Member Info for mulledwine

Chairman's statement I am pleased to provide a portfolio valuation update as at 31 March 2011, the interim financial statements for the six months ended on 31 March 2011 and a commentary on the excellent progress made during the period. Investment performance At 30 September 2010, there were signs that dampening impact of world economic events was lifting and that the performance of the Starvest portfolio was improving after two years of stagnation. Those initial signs have proved to be a foretaste of an excellent half year. The key facts are as follows: * Company net asset value has increased by £5.9m or 141%; * Starvest's mid share price has risen by 77% from 7.75 pence on 30 September 2010 to 13.75 pence on 31 March 2011; * Closing net asset value of 26.16 pence per share up 131% from 11.28 pence; * Mid share price on 31 March 2011 had a discount to net asset value of 47%; * Investment sales have realised £1.3m with a gross profit of £1.09m; and * The bank overdraft has been eliminated

http://www.investegate.co.uk/Article.aspx?id=20110411151000H5235

John Ormerod, Chairman, commented: "The Board believes that opportunities exist to grow the revenues of the Government and Health Businesses but that both require significant investment over a period of time in order to enable them to generate acceptable levels of profitability. In these circumstances, the Directors have decided that it would be appropriate for Tribal to consider a sale of the Government and Health Businesses in order to create a group focused on the education and training markets and with significantly reduced levels of financial leverage. The board is very grateful for the loyalty and commitment shown by the employees of the Health and Government businesses and we wish them well for the future. "Our Education Business continued to grow revenues in 2010 and has maintained consistently good levels of profitability. It will benefit from the Group's significantly reduced levels of debt following the sale, providing additional capacity to invest in product development and new business initiatives. The business offers good growth prospects, entering 2011 with high levels of committed income and a strong sales pipeline, particularly in its international markets. We are excited about the opportunities for this business."

Proposed Sale of Government and Health Businesses The Board of Tribal is pleased to announce that it has entered into a conditional agreement with The Capita Group Plc to sell its Government and Health Businesses for a total consideration of up to £15.87 million, of which £13.37 million is payable in cash on Completion with further cash consideration of up to £2.5 million payable on the satisfaction of certain conditions. The sale is conditional upon the approval of Tribal Shareholders. Tribal has been in an offer period under the City Code on Takeovers and Mergers (the "City Code") since 17 December 2010. The Company remains in an offer period and, accordingly, the Board confirms that the Disposal is being undertaken in accordance with note 1 to rule 21.1 of the City Code.

HIGHLIGHTS · Proposed sale of Tribal's Government and Health Businesses for an initial cash consideration of £13.37 million, payable on Completion, and up to a further £2.5 million payable in cash on the satisfaction of certain conditions. · Government Business: Tribal supplies a range of strategic and operational advisory services to government clients in the UK, working principally across the home and foreign affairs, local government and social housing markets. Tribal also provides consultancy services in developing countries on behalf of government funded donor organisations. · Health Business: Tribal provides a range of services to the UK healthcare industry, from strategic advice to the provision of managed services to NHS and private healthcare clients. · In the audited consolidated accounts for Tribal in the year ended 31 December 2010, the Health Business and the Government Business had combined gross assets of £71.7 million and combined operating losses of £2.7 million, before goodwill impairment and exceptionals of £55.8 million, on turnover of £70.8 million. · Following completion of the proposed sale, Tribal will be focused on the education and training markets in the UK and internationally, providing a range of technology, inspection and other professional support services. At 28 February 2011, the Education Business had total committed income of £187 million, 66% of 2011 planned revenue already secured and a sales pipeline of £161 million. · The estimated net cash proceeds on Completion of £12.5 million (after fees and tax) will significantly reduce Tribal's current level of indebtedness and will provide a strong platform for developing and investing in the Education Business. · Following completion, a programme of cost reduction will be implemented to reduce overheads, both centrally and within the Education Business. The Tribal Board expects the overall impact of the Disposal will be broadly neutral for earnings in the current year. · The Board unanimously recommends the Disposal and the Directors (and certain of their connected persons) have irrevocably undertaken to vote in favour of the Disposal Resolution in respect of their own and their connected persons' beneficial holdings, which amount in aggregate to 587,206 Ordinary Shares and represent approximately 0.63 per cent. of Tribal's issued share capital as at 8 April 2011 (the latest practicable date prior to publication of this announcement).

