Investors Chronicle articles from September 2006

Investors Chronicle archives from September 2006

ADVENT CAPITAL (ADV).
September 1, 2006... The surge in catastrophe reinsurance premium rates since last year's devastating hurricane season largely explains Advent's half-year profit rise - although those storms did mean a net loss of $268.5m for the group. So Advent's management...

MICHELMERSH BRICK (MBH).
September 1, 2006... Michelmersh has held its own in tough market conditions, selling almost as many bricks as in the same period last year, and it even squeezed a 10 per cent price rise from customers. However, soaring energy prices inflated operational costs and...

PILAT MEDIA GLOBAL (PGB).
September 1, 2006... Revenues were up sharply at Pilat as proceeds from new contracts with blue-chip clients, such as Fox Television Studios and the Discovery Channel, began to flow through. During the first half, the company also won contracts with BBC World...

FAYREWOOD (FWY).
September 1, 2006... "These results aren't as bad as they look," insists chief executive Paul Griffiths. Tough trading conditions in Spain assailed the computer distributor in the first half of the year, with the result that profits fell dramatically. Mr Griffiths...

DICOM (DCM).
September 1, 2006... Dicom has sharpened its focus on ITS core information capture (IC) business over the past year, with the closure of its Samsung general agency business (SGA), and the purchase of the outstanding 81 per cent shareholding in intelligent document...

NORTH MIDLAND CONSTRUCTION (NMD).
September 1, 2006... Family-run company North Midland Construction started out 60 years ago with a duct-laying contract for the Post Office. Now it boasts the likes of Severn Trent, Yorkshire Water and BT as customers and has just reported another set of record...

ARC RISK MGMT. (ARC).
September 1, 2006... Have Arc Risk Management's shares broken out of their long-term decline? They certainly moved up on news in July that it had finalised an agreement with AIG in Texas to distribute its red24 security e-mail service to its clients. AIG already...

BHP BILLITON (BLT).
September 1, 2006... BHP Billiton's record full-year results showed the benefit of strong commodity demand and prices. Underlying operating profit rose 54 per cent to $15.3bn and the underlying operating margin was 44.4 per cent, up from 39.6 per cent last year....

ANTOFAGASTA (ANTO).
September 1, 2006... Has the "super-cycle" in metal prices finally come to an end? The terrific surge in commodities - such as copper - has done wonders for profits at companies like Antofagasta. However, prices have failed to regain their highs following the...

SMG rejects second offer from Ulster tv.
September 1, 2006... SMG has rejected a revised merger proposal from Ulster TV (UTV). UTV recently pitched a 50:50 merger to SMG - despite its smaller market capitalisation - which was rejected. It then offered SMG a 52 per cent share of the combined company. SMG's...

SOLAR INTEGRATED TECHNOLOGIES (SIT).
September 1, 2006... After diving from a peak of 365p in April, shares in Solar Integrated Technologies (SIT) have perked up on news that GE Financial Services has advanced another $4.7m to the company - despite SIT breaking certain GE borrowing covenants in June....

MANO RIVER RESOURCES (MANA).
September 1, 2006... Mano River has just raised GBP3m via a placing at 8p as it awaits a big bill from its joint-venture partner, Petra Diamonds. Petra is the operator on the 260 sq km Kono diamond acreage in Sierra Leone. And since June, Petra has been sinking...

CITY OF LONDON (CIN).
September 1, 2006... City of London's (COL) profits perked up last year thanks to an increase in public relations (PR) work linked to the booming mining sector. There was also a rise in investment gains, from GBP301,000 to GBP359,000, thanks to substantial partial...

BUSINESS CONTROL SOLUTIONS (BCT).
September 1, 2006... In June 2005, Business Control (BCS), which provides monitoring software for the financial services industry, as well as consultancy services, reversed into cash shell Honeysuckle in a GBP19m, 10p-a-share deal. So, last year's results...

CARDINAL RESOURCES (CDL).
September 1, 2006... In late 2005, Cardinal was being pressurised by UKrnafta - the largest Ukraine oil and gas operator, and its partner in the RC field in Ukraine - to inject $14.1m into its joint-activity agreement to bring its stake back up from 15 to 45 per...

