I bought into these on January 3rd for the dividend. Probably boring to a lot on investors, but with a yield of 9.3%, they are worth a look for income seekers.

The Smiths News Group operates in distinct but complementary markets; newspaper and magazine wholesaling, Smiths News, book wholesaling, Bertrams and education supplies, The Consortium.

Smiths News is the UK’s leading newspaper and magazine wholesaler. The company distributes newspapers and magazines on behalf of national publishers as well as a number of regional publishers. It serves approximately 30,000 retailers across England and Wales, supplying large general retailers as well as smaller independent newsagents.

Company Website

Financial Calendar

Recent Broker notes

BarChart Indicators

Recent Market news

Smiths News Fundamentals

sp taking a hit today?

Unfortunately, I had a limit order @150!

Interim Management Statement

The Group remains on track to deliver strong growth in underlying profit before tax for the year to 31 August 2013, in line with market consensus.

Total Group revenues increased 2.0% year on year, boosted by contribution from the acquisition of The Consortium in April 2012. The performance of each business unit is as follows;

· Smiths News total revenues declined by 1.9% and by 4.7% on a like for like basis.
Both newspaper and magazine performance is broadly in line with recent run rates and with expectations.

· Bertrams total revenues increased by 4.4% and by 1.5% on a like for like basis.
UK wholesale print revenues were broadly in line with last year, combined UK public and academic library revenues were marginally down, international revenues were up and digital revenues continued to grow strongly.

· The Consortium total revenues increased by 5.0% and by 5.1% on a like for like basis.

Education performed strongly.

· Media and Marketing total revenues declined by1.5% and increased by 0.5%on a like for like basis.

There has been no change in the underlying financial condition of the Group since the year ended 31 August 2012 and the Group continues to operate well within its bank facilities.

The Group will announce its interim results for the six months ending 28 February 2013 on 17 April 2013.

Looks like your buy was right on the money, Skinny.

Yes - a pity about the big gap between there and where I last sold!

Acquisition and expansion of books division

Acquisition and expansion of books division

· Acquisition continues to strengthen Bertrams international presence
· Enlarged operational footprint in Northern Europe

Smiths News PLC ("the Group"), the largest UK newspaper and magazine wholesaler, a leading UK book supplier and a leading distributor of consumable products to the education market, is pleased to announce its wholly owned book business Bertram Books ('Bertrams'), has acquired Erasmus Antiquariaat en Boekhandel B.V. ('Erasmus') from Tschenett Beheer B.V. for a net consideration of €1.5m satisfied in cash via a subsidiary Dawson Books Ltd.

Erasmus, based in the Netherlands, is a leading supplier of high quality books and journals into both academic libraries and Government Institutions mainly across Northern Europe. In the year ended 31 December 2012, Erasmus generated revenues of €15m.

The acquisition brings a complementary customer base to Bertrams with strong penetration in France, Germany and Switzerland. Following the successful acquisition of Houtschild in June 2012, Bertrams continues to pursue its stated international expansion programme, now having market leading positions in several key European territories. The Erasmus transaction will also see entry into the U.S market and increases total international sales to £50 million on a pro forma basis1.
The acquisition is expected to be earnings neutral in FY13, adding an incremental £0.4m in FY14.

I'm warming to this one.

Smiths News PLC, the largest UK newspaper and magazine wholesaler, a leading UK book supplier and a leading distributor of consumable products to the education market, will be announcing its interim results for the six months ended 28 February 2013 on Wednesday 17 April 2013.

New highs today on a day when the market has turned turtle. Technicals all looking benign. Two quid now on the horizon. More please.

Interims due on Wednesday. I don't think they will disappoint. A decent outlook statement and another divi increase could push these nearer to my £2 target.

Interim Results

Highlights:
· Strong financial performance with underlying PBT up 16%, including the impact of acquisitions
· Continued strong shareholder returns
- Underlying EPS of 10.3p up 16%
- Interim dividend of 3.0p up 7%
· Strategic targets on track
- Profit growth in all four divisions
- 27% of profits outside of newspaper and magazine wholesaling (H112: 17%)
- Smiths News:
§ Contract renewals worth over £350m revenue pa to 2019
§ Ongoing efficiencies reduce cost base by £4m
- Bertrams:
§ Growing addressable markets through launch of direct to consumer proposition
§ Acquired £20m of academic revenues to consolidate European leadership
- The Consortium:
§ Performing to expectations with WMS integration on track
Investing in multi-channel offer to increase revenue growth
· On track to meet full year market expectations

Acquisition and expansion of books division

Smiths News PLC ("the Group"), the largest UK newspaper and magazine wholesaler, a leading UK book supplier and a leading distributor of consumable products to the education market, is pleased to announce its wholly owned book business Bertram Books ('Bertrams'), has agreed to acquire certain European and African academic library services contracts from Blackwell UK Limited. The acquisition is expected to be formally completed on 20 May 2013 and the net consideration of up to £2.1 million will be satisfied in cash via its subsidiary Dawson Books Ltd.

