Place your snippet of news on this thread if you feel it will help others gain from the news.

cheers GF.

Anyone like share perks, this is interesting.................

MARKET COMMENT
Britain's Perkiest Retailers

By David Kuo (TMFDragon)
September 1, 2004


Marks & Spencer (LSE: MKS) has, in the past, always maintained that shareholder perks disadvantage its institutional shareholders and ISA holders. However, last week there was a change of heart by the directors of the venerable retailer.

As a reward to loyal shareholders who helped scupper the recent hostile takeover bid by Philip Green, M&S has mailed money-off vouchers to its army of investors. M&S said it will reward shareholders next year too, though whether the perk will match this year's gift of 20.50 has yet to be decided.

M&S is not the only high street retailer to offer shareholder perks. Here are some other well-known shopkeepers that offer perks too.

At Austin Reed (LSE: ARD) investors holding 500 ordinary shares can apply for a 15% discount card which can be used on full-price merchandise. The cards are valid at either its Austin Reed or Country Casuals outlets. Not to be outdone, all Moss Bros (LSE: MOSB) shareholders are entitled to a 20% discount through a voucher exchangeable against a number of items on one transaction.

Department store Beale (LSE: BAE) offers anyone holding 2,500 shares a 10% discount on purchases of up to 5,000. However, eligible shareholders must have a company account to participate. Iceland owner, Big Food Group (LSE: BFP), is almost as generous, though it caps its 10% discount to just 160 worth of purchases. Shareholders can also visit any local branch of Booker Cash & Carry.

Tesco (LSE: TSCO) shareholders can expect a small gift such as a bottle of wine, but only if they attend the AGM! Thornton (LSE: THT) shareholders can expect to receive discount vouchers worth 34 with their annual report. Those investors who turn up for the AGM will also have an opportunity to purchase discounted chocolates.

For those who prefer to do their shopping from the comfort of their armchair, home shopping specialist N Brown Group (LSE: BWNG) gives all shareholders the chance to order from its catalogues at a discount of 20%. Meanwhile, Mothercare (LSE: MTC), shareholders can choose to spend their 10% discount vouchers either in-store or via the catalogue.

Other retailers that offer shareholder discount include Dobbies Garden Centres (LSE: DCG), jewellers Signet (LSE: SIG), House of Fraser (LSE: HOF) and the perfume vendor Merchant Retail Group (LSE: MRT).

I believe perks can be a wonderful bonus for shareholders. They can also make owing shares that bit more interesting. However, perks should always be seen as an additional benefit to your investment. In my view, the best shareholder perk is continued growth at the company, and this should always outweigh any token gift that companies dish out for your continued loyalty.

cheers GF.

MMG and Avanti all in mothballs! Looks as though I might see my money back or maybe some profit-fingers crossed.

From growth company investor...................


Floors 2 Go - BUY
Wood and laminate flooring retailer Floors 2 Go, which listyerd omn AOIM in June, has produced impressive maiden interim results with operating profits before goodwill amortisation, interest and tax surging 314% to 2.9m on turnover rising 124% to 34.9m........
02/09/2004

Tikit - ADD
Last month we urged readers to buy into Tikit, the legal IT play and Growth Company Investor recommendation at 80p a share. This proved wise counsel since Tikit has just romped home with sparkling interims to June, ahead of City expectations, and the trad.......

cheers GF.

Ah caught him out, the Black Prince aka Colin Blackbourn sneeked this in at the very end of the day, now 3% plus of Telspec............

