Investors Chronicle - magazine and web content back issues from March 2008:
Spirent turns the corner.
Mar 02, 2008 ... Spirent's long-awaited recovery is finally coming through.. Anthony Lugg Spirent's long-awaited recovery is finally coming through. The restructuring is finished and is generating greater cost savings than originally expected. The core performance analysis division also lifted ...
Old Mutual fighting hard.
Mar 02, 2008 ... Tough trading conditions and currency swings make it tough going. Jonas Crosland It's been a tough year, according to Old Mutual 's chief executive Jim Sutcliffe. Business in the first half showed encouraging growth, but volatile markets and currency swings made the second half ...
TDG shareholder wants it all.
Mar 02, 2008 ... Activist investor Laxey's indicative offer for TDG coincides with annual results from the logistics group. Stephen Gunnion News of a takeover bid from TDG's largest shareholder, active value investor Laxey Partners, led to a sharp rise in the the group's share price, ...
Sifting through the haze at Filtrona.
Mar 02, 2008 ... Filtrona's results were complicated by merger and acquisition and currency effect - but it still didn't impress. Richard Hemming Investors marked shares in cigarette filter manufacturer Filtrona down 10 per cent after flat profit growth in 2007 and the admission that "market ...
UK weakness holds Logica back.
Mar 02, 2008 ... LogicaCMG has changed its name back to Logica and shareholders will be hoping this will be the beginning of better times ahead for the group. Anthony Lugg LogicaCMG has changed its name back to Logica with its full-year results. Hopefully this will reflect better times ahead as ...
Redrow suffers as housing market weakens.
Mar 02, 2008 ... Profits down one-third, plus a warning about the sales outlook for the year ahead. Claer Barrett Mid-cap housebuilder Redrow is suffering more than larger rivals in the housing slowdown. Results for the second half of last year came in below analyst expectations, prompting ...
Doctor administers medicine to Stem Cell.
Mar 02, 2008 ... Stem Cell Sciences needs to become commercial to stem losses and halve cash burn.. Nigel Bolitho "Seasoned" physician Dr Alastair Riddell was appointed chief executive of Stem Cell Sciences in November 2007, and the table below indicates that he needs to administer some strong ...
Foreign attractions.
Mar 02, 2008 ... A new ETF means we should reconsider the merits of international diversification. Chris Dillow Financial innovation has had a bad press in recent months. The sub-prime crisis taught us that fancy financial products have often been a way for egomaniacs to gamble ignorantly with ...
Plain sailing for Anglo Pacific.
Mar 02, 2008 ... Royalty company sees opportunities in both strong and weak markets. Daniel O'Sullivan "We've got the put and we've got the call, whatever happens to equity markets," says Anglo Pacific finance director Matthew Tack. When equity positions taken by his mining investment company ...
Kier maintains strong growth.
Mar 02, 2008 ... Kier continues to over-deliver in challenging conditions. Martin Li Kier continued to defy doubters and tough market conditions by delivering yet another half-year of high growth that exceeded expectations and sent the shares over 6 per cent higher. The group's ...
Ricardo floating on COA.
Mar 02, 2008 ... A spread in Ricardo's client base and business activities and demand for COA reducing technologies have led to soaring orders. Stephen Gunnion Ricardo says that its strategy to expand its spread of businesses has started to deliver, with strong demand in particular for its ...
Guinness Peat sells more assets.
Mar 02, 2008 ... But Coats provides a sting in the tail. Jonas Crosland A series of asset sales boosted profits to a record level for Guinness Peat, an investment holding company with a diverse range of interests The largest revenue source is its wholly-owned subsidiary textiles ...
Amlin reports record results.(Financial report)
Mar 02, 2008 ... Amlin achieved a record return on equity last year, reflecting an insurance market characterised by high premium rates, low claims and good investment returns. Anthony Lugg Amlin achieved a record return on equity last year, reflecting an insurance market characterised by high ...
Mondi buoyed by price increases.