http://www.investegate.co.uk/Article.aspx?id=201104110700146351E

http://www.economy-news.co.uk/bhp-billiton-11201104.html

Helical Bar raises £24m through disposals Date: Monday 11 Apr 2011 LONDON (ShareCast) - Property business Helical Bar has got the pruning shears out again as it continues to reshape its property portfolio. The company has raised £24m through five disposals made at a combined small discount to book value. The disposals are: St. Andrew's House in Woking; some phase 2 development land in Southall; Beacon House in Fleet; 24,000 square feet of vacant office space in Crawley plus 21 more units (since September 2010) at Bramshott retirement village in Liphook. Coming through the in-door is Langlands Industrial Estate in East Kilbride, which Helical Bar is acquiring from Henderson for around £6m, representing an initial yield of 10%. Langlands Industrial Estate is a freehold 150,000 square foot modern estate with 26 units let to 18 tenants. The estate currently has a 16% vacancy rate by floor area and provides the potential for rental uplift, the company said. "We continue to look for opportunities to recycle equity from mainly non-income producing property into higher yielding investment properties where we have identified the opportunity to apply significant asset management to deliver future upside,” said Duncan Walker, senior development executive at Helical Bar.

e2v sees FY ahead of forecasts Date: Monday 11 Apr 2011 LONDON (ShareCast) - Electrical component supplier e2v said trading for the fiscal year 2011 is expected to be ahead of market expectations as it plans to resume dividend payments earlier than previously planned. e2v, whose imaging sensors equip the cameras onboard NASA’s Messenger, said revenue for the year to 31 March rose 13% to £229m after better than expected growth. Chief executive officer Keith Attwood said he was pleased with the strong trading performance in improving markets and believes the business is well positioned to deliver further growth. "During the year we have made continued progress on implementing the growth strategy, previously announced last July. We intend to provide further guidance on the scale of the opportunities being generated when we announce our results on 6 June," he said. e2v confirmed it would pay a dividend of 3.6p a share for the year after rapid trading growth. The group's order book at 31 March was £167m compared with £161m a year earlier. Net borrowings at 31 March 2011 were approximately £28m, down £17m from net borrowings of £45m at 31 March 2010. CJ

And yes the Divi news is welcome Dividend Following the announcement on 20 January 2011, the Board is today pleased to confirm its intention to return to a progressive dividend policy. For the financial year ended 31 March 2011, the Board intends to pay a dividend of 3.6 pence per share. Of this, 1.2 pence per share will be paid on 27 May 2011 to e2v shareholders on the register as at 3 May 2011 and, subject to e2v shareholder approval at the Group's forthcoming Annual General Meeting, 2.4 pence per share will be paid on 3 August 2011 to e2v shareholders on the register as at 8 July 2011. Barring exceptional circumstances, the Board intends to adopt a similar weighting between interim and final dividends in future financial years.

Yup looks like a good set of results and orders keep coming

Order Book The Group's total order book is £167m (31 March 2010: £161m), whilst the order book for delivery over the coming 12 months is £137m (31 March 2010: £132m). The order book includes last time buy orders of £7.8m (31 March 2010: £12.5m).

Keith Attwood, Chief Executive Officer, said "We are very pleased to have delivered such a strong trading performance in improving markets overall and believe the business is well positioned to deliver further growth. As a result, the Board has decided to restart the payment of dividends earlier than planned. During the year we have made continued progress on implementing the growth strategy, previously announced last July. We intend to provide further guidance on the scale of the opportunities being generated when we announce our results on 6 June."

