Ive had these on the watch list for a few weeks now and the company seems to be getting a lot of Institutional Interest.

Its basically an asset based lender to smaller companys and carrys out a similar business to that of the big clearing banks, but as the economy gets tighter and bank lending gets more difficult to secure customers are turning to this Northern based company as an alternative.

Description Of Business.

Davenham is a leading, independent asset based lender to the UK SME sector.

The business was founded in 1991 in Manchester from where its core operations
are run. In recent years, Davenham has begun to expand and it now also operates
from offices in Leeds, Birmingham, Liverpool and Newcastle.

Davenham provides lending solutions designed to meet the financing needs of UK
SMEs - typically involving loans of between 10,000 and 3 million. The
Directors believe this is a profitable and attractive market place that is not
adequately serviced by mainstream lenders, which tend to adopt a formulaic
approach to lending decisions. Davenham has a diverse loan portfolio, with its
lending activities organised into three divisions: property finance, asset
finance and trade finance.

Davenham enjoys strong client relationships reflecting high levels of customer
service and tailored financing packages. The Directors believe that Davenham's
ability to form a commercial view and reach lending decisions quickly underpins
premium rates and high levels of repeat business. New clients are typically
sourced through introductions from existing clients, direct approaches and a
network including mainstream lenders, finance brokers, accountancy firms and
other professionals.

Davenham has a strong financial record both in terms of revenue growth and
profitability and has consistently achieved a gross return on loan portfolio of
circa 20 per cent. The Directors believe this results from Davenham's position
as a leading lender in a profitable and niche market place in which the
competition is fragmented.

Davenham is funded by a group of banks led by The Royal Bank of Scotland plc and
has a facility of 175 million, which the Directors believe is sufficient for
Davenham's current requirements.

The Placing:

Davenham, a leading independent asset based lender to the UK SME
sector, announces completion of its admission to AIM and that trading in its
ordinary shares commenced at 8.00am today.

Panmure Gordon, the Company's broker, has placed 10.9 million new
ordinary shares on behalf of the Company raising approximately 27.7 million
before expenses, and also placed approximately 6.7 million existing ordinary
shares for approximately 16.9 million on behalf of selling shareholders.

Approximately 17.2 million of the proceeds of the issue of new
ordinary shares will be used to redeem certain loan notes and mezzanine debt.
The balance of 10.5 million will be used to increase the capital base of
Davenham and to pay for the expenses of the flotation.

Davenham will be included in the Speciality and Other Finance sector
and will have an EPIC code of DAV.L.

Hawkpoint is the nominated adviser and financial adviser to Davenham
and Panmure Gordon is broker.

Dunedin and Indigo backed the buyout of Davenham in 2000 and have
supported the Company through to a successful flotation. They will remain
supportive shareholders.

The placing took place at 254p.

Director Speak.

David Coates, Chief Executive said:

'We are delighted by the positive response to the placing and the completion of
our admission to trading on AIM. I am pleased to welcome our new institutional
investors as shareholders of Davenham.

'We are well positioned to capitalise on the attractive growth opportunities in
our market place and we believe the flotation will raise our profile and support
future growth by strengthening our ability to lend, expand into the Midlands and
the South of the UK and fund selective acquisitions.'

I see from the Brokers forecasts that the Pospective P/E is approx 10 falling the year after. Might be rewarding to get in at this early stage.

DYOR.

Cheers GF.

edited by moneyam

Appears they don't have a sense of humour mate , allright to kidnap civilians and cut their throats to show on the internet though.

Fcuk religion , what good has it ever it done ?

Wrexham 2 Wycombe ( leaders of div 2) 0

Class always shines through in the end.

On the subject of religion Mr Dil I thought you were a jewboy ?

Just seen some VT of that demonstration in London by the Muslims against the cartoons.

What a shower of shysters who should be put against the wall and shot. They were parading signs saying such things as "behead all non believers of Islam".

Its time we cracked down on these immigrants who hate the west so much and fucking deport them.