STEWART & WIGHT (STE).
September 1, 2006... Stewart & Wight revalues its portfolio of shops every year. So, under new international accounting standards, it has to put any increase in value on its profit-and-loss account, coupled with a deferred tax charge. That's why the revised...

ASITE (ASE).
September 1, 2006... Asite spent 18 months developing version 2.0 of its construction workflow software, which covers sourcing, procurement and collaboration in the supply chain. That's why sales fell last year before the launch in February 2006. Last year's loss...

HARRIER (HRR).
September 1, 2006... According to chairman Bob Morton, Harrier is about to announce a "meaningful acquisition" in non-financial international services. In March 2005, Harrier sold its software businesses to Matrix Communications for GBP4.5m cash, but the...

ACTA (ACTA).
September 1, 2006... Italian-based Acta has developed a platinum-free catalyst for fuel cells. So, as platinum is an expensive metal - and can account for up to 40 per cent of the cost of a fuel cell - the savings will be substantial. Acta also claims that its...

SEFTON RESOURCES (SER).
September 1, 2006... In 2005, Sefton had to battle a flood and wild fires at its heavy-oil acreage in canyons north of Los Angeles. Quagmire conditions then held back drilling by two months and meant that oil production averaged just 20 barrels of oil a day (BOPD)...

ALLTRACEL PHARMA. (AP.).
September 1, 2006... While Alltracel's 2005 results look much more encouraging, it's worth remembering that they include a near-12-month maiden contribution from oral-care products distributor Westone, bought for E7.81m in January 2005. Westone chipped in sales of...

TRIDELTA.
September 1, 2006... Tridelta's core business sells animal diagnostic kits to laboratories worldwide. However, this is not a growth business and isn't big enough to make Tridelta profitable. So the company now has high hopes for a deal secured with National Milk...

CRH (CRH).
September 1, 2006... A strong showing from CRH's North American operations helped drive rapid profit growth during the first half. In fact, operating profits in the US rose 68 per cent to E283m as the group's materials business moved back into the black - thanks...

BUCKLAND (BUC).
September 1, 2006... Last year turned out to be a disaster for Buckland. The idea of transferring UK engineering businesses to low-cost Thailand was sensible, but it has not worked. In February 2005, Buckland bought DK Gas Components for GBP1.1m, and shipped its...

INTERACTIVE GAMING (IGH).
September 1, 2006... In August 2005, Interactive Gaming rejoined Aim following the GBP1.2m acquisition of fixed-odds bookmaker Premier Bet. Then, it specifically stated that Premier did not accept bets from the US. So it's not surprising that it reiterated this...

The yield thing.
September 1, 2006... Monday 24 July: Geneva believer 10.30am. Strange phone call. Sultry-sounding woman from Consolidated Bank of Geneva, said I'd been recommended to them. They were just expanding into the UK, and were seeking experienced investors for a...

Where is the 20-year data?
September 1, 2006... Last week, I observed that fund management charges cost investors half the return that they could readily obtain for themselves - without significant effort - over a 40-year investment career. We do not allow doctors to poison their patients,...

Come on smarty...
September 1, 2006... You can tell it's September, can't you? We've not only experienced that unnamed and faintly Byronic pang that marks the end of summer some time between July and August (see IC 11 August, page 6), but we can also see all the classic signs of a...

Jam tomorrow?
September 1, 2006... Most sensible investors would support the notion that the directors of a company should return surplus cash to shareholders if they cannot find good investment opportunities for it. But the modern fashion to use it to make open-market share...

What inflation?
September 1, 2006... Inflation is a bigger danger now that it has been for years. That's the view of the gilt market, where the break-even inflation rate is close to a six-year high. And it's easy to see why. Retail sales have been strong since January. Oil...

Holiday flings.
September 1, 2006... Holiday romances seldom develop into lifelong relationships. While they're idyllic at the time, the attraction often fades rapidly upon returning home to everyday life. And what goes for the young couples that get together on Club 18-30 tours...

Underreacting.
September 1, 2006... Everyone expects the Bank of England's (BoE) monetary policy committee (MPC) to discuss another rate rise when it meets next week. And futures markets expect a half-point rise in the repo rate, to 5.25 per cent, by the spring. But this...

