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RANDALL & QUILTER (RQIH) Aim: Insurance Share price: 120p Bid-offer spread: 118p-120p Market value: £59.6m Website:rqih.com Founded in 1992 by executive chairman and chief executive Ken Randall and finance director Alan Quilter, Randall & Quilter (RQIH) is a specialist in managing the run-off of insurance companies and Lloyd's of London syndicates that have stopped underwriting new contracts, but have already settled liabilities arising from policies written. This is a huge market estimated to be worth nearly £30bn in the UK alone - accounting for 15 per cent of the non-life insurance market - and in excess of $500bn (£316bn) globally. Managing the run-off of insurance companies and Lloyd's of London syndicates is also hugely profitable, which explains why Randall & Quilter's (R&Q) board has been able to pay out over 23p a share of dividends in the past three years. It's a sizeable operation, too, employing 400 professionals based in the UK, US, Bermuda and continental Europe, offering a wide service capability in both the 'live' and 'run-off' insurance markets. R&Q currently has a portfolio of 10 companies in run-off with net assets of £85.9m and owns a Lloyd's authorised managing agency and manages Lloyd's syndicates 102 and 3330, which are both in run-off. R&Q's insurance investment business was the star performer in the first half of 2012, doubling operating profits to £6.47m, but the company's insurance services unit also makes decent returns from its principal activities of claims management, accounting, regulatory returns and reinsurance management. Profits here were up by 18 per cent to £2.3m in the same period. So, once you deduct central overheads and contributions from a couple of smaller divisions, the bottom line is that R&Q reported a 50 per cent hike in adjusted pre-tax profits to £4.6m in the first half of 2012. On the same basis, analysts at Numis Securities are looking for full-year pre-tax profits of around £9.2m and EPS of 13.4p, which will support a very progressive dividend policy: R&Q paid out dividends of 8.3p a share last year through share schemes, up from 7.65p in 2011 and 7.1p in 2010. To put that into perspective, at 120p, the shares are currently offering a chunky 6.9 per cent historic yield covered 1.6 times by forward earnings. They are modestly rated, too, on a PE ratio of nine. True, Mr Randall and his son both sold 1m shares each this week at 110p, but they still retain combined stakes of over 19m shares, or 38.2 per cent of the share capital, so I am not concerned by this selling. The investment case is even more compelling when you consider that £13m of the company's net assets of £72.6m are in effect in the price for nothing. On a bargain rating of 0.95, and with the high-yielding shares trading 14 per cent below book value of 139p, R&Q is significantly undervalued. Buy.

RNS Number : 6565G IPSA Group PLC 24 October 2008 24 October 2008 IPSA Group PLC Possible disposal of gas turbines Highlights ADVANCED DISCUSSIONS FOR SALE OF FOUR GAS TURBINES: SIGNIFICANT POTENTIAL PROFIT OPTION TO ACQUIRE NEW TURBINES FOR COEGA DEVELOPMENT UNDER NEGOTIATION IPSA Group PLC ("IPSA" or "the Company") announces that it is in advanced discussions for the sale of the four Fiat Avio 501 D gas turbines previously intended for its Coega project near Port Elizabeth, South Africa. Having been approached by a number of potential buyers, IPSA is now in various stages of advanced negotiations with selected parties outside South Africa for the sale of the turbines at a price in excess of $100 million (£62 million). This compares with an all-in acquisition cost of approximately $60 million (£37 million). However, the Company wishes to emphasize that any such sale may not proceed to completion. Shareholders will be updated shortly on progress. The turbines have hitherto been earmarked for the Coega project. In recent weeks, IPSA has been awaiting the outcome of certain constitutional changes affecting the Coega Development Corporation ("CDC"). These changes are considered necessary to enable CDC to grant leasehold rights for a new independent power plant to serve the baseload power and steam needs of industrial customers on the Coega site. No firm timetable has yet been established for bringing an independent combined cycle gas turbine ("CCGT") plant on line at Coega. It is therefore apparent that the in-service date for the first 521 MW of open cycle gas turbine capacity, originally targeted for mid-2009, will not now be achieved. IPSA is, therefore, considering taking advantage of the strong worldwide demand for gas turbines by endeavouring to sell the four fully-refurbished Fiat Avio 501 D turbines acquired by the Company in March 2007 for the Coega Project. In order to minimize the impact of selling the turbines on the earliest possible timing for the Coega Project, IPSA is negotiating an option to acquire new turbines with identical specifications, to be delivered on site at Coega directly from the manufacturer to meet the new in-service dates imposed by the delayed timetable resulting from the necessary constitutional changes at CDC. The Board of IPSA anticipates that new gas turbines to be acquired pursuant to any such option would cost approximately EUR128 million (£102 million) the cost of which will be reflected in the electricity tariff over the life of the plant. Further announcements on the option arrangement will be made in due course. The overall plan for IPSA to develop, construct and own 1,600 MW of CCGT capacity at Coega remains unchanged. Furthermore, IPSA remains committed to developing new power capacity in southern Africa. On 9 September 2008 the Company announced that it has increased its planned coal-fired power plant capacity to be d

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