Telspec PLC
02 September 2004


SCHEDULE 10

NOTIFICATION OF MAJOR INTERESTS IN SHARES

1. Name of company

TELSPEC PLC

2. Name of shareholder having a major interest

COLIN BLACKBOURN

3. Please state whether notification indicates that it is in respect of holding
of the shareholder named in 2 above or in respect of a non-beneficial interest
or in the case of an individual holder if it is a holding of that person's
spouse or children under the age of 18

SEE 2 ABOVE

4. Name of the registered holder(s) and, if more than one holder, the number of
shares held by each of them

Not stated

5. Number of shares / amount of stock acquired

Not stated

6. Percentage of issued class

N/a

7. Number of shares / amount of stock disposed



8. Percentage of issued class



9. Class of security

ORD 25p

10. Date of transaction

Not stated

11. Date company informed

2 September 20004

12. Total holding following this notification

1,250,000

13. Total percentage holding of issued class following this notification

3.09%

14. Any additional information


15. Name of contact and telephone number for queries

Telspec plc tel: +44 (0) 1634 662 500

16. Name and signature of authorised company official responsible for making
this notification


Date of notification

2 September 2004

The FSA does not give any express or implied warranty as to the accuracy of this
document or material and does not accept any liability for error or omission.
The FSA is not liable for any damages (including, without limitation, damages
for loss of business or loss of profits) arising in contract, tort or otherwise
from the use of or inability to use this document, or any material contained in
it, or from any action or decision taken as a result of using this document or
any such material.



This information is provided by RNS
The company news service from the London Stock Exchange

cheers Gf.

An interesting note here from Brokers Killik on Carphone Wharehouse.........

CARPHONE WAREHOUSE Company meeting



We had a useful update meeting with Charles Dunstone of Carphone Warehouse last night. A few bullet points of interest.



The market for mobile handsets is becoming significantly more competitive. At the turn of the turn of the decade, around 40 new GSM handsets were launched in one year. This year, that number will have grown to nearly 140. Consumers have never had so much choice and confusion



Carphones independence holds it in good stead. With seven network operators in the UK, few people would want to take a tariff quote from each to decide who to go with. An independent can carve through much of the literature with no particular axe to grind.

Consumers are changing handsets faster as they are driven by fashion trends. Anecdotally, the market penetration has not grown yet handset sales are up 20%. This is good news for the group.



The talktalk fixed line service is the number one alternative competitor to British Telecom taking 40% of all customers switching away from that organization. By owning the network, and having a low cost of customer acquisition (15 versus 35-40 for alternative providers), they have significant margin advantage.



They will shortly be announcing a broadband initiative which may prove disruptive on pricing for the market but will provide greater lock in for the customer.



Much has been made about the high level of churn in talktalk of around 20%. Broadly, this happens in the first couple of weeks where a customer has signed up has had a rethink. Once that period has passed, the churn is more akin to the mobile sector at around 2% and a move to wholesale access where only one bill is issued for calls made and the line rental may well reduce this further.



Conclusion



Little new information came out from the presentation, but you feel that Dunstone and his team are in extremely confident form with regards to current trading. The stock cannot be described as cheap on 17x earnings dropping to 13x for next year but certainly a must have for long term growth portfolios.

cheers GF.

INVESTORS CHRONICLE

The Cover Story:
*Freebies, perks and discounts - are you claiming your?

Tips:
*Buy Hilton Group (HG.L) at 261p - Telecom Plus (TEP.L) at 250p - Sondex (SDX.L) at 223p - Brandon Hire (BDH.L) at 127p - Abingdon Capital (ANC.L) at 11.75p - Victoria Oil and Gas (VOG.L) at 28p.

Updates:
*Buy Churchill China (CHH.L).
*Sell Enterprise Inns (ETI.L).
*Daily Mail & General Trust (DMGO.L) fairly priced.

Company Results:
*Buy James Fisher (FSJ.L) - Michelmersh Brick (MBH.L) - John Laing (LNGO.L).
*Sell Rentokil Initial (RTO.L).

cheers GF.

DAILY EXPRESS
*Suggestions that Havelock Europa (HVE.L) is trading ahead of expectations.
*Rumours that Chaco Resources (CHP.L) is close to a deal.

Who's Dealing:
*Non-Exec takes maiden stake in Mitie Group (MTO.L).

Share Whisper:
*Talk that Anglo Pacific (APF.L) could be involved in financing a lucrative mining venture.

cheers Gf.

and a buy! First the buy and thats 18,000 shares at 34.85p in Netstore (NES). Why did I buy?