House of Fraser gives green light to baugur bid.
September 1, 2006... The board of House of Fraser is recommending a 148p-a-share cash offer for the group from a consortium led by Icelandic private-equity group Baugur. House of Fraser also announced that underlying sales for the 29 weeks to 19 August were down by...

Captain Birdseye walks the plank.
September 1, 2006... Frozen foods have put the chill on sales growth at Unilever in recent years. So, the sale of the business - which includes the BirdsEye and Iglo brands - is a sensible move. Analysts at Numis Securities said the E1.72bn (GBP1.16bn) price...

Stagecoach fights for franchise.
September 1, 2006... The government's decision on who will run the South West Trains franchise for the next 10 years could come sooner than expected. The decision is likely to be made in the next few weeks. The current operator, Stagecoach, is fighting hard to...

Innovata eyes up inhaled insulin market.
September 1, 2006... Innovata claims its inhaled insulin product will rival Pfizer's Exubera when it gets to market. Chief executive Kieran Murphy claims his product is more compact. "Exubera is the size of a big bottle of water," he says. "Ours is that of a mobile...

New AMEC chief named.
September 1, 2006... Samir Brikho, a veteran of Swedish engineering group ABB, will take over from Sir Peter Mason as chief executive of power and construction company AMEC at the end of the month. Mr Brikho is expected to conclude AMEC's strategic review at...

Fund managers underperform.
September 1, 2006... Most fund managers have under-performed during the Footsie's recovery from May's falls. In the past three months, M&G's index tracker - the best tracker - has returned 6.3 per cent. Only 20 of 307 actively managed funds in Trustnet's...

Bid interest for Freeport.
September 1, 2006... The bid interest in European retail park owner Freeport, which surfaced after a major write-down in the asset value of the group, continues. And Freeport refuses to deny rumours that it could be broken up as an alternative to being sold to a...

Cash-holdings surge bodes well for equities.
September 1, 2006... A surge in financial institutions' cash holdings augurs well for equities. This week's Bank of England figures showed that their bank deposits have risen by GBP22bn (6.4 per cent) in the past three months. They are now equivalent to 21.4 per...

Good news for cattle traders.
September 1, 2006... Investors wanting to trade live cattle or lean hogs received good news this week when ETF Securities announced 29 new exchange-traded commodity funds (ETCs). Some of these new tracker funds, which trade during market hours just like shares, may...

Property funds return to market.
September 1, 2006... There are signs of life in the UK property-fund initial public offering (IPO) market following a barren summer. Kenmore Group, for example, plans to raise GBP140m for a European Industrial fund, closed-end fund specialist Fairfax IS is working...

Lombard to go it alone.
September 1, 2006... Shares in Lombard Medical fell 16 per cent after Boston Scientific decided not to option its stent grafts for abdominal aortic aneurysms. So Lombard has now signed up distributors in Spain, Turkey and Italy. Management says the potential market...

Solar buys time.
September 1, 2006... Solar power developer Solar Integrated Technologies has won some breathing space by amending its credit facilities and receiving a waiver regarding the recent breach of its covenants with GE Energy Financial Services. After a period of rapid...

Week Ahead...
September 1, 2006... News Wednesday 6 SEPTEMBER Construction and support services group Carillion reports first-half results on Wednesday. The shares fell recently after Network Rail suspended it from bidding for new rail work until its workforce safety...

US housing fall could hurt uk investors.
September 1, 2006... The American housing market is in deep recession. The US Commerce Department estimates that sales of new homes in July were 21.5 per cent lower than in July 2005. And the National Association of Realtors (NAR) says that sales of existing houses...

Greg's dreamteam.
September 1, 2006... Despite what his firm, Traders University says and writes, Greg Secker does not train all of E*Trade's top traders. The Financial Services Authority (FSA) does not monitor his coaching and seminar business. And he never ran trading floors for...

More chemical takeouts on the horizon.
September 1, 2006... Consolidation in the chemicals sector will continue, according to PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC). The consultancy says that although the sector has already seen "massive structural changes" in recent years, there will be further merger and...

