Member Info for mulledwine

Licence Income Our product and territorial licences continue to perform in line with expectations. Our licence partner in Kuwait will be opening a store in the Al Hamra Mall in December, whilst our other territorial licence partners continue to seek opportunities in their respective territories. Outlook Whilst we have made a strong start to the financial year, our results for the full year will, as always, be dependent on trading in the second half of the financial year and we remain cautious given the challenging trading environment. Our costs and financial commitments remain under control and, with our strong balance sheet, we will continue to invest in the long term development of the Ted Baker brand. We intend to make our next interim management statement, covering the period since the start of the second half of the financial year, in mid November.

Current Trading and Outlook Group The Ted Baker brand continues to perform well in an uncertain trading environment and we are encouraged by the positive reaction to our Autumn/Winter collections. We believe that we are well placed to deal with the challenges and opportunities ahead and look forward to the continuing expansion and long term investment in our business in the UK and overseas in the second half of the year. Retail The strong performance seen in the first half of 2012 has continued into the second half of the year. We have also continued our planned expansion into new international markets by opening our first concessions through a leading department store in Germany in September. In Europe, we will be opening further concessions through leading department stores in Spain, Ireland and the Netherlands in the second half of the year. In the US, we will be opening a further outlet store in Woodbury Common, New York in January as well as further concessions through a leading department store during the second half of the year. In Canada, we will be opening our first store in the Yorkdale Shopping Centre in Toronto in November. In Asia, we opened our first store in China in September in the Park View Green Mall, Beijing and are encouraged by its performance at this very early stage. We plan to open a store in Shanghai during the second half of the year. Wholesale Trading in our UK and US wholesale businesses has continued in line with expectations. We anticipate Group wholesale sales for the full year being some 8% ahead of last year.

Commenting, Ray Kelvin CBE, Founder and Chief Executive, said: "We have delivered good results in a challenging environment whilst making important investments for the long term development of the brand, including opening new stores in Tokyo and on Fifth Avenue, New York. We are especially pleased with the positive reaction to our Autumn/Winter collections and I am delighted with the openings, since the period end, of our first store in China in Beijing and our first concessions in Germany, as we continue to build Ted's global presence. As ever, our full year results will be dependent on trading in the important second half and we remain understandably cautious at this stage given the uncertainty in the global economy. However, we believe that we are well placed to deal with the challenges ahead."

http://www.investegate.co.uk/Article.aspx?id=201210040700098877N

Clothing retailer Ted Baker (TED) achieved revenues of 118.6 million pounds during the 28 weeks ended 11th August, up 15.4% on 2011's comparable period, with adjusted pre-tax profits rising 10.4% to 9.4 million ponds. The firm saw strong growth abroad, with US sales surging 53.3% to 25.6 million dollars (15.9 million pounds), while it also opened its first store in Toyko as well as its first concessions in South Korea and the Netherlands. The group added that it will increase the interim dividend by 10.5% to 7.9p. The shares gained 7.5p to 921p

Les Matheson, Managing Director, Products & Marketing, RBS UK Retail said: "It's important for us at RBS to help our customers plan for a financially secure future. So I'm pleased we're announcing today that Standard Life will be a key component of our financial planning offering going forward. With Standard Life's proven capability in platforms and investment management we're well placed to help our customers with their financial planning."

Paul Matthews, Chief Executive, UK and Europe, Standard Life said: "We are very pleased that RBS has chosen to partner with Standard Life to deliver RDR-ready financial solutions for its customers. This innovative partnership, for the first time, brings together Focus Solutions technology, Standard Life Wrap, and the investment expertise of Standard Life Investments. "This agreement further enables us to capture assets across the value chain, developing innovative investment solutions for customers which are easily accessible via our platform. Our continued focus on customer needs and the benefit derived from our scalable business model will allow us to continue delivering value for our shareholders."

Standard Life (SL.) announced that it has signed a five year deal with the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) to provide an investment platform which will be accessible to RBS, NatWest and Ulster Bank from December 2012. The products include ISAs, SIPPs and bonds and will be provided to customers through in-branch advisors. A non-advisory service will also be launched during the 2013 calendar year. Standard Life shares crept up by 1.4p to 280.4p.

Impressed by the advertising company's move to higher margin products, Allenby Capital reiterated its "buy" recommendation for Resource Holding Management (RHM), noting that gross margins for the half year ended 30th June rose from 31.3% to 43.7%. The broker said that cash flows will likely remain strained due to payments of deferred considerations for acquisition, but believes that these will cease in 2013. On Allenby's forecasts, the shares trade on a prospective earnings multiple of just 2.7 times for 2012, falling to 2.51 times in 2013. The shares were unchanged at 13p.

and another Artilium Buy 04-Oct-12 £312,081.67 Maarten Bisseling 3,671,549 @ 8.50p

some significant buys

Artilium Buy 04-Oct-12 £257,682.09 Willem van den Brink 3,031,554 @ 8.50p Artilium Buy 04-Oct-12 £61,546.89 Adriaan Reinders 724,081 @ 8.50p Artilium Buy 04-Oct-12 £61,546.89 Jan-Paul Willem Menke 724,081 @ 8.50p

Matt Davies, the brand new Chief Executive Officer at Halfords Group, the FTSE-250 car and bike parts retailer, purchased 164,056 on his first day on the job. Davies, who bought the shares for 302.22p each for a total of £495,810, has replaced former CEO David Wild, who abruptly exited the company in the summer. The news of his appointment came late Wednesday, the day before the company revealed that full-year profits would be at the top end of guidance after a strong second quarter.