Well, I liked the look of the company earlier this year and kept it on my watch list. Its been sitting for quite a while not doing much.
From Robbie Burns, I beleive his pick below is full of cash, I will report back this weekend and inform.



However I noticed two things today first a big buy of 300,000 going in at around 11am this morning.

And secondly its due to report soon and Im taking a gamble judged on previous reports that itll be a good one.

The company has won a few decent contracts, its market cap is low and if things are going well, it looks cheap.

This one is not without risks these kinds of companies could always surprise with a warning but I think the risk/reward ratio looks good, and Im hoping for a 20% increase. Stop loss is 30p, target 43p.

cheers GF.

great thread Gf. goal.

anyone follow the robbie burns tips?

Lee yes me, and apple many thanks, but please use this thread no matter what.


If you think you have some info that will help others please bang it down here no matter what.

Lets face it we work as a commmunity to help each other out.

cheers GF.

Myself and a number of colleagues who work in the packaging industry have our fingers crossed that Stanelco will take-off soon following their packaging patent. It has huge potential as it could reduce costs and packaging waste at the same time. Once the retailers understand this (and they are involved) they could and possibly will specify the type of system used which gives meat packers two choices, use conventional system with higher energy costs and waste or invest in this system and benefit from the savings,no doubt with retailers taking a share!
In the background is a court case with BPRG over a patent for use RF technology for producing gel capsules, but with so many things happening it will not be the end of the world if defeated but if they win?
DYOR

Cheers Andy, now thats the kind of info we want on this thread.

Well done and lets have more.

cheers GF.

From Killiik Brokers this morning...........

VANCO Siemens contract



Ahead of interim results due next week, Vanco has served up another good contract win. This time it is with Siemens which demonstrates that this smaller virtual network provider can pull in the big names. The contract is worth Euro4.3 million over three years, which in itself would be considered small. However, as we have said before, initial contract sizes are no guide to future revenue potential and this is a first class win from which will add to the momentum we have seen coming from this group. We shall comment further next week.



cheers GF

Shrewdies detect recovery at Babcock

Published: 08:22 Mon 6 Sept 2004
By Patrick Sherwen, Deputy & Secret Buying Editor
Email to a friend |


Three top investors have backed Babcock International to come good after the engineering group's recent turbulent history which has witnessed the long drawn out takeover of Peterhouse and big redundancies in its Rosyth dockyard.

The 240 million support services company works primarily with public sector institutions, such as Network Rail, the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. It is split into four business divisions in the UK and overseas operations in Africa and the US. Three quarters of the 452 million turnover last year derived from the UK, after which Africa was the next most important market accounting for 18%.


The Rosyth job losses were announced in late July and drew much criticism from trades unions. They were bad news for the employees, and for Gordon Brown who is MP for that constituency, but are likely to benefit shareholders by lowering the cost base and increasing efficiency. They also followed less bitter news that the company had won contracts worth 13 million to refit four Royal Navy warships.


New Star's AA-rated fund manager Stephen Whittaker clearly has a positive view of these developments as he was buying shares for his UK Growth fund this week. He added 70,000 shares to the holding to take it to a little more than 2 million or 0.97% of the company. The price around this time was 115p, at which they are valued at an attractive 9.22 times forecast earnings for 2005 and 8.5 times forecasts for 2006.


His equally rated rival Paul Mumford has also bought in the last month or so, adding 20,000 shares to Cavendish Asset Management's stake in late July to take it to 965,000. AAA-rated Henry Maxey of Ruffer Investment Management holds 400,000 shares in the Equity & General fund after buying in June.


* This article also appears in today's Financial Mail on Sunday

cheers GF.

From the Midas column This Is Money...........................

Costain, the building company that delivered

a rise of more than a third in its interim profits to 8.1m last week. It also has a juicy couple of water utility projects that could be worth 350m over five years.