Mar 02, 2008 ... Paper maker Mondi reported a robust set of figures after managing to push through price hikes for the first time in five years. Nathalie Olof-Ors <a href="http://www.mondigroup.com/desktopdefault.aspx Paper maker Mondi - dual listed in London and Johannesburg - ...
All change at Office2Office.
Mar 02, 2008 ... With restructuring complete, Office2Office is now ready to deliver more than just stationery.. Malar Velaigam Despite pulling out of a key Ministry of Defence (MoD) contract last June, Office2office managed to maintain revenues with profits before restructuring charges and tax ...
MTI Wireless hit by dollar slide.
Mar 03, 2008 ... TIP UPDATE: MTI Wireless enjoyed a strong 2007, but could be hampered by forex movements. Graeme Davies In shipping 600,000 wireless broadband antennae during 2007, MTI Wireless managed to maintain its 25 per cent market share despite increasing competition. Sales to the ...
IC Trades: Intercontinental Hotels Group (IHG).
Mar 03, 2008 ... Intercontinental poked above its daily cloud, only to fall quickly back through. Dominic Picarda As happens quite often, Intercontinental Hotels poked above its daily cloud, only to fall quickly back through. A fresh leg of downside seems likely now. Having got ...
Paddy Power to double in the UK.
Mar 03, 2008 ... RESULTS: Paddy Power has posted a strong set of financials, boosted by an unprecedented level of favourable sporting results in the first half of 2007.. Nathalie Olof-Ors Unlike punters, Paddy Power certainly had a bit of that famous "Irish luck" last year. The Gaelic bookmaker ...
Hiscox cuts Lloyd's capacity.
Mar 03, 2008 ... RESULTS: With premium rates under pressure, the insurer is deploying capital elsewhere. Anthony Lugg Last summer's floods in the UK, as well as Windstorm Kyrill claims, didn't stop Hiscox from delivering a near five percentage point improvement to its combined group ratio (of ...
Dialight to divest components.
Mar 03, 2008 ... RESULTS: Purer focus on fast-growing LED market likely to be rewarded, but how soon?. Tim Bradshaw LED specialist Dialight's shares leapt 7 per cent as it revealed plans to divest its Components business. This division prompted two profit warnings early in 2007, and revenues ...
WSP finds strength in diversity.
Mar 03, 2008 ... Battered WSP highlights its defensive qualities. Algy Hall WSP's shares have struggled since October due in no small part to the consultancy's involvement with the development of trophy buildings in the UK and US that look vulnerable to the credit crunch. So the group was keen ...
Trinity Mirror tumbles.
Mar 03, 2008 ... Trinity Mirror's shares fell sharply as the group announced lower advertising revenues. Martin Li Trinity Mirror's shares fell over 10 per cent after the group announced lower revenues from continuing activities and a weak start to 2008. The big problem is volatile advertising ...
Resilient Staffline suffers nevertheless.
Mar 03, 2008 ... TIP UPDATE: The business is holding up well - it's a pity the share price isn't. Graeme Davies Despite the significant downturn in sentiment toward the recruitment sector, Staffline's managing director Andy Hogarth reckons the business boasts enough resilience to see it through ...
Solid growth at Keller.
Mar 03, 2008 ... RESULT: Keller boasts a record order book and record profit margins. Jonas Crosland Strong growth in the Middle East, Asia and Australia more than offset a modest performance from the US for ground engineering specialist Keller, with operating margins rising from 10.4 per cent ...
Rentokil fails to deliver.
Mar 03, 2008 ... TIP UPDATE: The problems at Rentokil's City Link parcel division have got a lot worse.. Algy Hall The recovery that Rentokil's management team has been trying to implement has come well and truly unstuck. The group moved out of the electronic security market to focus on parcel ...
Helphire warns on slower growth.
Mar 03, 2008 ... RESULT: Helphire's profit margins are set to fall. Jonas Crosland Helphire shares plunged a third as these results missed brokers' estimates by 12 per cent. Operating margins fell by 3 percentage points and to compound matters Helphire announced a change in the method of ...
Davis sees growth ahead.
