Investors Chronicle articles from April 2005

Investors Chronicle archives from April 2005

Making waves.
April 8, 2005... This week, it was reported that British companies spent more money advertising on the internet than they did on commercial radio last year. According to the Interactive Advertising Bureau, the amount spent on web advertising surged by 60 per...

Triple warning syndrome.
April 8, 2005... Two down, but one still to go. And the third will be the big one - when all hell breaks loose, when the incumbent bosses decide to pursue other interests, when share prices crumble like rotten wood. I am talking about Bearbull's law of profit...

Gross stupidity.
April 8, 2005... I show opposite that fund managers are worse than useless. This raises the question: just how stupid can markets be? Possibly, very. Exhibit one is that, in the past year, the correlation between weekly returns on Royal Dutch and Shell - two...

Trolley wars.
April 8, 2005... Sir Peter Davis could have left Sainsbury's in a reasonably smooth manner last year. True, he had failed in the job he was appointed to, four years earlier, of reviving the company. But with a little spin, however cynically contrived - any...

Value-added facts.
April 8, 2005... All wealth is the product of labour." Now, before you jump to the conclusion that this week's general election announcement has led investors chronicle to adopt the editorial policy of a certain other FT publication in reprinting government...

Crude comparisons.
April 8, 2005... With eVERY week that passes, the similarities between the dot-com bubble and the small-cap oil bubble grow. This week, it was the announcement by Goldman Sachs that oil markets may have entered the early stages of a "super-spike" period, where...

Why money matters.
April 8, 2005... Growth in the world's money stock is falling. Figures released by the OECD today (Friday) are likely to show that the M1 measure of the developed world's money stock is now growing at its slowest rate since May 2001. The IMF estimates that...

Useless tools.
April 8, 2005... I owe you all an apology. I've often said that fund managers are useless. I was wrong. They are, in fact, worse than useless. This is the obvious message from the performance of our low-risk portfolio. Over the past five years, it has...

A winning hand.
April 8, 2005... The lights are dimmed and the room is hushed. Around the table are huddled half a dozen players, looks of steely concentration etched upon their faces as they inspect the hand dealt to them. Known to one another by colourful nicknames such as...

Kaupthing bids for Singer & Friedlander.
April 8, 2005... Shares in investment bank Singer & Friedlander jumped 10 per cent to 310p as the company confirmed that it is in bid talks with Kaupthing, an Icelandic bank. Kaupthing already owns 19 per cent of Singer's shares, and rumours of a bid have been...

Oil's slippery path.
April 8, 2005... Rising oil prices are a threat to profits. Previous spikes in real oil prices - in 1974, 1980 and 1990 - all led to big drops in the share of non-oil profits in national income. There's a simple reason for this. Rising oil prices push up...

Compass breaks its promise.
April 8, 2005... Having sworn that its profit warning last year would be a one-off, catering giant Compass has again said that it will miss earnings forecasts. Although sales are still growing at a decent rate, the company isn't going to make as much as...

New probe won't stretch ssl.
April 8, 2005... Durex condom-maker SSL International has once again aroused the interest of UK competition watchdogs. SSL's condom business is the UK's biggest, with an 80 per cent market share. And after previous probes, watchdogs decided the company's...

Bid talks give Game Group a boost.
April 8, 2005... Shares in computer games retailer Game Group jumped 20 per cent, to 92p, following an announcement that it is in bid talks. Richard Ratner of broker Seymour Pierce is "absolutely convinced" that the offer is a management buyout, which will come...

Pallet performance hurts Business Post.
April 8, 2005... Shares in Business Post slipped 5 per cent this week as the delivery group revealed that trading was tougher than expected. Although the mail delivery operation - which is the group's great hope - is performing ahead of plan and attracting...

Autonomy sales past analysts' forecasts.
April 8, 2005... Shares in enterprise software group Autonomy jumped 13 per cent when it revealed that first-quarter sales and profits would be "considerably" ahead of expectations. Analysts expected revenues of between $16m (GBP8.5m) and $18m, but house broker...

Threatened Shire focuses on positives.
April 8, 2005... Despite a Canadian ban, sales of Shire Pharmaceuticals' attention deficit (ADHD) drug, Adderall XR, remain stable. And chief executive Matthew Emmens has just revealed that data trials of the firm's ADHD patch are going well, too. However,...

