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A very good H1 trading update: Http://www.investegate.co.uk/alkane-energy-plc/rns/notice-of-results-and-trading-update/201507060700101890S/ ALK are on a P/E of just 6.8 for the current year. VSA Capital have updated very bullishly: "Electricity output was reported at 106GWh, remaining 25% ahead YoY in Q2, as was previously reported for Q1. ALK typically generates more electricity in H2 but just assuming H1 output is repeated in H2, this is in-line with our current FY output forecast (216GWh). Assuming the 25% YoY increase in maintained in H2, FY output would be c13% ahead of our forecast" Conclusion: "This is a positive update from ALK, which has the potential to come in ahead of our FY 2015 forecasts. However, we are maintaining our existing forecasts at this point, given the remaining unsold output and uncertainty over electricity prices. We maintain our BUY recommendation and target price of 43p."

Liberum today reiterate their Buy and 103p price target: Http://sleekmoney.com/xlmedia-plcs-buy-rating-reaffirmed-at-liberum-capital-xlm-2/327552/ Last year's H1 trading update was on 17th July, so hopefully just a couple of weeks to go. Given that only just over a month ago the CEO said this, the update should be pretty good: "We have made an excellent start to 2015 and continue to trade in line with expectations. The Board believes that the outlook for 2015 remains positive with growth set to continue" Expectations currently being 5.78p EPS and a 2.7p dividend.

N+1 Singer say Buy today and now have a 171p target price: Http://sleekmoney.com/creston-plc-given-buy-rating-at-n1-singer-cre/327626/

Brief comment from Panmure: Http://www.digitallook.com/news/news-and-announcements/harvey-nash-group-expects-strong-pound-to-hurt-growth-rates--784761.html "Panmure analysts maintained their 'buy' recommendation and said: "We believe investors will look beyond the impact of FX or the recently reported conversion ratio and focus on how spare capacity within the business should drive earnings higher"

Online it's looking as encouraging as I've ever seen it. You can sell 9,000 shares at 368.16p, whilst you can only buy a maximum 2,500 at 380p as I write.

Interesting to see a 173,740 share trade just go through at 300p, without affecting the share price. I wonder if that's the clearance of an overhang which has been holding back the price?

Good to see a 1,500 share buy cause the price to tick up. Nice small 10p spread too now at 355p-365p, though probably even smaller than that online. With my rose-tinted glasses on, and looking forward to a time when JMP, Shire Foods and Impetus Auto have all been turned around and sold, it's possible to come to valuations of 700p+ excluding Impetus. Assuming a successful turnaround of Impetus this could rise to 1000p+. As ever, happy to accept corrections to estimates/calculations. IMO however, Shire will be sold relatively quickly, and possibly JMP soon after - in the next year to 18 months - assuming the two companies continue to progress as they are doing at present. At worst, VLE is a marvellous sleep-easily-at-night share with a £12m-£13m cash pile not far off the entire current m/cap. At best it has potential to double or triple, but timeframes for this are dependent on news flow. You can also be sure that management will not be spending shareholders' money on company promotion, PR etc - they will keep it back for further acquisitions or share buybacks.

Excellent - and long - new interview with the CEO here. Well worth reading, but this is just a tiny extract: Http://www.casinoenterprisemanagement.com/articles/july-2015/online-inroads-gameaccount-network-finds-path-growth "Looking ahead, Smurfit sees the company delivering online services to many more U.S. casino operators. “And supporting a massive online audience of players which will numerically dwarf the casino operators’ on-property patron visitation numbers (although on-property gaming will continue to dominate online income for many years to come).”

The trading update is indeed pretty good: Http://www.investegate.co.uk/harvey-nash-group--hvn-/rns/agm---trading-statement/201507020700119207R/ Trading in line on a P/E of barely 10, with operating profits storming ahead 9% on a constant currency basis (plus an almost 4% dividend yield).

AGM and trading update is this Thursday. It should be good imho. And this CIO survey by HVN bodes well in terms of their niche IT sector specialism: Http://www.irishexaminer.com/breakingnews/business/64-of-it-companies-plan-to-hire-staff-in-coming-months--survey-683826.html

Last year's Q1 trading statement was on 31st July, so not too long to go. CRE were also mentioned as a good value small cap in IC highlights in the FT this weekend: http://on.ft.com/1LAumm0