I am getting more and tempted by the day to join the BNP.

How does all this relate to DAV?

It doesn't dandu ,,and i wish they would just f..k off and post somewhere else, ADVFN would suit them better ,,load of losers

Being the good old boy that i am, i thought i'd bring the thread back to whats its supposed to be about...DAV



regards
Michael Barrymore (MoneyAm)

Ok dom - let's see your sticker ;)

Present rolling P/E just over 12 and derd cheap.

cheers GF.

In the blue once again.

cheers GF.

Up 1.5p . A nice steady trickle in the right direction.

Luvly Jubly DM

Yup Dave, it just keeps going up, mind I was aware that it went off far too cheap and bickering with the institutions opened a window that private investors fairly get.

Nice mind.

cheers GF.

And theres far more to go from Growth Company Investor, MIND WE GOT IN FIRST, smug, smug, smug.......................

Davenham has designs on growth - BUY
Companies: DAV
06/02/2006




Institutional and retail investors are beginning to warm to Davenham, the asset-based lender to small and medium-sized companies that joined the market at the end of November.

Initially some were wary of backing the float, put off by the groups major shareholder, Dunedin Private Equity, selling 17 million of shares on admission. The majority of the 23.5 million of new money raised also went on paying off mezzanine debts to these backers. Nevertheless Dunedin retains a sizeable ten per cent stake.

The remaining money, which amounted to 6.3 million after flotation costs, is earmarked to help fund further growth of a business that has high hopes of leading the consolidation of this fragmented but fast-growing space.

Davenham fills a gap traditionally occupied by branch bank managers but now vacated by the major clearers. The group has experienced strong growth in the past two years, doubling turnover to 28.5 million for the year to June. This has been achieved despite the loan portfolio only rising by 62 per cent to 151 million during the period.

Profits, before tax and interest from mezzanine debt (since repaid following the float), rose by a similar amount to 9.3 million.

Davenham will lend up to 3 million to companies with annual sales of 30 million. This is done through three divisions: property, trade and asset finance. The first of these divisions is the largest at present, where it specialises in providing bridging loans to developers. The group shortly hopes to launch a commercial mortgage product.

One of the strengths of the group is that it is not reliant on any one customer or business area. It has over 2,400 clients across many sectors. Small housebuilders, importers and distributors are typical customers. The groups loans charge an effective APR of 18 per cent. But bad debts are only 1.5 per cent of loans, thanks to prudent underwriting policies. The group will not loan on leisure assets or food and fashion goods.

Considering Davenhams activities are at present funded through a 175 million facility from a syndicate of banks led by the Royal Bank of Scotland, on which it pays 1.5 per cent above base rates (about six per cent), the returns it makes are in the high teens. The group is already in discussions about extending this to 250 million under more efficient terms.

Davenham is based in the north-west with headquarters in Manchester but has plans to move into other regions, in particular the lucrative South-East. Chief executive David Coates aims to make one acquisition in the coming year of up to 10 million. This would expand the loan book by 30 million.

Coates has a solid background, with experience at Royal Bank of Scotland, Standard Chartered and credit agency Experian, and is ambitious to grow the group further. 29 institutions supported the float, possibly drawn by Davenhams promise to pay a five per cent dividend this year. 45 per cent of earnings will be distributed in this way.

So far house broker Panmure Gordon has not written research on the company. However, Shore Capital has forecast earnings will rise 18.3 per cent this year to 11 million. This gives 30p of earnings per share and puts the stock on a conservative p/e of 12.2.

Even after a great run on the price to a high of 365.5p, the groups published dividend policy indicates a still generous yield for 2007. Buy.



cheers GF.

Interesting read GF ,cheers .

c'mon DAV , you can't just take a days rest ,up you go .

Oh yes it can

Davenham ,down 4p ,,i don't believe it !!!

Mr neither, these things just dont happen......... LOL.


cheers GF.

Sold out today as looking overvalued IMHO.

Lol , good riddance ... hows the injury ?