Frodo and friends fail Games Workshop.
April 8, 2005... Games Workshop shares fell 35 per cent, to 463p, as the company warned that slowing sales of its Lord of the Rings games and figurines will push sales below expectations. The company has repeatedly warned of a bubble, but the depth of the...

Elan plummets after second Tysabri death.
April 8, 2005... Shares in Elan fell 56 per cent after a second death was linked to its multiple sclerosis drug Tysabri. The drug had already been linked with two cases of progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy, one of which was fatal. Now, a re-examination...

SRA halts go ahead bid for Thameslink.
April 8, 2005... In a shock decision, the Strategic Rail Authority has excluded incumbent Go Ahead from the Thameslink franchise shortlist. Go Ahead will lose Thameslink next April, when one of the shortlisted bidders - including National Express, FirstGroup...

Yelling in disbelief.
April 8, 2005... Yell, the publisher of the Yellow Pages directory, faces a shock investigation by the Competition Commission. On Tuesday, the Office of Fair Trading said that it was referring Yell for investigation to address concerns about "high prices and...

Northgate nets SX3.
April 8, 2005... Public-sector software specialist Northgate Information Solutions has bought Viridian's IT arm, SX3, for GBP155m. The deal more than doubles Northgate's government revenues, and will be earnings-enhancing even before anticipated cost savings of...

Centaur Seaplane makes a splash.
April 8, 2005... Centaur Seaplane is raising GBP2.2m and winging its way onto Aim next month to help get its first plane into the air. The first flight is expected to take place within the next 12-14 months, and this should help to increase demand further....

Emap set to raise scottish radio stake.
April 8, 2005... Media conglomerate Emap wants to buy fellow radio broadcaster Scottish Radio (SRH). Emap already owns 27 per cent of SRH. Scottish Radio says that any buyer must pay a full and fair value: "The Board of SRH does not believe the current share...

Week Ahead...
April 8, 2005... NEWS Monday 11 April Pipex Communications has been busily recruiting new customers to its broadband internet services, signing up over 10,000 users a month. The Aim-traded broadband and web-hosting provider has also built on its...

Peter Hambro Mining gets world bank boost.
April 8, 2005... Peter Hambro Mining received another endorsement this week after the IFC, the investment arm of the World Bank, agreed to invest $15m by subscribing for just under 1.5m new shares at 550p. The IFC also has the option to apply for a further...

Renold shares dive on second profit warning.
April 8, 2005... A second profit warning in two months sent shares in automotive components firm Renold tumbling. They dipped 19 per cent to 58p as the company admitted feeling the brunt of rising steel prices and stagnant European automotive markets. It said...

RDF Media hopes to emulate shed.
April 8, 2005... RDF Media, which produces programmes such as Faking It and Wife Swap, hopes to be valued at around GBP50m when it joins Aim next month. Following hot on the heels of Shed Productions, which joined the junior market last month, RDF plans to...

Table Mountain looks to black empowerment.
April 8, 2005... Aim new issue Table Mountain Minerals has been set up to acquire mining rights in South Africa and other African countries. The focus is on seeking out opportunities that have arisen from the advent of the Black Economic Empowerment Act (BEE)....

Northern Rock bucks housing trend.
April 8, 2005... Northern Rock has bucked the trend of a slower housing market by reporting increased first-quarter lending. Helped by robust remortgaging activity, the first-quarter residential lending pipeline was 6 per cent higher than the same time last...

Vividas's video technology aims high.
April 8, 2005... Recent Aim float Vividas hopes to transform video streaming on computers. Founded in 2000, it has developed a video technology that allows the playback of full-screen videos via discs or networks. Vividas uses a media player that combines...

Bets are off for mega casinos.
April 8, 2005... The government has changed its casino proposals again in an effort to get the reforms into law before the election. The latest alteration has cut the number of mega-casinos allowed from eight to one. Although that's disappointing for casino...

House loses at London Clubs International.
April 8, 2005... A few lucky punters have left the swish Les Ambassadeurs casinos with big smiles lately. But their gain is very much London Clubs International's loss, as the casino owner has admitted that it will miss profit targets. Investors shouldn't...