Terrific news for RNWH's Seymour Civil Engineering: http://www.hartlepoolmail.co.uk/news/business/hartlepool-firm-seymour-civil-engineering-contactors-wins-a-share-of-a-247m-contract-deal-1-7325569 Great long-term secure income going forward for the Group too. And a nice reference point for Seymour to win further work from other water/sewage companies: "Hartlepool firm Seymour (Civil Engineering Contactors) wins a share of a £247m contract deal Wednesday 24 June 2015 A Hartlepool company has won a share of a massive multi-million pound contract to maintain the region’s sewer network. The huge boost has been announced at Seymour (Civil Engineering Contactors) which is one of only two firms to share the deal with Northumbrian Water, along with Durham-based Esh Construction. Work involves improvements to nearly 30,000 kilometres of underground sewer pipes, including repair and maintenance, and blockage clearance - in work known as asset management process (AMP). Kevin Byrne, managing director of Seymour CEC, said: “The award of the framework is fantastic news for Seymour Civil Engineering. It secures jobs and our position as a market leader and specialist in the water sector, whilst offering future employment opportunities and enhances potential community benefits. “We are primed to deliver successful outcomes for Northumbrian Water throughout the AMP period.” The Mail understands the work will also help to create new jobs. Mike Madine, sewerage and new development manager for Northumbrian Water, said: “We are making significant investments to look after our sewer network in order to be better prepared for the future. “We are committed to reducing the risk of sewer blockages, flooding and pollution occurring in our region and these contracts are a key part in us achieving that. Doing this is essential in delivering great customer service, while protecting and enhancing the environment is at the core of our business. “It’s great news for our customers who rightly expect a top quality service from us and it’s great news for the companies that have been chosen, as we help to support the regional economy and employment.” The new framework agreements will come into effect from Wednesday July 1 and last for up to nine years."

Went to the AGM yesterday, and very interesting it was too. Four shareholders there - me, another PI (good to see you again mate), an.other PI, and Michael Marks, who said he spoke for around 10% of the shares (which if you add in Zimmerman's shares he almost would). Buchler was absent ill unfortunately (stomach complaint), so Board representation comprised the Landers. We all noted our congratulations to the Board on the performance of the company, particularly re Shire Foods. As regards the business itself, points of interest were: - Shire Foods : the advance was due to winning new business and of course VLE's efforts in turning the business around. Shire's business comprises the "winners" in the supermarket battle, which I think we can take to mean Lidl, Aldi etc rather the Tescos and Sainsburys of this world, and Morrisons as well I think? But the very noteworthy point was that the new contracts started only in July'14, so last year had only 6 months' maximum contribution. This year will therefore see a full year's contribution, so draw your own conclusions... Shire still has more capacity available for further contracts. And Shire's net assets alone were quoted at "more than £1 per share". - JMP : the sector environment in general is "buoyant" for this company. It's worth noting the various framework and other wins for JMP outlined in the results narrative. - Impetus : not much to say other than that, like the others, it's a very well-respected company with a good trading history. It lost a contract prior to VLE's acquiring it, with the holding company going into administration, resulting in a small loss pre-acquisition. The hard work of turnaround starts here. There was a predictable discussion about the large share price discount to NAV (let alone the true value of the investee companies), and how it can be addressed/closed, share liquidity etc etc. Buybacks, paid-for research reports etc were talked about. I've raised these previously with JL and don't propose to write about this in detail here now as it's a well-worn path! Hopefully the above is accurate, though naturally subjective.

and looking really good online. You can currently sell at least 15k at 83.7p - above the mid-price! - whereas you can only buy a maximum 2,500 at 85p. There's clearly demand out there.

Alere Inc. had their results conference call a few days ago. It seems Afinion sales are going great guns - remember that CAR make the disposable plastic cartridges for Afinion machines: Http://finance.yahoo.com/news/edited-transcript-alr-earnings-conference-022029409.html Extract: "Q1 revenue was $205.1 million. International Triage, Afinion and Epoc had the largest growth, offset by lower INRatio sales. Asia-Pacific was driven by increasing demand for Triage, Afinion and Epoc with China leading the region's performance with 12.1% growth in cardiometabolic revenue, driven primarily by a 20.6% increase in meter-based Triage sales." "Afinion continues to gain traction with more than 350 new instruments placed during Q1 in North America alone." And CAR's LED headlight client McLaren should almost double car production this year, and then increase by another 30%+ the next year: Http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/markets/article-3139313/Petrolheads-spare-1m-spend-helped-McLaren-Automotive-post-pre-tax-profit-hike-233-cent-15m.html

