Watch out for this one floating in the next few days, it could turn out to be the float of the year. Theres not much available on the company yet but I have found the write up below which shows the fantastic potential of this one. Note just how cheap it is.

New Issue: here's one that's more than hot air

Published: 12:45 Monday 27 February 2006
By Cliff Feltham, Companies Correspondent

Owners of thousands of buildings in the UK are facing massive bills over the next few years to comply with new energy standards, which is good news for new AIM entrant Worthington Nicholls.

Air conditioning and ventilation units using ozone depletive gases have to be replaced by systems using more environmentally friendly gases.

The measures are creating a windfall for air conditioning installation companies like Manchester-based Worthington Nicholls which is to float on AIM with a price tag close to 35 million.

The firm, which has been around since the early 1970s, needs extra working capital to cope with the influx of orders which will see this year's turnover climb from 11.7 million to nearly 30 million.

The flotation, sponsored by broker Corporate Synergy, will also allow founder chairman Peter Worthington, who is nearing his 70th birthday, to sell shares worth around 7 million.

After years of steady progress, the firm has seen a huge jump in work triggered by new energy efficient legislation flowing from the Kyoto Agreement.

The deadline for owners of buildings to replace air conditioning, heating, ventilation and chilled water systems using banned gases is the end of 2009.

Chief executive Mark Worthington, son of John, believes there are at least 9,000 buildings in the UK which will have to comply with the new regulations. But the figure could be much higher. ' We are talking billions of pounds here,' he says.

Worthington Nicholls has concentrated on servicing hotel and retail clients which include Hilton, Holiday Inns, Debenhams, Arcadia and Boots.

A new, energy compliant air conditioning plant in a high street store can cost anywhere between 80,000 and 120,000. Re-fitting a Debenhams branch cost 670,000 while hotels can expect to pay around 3,500 a room for a new air conditioning unit.

Worthington Nicholls offers a complete service, designing the system, managing installation and providing regular maintenance. At present income from maintenance contracts is running at around 20% of total sales but that is expected to rise.

The flotation, which is raising a total of 15 million, will also provide a warchest for acquisitions. Two deals have already been lined up with will add another 20 million a year to turnover.

Mark Worthington says there is huge scope for acquisitions. The company claims to be market leader yet it only has a 3% share suggesting plenty of room for consolidation.

The company is making some confident assumptions about future growth. Profits are expected to rise from 3.7 million last year to 8.6 million in the current year to September. By 2008 it is projecting earnings of 12.6 million on sales of 45 million but this does not take into account any contribution from future acquisitions.

Says Worthington: 'Stringent environmental legislation has changed our business. Now the large international hotel and restaurant groups prefer to deal with a single supplier. We believe there is huge scope for expanding not just in the UK but across Europe.'

Price of the shares being placed will be fixed over the new few weeks following investor presentations with dealings due to start in about a month's time.

Please DYOR and do not use money on shares you cannot afford to lose.

cheers GF.

It's certainly been a good week for Worthington; I suppose I'd best celebrate with a pint or two of it's namesake!
kim

Yes it's been a good run ,and nobody seems to have joined us .

When they do .... sell ;-)

But heres another lifted from another board, from RHPS tip sheet this weekend...

Let your profits run.
WORTHINGTON NICHOLLS (WNG): When a company places new shares,
as Worthington Nicholls has just done, and the share price
then rises, this is almost always a good sign. Usually it
means that the lucky institutional investors who have received
new shares like the story so much that they go into the market
to buy more. We should be hearing results from Worthington
Nicholls soon, and I am going to at least wait for them. HOLD

And Broker Hoodless now take coverage up...........


http://www.hoodlessbrennan.com/stock-research-prices/research/

It concludes:

"Conclusion
Since the companys IPO in June it has continued to build credibility in the market having made its first acquisition and securing new contract wins. The experienced management team is operating in a large, fragmented and growing market with legislation acting as a key driver e.g. EU legislation. The forward 2007 PE of 15.2x is still attractive despite the rise in the share
price given its established niche market position, inherent growth opportunities and comparison with the support services sector which is trading on 16.6x. Speculative Buy."

Of course that's based on the 6.3p EPS broker forecast for this year, which could and should be beaten from either or both of organic and acquisition-led growth imo.