Bidders lining up for Hit entertainment.
April 8, 2005... More potential bidders have come out of the woodwork for Hit Entertainment, the children's intellectual property group. Hit says that, beyond Apax's 300p-a-share bid, it has received two unsolicited approaches. One is from US group Lions...

ZincOX Resources becomes global player.
April 8, 2005... ZincOx Resources, which boasts some leading experts in zinc oxide extraction techniques on its board, has announced the completion of an economic evaluation of its Mid-West Recycling Project in the US. It puts the company on course to be...

Liontrust loses funds.
April 8, 2005... Liontrust Asset Management has become the latest victim of institutional investors' increasing preference for alternative asset classes. The company is to lose GBP831m, or 16 per cent of total funds under management, from its UK equity growth...

AEA warns again.
April 8, 2005... AEA Technology has issued its second profits warning in three weeks. Last month, the group said that profits would be similar to last year's levels but, this week, it revealed that profits will fall "well short" because it has failed to sign...

Allied Domecq targeted for takeover.
April 8, 2005... It could soon be trebles all round at Allied Domecq after two rivals revealed a possible takeover of the spirits and wine maker. Distilling giants Pernod-Ricard and Fortune Brands are interested in joining forces to buy Allied and then...

TMT.
April 8, 2005... Aim. Investment company

MAIDEN (MDN).
April 8, 2005... Maiden's main objective last year was to renew major contracts with Network Rail for display advertising in railway stations. This was reasonably successful, with the group retaining 89 per cent of its estate. Its plan now is to upgrade this...

TECTEON.
April 8, 2005... Aim. Voice recognition software

VOSS NET.
April 8, 2005... Aim. Cash shell

SERVICEPOWER TECHNOLOGIES (SVR).
April 8, 2005... ServicePower's decision to move away from software supply into managing warranty claims for the home-appliance and consumer electronics sector has been timely. The software business has continued to struggle in the face of low levels of...

WATFORD LEISURE.
April 8, 2005... Aim. Football club

STRATEGIC GLOBAL INVESTMENTS.
April 8, 2005... Aim. Investment company

ZARI RESOURCES.
April 8, 2005... Aim. Mining investor

CW RESIDENTIAL.
April 8, 2005... Aim. Residential property owner

PIXOLOGY (PIX).
April 8, 2005... headline numbers at Pixology came in at or slightly better than forecast, so it's little surprise that the shares jumped 9 per cent to 151p on the news. Still, this is only slightly ahead of the company's 140p-a-share float price in December...

COMMUNITY BROKING.
April 8, 2005... Aim. Insurance broker

ELCOM INTERNATIONAL.
April 8, 2005... Aim. Software provider

ENITION.
April 8, 2005... Aim. Cash shell

GLOBAL 20.
April 8, 2005... Ofex. IT service providers

HARRIER.
April 8, 2005... Aim. Internet and network security

NORMAN HAY.
April 8, 2005... Aim. Industrial equipment supplier

AGRICOLA RESOURCES.
April 8, 2005... Ofex. Platinum exploration

INTERACTIVE DIGITAL SOLUTIONS.
April 8, 2005... Aim. Software developments

KIDRON INDUSTRIES.
April 8, 2005... Main market. Plastic products (figures in shekels)

LATIN AMERICAN COPPER.
April 8, 2005... Ofex. Copper and gold exploration

PILAT TECHNOLOGIES (PIA).
April 8, 2005... Pilat's main divisions are HR PULSE, a web-based software system that specialises in employee assessment, and GAUGE, an evaluation system used by local government in the UK to calculate pay grades. There is also Israeli-based Renaissance...

OREVEST.
April 8, 2005... Ofex. Manganese mining in Bulgaria

PAN AFRICAN RESOURCES.
April 8, 2005... Oil and gas producer

SILENTPOINT.
April 8, 2005... Aim. Investment company

SURFACE TECHNOLOGY SYSTEMS.
April 8, 2005... Semiconductor manufacturer

WEALTH MANAGEMENT.
April 8, 2005... Aim. Software developer

ALLIANCE TRUST (ATST).
April 8, 2005... Alliance is conservatively MANAGED in order to provide investors with a core holding. Over half of its assets are invested in the UK, portfolio turnover is low, costs are low and gearing (debt) is not used frequently. And although the...

