I wish I had moved into this one earlier but the poor markets of the last couple of months delayed my move into it. At last it looks like Techs are back on the recipe again with the NAZ showing considerable strength in the last week or so.

XN is not a fly by night tech indeed it as been going for about 25 years and I rate its management very highly.

It is involved in Electronic Point Of Sale Systems EPOS, in several markets including Pubs, Sports Centres, clubs, Cafes,etc. It is a market leader in fact in the Pub trade.

In the last year or so it as branched out and made the acquisition of African Casino Equipment ACE a supplier of Touch Screen Equipment to the Casino Industry and XN have signed up Stanley Leisure and Gala Group to use the ace software. ACE also provide an electronic payment card used instead of cash for the machines, I beleive this part of the business will be a real growth area and I expect more sign ups.

Financial Results And Projections
The company made a pre tax profit of 2.6 million on sales of 18.3 million sterling in the last year 2004. It as around 5 million cash on the books and is cash generative on a monthly basis.

The stock trades on market cap of approx 67 million and a forward P/E of circa 14 rather low for a growth tech company.

It as a fairly high Beta.

Conclusion

I know that Mark Slater is a big fan of this company and he usually gets them right. IF ACE (The jewel In the Crown) expands as fast as I am hoping, forecasts by the house broker will be beaten and I beleive we may well be looking at a SP north of 350p this time next year.

DYOR.

Cheers GF.

The chart and TA,



cheers GF.

Nothing like a recap on an historical item.................

MIDAS
XN Checkout soars on strong recovery
20 March 2005

SHARES in XN Checkout have performed spectacularly since listing on the junior Alternative Investment Market last year.

Placed at 98p, they have rocketed to 280p on the strength of a flood of orders from pubs, clubs and restaurants for the company's electronicpointof-sale systems.

But even at the shares' current level, it is not too late to take part in what is a remarkable recovery story.

XN, which developed the first touchscreen till for pubs as long ago as 1989, registered losses between 2001 and 2003 after a disastrous overseas expansion drive. That coincided with a sudden downturn in IT spending by XN's core customers - managed pub companies such as Mitchells & Butlers, Young's and Wolverhampton & Dudley Breweries.

But staring into the abyss, XN kept its nerve - and kept spending about 2 million a year on vital research and development.

Armed with 5m raised in the Aim placing - and two further cash calls totalling 7.1m - that faith is now beginning to pay off. The company has just announced pre-tax profits of 1.7 million for 2004 and prospects look bright.

XN has refocused on its core domestic market, where it is the biggest player, while expanding into other areas. New customers include nightclub operator First Leisure, Cafe Rouge owner Tragus and coffee shop chain Caffe Nero.

Several factors are driving the growth. Spending on IT is rising again after the last big push to combat the perceived threat from the Millennium Bug. The key pub sector is also stabilising after years of retrenchment and corporate activity. Pub companies are also seeing the benefits of having cashback and chip-and-pin facilities available at the bar

Midas verdict: XN's shares are tightly held, with the founders and management controlling more than 50%, so they may be difficult to acquire. Recent results prompted house broker Daniel Stewart to raise its forecast for this year dramatically from 3.1m to 5m, and from 4.5m to 6.2m for 2006. That puts the shares on a forward price-to-earnings ratio of 16 for this year, falling to 13 for 2006. That is broadly in line with the sector, but forecasts might rise again if significant Epos contracts in the pipeline are signed. Buy.

cheers GF.

SCSW also tipped late last year but I think it was around the 140p level.

Yup Dil thats why I wish I had got in earlier but as the piece above says its far from too late to get in now or even at their BUY price of 280p price now in the 240s.

The forward P/E is only around 14 which is extremely cheap for a growth tech like this.

cheers GF.

Somebody says on another board that the T1ps.com site have tipped this one in the last week. Should get a follow up then on the free e-mail analyst.com.

cheers GF.

Yes they did GF. Buy up to 255 with a very cautious 1 year target of 310.

MS

Thatl do me Mickey. Cautious aswell, obviously Winnies tip then?.

cheers GF.

A forward P/E of only 14 is far too cheap for a growth tech stock like this one.

Me thinks I will add more in the morning.

cheers GF.

Looks ready for a tick up.

cheers GF.

It was a Whatshot.com tip but posted on t1ps as it is a sister site. This is a good one GF. I need to free up some ackers. All a bit tight at the moment.

MS

Hi Mickey, Winnie as actually done a tip on this one himself.

cheers GF.

Good buys over sells today.

Quite day for this one today.

cheers GF.

I think this is a year long investment GF. Should get some ackers through in a day or so then I'm in. I see MM's are playing silly buggers with HMY. Winnie feels it's fully priced at 230.

MS

Just nugged up, NICE.

cheers GF.

Nice move up today on this news..............

XN Checkout Holdings says in preliminary regarding a possible merger
AFX


LONDON (AFX) - XN Checkout Holdings PLC said it has noted the recent rise in the company's share price and confirmed it is in preliminary talks regarding a possible merger of the company.

The group said if the merger was to proceed it would be efected by an all share offer for the company.

newsdesk@afxnews.com

ec

cheers GF.

Down on very low volumes today.

cheers GF.

Looking very steady. Where is everyone?.

cheers GF.

Mickey as Winnie said anything about this....................

Torex Retail buys XN Checkout
MoneyAM
Torex Retail, which develops software for retailers, said it has agreed to buy rival XN Checkout Holdings for 72.7m in shares.

Torex Retail, which bought Alphameric's retail division for 15m in November last year, said the XN CHeckout deal would allow it build a presence in the new segments of the UK retail technology market.

'This transaction will bring an additional dimension to Torex Retail, becoming a market leader in the rapidly growing complementary sectors of hospitality and gaming,' said chairman Rob Loosemore in a statement.

XN Checkout sells its till technology to the likes of Mitchells & Butlers, Wolverhampton & Dudley Breweries, the Spirit Group and to Young's and Stena Line.

The deal, which is expected to be boost earnings per share in the first year, will see XN Checkout investors receive 2.547 new Torex Retail shares for each of their original shares.

XN Checkout had a market capitalisation of 70.5m at its closing price of 257p yesterday. Torex Retail, which closed at 104p yesterday evening, had a market value of 199m.ENDS.

Torex is a good company and was one of Shares Mags blue sky tips but Im not so sure about this deal, any thoughts?????????????????????????.

cheers GF.

Sold out. Just not enough positives for me.

cheers GF.

Right decision GF. Winnie says that this was not a good tip and classes it as one of his failures. Sell in the market. For me it was a choice of this or MSLH I chose the latter. This did look good but the takeover has torpedoed it. Hope you got out without too many bruises.

LOL

MS