Mar 03, 2008 ... Davis has offset the drag of a difficult UK market with acquisitions in Europe, which now accounts for around two-thirds of profits. Anthony Lugg Davis has offset the drag of a difficult UK market with acquisitions in Europe, which now accounts for around two-thirds of profits ....
MJ Gleeson hard pressed.
Mar 03, 2008 ... RESULT: Losses widen in tough trading for MJ Gleeson. Jonas Crosland Shares inMJ Gleeson plunged 14 per cent after the company reported a wider loss and warned that, unless conditions in the house building and commercial markets improve, there is unlikely to be any positive ...
More hurdles ahead for Avis Europe.
Mar 03, 2008 ... TIP UPDATE: Avis Europe shares sink on poor outlook due to slowing economic growth.. Stephen Gunnion New chief executive Pascal Bazin - who took the wheel at Avis Europe on 1 January - has a tough job ahead of him as he steers the turnaround at the car rental group in ...
End of correction?
Mar 03, 2008 ... THE TRADER: The corrective bounce against the larger downtrend may be over, says the Trader. And he's not encouraged by the charts of the oil majors either.. Marc Rivalland Point-and-figure charts move more slowly than swing charts, and tend to generate their signals later. It ...
IC Trades: Carnival (CCL).
Mar 03, 2008 ... Carnival has begun sinking once more. Dominic Picarda As predicted last week, Carnival has begun sinking once more. The move above the daily Ichimoku cloud was a false breakout and the cloud now looks set to become resistance once again. A close on 28 March below the ...
IC Trades: FTSE 100 (UKX).
Mar 03, 2008 ... Our continued bearishness on the FTSE has proven correct. Dominic Picarda Our continued bearishness on the FTSE (25 February) has proven correct. The large-cap index has resumed its downtrend after its unconvincing three-wave rally on poor volume. A move down towards ...
Cultural vandalism.
Mar 03, 2008 ... What do fund managers and Alistair Darling have in common?. Chris Dillow There's a link between Alistair Darling and Peloton Partners, the hedge-fund manager which collapsed last week. I don't mean a financial link, but an ideological one. Both share the same ambitious attitude ...
Holders holds its own.
Mar 03, 2008 ... Strong trading from Holders' UK operations. Nigel Bolitho Holders Technology (HT) makes laminates, drills and solder masks for the printed circuit board (PCB) market. Last July, the company forecast "a satisfactory outcome" for 2006-07, which was achieved as the table below ...
Debt cut dramatically at Stadium.
Mar 03, 2008 ... Stadium is confident about 2008. Nigel Bolitho Stadium has produced good 2007 trading results but the latest balance sheet numbers are even better. Stadium's main electronics business is housed in a 150,000 sq ft factory in China, close to Hong Kong. It employs 1,200 people and ...
New boss needed to fix Psion.
Mar 03, 2008 ... Psion is looking for a new chief executive to lead a restructuring and improve profitability. Tim Bradshaw Psion has demoted former chief executive Jacky Lecuivre back to president of worldwide sales, as the handheld device maker attempts to boost profitability. Chairman and ...
Xstrata's figures overshadowed by bid talk.
Mar 03, 2008 ... Profits rise at Xstrata but the focus remains on takeover talks. Martin Li Even after stripping out 2006's acquisition of Falconbridge, Anglo-Swiss miner Xstrata reported solid progress, with cash profits up 13 per cent to $11.3bn (GBP5.7bn). But, despite that, attention remains ...
Rotork shares the spoils.
Mar 03, 2008 ... RESULTS: Special dividend planned after another period of strong cash generation. Stephen Gunnion Continuing strong demand from the oil and gas, water treatment and power sectors for Rotork's valves and actuators has pushed the group's order book 29 per cent higher to GBP98m ....
Avingtrans in the bargain basement.
Mar 03, 2008 ... Problems at B&D knock Avingtrans. Nigel Bolitho The first half was certainly a period of mixed fortunes for Avingtrans. The table below suggests a smart recovery but operating profits (before share-based payments, amortisation and impairment provisions) were down from GBP1.87m ...