Rated a buy at 35 1/2p in January, the shares ended Friday at 42 1/4p, but with further progress expected this year and a renewed intention to resume dividends next year, the shares trade at just above ten times forecast earnings and should be bought.

cheers Gf

From tonights Growth Company Investor..............


Bond International Software - STRONG BUY
Revitalised recruitment and human resources software play Bond powered home with excellent interims to June, as UK and US markets improved. Pre-tax profits leapt 359% to 711,000 on a 26% sales jump to 4.24m, with sales rising across the board in the UK .......

06/09/2004
Teleunit SpA - SPECULATIVE BUY
Italian communications concern Teleunit, the first Italian company to be quoted on a London exchange, offered up solid, if unspectacular, maiden interim results. Although turnover was down 5.6% to 5m (17m), this was actually a strong performance as a p.......
06/09/2004

WSP - BUY
WSP has been appointed as the biggest structural engineer for the Freedom Tower in New York, the 1,776-foot skyscraper that will rise as the centrepiece of rebuilding at the World Trade Center site. This prestigious award, which will be worth about 5m to.......


cheers GF.

Morning note from Killik Brokers.............

Insurance stocks are moving higher following Amlins report yesterday and BRITs today. The hurricanes in Florida causing billions of pounds of damage are expected to extend the firm pricing environment at least for another year. Benfield reports tomorrow and the stock has been a firm market from a low base on good volume. Call your broker for a copy of our research note on this stock.

cheers GF

Recent BUY note out from Hoodless.......................

CARBO 11p Speculative Buy
Broker: WH Ireland Listing: AIM
Sector: Engineering & Machinery Market Cap: 6.6m
Reuters: CAB Year High/Low: 17.5/10.5p
Website: www.angloabrasives.com Next Results: Interims Oct
New shareholders have the chance of becoming involved at a potentially highly rewarding stage of Carbos
redevelopment. As mMuch of the re-engineering is completed this could well be the last funding before the
group returns to profitability.
Jan m 02 03 04
Turnover 64.19 56.09 52.6
Op. Loss -7.76 -7.54 -6.9
Interest -2.24 -0.66 -1.0
Loss PBT -10.00 -4.49 -8.0
EPS (p) -6p -54.9 -95.2
P/E - - -
Strengths
The turnover may bottom out at 50m and as much
has already been done to align cost, this leaves
plenty of recovery potential
Owner of a portfolio of strong and durable brands,
with capacity for increased production.
It is one of only two companies in the world
producing coated and bonded abrasives.
Banks have agreed a refinancing package worth up
to 9.5m and the loan notes have been converted
New management team lead by Lord Hodgson are
investing 1.2m and are being support by a trading
investor taking (0.5m) 14% of the issue,
Weaknesses
Mature market and the manufacturing plant is in
Europe.
At the last yearend losses were 7.5m and there
were 820 employees.
Recent lack of working capital impacted on last
years results.
Business Background
Carbo supplies high quality abrasive products
throughout the world under various brand names.
These products are used in a wide variety of industries
including: automotive, aerospace, metal work,
furniture, cutlery, valves, power tools, hand tools and
tobacco production.
The Group also owns Anglo Abrasives, which is one
of the UKs largest distributors of abrasive products,
with branches located throughout the country. There
are subsidiaries across Europe in Germany, Belgium,
Norway, Italy, Portugal, France. The manufacturing
units are located in Germany, Italy and the UK and
this is in the process of being further rationalised. The
high capital investment in machinery for bonded
products forms a barrier to entry and trends to create
pressures towards joint ventures. There are
opportunities to outsource some of the product range
to cheaper production centres.
Market Opportunity
The Europe and USA market for coated and bonded
abrasive products is worth an estimated $5.5bn The
range of industries is extremely wide from aerospace
to hypodermic needles through construction to razor
blades. Carbo are in the process of revitalizing existing
distribution channels and looking towards the higher
margin sectors.
Product Portfolio
Carbo is one of only two major companies distributing
a full range of abrasives. Coated Abrasives are cloth
and paper backed, Bonded Abrasives are grinding
wheels and CBN/Diamond are grinding wheels for
industrial applications. The brand names include
Carborundum, Anglo Abrasives and BMA.
The 3.5m funds raised will be used to complete the
rationalisation of the Group, which includes projects
in both Germany and the UK.
In Germany, they will complete the already
announced head count reduction programme, which
aims to save E2.8m (1.9m) in the first full year. They
will introduce a new IT system and the rationalisation
of the product range by eliminating duplicates. This
will dramatically reduce the number of manufactured
products by two thirds and will, in turn, facilitate the
streamlining of the sales and administration functions.
Activities Market Financials
Manufacture and sale of industrial
abrasives
Market Makers: 4
Bid/Offer: 9-12p (25%)
NMS: 10,000 Screen : 25,000
No Shrs: (59.6m )
Debt: 1.8m
NAV: Negative
Increase working Capital 1.2m

