In line with my thoughts of recent, stay well away from momentum stocks at the moment. Go into boring but stocks that can be seen to generate an increase in earnings. Ive been with this a few weeks and think a few may have picked up on that. Now breaking out and looking for further earnings enhancing Acquisitions.

Its a top notch architect company and not over exposed to the housing market. Has top management and is derd cheap on fundies, more to come on that . Any views appreciated, good or bad but I feel we could be onto a winner here.

Just look at this report from a tip sheet, all things checked out and OK........

Lifted this from another board..........

SMC stacks up - STRONG BUY
Companies: SMC
27/09/2005

Architecture and design group SMC, which works on major office, retail and residential projects in the UK, Eire and Europe, joined AIM via a 4.6 million placing in June with ambitions to consolidate this fragmented industry. Founder and chief executive Stewart McColl hopes that by creating a larger outfit, his company will be able to win bigger projects producing higher margins.

McColl founded SMC in 1996 and has delivered appetising organic growth in recent years by offering national coverage. This has allowed the group access to substantial and more profitable construction projects across a range of sectors and locations. Clients now include British Land, Canary Wharf Group, Morgan Stanley and Wm Morrison, amongst others.

We have already got the 100 million projects, explains McColl, but there is another step-change in scale to come that will allow us access to projects worth 200 million, 300 million, 400 million and even 500 million. Increased scale pays off because larger projects are higher margin, with higher fee levels and longer timescales, helping SMC plan staff requirements more accurately.

Last November, ahead of the AIM float, SMC appointed ex-Wembley stalwart Sir Rodney Walker, who has brought recent AIM success stories like Goals Soccer Centres and Spice Holdings to market, as non-executive chairman. His presence and contacts have boosted the groups cachet and, following the AIM listing, McColl is also keen to boost scale through acquisitions.

Shortly after the float, SMC completed the two acquisitions mooted in the prospectus Corstorphine & Wright Hills Erwin, a Manchester
and Lancaster-based commercial architecture specialist, and Philip Lees & Associates, an outfit based in Leeds city centre, with a bumper proportion of revenues wrought from repeat business.

We are one of the few consolidators that I know of in this market, adds McColl, and now that we are on AIM, we are after acquisitions that are far more significant in size.

SMC recently cheered followers with an update on new deals. Among a plethora of 100 million-plus projects was work on new headquarters for Deeley Properties in Coventry, Sports Centres for Warwick County Council as well as developments for Pillar Properties and Canary Wharf.

Overseas work included manufacturing and office units in Slovenia, as well as a 290-bed InterContinental Hotel in Pakistan. There was also news of planning consent for a 50 million British Land office campus at Coventry.

2004 was exceedingly strong for SMC, with turnover lifted by 43 per cent to 8.1 million and pre-tax profits sparking up from 100,000 to 1.1 million. Gross margins were a healthy 50 per cent.

More recently, SMC unveiled extremely strong maiden interims to June, sending the shares sharply higher to 70.5p. These revealed a 255 per cent profits jump to 1.1 million on a 47 per cent leap in sales to 5.4 million. McColl was particularly pleased with the 260 per cent vault in earnings per share and a 140 per cent surge at the EBITDA level to 1.45 million, especially since we only had 20 days worth of revenues from the two acquisitions completed at float in the numbers.

He says subsidiaries are already enjoying larger scale project wins as part of the larger AIM group. 'We are looking at a few businesses that we might acquire, and as the business grows bigger, we'll be more equipped to handle PPP and PFI projects'.

Analysts envisage further profits improvement this year to 2.9 million, with sales climbing to 12.8 million. On those numbers, earnings of 7.1p leave the stock trading on an undemanding multiple of 9.9. We believe SMC offers high earnings visibility as well as tasty levels of repeat business, and we are strong buyers.ENDS.

Worth doing your own research if you are interested.


DYOR

cheers GF.

Nice to see you again capa.

SCSW give it a buy again today and also point out that Edison have upgraded next years forecasts to 10p too. Says the recent acquisition of DTR is a significant acquisition bringing in 58 fee earners, almost a thrird of the enlarged business - what a cracking buy.

The upgrades seem to be based on the earnings enhancement this will bring.

Add in the growth in the rest of the business being ahead you have to think there's lots of scope for further upgrades and 'ahead statements' imo.