Boomerang flies through Wales.
Mar 03, 2008 ... Welsh programming fires-up Boomerang. Nigel Bolitho Like its rival, Tinopolis, Boomerang Plus is a Welsh-based producer of television content. It benefits from the quota system set by the media regulator Ofcom, which was designed to ensure that broadcasters source a minimum ...
Encouraging results from Epistem.
Mar 03, 2008 ... Epistem has high hopes for its biomarkers. Nigel Bolitho Until the end of last year, all of Epistem's revenues came from preclinical testing relating to tissue renewal for cancer, gastrointestinal diseases and dermatology. In the latest half-year figures, contract ...
Kingspan warns of tougher times.
Mar 03, 2008 ... RESULTS: Building products group enjoys record 2007, but warning on growth sends shares down. Jonas Crosland Share prices are about the future, not the past. There could be no better demonstration of this truism than Kingspan's full-year results. Profits in 2007 rose to a record ...
Ceramic Fuel Cells building momentum.
Mar 03, 2008 ... RESULT: Alternative energy group seals development deals with leading European utilities. Graeme Davies The holy grail of achieving real, viable commercial sales volumes of fuel-cell driven products has moved a step closer for Ceramic Fuel Cells (CFCL), lifting the spirits of ...
Moneysupermarket.com delivers.
Mar 03, 2008 ... RESULTS: Comparison website delivers strong profit growth, but the shares aren't cheap. Martin Li In its first results since flotation, price comparison website Moneysupermarket.com delivered a strong performance marginally ahead of expectations. Boosted by the credit crunch, ...
Vitec warms up for the Beijing Olympics.
Mar 03, 2008 ... RESULTS: The shift to digital television and growing demand for professional camera equipment is driving earnings at Vitec, and the forthcoming Olympics hold promise for 2008.. Stephen Gunnion Vitec is preparing for the Beijing Olympics, which should increase demand for the ...
HSBC hit hard in the US.
Mar 03, 2008 ... TIP UPDATE: Massive sub-prime write-downs take the shine off the Asia-Pacific growth story. John Adams HSBC's $2.1bn (GBP1.06bn) write-off against asset-backed securities looks modest when compared to the provisions being raised against the US consumer credit book. They rose 70 ...
United Business Media delivers.
Mar 03, 2008 ... A strategy focused on profitable growth delivers on its targets, and more of the same is expected in the current financial year. Amanda Vermeulen Value-adding acquisitions, earnings growth and capital returns to shareholders make for a heady combination, and United Business ...
Testing times for WH Ireland.
Mar 03, 2008 ... WH Ireland presses on despite a challenging climate. Malar Velaigam Profits inched up a modest three per cent for WH Ireland, which warned of uncertainty in the financial services fraternity in light of increasingly difficult market conditions. The good news is that ...
Highway sees an upturn in motor rates.
Mar 03, 2008 ... Highway reported an underwriting loss last year, but news on motor rates makes for a promising outlook. Anthony Lugg The deterioration in Highway's combined ratio to a loss making 101.4 per cent reflects the impact that last year's floods had on claims. Nevertheless, these ...
Rank builds kitty with pension sale.
Mar 03, 2008 ... TIP UPDATE: Results for 2007 are slightly better than expected and the sale of its pension fund will help, but Rank remains a gamble. Stephen Gunnion The transfer of Rank's pension plan to a unit of investment bank Goldman Sachs brings some relief to the beleaguered leisure ...
Property pay day for Molins.
Mar 03, 2008 ... Pension surplus boosts Molins's assets. Nigel Bolitho If a pension credit and reorganisation costs are ignored, Molins reported 2007 profits that would have been down from the stated GBP7.4m to GBP4.4m. At an operating level before such charges, tobacco machinery almost doubled ...
Better news from Swallowfield.
Mar 03, 2008 ... Sale and leaseback boosts Swallowfield. Nigel Bolitho Exceptionals in the form of a GBP1.02m sale and leaseback gain boosted the latest half-year results and compared to restructuring costs of GBP244,000 in the same period last year. Ignore them and interim profits were up ...