The acquisition further strengthens Bertrams' established international footprint and brings with it a complementary customer base with a strong presence in Germany, France and South Africa. The high quality contracts being acquired as part of the transaction generate revenues of £10.5 million at FY12 levels increasing Bertrams' total international sales to £60 million on a pro forma basis1.

The acquisition will be earnings neutral in FY13, adding an incremental £0.7 million in FY14.

Contract Extension with Telegraph Media Group

Smiths News agrees five year contract extension with Telegraph Media Group
New contract secures c£137m of annual revenues


Smiths News PLC ('Smiths News'), the largest UK newspaper and magazine wholesaler, a leading UK book supplier and a leading distributor of consumable products to the education market, is pleased to announce it has reached agreement with Telegraph Media Group to extend their newspaper wholesaling agreement until October 2019.

This new agreement secures 63% market share of Telegraph Media Group's newspaper distribution business for an additional five years.

The contract is valued at c£137m pa (at FY12 values) equating to 15% of the national newspaper distribution market. Telegraph Media Group publishes The Daily Telegraph and Sunday Telegraph. Smiths News has now secured revenues through to 2019 equating to 32% of total sales.

INTERIM MANAGEMENT STATEMENT AND CONTRACT RENEWALS

Smiths News PLC, the largest UK newspaper and magazine wholesaler, a leading UK book supplier and a leading specialist distributor of consumable products to the education market, is today issuing its Interim Management Statement covering the 44 week period to 6 July 2013.

The Group remains on track to deliver strong growth in profit before tax for the year to 31 August 2013, in line with market consensus.

The Group is also pleased to announce today it has reached agreement with Associated Newspapers Ltd to extend their newspaper wholesaling agreement until October 2021 and separately it has also reached agreement with COMAG to extend their magazine wholesaling agreement until December 2020.

These new agreements secure the current market share of both Associated Newspapers' newspaper distribution business and COMAG's magazine distribution business for an additional five years.

The Associated Newspapers Ltd contract is valued at c£213m pa (at FY12 values) equating to 23% of the national newspaper distribution market. Associated Newspapers publishes The Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday.

The COMAG contract is valued at c£109m pa (at FY12 values) equating to 19% of the national magazine distribution market. COMAG distributes magazines on behalf of many magazine publishers including Hearst Magazines UK and Conde Nast and publications including Cosmopolitan, Good Housekeeping, Glamour, Vogue and GQ.

Smiths News has now secured c£800m of revenues through to 2019 and beyond equating to 53% of total sales.

There has been no change in the financial condition of the Group since the half year ended 28 February 2013 and the Group continues to operate well within its bank facilities.

The Group will announce its preliminary results for the twelve months ending 31 August 2013 on 16 October 2013.


Total Group revenues increased 0.7% year on year, boosted by the contribution from the acquisition of The Consortium in April 2012.

The sales performance of each business unit is as follows;

· Smiths News total revenues declined by 3.2% and by 4.6% on a like for like basis which remains consistent with previous medium term projections.
Both newspaper and magazine performance is also in line with recent run rates and with expectations.

· Bertrams total revenues increased by 11.2% and by 2.0% on a like for like basis.
New additional revenue from the recently launched direct to consumer offer, Wordery, continue to grow, accounting for the majority of the positive total sales increase.

· The Consortium total revenues declined 1.5% and increased by 1.4% on a like for like basis.
Care sales continue to grow strongly off-set by a weak quarter in Education. The profit of the business unit remains in line with expectations.

· Due to the disposal of MMC on 30 April 2013, Media and Marketing total revenues declined by 6.9%. DMD continues to trade in line with expectations.

N+1 Singer Buy 166.63 156.00 185.00 185.00 Upgrades

Smiths News PLC ("the Group"), the largest UK newspaper and magazine wholesaler, a leading UK book supplier and a leading distributor of consumable products to the education market, will be announcing its Preliminary results for the year ended 31 August 2013 on Wednesday 16 October 2013.

I make that a new closing high today. More to come.

And with one mighty bound it was through the 200 level to a new closing high. Somebody out there must think the upcoming results are better than good.

Preliminary Results Announcement yr ended 31-8-13


2013 HIGHLIGHTS:
· Strong financial performance:
- Revenue growth despite challenging market conditions
- Underlying PBT £53.0m, up 11.6%
- Free cash flow £32.6m, up 19.8%
· Strategic targets progressing:
- Smiths News: 53% of revenues secured, £800m per annum,
£6.2bn total to 2019 and beyond
- Bertrams: diversifying sales mix, international sales +30.2%, digital sales +38.0%, Wordery annualised sales of £15m
- The Consortium: delivering above expected acquisition returns, pro forma(7) profits +15.3%, new management team in place
- Group: 29% of profits outside of newspaper and magazine wholesaling,
on track to achieve 50% by 2016
· Strong shareholder returns:
- Underlying EPS of 22.4p, up 12.6%
- Final dividend of 6.3p, making a full year dividend of 9.3p, up 8.1%

Liberum Capital Buy 194.00 194.00 203.00 220.00 Reiterates