature product phase-outs, whilst the second half will start to benefit from the new customers and products detailed above. The overall expectation is for FY2012 PTP sales of just above £10m, weighted towards the second half.

http://www.investegate.co.uk/Article.aspx?id=201104131300018486E

Fast growing home wares seller Dunelm’s trading update covers the third quarter of the retailer’s financial year. Peel Hunt is expecting year on year like for like (LFL) sales to remain in negative terri-tory, “reflecting the tough trading backdrop.” “Well correlated to the BRC Home Textiles data, we expect January to have delivered a positive outcome for Dunelm, reflecting the strong sales period in early January. Since then, underlying trading has remained more subdued we believe, albeit against an easing comparative. With March trading against the prior-year Easter and Mother’s Day build-up, we expect LFL sales to remain in negative territory for the quarter overall. On the positive front, we believe the outlook for gross margin delivery remains positive, with Dunelm on track to deliver further gains over the second half,” Peel Hunt said.

LONDON (ShareCast) - Casino and online betting operator Rank issues a trading statement on Thursday in which it might give more detail on its recent victory over Her Majesty’s Revenue & Customs (HMRC). HMRC is appealing against the decision, which saw the bingo hall operator get a rebate totalling £74.8m, covering overpaid VAT on games of bingo from 1973 to 1996. On top of that it also received interest of £79.5m, raising questions regarding what it plans to do with the windfall. Peel Hunt estimates that - assuming Rank gets to keep all the cash - it should have a cash surplus of over £40m by the end of 2011, wiping out around £110m of net debt. “If it does pursue acquisitions we believe these are most likely to be in the areas of online gaming and casinos. Management has thus far been cautious and we do not expect it to embark on a reckless acquisition programme,” said analyst Nick Batram. Panmure Gordon is expecting Rank to have enjoyed a robust first quarter trading performance “with double-digit growth in Casino admissions and strong trading in Interactive.” The broker reckons that a return of cash to shareholders could be on the cards. “The group should now be in a net cash position and, in our view, there is potential for a c£350m cash return to shareholders in the medium-term. “ “We understand that the group will seek to renew its existing banking facilities at the end of the first half in order to provide flexibility for repayment should the ECJ {European Court of Justice] judgement go against them. We also await an update on the B3 machines. stakes and entitlements review which could increase group EPS [earnings per share] by up to c9% on a pro forma basis, we estimate,” the broker added.

Galliford Try involved in £347m regeneration programme Date: Wednesday 13 Apr 2011 LONDON (ShareCast) - Galliford Try’s shares edged lower on Wednesday despite the housebuilder revealing that it has been appointed preferred bidder one of the UK’s largest residential regeneration programmes. The group – as part of a joint venture with housing provider Home Group – will work on the £347m Gateshead regeneration programme to build 2,400 homes together with community facilities across 19 sites in the area. “I am delighted that Galliford Try will be working with Gateshead Council on the transformation of communities across Gateshead. We look forward to using our expertise in creating quality, sustainable housing on one of the UK's largest regeneration projects,” said chief executive Greg Fitzgerald. Work is due to start later this year and is estimated to be completed by 2026.

Galliford Try Chief Executive, Greg Fitzgerald commented: "I am delighted that Galliford Try will be working with Gateshead Council on the transformation of communities across Gateshead. We look forward to using our expertise in creating quality, sustainable housing on one of the UK's largest regeneration projects." Home Group Chief Executive, Mark Henderson added: "We want to build outstanding homes and flourishing communities to transform Gateshead and we've commissioned world-leading architects designing to the highest environmental standards. Our financial strength and local presence put us in a unique position to deliver."