Summary and outlook In the short term, the key education markets are constrained by customer funding issues, especially in the US and Europe. This is reflected by the group's performance year-to-date and in the third quarter, which was also affected by the delay of a large contract that is now anticipated to fall into the fourth quarter. The cost reduction programmes are proceeding well and Promethean is now targeting to be at the upper end of its earlier range of 20 to 25% overall operating cost reductions. Looking ahead for the current year, however, the group now anticipates that full year results will be below current market expectations. For 2013, the group expects that market conditions will continue to remain difficult. Promethean is resizing its cost base to reflect these realities, with the aim of remaining an underlying profitable cash positive business whilst protecting its core investments in R&D. Promethean believes that, over the longer term, the impact of interactive learning technology is proven and this, coupled with the development of our integrated software and hardware strategy, means that Promethean remains well positioned to benefit when market conditions improve.

Operating cost reduction Significant and timely progress has been made on the cost reduction measures outlined in our interim announcement. We are now targeting the level of cost reduction in 2013 to be at the higher end of the 20-25% range (versus 2011 levels) that was previously quoted. Consequently, operating costs for 2012 will be lower than previously expected with the full benefits being realised in 2013. New Products and Initiatives The first deliveries of the ActivTable have been made during in Q3 2012 and initial customer feedback has been very positive. The rollout of our ActivProgress software to over 300,000 students in Mexico is ongoing and good progress is also being made on creating a Private Planet community for up to 100,000 Mexican teachers. These projects are a first proof point of our emerging software strategy. Promethean Planet continues to grow strongly and now has over 1.45 million members, an increase of 33% over the last twelve months, and in excess of 65,000 teaching resources.

Year-to-date interactive display system revenues were £108.8m, and learner response system revenues were £14.4m, down 30.1% and 29.3% respectively on the same period in 2011 (2011: £155.6m and £20.3m respectively). Third quarter interactive display revenues were £36.6m and learner response system sales were £3.4m, down 39.5% and 55.3% respectively versus the third quarter in 2011 (Q3 2011: £60.4m and £7.6m respectively). Year to date volumes of interactive display systems were 102,000 and of learner response systems were 435,000, down 23.7% and 35.1% respectively on the same period in 2011 (2011: 134,000 and 670,000 respectively). In the third quarter, Promethean sold 37,000 interactive display systems and 115,000 learner response systems, down 30.9% and 53.0% on the third quarter 2011 (Q3 2011: 53,000 and 245,000 respectively). As at 30 September 2012, Promethean had a net cash position of £5.8m (30 June 2012: £8.5m). The group's borrowing facilities remained undrawn throughout Q3 2012 and we continue to anticipate the group will have a net cash balance at the year end.

Continued budgetary pressures. Cost reduction programme progressing well. Promethean World Plc (LSE: PRW), a world leader in the global market for interactive learning technology, today publishes its interim management statement for the nine-month period ended 30 September 2012. Trading Performance The trading environment in key markets during the third quarter has continued to be challenging. Consequently, the quarter and year-to-date revenues for both the North America and International sales regions are down versus prior year comparatives. Demand during the key buying season in the US has been lower than recent years, and this has been accentuated by the delay in a large order, which is now anticipated to be received in the fourth quarter. Year-to-date group revenue was £123.2m, 30.0% lower than the same period in 2011 (£175.9m), 30.3% lower on a constant currency basis. Third quarter group revenue was £40.0m, down 41.2% versus the third quarter in 2011 (Q3 2011: £68.0m), or down 40.9% on a constant currency basis.

http://www.investegate.co.uk/Article.aspx?id=201210040700108894N

Outlook Since our Pre-close Trading Update on 2 August 2012 trading has remained in line with the Board's expectations, with contractor numbers at record levels continuing to grow well, up 2% in the two months to 30 September 2012. Permanent recruitment continues to be sensitive to global market news and has started the year on a par with last year. The Group delivered 21% growth in NFI in the year ended 31 July 2012. Our diversification strategy is continuing to bear fruit and we are seeing unprecedented demand for contract staff within the engineering markets, with a record number of contractors on assignment. The changes we have introduced over the past two years to the Group's structure position us well for continued growth, particularly by supplying more contractors to UK clients who have global demand for their services or are working on large, multi-year engineering infrastructure projects in the UK and overseas markets. Whilst we remain mindful that any deterioration in the global economy has the potential to impact on our business, we look forward with confidence to the year ahead. George Materna Chairman

Commenting on the results, George Materna Chairman of Matchtech said: "The Group delivered 21% growth in NFI in the year ended 31 July 2012. Our diversification strategy is continuing to bear fruit and we are seeing unprecedented demand for contract staff within our engineering markets with a record number of contractors on assignment. Since our Pre-close Trading Update on 2 August 2012 trading has remained in line with the Board's expectations, with contractor numbers continuing to grow well, up 2% in the two months to 30 September 2012. Permanent recruitment time-to-hire has been elongated and has started the year on a par with last year. The changes we introduced over the past two years to the Group's structure position us well for continued growth, particularly by supplying more contractors to UK clients who have global demand for their services or are working on large, multi-year engineering infrastructure projects in the UK and overseas markets. We look forward with confidence to the year ahead."