In the UK, the entire operation at Trafford Park will
be relocated to a smaller area of the current site with
the balance of the land being released to the
freeholder.
Current Clients
There is a long list of international blue chip clients
the biggest of which is Daimler Chrysler with 1% of
turnover. Clients include Phillips, Rover, Rolls
Royce, Gillett and Siemens.
There are three main competitors: Saint Gobain, SAI
and Naxoflex and joint manufacturing arrangement
are being negotiated with SAI.
Operations
The key to the groups operational performance is to
have enough working capital to purchase raw
materials supplies. The evidence of the improved
working capital management is that cash flow from
operations has increased substantially and the recent
funding will alleviate the financing constraint.
Country Operations review
Italy. BMA has now been refinanced. Sales and
production efficiencies are starting to rise as the
company's reputation in the market place begins to
return. There is no reason why this company should
not now be able to earn a decent return.
United Kingdom. Last year the focus was on
eliminating the losses in the UK. The Razor and
Rubber manufacturing operation in Manchester has
responded well to increased management focus.
Output is up and, though small, the operation is
nicely profitable. Anglo, the distribution business, has
closed further three depots and made other cost
reductions. As market reputation begins to improve
sales have stabilised so therefore a return to profits is
anticipated.
The focus has to be on reorganising the German
operations and the implementation of new
management structures to replace the hierarchal
structure more appropriate of an old fashioned
manufacturing company. Given the restrictions of
Germany's labour laws all this has taken time to
achieve, but is now well underway.
Senior Directors
Lord Hodgson Chairman ( Robin Granville) former
financier and owner of Granville Baird.
Jean-Louis Moatti is a director of Cemom SA in
France, Ekament AB in Sweden, Ekamant Polska and
Polsoft Spzoo, both in Poland. He is also a major
investor in Carbo plc.
Financials
The recent placing raised 3.2m, which funds the
companys working capital as well as providing 2m
capital for German expansion with 0.3m to complete
UK reorganisation After the conversion of debt into
equity earlier this year this has de-geared the
company, removed all current debt and strengthened
the balance sheet.
Recommendation
At an operational level the recovery is well underway
and we expect that this will soon be translated into a
visible improvement in earnings performance. As
well as recovery prospects corporate actions can also
be anticipated. Speculative Buy
Analyst: Jon Levinson August 04
KEY RECENT EVENTS INCLUDE
1991
2002
Oct 2003
July 2004
Acquired by Hopkinson Group
New team took control
Refinancing of debt & Restructuring
Issue of Equity 3.2m at 10p
FINANCIAL CALENDAR
Year End Jan
Interims Oct
Finals June
MAJOR SHAREHOLDERS INCLUDE (%)
Lord Hodgson 17.8
H Fuchs 11,6
P Gyllenhammmar 6.7

cheers GF

GF

Been reading your postings for a few months now and have to say you're certainly on the ball. The only problem I have is that you cover such a large range of stocks which I can't keep up with. If I asked you to list your top 5 short, mediun and long term what would they be?

Regards
Mickeyskint