Asia Energy under fire.
September 1, 2006... Shares in Asia Energy dropped 11.75p to 301p after five protestors were killed demonstrating against the company's plans to develop Bangladesh's largest coal mine. Plans to mine 15m tonnes a year at the Phulbari project involve relocating...

US woes at Glotel.
September 1, 2006... Telecoms and IT staffing group Glotel has warned that dollar weakness is likely to offset gains at its high-margin US business, and that margin pressure in the UK and Australia will also hit performance. Broker Bridgewell has downgraded...

Apax and KKR lose signet interest.
September 1, 2006... Apax Partners and KKR have dropped their proposed bid for Signet. Press reports speculated that Gerald Ratner and Baugur may come in with offers for Signet's UK business. However, Richard Ratner (no relation) of Seymour Pierce describes the...

DMGT acquires simply energy.
September 1, 2006... Daily Mail & General Trust has bought Simply Energy, which operates the consumer website SimplySwitch.com, for GBP22m. SimplySwitch.com allows consumers to compare the prices of utilities and credit cards, and then switch to the cheaper...

St Ives issues warning over accounting errors.
September 1, 2006... St Ives has issued its third profit warning this year after finding serious accounting mistakes at it point-of-sale division, with costs not expensed properly, work-in-progress overvalued and unrecoverable debtors. The errors will primarily hit...

REXAM (REX).
September 1, 2006... Rexam has been delivering exceptional growth. Organic sales rose by 9 per cent during the period, with an additional 8 per cent growth coming from acquisitions. Sales also received a GBP46m boost due to positive currency movements. Overall,...

GIBBS & DANDY (GDYO).
September 1, 2006... the miniature boom seen in the housing market in the first few months of 2006 has not made itself felt at Gibbs & Dandy. The builders' merchant achieved no underlying sales growth compared with the same period last year. And prospects of an...

RENTOKIL INITIAL (RTO).
September 1, 2006... Rentokil may wash 93,500 tonnes of linen each year, but it is struggling to get its own house in order. The washroom-solutions-to-tropical-plants provider saw operating profits slump 10 per cent in the first half. In fact, profits were down...

ISOFT (IOT).
September 1, 2006... Shares in iSoft jumped 32 per cent following these results after the company announced that it has agreed new financing facilities with its bankers. However, its independent auditors were unable to sign off the accounts, and the Financial...

PLAYTECH (PTEC).
September 1, 2006... US legislators may be trying to clamp down on online gambling, but that doesn't seem to have affected Playtech, which supplies gaming software. The group is not only growing revenues from existing licensees, it has also been winning new...

LADBROKES (LAD).
September 1, 2006... Internet gambling is AN exciting prospect for Ladbrokes, as for many betting and gaming operators. So it's particularly unwelcome that the company suffered a slowdown in this part of its business during the first half. Operating profits here...

COSTAIN (COST).
September 1, 2006... Engineering and construction group Costain has been through a painful period of restructuring. As a result, the company has reported a pre-tax loss of GBP20.7m for the first half of the year (from an underlying profit of GBP10.1m). This is...

JOHNSTON PRESS (JPR).
September 1, 2006... Johnston Press has followed other newspaper publishers, including Trinity Mirror and Daily Mail & General Trust, in saying that there are no signs of an improvement in the advertising market, and that an early recovery is not expected. So,...

CORUS (CS.).
September 1, 2006... there were Mixed messages in Anglo Dutch steelmaker Corus's first-half results. On the plus side, world demand for steel remains strong, and stock levels in Europe and the US have returned to normal levels. What's more, there's been a pick-up...

Fibernet gives its blessing to global crossing deal Fibernet's board has recommended an all-cash takeover bid from Global Crossing, a US telecoms provider. The deal values Fibernet, which issued a profit warning in June, at 78p a share (or GBP50.6m) - a 1.
September 1, 2006... Fibernet's board has recommended an all-cash takeover bid from Global Crossing, a US telecoms provider. The deal values Fibernet, which issued a profit warning in June, at 78p a share (or GBP50.6m) - a 100 per cent premium to the closing price...