Highlights · Full year trading performance expected to be ahead of management's previous expectations · Over 9% underlying turnover growth, 13% reported · Excellent progress in developing key new application areas · Net borrowings of c.£28m, lower than previous expectations · Intended full year dividend of 3.6 pence a share

RWS encouraged by strong H1 trading Date: Monday 11 Apr 2011 LONDON (ShareCast) - Patent translation specialist RWS Holdings said it is encouraged by strong trading in the first six months of the financial year and expects revenues to increase by at least 10% to £32.4m. The company also expects profits for the first half will be comfortably on course to deliver market expectations for the year as a whole. "This reflects a strong performance in our patent translations business, which represents approximately 70% of group revenue," RWS explained. Growth was driven by a combination of an increase in the volume of patent translations from existing customers and the phasing in of work from several client wins in 2010. RWS said it had also seen a continued improvement in its technical translations business due largely to a sustained recovery in Germany. PatBase, a part of its intellectual property information business, benefitted from a strong January renewal period for its high margin subscription service. Commenting on the outlook chairman Andrew Brode said, "From our strong financial position, we are well placed to grow our market share in patent translation and benefit from improvements in the technical translations and intellectual property services markets. With our Euro and dollar trading exposure fully hedged for the current financial year we expect to make continued strong progress during the second half of the year." CJ

Andrew Brode, Executive Chairman of RWS, commented on outlook: "The Board is very pleased with the Group's performance in the first half of the year. From our strong financial position, we are well placed to grow our market share in patent translation and benefit from improvements in the technical translations and intellectual property services markets. With our Euro and dollar trading exposure fully hedged for the current financial year we, therefore, expect to make continued strong progress during the second half of the year."

Market & Regulatory Update The European Patent Office recently published figures showing that the number of European patents applied for in 2010 increased by 10% over 2009, an encouraging sign that research and development and the protection of intellectual property has remained a priority through the financial crisis and global downturn. There has also been a significant recent development in relation to a proposed single EU-wide patent regime, namely the European Union Patent. On 8 March 2011, the European Court of Justice ruled that the proposed plans for a European and Community Patent Court were not compatible with the provisions of EU law, effectively closing down an important avenue towards reducing expensive litigation for international rights holders. Whilst efforts will be made to circumvent this issue, major corporates are unlikely to risk a new regime for the protection of their rights until a legal structure for litigation and appeal has been ratified, and is seen to be operating effectively, which is unlikely to be the case in the short to medium term.

Trading & Financial Update The Board is encouraged by strong trading in the first six months of the financial year and expects Group revenues to increase by at least 10% to £32.4 million from £29.4 million in the comparable prior year period. Having fully hedged our Euro and dollar trading exposure for the current financial year, we anticipate that profits for the first half will be comfortably on course to deliver market expectations for the year as a whole. This reflects a strong performance in our patent translations business, which represents approximately 70% of Group revenue, driven by a combination of an increase in the volume of patent translations from existing customers and the phasing in of work from several significant client wins in 2010. We have also seen a continued improvement in our technical translations business due largely to a sustained recovery in Germany. PatBase, a part of our intellectual property information business, has benefitted from a strong January renewal period for its high margin subscription service. Having successfully moved into new freehold premises in South Buckinghamshire over the Christmas and New Year period, bringing four separate offices together into one location, we are progressing opportunities to significantly improve the Group's operational efficiency. The Group continues to enjoy a strong financial position with shareholder funds in excess of £53.7 million and net cash of £19.8 million as at 31 March, underpinning the Group's ability to both make acquisitions and support its progressive dividend policy.

http://www.investegate.co.uk/Article.aspx?id=201104110700126113E

Compass gobbles up Indian catering outfits Date: Monday 11 Apr 2011 LONDON (ShareCast) - Catering titan Compass has added to its Indian operations with the acquisition of two catering outfits in the fast growing Asian economy. It has bought Delhi-based Vipul Facility Management (VPM), which has gross assets of 342.2m Indian rupees (£5.2m) and Hyderabad-based Ultimate Hospitality Services (UHS) for 42.1 rupees. “VFM provides an excellent platform to develop our support services capabilities in the region and enables us to offer an extended range of services to clients,” said Compass chief executive Richard Cousins. “UHS further enhances our existing foodservice offering in India and provides a strong foothold in the Hyderabad region.”