Also says Hardman have initiated coverage with a target of 117p :-) Conservative I'd say :-)ENDS,

So would I, feel 150p to 160p is attainable in the next 18 months which would be circa P/E of 15 to 16 not overly demanding and another Scotish acquisition is on the cards for January.

cheers GF.

having look at this one for last 6 months, finally gathered enough cash, but not sure if I should but MMG to balance my huge loss, any opinion? :-)

cheers
swseun

Write up today on the link below;

http://scotlandonsunday.scotsman.com/business.cfm?id=2200432005

Opened.

SMC has designs on architects

IAIN DEY
CITY EDITOR


ONE of Britain's biggest firms of architects has revealed plans for a 2m Scottish acquisition spree - and launched a scathing attack on the Holyrood parliament building.

Stewart McColl, chief executive of AIM-listed SMC, has drawn up a shortlist of 20 Scottish firms that he plans to approach over the next few weeks with a view to a possible takeover.


The move comes as the latest phase of a plot to give the group a foothold in every area of the UK, and follows its 1.2m acquisition two weeks ago of Manchester-based DTR.

But despite his enthusiasm for the Scottish market, Glaswegian McColl branded the Scottish parliament building "absolute crap" and lashed out at the decision to award it the Stirling Prize, the most prestigious in architecture.

McColl said: "We're currently about the third biggest firm of architects in the UK, measured by profitability. What we are looking to achieve is a full geographical coverage of the UK. We only have one live project in Scotland at the moment, which is a distribution warehouse in Cambuslang. But the Scottish market is huge and we want a bigger part of that."

SMC listed on AIM in June and has a market cap of around 30m. Its major shareholders include Henderson, F&C and Brewin Dolphin. McColl hopes to lead a consolidation of architects firms across the country. He said that while there are 28,000 architects working in the UK, 85% work for a firm with fewer than ten employees.

The firms on McColl's Scottish hit list all have turnover in excess of 5m, and a net profit margin of about 10%. He said the Scottish market has been supported by strong government spending on PPP schools and hospitals projects - where the firm is under-represented.

Nonetheless, McColl had no kind words to say about Scotland's most-costly public project to date. He criticised the decision to award the Stirling Prize to the Holyrood parliament building.

"It's a building that damages our reputation as a profession. A lot of architects seem to think we should value the artistic merits of a building rather than its function or value for money. That is nonsense.

"It reflects badly on our profession that a building that was over-budget, delivered late and failed to properly meet the needs for which it was intended can be awarded the Stirling Prize, our most prestigious award."

McColl also said that the death of architect Enric Miralles during the construction of the building could not be blamed for the end result as "the big mistakes were made before he died". He made particular reference to the bamboo canes on the MSPs' office windows.

Thanks for the above PapalPower and Goldfinger.

They certainly care about their profession, this came out vividly in the last results, which was when I first bought in, the statement made with the results oozed enthusiasm which was infectious.

capa

Lets hope we get out of the blocks which as hardly started.

cheers GF.

You found one early again GF as you do.
You started the thread 1/11
I have been watching this one since the13 sept 63p
now 85p up 35% moved against the market trend as Aim has been
hit hard, not in it but now interested. As quoted elsewhere
i now favour stock which trades at NMS over 2500 per trade
this one has just moved into this range so day traders and shorters
will only move the sp if out in force.
Another thread with a lot of mileage left.
All the best
HUSTLER

Cheers Hustler.

GF.

Can't see day traders coming into this stock Hustler, the spread is such that you would need the price to move 10% to stand still.

capa

Bubbling nicely today

Nice rise this morning. Plenty more to come.

cheers Gf.

Excelent day and still derd cheap.

cheers GF.

Treeshake going on?. Strange Price action on trades so far.

cheers GF.

Back to the positive side.

cheers Gf.

Added some more of these yesterday. Wont be long before we see more tip sheets recommending them.

cheers GF.

A nice move up through 90p today. A quid here we come.

cheers GF.

The beautiful thing being that at a quid they are still remarkably cheap.

Looking to pay a dividend too.

all the best

capa

Sure are Capa, and they are really moving on this afternoon. I think we will have 160p within 18 months and that is probably very conservative.

cheers GF.

Looking for more this week.

cheers GF.

Speculation on other boards that a Scottish acquisition is very close.

cheers GF.