Investors Chronicle articles from October 2005

Investors Chronicle archives from October 2005

Merger mania.
October 7, 2005... A strong stock market means that equity is a good currency to use for buying up businesses - both large and small. In a bear market, no-one wants to be bought for shares, as another company's stock is liable to crumble in value and leave the...

The falling P/E puzzle.
October 7, 2005... There's something odd about the current bull market. Since their low points, the S&P 500 in America and the FTSE 100 here have climbed 55 and 59 per cent, respectively. But aside from a brief period at the beginning of their rallies, the...

Lessons in hogwash.
October 7, 2005... What is it about bathrooms that triggers creative thought? I was wondering this only the other day. Archimedes, as we know, discovered the theories of buoyancy and water displacement while playing with the 2nd century BC equivalent of a rubber...

Wrong, but not surprised.
October 7, 2005... Last week, I said that the low level of US bond yields was this year's biggest surprise. But some of you have asked whether the failure of seasonal investing, caused by the market's big rise over the summer, is a bigger surprise. Well,...

When dogs don't bark.
October 7, 2005... It has been a bad year for the S&P dogs strategy. The 10 biggest fallers in the S&P 500 in the three years to September 2004 have since fallen by 2.6 per cent, underperforming the index by 13 percentage points. However, the seasonal...

Stop trying.
October 7, 2005... You don't need brains to beat the market and - within a big range - it doesn't much matter what stocks you buy. These are the startling messages from the performance of our benchmark portfolios in the past 12 months. The table, below,...

Buy-backs are fine for now.
October 7, 2005... By my estimate, some 140 firms, excluding investment trusts, have bought back their own shares in the past 12 months. That's about 6 per cent of all UK quoted companies. This is a rising trend. A year ago, the corresponding figure was 120...

NTL and Telewest deal seeks out new horizons.
October 7, 2005... A new era in the UK's media and telecoms industry has begun now that NTL has finally bought smaller rival Telewest for $6bn. Despite being UK-based, both companies were listed on Nasdaq. But the new company will be rebranded, and will seek a...

Tiny customers offer huge potential.
October 7, 2005... Entertainment Rights' chief executive, Mike Heap, is grateful to Postman Pat for contributing to his firm's significant uplift in profits. But his company's strong performance hasn't all been the work of the popular kids' character. "There's...

Northern Rock's solid growth.
October 7, 2005... Mortgage bank Northern Rock said that net lending for the first nine months was an impressive 17 per cent higher than for the same period in 2004. Management also remains comfortable with stockbrokers' forecasts, suggesting that 2005's pre-tax...

BTG targets synergies.
October 7, 2005... BTG says it is on track to make at least GBP6.5m of cost savings from its restructuring programme. In a trading statement, the former intellectual property company-turned-biotech said that first-half revenues will benefit from payments from...

888's poor opening hand.
October 7, 2005... Following PartyGaming's massive share price drop last month, its rival, 888 Holdings has performed poorly since its stock market debut on 29 September. Shares in the internet casino and poker company have slipped by 7 per cent from their 175p...

Foreign exchange trading boosts IFX.
October 7, 2005... Booming business within foreign currency trading has helped IFX achieve much bigger profits. The foreign exchange and spread-betting firm made more money in the first six months of its current financial year than it did during the whole of the...

Gemfields sets sights on Aim.
October 7, 2005... Gemfields, an emerald mining company with development assets in Zambia, will float on Aim later this month. The company hopes to raise GBP20m to fully fund it into production by the first quarter of 2006. The initial market value of Gemfields...

Mano River is Petra Diamonds latest catch.
October 7, 2005... Petra Diamonds' latest move as a diamond mining consolidator is an all-share offer for Aim and Toronto listed Mano River. The offer is one Petra share for every five Mano shares, or 13.7p per Mano share on the day that the deal was announced....

Ofex founder launches online service.
October 7, 2005... John Jenkins, the Ofex founder, has created a new online service to facilitate trading in unquoted companies. "It's not a new Ofex," he says. Instead, the service is aimed at shareholders in companies yet to list, looking to make individual...

Astronaut company makes space for Aim.
October 7, 2005... Spacelabs, the healthcare company formed in 1958 to help Nasa monitor the vital signs of astronauts in space, plans to float on Aim by the end of October. It's currently part of US security company, OSI Systems. But chief executive Deepak...

High spirits at Blavod.
October 7, 2005... Blavod Extreme Spirits is toasting a 137 per cent increase in sales during the July to September period. And strong trading in both the UK, where case sales increased by 55 per cent, and the US, where case sales jumped by an impressive 284 per...

Week Ahead.
October 7, 2005... News Tuesday 11 October Air Partner's shares have risen strongly since we advised buying them at 545p in March. So it will be interesting to hear, in its half-year results on Tuesday, how the company expects to keep growing. It...

Shakin' shares.
October 7, 2005... Stock-specific volatility is rising. In the past month, the annualised volatility of the median stock in the FTSE 100 has risen from 13.87 to 16.44 per cent. This matters. Economists increasingly believe that, contrary to the predictions of the...