Thanks for posting those GF ,,,,,,I still like this ,don't know what it will do in the short term ,but i want to hold on to some of them for next year.

It should go up a lot further Jimmy.

That's what i'm thinking GF ,,,havn't sold any yet .

I see the thread over the other side has gone to the dogs ,i wondered how long it would take ,don't know why you bother with it GF , ,, ... Now do we get the big backward step, or slow down and then onward ??

Similar action as last week I hope Jimmy, a feew down days and then a whoosh.

Take a look at PRP gf ... see what you think.

Will do Dil.

Cheers mate.

Back to blue , :-)

Small caps in general seem to have been subdued these last few days.

No doubt itl turn around again.

Nicely in the blue today on a general down day for small caps.

Investors Chronicle main tip today. A bit late to the party but it all helps..

106p - Aim: Air-conditioning Systems - Worthington Nicholls' shares have doubled in price since the company came to the market earlier this year. But, with the prospect of a solid set of full-year results and a cash pile that's likely to fund four acquisitions, progress is unlikely to slow down any time soon.

The company, which supplies air-conditioning systems, is serving a market that is being driven by demand for more comfort in the hotel and retail trade, and also by regulatory pressures. UK hotel chains are waking up to the competitive advantage of fitting air-conditioning systems, but chief executive Mark Worthington believes that only 7 per cent of UK hotels rooms rated three-star or above currently have air-conditioning.

In fact, the company has spent the past four years fitting air-conditioning into the Holiday Inn estate in the UK and is in talks with five hotel chains about new contracts. It has been focusing on the UK but opportunities are increasingly opening up in continental Europe, often led by UK customers requesting quotes for their continental estates. Other UK hotel customers include Intercontinental Hotels, MacDonald Hotels and LRG Hotels.

In the retail sector, Worthington serves Debenhams, Arcadia, Whitbread and Bhs. Most installation contracts are followed up by maintenance deals, which accounted for around 20 per cent of revenues in the first half of 2006. The company also owns a ventilation-hygiene business, which accounted for 14 per cent of first-half revenues. It cleans air ducts in commercial kitchens for 200 clients.

Regulatory requirements are another factor pushing demand at Worthington. European legislation aimed at reducing greenhouse gases includes a phasing-out programme for R22, a refrigerant widely used in older air-conditioning systems. All R22 systems must be removed by 2015, but this is likely to happen sooner as businesses installing the greener alternative, R410A, are now being offered tax breaks.

Mr Worthington estimates that the UK market for air-conditioning is worth 700m a year in total and that the replacement market is likely to reach the same level very quickly. But the market is currently served by small operators, giving Worthington Nicholls the opportunity to rapidly build itself a market-dominating position through acquisition.

So, earlier this month, the company announced a 6m fund-raising at 90p - although management admits that this came a couple of months sooner than expected due to the pressure of a significant shareholder who wanted more stock. The 6m raised will immediately be put to work expanding the business, with two acquisitions virtually complete and a further two at an advanced stage.

This will make the company the biggest player in the UK air-conditioning market, albeit with a share still well under 10 per cent. Management will then focus on consolidating the acquisitions for the rest of 2007.

The planned acquisitions will give Worthington a more rounded service offering and better profit margins. They will also move the company more firmly into the office air-conditioning sector. The most recent acquisition, Project Air, bought in June, will boost the retail business - it counts Phones 4 U, Hamleys and TM Lewin as clients.

Prior to the fund-raising, house broker Corporate Synergy was predicting full-year profits of 3.6m, rising to 6m in 2007. This gives adjusted EPS of 6.3p, which means the shares trade on 16.9 times earnings. Worthington should also commence dividend payments this year.

And although Worthington's share price has doubled since the float, it was listed in June when market conditions were extremely tough, suggesting that it was priced to go. So, with the expected boost of a further four acquisitions in the coming months, and the background of a receptive and growing market backed by legislation, Worthington's shares look attractive. Buy.

Nudged up again.......NICE.

Very, very nice. Thanks for post 229 GF: very encouraging.
kim

Yes thanks for posting that GF ,, all the reasons there why i'm not selling .

Wish they would up date their web site though.