BDI MINING (BMG).
September 1, 2006... BDI Mining has taken action to calm the fears of investors who think that it has bitten off more than it can chew. At the Woodlark Island Gold Project, off eastern Papua New Guinea, it has scaled back exploration. This was costing between...

BILLAM (BLLM).
September 1, 2006... AT Billam's Annual Meeting in July, a boarding party, led by 26 per cent shareholder Stephen Wickes - former head of housebuilder Country & Metropolitan, before its takeover - successfully ousted chairman Victor Beamish and chief executive...

GMA RESOURCES (GMA).
September 1, 2006... New management was appointed to GMA's board at end-2005. And it was back then (at 7p) and in April this year (at 9p) that GBP13.63m of fresh finance was raised. This money will help pay for new equipment to replace five-year-old plant that was...

ULTIMA NETWORKS (UTN).
September 1, 2006... A year ago, a research FIRM forecast that Ultima would report 2005 sales of GBP2.5m and profits of GBP500,000. But it was not to be - largely because of its C2 business, which provides a full range of telecoms services, particularly between the...

1st Dental Laboratories.
September 1, 2006... Aim. The company has been affected by the introduction of the government's Primary Care Trusts, which have resulted in a reduction in the amount of NHS work being performed by dentists.

TOTALLY (TLY).
September 1, 2006... Totally has hardly sparkled since it joined Aim in 2001. It distributes the Jewish News, a free weekly newspaper, in London and the Jewish Advocate, a paid weekly newspaper, in Boston, Massachusetts, and operates a number of websites. But it's...

Cardiomag Imaging.
September 1, 2006... Aim. A distribution deal in China has been terminated, so delaying sales there, although discussions are underway with other potential partners.

BRAMBLES (BI.).
September 1, 2006... Brambles is making a sprint for the finish line with its last results before it drops its London listing. The company has sold all non-core operations, leaving just its CHEP pallet business and Recall, its document management division. Chief...

Eagle Eye Telematics.
September 1, 2006... Aim. Eagle Eye is looking to grow revenues on the back of the increasing availability of broadband technology, and the use of GPRS wireless data communications.

Genemedix.
September 1, 2006... Main market. If a potential restructuring fails, and payments from the sale of a company in China are delayed, the company will run out of cash in two months.

Highland Timber.
September 1, 2006... Aim. There will be limited felling in the second half of the year as the company strives to obtain a more appropriate balance between replanting and felling.

Moto Goldmines.
September 1, 2006... Aim. Moto continues to deliver good drilling results, and is now progressing towards a feasibility study. But political risk in the Congo remains the big negative.

Robinson.
September 1, 2006... Aim. The plastics arm is growing nicely, but profits were held back by competition in the paperboard business, rising energy and raw material prices, and costs associated with expansion.

Dawson International.
September 1, 2006... Aim. Dawson was hit by tough market conditions, rising raw material prices and "implementation issues" with a GBP2m investment programme.

HENDERSON GROUP (HGI).
September 1, 2006... With the sale of Towry Law UK, its financial advisory unit, Henderson's transformation into a pure fund management business is complete. And chief executive Roger Yates admits that "these results are not unconnected with having achieved that"....

ReneSola.
September 1, 2006... Aim. The recently floated solar panel wafer maker hopes to steal a march on rivals by making wafers with scrap recycled from microchip makers, avoiding the global silicon shortage.

Tescom Software Sys. Testing.
September 1, 2006... Aim. A decline in gross margins, in response to tough markets in Israel, was partially offset by increased revenue as the company strengthened its sales team.

Venue Solutions.
September 1, 2006... Aim. The group has successfully installed systems at Arsenal's new Emirates Stadium, and also invested an extra GBP2.9m in YourDay Video Technologies, giving it a 46 per cent stake.

Immedia Broadcasting.
September 1, 2006... branches of HSBC and Ikea, and the recent acquisition of Cube should enable it to address the fashion, and hair and beauty sectors.

Adwalker.
September 1, 2006... Aim. Adwalker's challenge is to change the nature of entrenched media expenditure within media and marketing companies.

Goodwin.
September 1, 2006... Main market. Strong demand for the company's castings and valves for use in energy applications drove a 45 per cent increase in profits.