Property giants risk all for City development gamble.
October 7, 2005... Name that year. The clues are a Conservative Party leadership battle, retail insolvencies, and a fashion for speculative office development. 1990? Try 2005. A report from property agents GVA Chapman Swabey says that 40 per cent of all new City...

High oil prices fail to choke demand.
October 7, 2005... There are cuRrently mixed signals on how consumers are responding to high oil prices. On the one hand, Americans are forsaking cars for bikes. Tim Blumenthal of Bikes Belong, an association of cycle manufacturers, says that Americans have...

Boots and Alliance Unichem merger faces fair trade probe.
October 7, 2005... Boots has launched a radical scheme to counter the incursion of the supermarkets into its health and beauty business. It has recommended a merger with healthcare wholesaler Alliance UniChem, with the new company to be known as Alliance Boots....

MFI lacks home improvements.
October 7, 2005... Last month, we said that MFI's 2 per cent rise in underlying sales for the half-year looked like "a false dawn". But the latest trading update looks more like "goodnight". Net orders since 8 September have dropped a savage 31 per cent, on both...

US slowdown beckons.
October 7, 2005... Notwithstanding this week's surprisingly large rise in the Institute for Supply Management's survey, there are signs that the US economy is heading for a slowdown. Despite steepening after Monday's survey, the US yield curve - as measured...

The risks of lost contracts.
October 7, 2005... As PRIVATE investors, we are forever being told not to put all our eggs in one basket. And for a good reason, too - if things do go wrong, we run the risk of losing everything. So, balanced portfolios that provide some sort of hedging are the...

Wellington raises Katrina loss estimate.
October 7, 2005... Lloyd's insurer Wellington Underwriting has raised its loss estimate, net of reinsurance cover, from Hurricane Katrina from $75m to $125m. Wellington's losses relate mainly to its energy, direct property and property treaty reinsurance...

Rich pickings for Michael Page.
October 7, 2005... White-collar recruiter Michael Page has released another bullish trading statement, with net fees up by 29 per cent. This compares with year-on-year growth of 28 per cent at the half-year results in August. But the shares, which recently hit a...

Trafficmaster accelerates on insurance deal.
October 7, 2005... Trafficmaster has signed a five-year contract with Norwich Union to deliver pay-as-you-drive insurance, the first scheme of its kind in the UK. Its black boxes will be used to monitor the motorist's location. Chief executive Tony Eales...

Petrofac shareholders use float to sell out.
October 7, 2005... The oil services sector got another constituent this week when Petrofac shares floated at 215p, valuing the group at GBP742m. The company develops and constructs oil installations, operates facilities and trains oilfield workers. It made a...

Hurricane damage a blow for BP.
October 7, 2005... BP said this week that hurricane-related damage will cost $700m to repair, and will reduce average production for the full year. The financial impact was worse than feared and, combined with the lost output, has effectively cancelled out...

CLOSE BROTHERS (CBG).
October 7, 2005... Close Brothers' results were slightly ahead of expectations, thanks to a good performance from its investment banking arm. Profits here rose by nearly a fifth, driven by rapid growth in asset management, where profits were up from GBP17.4m to...

Public Recruitment.
October 7, 2005... Aim. The company now has top-three positions in its three core markets: health, education and social work. But changes to public-sector recruitment may pose future challenges.

WPP stalks Aegis.
October 7, 2005... Global advertising giant WPP has emerged as the second suitor for Aegis. The company has teamed up with US private-equity outfit Hellman and Friedman for a possible bid. This follows the announcement that Publicis is in takeover discussions...

Ramco Energy.
October 7, 2005... Aim. Ramco is at the final stages of negotiations for the disposal of its Seven Heads gas project as well as its oil services arm. The focus is now back on exploration.

ALEXON (AXN).
October 7, 2005... clothing retailer, manufacturer and supplier Alexon seems to have come unstitched. Underlying sales fell just 1 per cent in the first half, but then declined by 2.7 per cent in the first seven weeks of the second half, and are estimated to have...

Ridge Mining.
October 7, 2005... Aim. Ridge successfully completed trial mining at its Blue Ridge project, and is due to complete a revised feasibility study there in a few weeks. Profits came from the disposal of gold assets.

Rambler Media.
October 7, 2005... Aim. Rambler is benefiting from the rapid growth in the Russian advertising market through its internet, television and mobile phone operations.

Robotic Tech. Systems.
October 7, 2005... Aim. The disposal of Robotic's US operations has left its three remaining businesses growing nicely. Property sales raised GBP3.6m in the period, and there could be more to come.

Smart Telecom.
October 7, 2005... Aim. Smart is expanding its broadband capability and is taking legal action against Eircom, which it claims is restricting the roll-out of services. It has also raised GBP30m in a share placing.

Slingsby (HC).
October 7, 2005... Aim. Profits have improved despite increases in marketing and pension costs. The company has bought a new site in Baildon, and intends to move its operations there.

Straight.
October 7, 2005... Aim. See Smaller company tips, on page 32.

Titanium Resources.
October 7, 2005... Aim. Titanium listed in July and raised GBP341m. It plans to refurbish rutile and bauxite mines in Sierra Leone, with production from both projects expected to commence in Q1 2006.