Http://ftalphaville.ft.com/marketslive/2015-06-25/ "Our view: We are initiating coverage of Entertainment One ("eOne") with an Outperform rating and a price target of 450p. A leading international entertainment company specializing in the acquisition, production, and distribution of feature films and television programs, eOne is a pure play investment opportunity in the rising value of content. • Catching a strong global bid for content. In our eyes, eOne is a high quality company with meaningful global scale in a large and growing addressable market (~US$100B). We believe it is well positioned to deliver attractive risk-adjusted returns (20%+) by leveraging a solid position in the filmed entertainment value chain, strong relationships with creative talent, world-class sales and distribution infrastructure, and financial resources to support major annual investments in content (greater than US$500MM). In Television, we expect eOne to benefit from a new ‘golden age’ for premium television production fuelled by the proliferation of digital services. In Film, we see a virtuous cycle between the company's multi-territory scale and its partnerships with filmmakers, cementing eOne's position as the world's leading independent distributor of motion pictures. • Strategy to double in size looks within reach. In November 2014, eOne embarked on a plan to double the size of the business in five years through 75% organic and 25% acquisitive growth. While our forecast does not include unannounced M&A, our bullish outlook is consistent with management’s ambitious goal on an organic basis. In the next three years, we forecast 15-20% organic revenue growth in Television driven by production & sales momentum (greater than 850 half-hours) following a 51% investment in the Mark Gordon Company, and solid growth in family & licensing with the expansion of Peppa Pig (greater than US$1B at retail) and other brands. We expect a rebound in Film revenue in F2016E (11% Y/Y), and assume low single-digit revenue growth in Film medium-term, reflecting modest industry growth and market share gains in film distribution, and the building up of eOne Features (film production). • Compelling valuation at a discount to peers. Our 450p target reflects the average of (1) our EV/EBITDA valuation, which applies 9.0x and 14.0x multiples to our two-year forward estimates in Film and Television, respectively; and (2) our DCF valuation, which incorporates 9.0% WACC and 2.5% terminal growth. We believe our assumptions are reasonable given the growth and risk profile of these businesses (12% EBITDA CAGR through F2020E), decent FCF conversion (50-60% mediumterm), upside from acquisitions, and option value on a takeout. eOne is trading at an FTM EV/EBITDA multiple of 10.3x, which is below independent content players at 13.1x (17.2x including DreamW

Currently you can only buy a maximum 7,500 at 84.75p, but you can sell at least 15,000 at a premium at 81.3p.

Encouraging stuff. New Chinese territory manager announced on Monday by SOM: Http://www.somero.com/news/244-somero®-china-welcomes-new-small-line-territory-manager And then similar for India on Tuesday: Http://www.somero.com/news/245-somero®-welcomes-new-territory-sales-manager-for-north-and-east-india "Somero® Welcomes New Territory Sales Manager for North and East India etc"

Great new interview with the CEO - just one of HAYT's systems sold to FMC will bring in £1m+..... Http ://www.proactiveinvestors.co.uk/companies/news/108309/hayward-tyler-playing-the-long-game-108309.html Extract: "when is this investment in the Centre of Excellence at Luton going to start to pay off? To which the answer is: it is already starting to pay off, as can be verified by FMC Technologies, the global market leader in sub-sea systems, choosing Hayward Tyler earlier this year to manufacture permanent magnet motors for use in FMC's 3.2 megawatt sub-sea pump systems. “Each of these units is worth one-million-plus, which is around three to four times the normal cost of our units, so you can do the maths,” Ewan Lloyd-Baker said in an interview with Proactive Investors. The Hayward Tyler boss was confident other deals would follow the FMC hook-up and that, over the medium term, 20-30% of Hayward Tyler’s revenues would come from the oil & gas sector. If he’s right, that should put paid to any concerns about revenues from the oil & gas sector drying up. It is all a matter of being patient, which is apparently a lot easier to do when one is the boss of a 200-year-old company, though house broker finnCap has also got the message. “Against the difficult oil sector backdrop, the recent alliance with FMC offers the potential for a scale increase in production,” the broker said in a research note on Tuesday. In the meantime, Lloyd-Baker pointed to very healthy order intake of £9.8mln in the first two months of the current financial year, with the orders derived from a range of geographies and a variety of sectors. “We’re becoming more competitive on the power side,” Lloyd-Baker asserted, and that increased competitiveness opens up lots of possibilities, especially in India and China. Now that the general election is out of the way in India and the economy is picking up, the company might start making more of a noise on the sub-continent, “where we’ve been a bit quiet lately”, Lloyd-Baker acknowledged. By the afternoon, the shares had rallied to 82p, suggesting that the company’s message was getting through. House broker finnCap is forecasting earnings per share of 8.0p for the current financial year, putting the shares on a projected earnings multiple of 10.25, which finnCap says is a discount to its peers. By finnCap’s calculations, the shares should be on a multiple of 14.1, which would imply a price of 113p. “The improving market outlook coupled with significant internal enhancements potentially provides significant scope for earnings growth in the current year and upside to the current valuation,” reckons finnCap analyst, David Buxton"

Yep, after the tick up you can now sell 35k online at a huge premium at 24.9p, whilst buying at a smaller discount to the published price at 25.3p. Looking interesting.