FINSBURY TECH. (FTT).
April 8, 2005... Finsbury Technology has underper-formed the average tech investment trust over the past one, three and five years. Over the past three years, the trust's NAV fell by 22 per cent, compared with a 1 per cent fall in the average technology trust....

CIVILIAN CONTENT.
April 8, 2005... Aim. Film and TV financier and producer

WILINK (WLK).
April 8, 2005... WILINK says that its webcasting and web-conferencing service, Vcall, grew revenues by over 50 per cent last year but, away from web events, problems persist in PrecisionIR, the investor relations business that makes up most of the sales. Weak...

BURREN ENERGY (BUR).
April 8, 2005... After a huge share price surge in the past year, Burren is now worth more than Premier Oil, even though its daily output is less than half. That largely reflects prospects at its M'Boundi field in Congo (Brazzaville). Virtually all of the 17...

METRODOME.
April 8, 2005... Aim. Films and records

DANA PETROLEUM (DNX).
April 8, 2005... With 86 per cent of its output in the form of oil rather than gas, Dana is an excellent play on the oil price - and this was the main reason for the leap in profits. Output increased only marginally, although it's set to almost double by the...

DRAGON OIL (DGO).
April 8, 2005... Higher oil prices and continued fine-tuning at its Cheleken operations, in Turkmenistan, enabled Dragon to post healthy increases in cash flow and profits. Output from Cheleken averaged 13,264 barrels a day for the year, and is currently...

BRAZILLIAN DIAMONDS.
April 8, 2005... Aim. Diamond explorer

ALBIDON (ALD).
April 8, 2005... Albidon has several exploration prospects on the go in Zambia, many of which are joint ventures with Western Mining (WMC). WMC is the subject of a takeover battle that's entering its final stages. That raises some uncertainty over the future of...

MELROSE RESOURCES (MRS).
April 8, 2005... Having successfully developed the Galata gas field in Bulgaria and the El Mansoura field in Egypt, Melrose now enjoys healthy profits and strong cash flow and has started paying dividends. Its share price has risen almost sixfold since the...

AVANTI SCREENMEDIA (ASG).
April 8, 2005... Avanti, which floated on aim last year, provides branded TV services for shopping malls, bar chains and retail outlets. It installs TV screens, which then broadcast advertising and other messages and, so the theory goes, encourage customers to...

IMPRINT SEARCH AND SELECTION (IMP).
April 8, 2005... Imprint made an inauspicious debut the day before 11 September 2001. Since then, it has become one of the fastest-growing recruitment groups in Europe and news that it's buying Morgan McKinley, one of the UK's leading financial services...

RIDGE MINING(RDG).
April 8, 2005... Ridge's results are accompanied by the pre-feasibility report on Sheba Ridge, its 65 per cent-owned nickel, platinum and copper prospect. This indicates that the mine could have annual production of 24,000 tonnes of nickel, 394,500 oz platinum...

SPORTECH (SPO).
April 8, 2005... Sportech, the new-media betting and football pools operator, had a tough end to 2004. Managing director George Rushton left following a profit warning in November, which was largely due to an unsuccessful one-off marketing campaign for the...

TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR (TTNM).
April 8, 2005... Tottenham played just one Carling Cup home game this year and collected lower gate receipts as a result. The club also suffered a GBP0.5m fall in media and broadcasting turnover due to the new structure of Premier League TV rights. However,...

ISLAMIC BANK OF BRITAIN (IBB).
April 8, 2005... Islamic Bank of Britain (IBB) has undertaken an ambitious expansion programme since gaining authorisation from the Financial Services authority (FSA) in August. Its first branch opened in London in September, and there have been two more...

TURBO GENSET (TGN).
April 8, 2005... Turbo Genset has added to its steadily mounting order book since the year-end. In January, its power electronics division announced a GBP2.7m contract with the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) to provide 128 static converter units for subway...

RETAIL STORES (RER).
April 8, 2005... It looks as though Retail Stores' struggle to revive the fortunes of its Regent Street store, Liberty, and re-establish it as a leading fashion and luxury goods retailer in London is succeeding - Christmas sales rose by 14 per cent. The...

WATERMARK (WMK).
April 8, 2005... In order to offer customers a complete 'above the wing' outsourcing package, Watermark has been buying up a range of airline product and service providers. The sales boost last year was driven by a GBP32m full-year contribution from catering...