Solar Integrated Tech.
October 7, 2005... Aim. The order book is now worth over $100m, but cash liquidity has been tight because of reduced banking facilities. The priority for the rest of the year is to improve Solar's financial position.

TV-Loonland.
October 7, 2005... Aim. Distribution in Asia, and the expansion of the Pettison and Findus series, led to a big jump in revenues. That allowed TV-Loonland to move into profit for the first time since 2000.

Urban Dining.
October 7, 2005... Aim. Urban now operates 26 Tootsies restaurants, and plans to open more. It would also like to buy another restaurant chain, but there's nothing in the pipeline at present. Trading is "lacklustre".

Bailey (CH).
October 7, 2005... Aim. Bailey has closed its shipping businesses, and is now concentrating on expanding its engineering businesses and opening new hotels in Malta and Tanzania.

Corvus Capital.
October 7, 2005... Aim. A number of firms in which Corvus has a stake have joined Aim. Since the year-end, Corvus has sold its stakes in Lodore Resources and Techpacific Capital.

Invox.
October 7, 2005... Aim. Invox's home gaming operation has seen volumes decline, while challenging market conditions for its internet service provider business have forced a GBP14.1m goodwill write-off.

EMBLAZE (BLZ).
October 7, 2005... Chief executive officer Eli Reifman is no shrinking violet - he wants Emblaze to become "the next generation Motorola" within 20 years, and build up the group's subsidiaries to number around 60. But first things first. For now, Emblaze's...

TripleArc.
October 7, 2005... Aim. Trading has been tough, but management is cutting costs. The results for 2004 have been restated following the discovery of accounting errors.

Powerleague.
October 7, 2005... Aim. Powerleague added five more centres during the year, and two since the year-end, bringing its total to 32. Four more are expected this year as the company gears up for the 2006 World Cup.

Pure Wafer.
October 7, 2005... Aim. Volumes are growing rapidly, especially in 300mm silicon wafers. The company plans to apply its cleaning and polishing skills to other industries.

Sky Capital.
October 7, 2005... Aim. Revenues halved due to a fall in commissions and a loss in trading income. But cost cutting and lower share-based compensation reduced the impact on the bottom line.

African Gold.
October 7, 2005... Aim. A deal finally came through at the end of September. African Gold has now been reversed into by Mwana, which owns assets in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Zimbabwe.

Synairgen.
October 7, 2005... Aim. Synairgen's lead asthma product is about to enter clinical trials, and patent applications for other technologies have been made. It is also pursuing collaborations with other biotechs.

9999.
October 7, 2005... Aim. Investment company

Adorian.
October 7, 2005... Aim. Cash shell

Asite.
October 7, 2005... Aim. Internet portal

AMSTRAD (AMT).
October 7, 2005... "You're fired!" is what some investors might like to tell Amstrad, run by Apprentice star Sir Alan Sugar, after these results. Shares in the company fell nearly 10 per cent as it revealed that sales of its much-vaunted videophone have failed to...

Aquilo.
October 7, 2005... Aim. Motor & property support services

Atlantic Global.
October 7, 2005... Aim. Software applications

Azure.
October 7, 2005... Aim. Shell company

CORIN (CRG).
October 7, 2005... Sticks and stones may break the bones, but tripping up over a takeover attempt has failed to damage Corin's share price performance. Shares in the hip and knee-replacement specialist have risen ahead of US approval for its hip-resurfacing...

Brainspark.
October 7, 2005... Aim. Investment company

Camelot Capital.
October 7, 2005... Aim. Investment company

China Wonder.
October 7, 2005... Aim. Packing machinery

Apace Media.
October 7, 2005... Aim. Audiovisual advertising

BDI Mining.
October 7, 2005... Aim. Diamond mining

CMS WebView.
October 7, 2005... Aim. Real-time data systems

Crescent Tech. Ventures.
October 7, 2005... Aim. Investment company

Eastern Mediterranean Res.
October 7, 2005... Aim. Exploring for natural resources

Empire Interactive.
October 7, 2005... Aim. Computer games developer

enterpriseAsia.
October 7, 2005... Aim. Education & training services

DELTA (DLTA).
October 7, 2005... Compared WITH a year ago, Delta is in great shape. Although the company's EMD business - which produces a key ingredient for batteries - suffered another fall in profits, even that operation is now showing signs of improvement. A greater spread...

Spectrum Interactive.
October 7, 2005... Aim. Spectrum is growing its network of payphones and computer terminals, and is combining them with cash machines and digital photo printing. The internet will be the main driver this year.

Equity Pre-IPO Investments.
October 7, 2005... Aim. Investment company

Eruma.
October 7, 2005... Aim. Security blinds

Eurasia Mining.
October 7, 2005... Aim. Gold exploration

Glencar Mining.
October 7, 2005... Aim. Mining

Hardy Amies.
October 7, 2005... Aim. Garment designer & retailer

Highbury House Comms.
October 7, 2005... Aim. Publishing

Healthcare Holdings.
October 7, 2005... Aim. Investment company

In Cup Plus.
October 7, 2005... Aim. Engineering