No global woes for WPP.
Mar 03, 2008 ... TIP UPDATE: WPP's 2007 performance was impervious to the drama in the financial markets and 2008 promises an equally glittering result. Amanda Vermeulen If marketing and advertising-related services are a barometer of the global economy's health, it looks like we have little to ...
Capita takes orders.
Mar 03, 2008 ... Capita is rebuilding its order book with a series of contract wins in the last three months.. Algy Hall Once again, there is little to fault about the full-year performance of outsourcing giant Capita. What at first sight looks like a worrying fall in the group's bid pipeline ...
CSR hit by Asian destocking.
Mar 03, 2008 ... The Bluetooth chip maker revealed that it is experiencing destocking in China, sending its share price plunging.. Anthony Lugg Bluetooth chip maker CSR saw its share price fall 27 per cent after it revealed that it is experiencing destocking in China. On top of that, in its ...
ZincOx making good progress.
Mar 03, 2008 ... TIP UPDATE: ZincOx progresses Yemeni mining and Ohio recycling projects. Martin Li ZincOx and Jabal Salab have completed the financing of the latter's zinc oxide mine in Yemen, which should accelerate the development of the first large-scale Yemeni mining project. It has also ...
Piotroski value screen update.
Mar 03, 2008 ... STOCK SCREENS: One change this week for our best-performing screen. David Stevenson With the markets so volatile we're pretty religiously keeping to our strict stop loss rules and selling anything that falls by more than 20% from our initial purchase price. We still think this ...
Betting on easy money.
Mar 03, 2008 ... COMMENT: Hedge funds simply do well when cash is free and easy, and underperform when it isn't. There's no skill involved at all, argues our economics editor.. Chris Dillow The collapse of Peloton Partners' ABS Master fund renews interest in an old question: do hedge funds have ...
Markets: FTSE down as oil and euro soar.
Mar 03, 2008 ... SUMMARY: Dollar sinks against euro, prompting fresh slides in banking stocks as oil and gold continue to soar. Jonas Crosland Leading shares are off the worst in London but are still weak. So by lunchtime, the FTSE100 index was nursing a loss of 85.2 points at 5,799.1, having ...
Riding the coat-tails of the commodity boom.
Mar 03, 2008 ... STOCK SCREENS: How to safely and sanely invest in the ever-lengthening commodities super cycle. Our new screen has found just two stocks that combine good growth prospects with reasonable ratings. David Stevenson We're kicking off March with another look at how to safely and ...
Foolish small-cap update.
Mar 03, 2008 ... STOCK SCREEN: A new addition for our smaller-cap growth shares screen. David Stevenson You may not think it's a great time to be buying a small stockbroker and financial services company at the moment - surely with all this turbulence and market panic, any investment based ...
IC Trades: British Airways (BAY).
Mar 04, 2008 ... BA's long descent continues. Dominic Picarda The world's favourite airline has gone through the 259p support level we highlighted recently. Our Elliott-Wave count points to continuing downside. Watch for potential upward corrections kicking in at 240p, 225p, 211p and ...
Sepura slumps on shock warning.
Mar 04, 2008 ... Emergency radio equipment provider Sepura slumped 23 per cent on slipped shipments. Tim Bradshaw Sepura's shares fell 23 per cent on a shock profit warning, just two weeks after an in line trading statement. Shipment delays to two agreed UK contracts mean sales to March 2008 ...
Going is good for Game.
Mar 04, 2008 ... Game Group has upgraded its profit expectations - again. Amanda Vermeulen Game Group has upgraded expectations again and now expects pre-tax profits for the year to 31 January 2008 of at least GBP74m, slightly ...
Corporate Services' problems persist.
Mar 04, 2008 ... Corporate Services is yet to remedy the key issue that made us bearish and its share price has fallen by over 60 per cent.. Algy Hall Shares in recruitment firm Corporate Services have fallen heavily since we recommended selling them at 5.13p (31 August 2007). And, while the ...