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.

Yup ive taken a few bob profit but still in. I think a tip sheet may have been negative.

cheers GF.

My short is 50p in profit so far.

DAV are overvalued IMHO.

Fair value 250p.

50p !! you should have shorted a few more ,i'd want more than 50p for my trouble.

jimmy b

How do you feel watching this overvalued woof woof fall on a daily basis ?

You can't half pick em.

LOL.

Matt i bought 22000 at 280 ,sold 17000 near the high and the rest today , work it out for yourself . I can't half pick em :-) ..

and I bought 150,000 at 265p and sold them at 375p.

LOL

I am better than you are.

mattderbyshire ,now i know your a pratt . Read goldfingers last post ,that just about sums you up .

Well this one was up today.

cheers GF.

Back in the blue........ Just.

cheers GF.

Back to form.

cheers GF.

Good old Davenhams back on the gravy train.

cheers GF.

Still going well.

Cheers GF.

One of the few small companies that is up this morning.

cheers GF.

Up again.......

Davenham Group PLC
21 March 2006


Davenham Group plc (the 'Company')

Notification of Major Interests in Shares

Notification in accordance with Section 198 - 203 of the Companies Act 1985

The Company received a notification on 21 March 2006 from UBS AG informing it
that on behalf of UBS AG acting through its business group and legal entities
had an interest in 1,245,749 shares, representing 4.80% of the Company's issued
ordinary share capital.


21 March 2006


cheers GF.

Moved up on this news....

Davenham Group opens new offices in London
AFX


LONDON (AFX) - Davenham Group PLC said it has opened new offices in London's West End.

The new London office is led by Martin Risman, who was appointed as Regional Director for the South East in January 2006.

Davenham said, at the time of the company's AIM listing in November 2005, a key element of its growth strategy was the geographic expansion of the business beyond its roots in the North West of England, particularly to the Midlands and the South of the UK.

newsdesk@afxnews.com

cheers GF.

Took a few bobs profit last week , the rest are in for free and I see further acquisitons on the Horizon.

cheers Gf.

Closed my position now fully in these at a very nice profit and may return when we have further bolt ons.

Time to go back in???????????????????????????.

I remember a lot of us made a packet here last time.

I think its tempting on the forward P/E, derd cheap.........

From Growth Company Investor site.....

Davenham - BUY
Companies: DAV
08/01/2007

Asset-based lender Davenham debuted on AIM at 254p in late 2005 and was subsequently tipped by Growth Company Investor at 365.5p. After rising to 388.5p, the shares fell back in the first half of 2006, before staging a recovery in the second half.

Having met with charismatic chief executive David Coates, we still see exciting times ahead for the group, which lends to businesses with annual sales of between 1m and 25m, a niche market inadequately serviced by banks (argues Coates), and one with vast credit line entry barriers.

In the past few months Davenham has announced a dramatic increase in its funding lines to 300m with an enlarged syndicate of banks and reported that its loan portfolio reached a record 215m in November.

Coates sees bags of growth to gun for, with roughly 80,000 UK businesses falling within the Davenham lending sweet spot and this number growing by 4% each year. Superior earnings quality reflects a relationship-based approach to lending, versus the rigid scorecard model employed by rivals in the market.

Davenham has a reassuringly diversified portfolio organised into property finance, asset finance and trade finance divisions and its geographic expansion is ongoing, with Coates weighing up acquisitive deals in a fragmented market.

Last year to June, Davenham delivered pre-tax profits of 8.6m, 29.4p of earnings and a 7.7p dividend, numbers forecast to grow to 12.4m and 32.8p this year, with dividends nearly doubling to 14.8p. As such, Davenham trades on a modest forward multiple of 10.2, an unwarranted discount to the sector, with a prospective yield of 4.4%. Buy.

James Crux
Market cap: 87.59m
PE Forecast: 10.2
Share price: 336p

No space for Davenham
08.01.07
Peter Temple

It's been a rather better month for the portfolio in absolute terms, although our selections continue to lag the recent strong market.

The portfolio is now up 110% since inception (up 105.7% since inception last time round), while the FTSE is up 21.3% over the same period (up 17%

last time round). An interim dividend from Kelda (KEL), takes our cash balances up to 771.

On a total return basis, including the effect of dividends, the comparative index performance is a rise of 43%, which means that the portfolio is still well ahead of the game. But its record over all but the longest timescale continues to be disappointing. Strong equity markets do not necessarily make for good performance from income stocks.

Having said that I believe interest rates - and therefore gilt yields (now over 5% in many cases) - are approaching a peak. Once that peak is reached and they begin to fall, we can expect better performance from higher yielding stocks.

Experience has taught me not to sell a stock unless I have good reason, and although the portfolio's performance is flat, individual constituents have been sufficiently well behaved not to warrant ejection. I am not prepared to sell out of the portfolio's gilt edge stock (it is in the portfolio to provide a base level of income).

Equally, Johnson Service (JSG), which came close to forfeiting its place last time, has perked up slightly and provided some welcome corporate news in the shape of the disposal of a loss-making division. Johnson Hospitality Services made a loss of 2.3 million in the last full year and the sale will bring in 800,000 in cash. Not a great price, but satisfactory for a loss-making business. More to the point, it demonstrates that management is serious about restructuring.


Davenham

In the absence of a stock to sell, I am still struggling to find a place for a new constituent. This company, Davenham (DAV), is a Manchester-based lender to small- and medium-sized businesses and typically lends against the security of property, physical goods, or debtors.

The group has been established for a number of years and, rather than adopt a formulaic credit scoring approach to lending, it is more focused on appraising individuals - typically small-scale entrepreneurs who want finance for specific projects. It actively monitors its portfolio on a weekly basis in order to minimise bad debts, and so far the record on this score has been good. Staff are incentivised, many hold shares in the business themselves, and there is an impressive roster of institutional shareholders backing the company.


Figures

Davenham has built up an enviable record of profit growth in recent years and, of particular interest to this portfolio, currently stands on a prospective yield of around 4.4%. This compares with the yield on Lloyds Bank of 5.9%, but the difference between the two is arguably that Davenham has better growth prospects.

If we had enough cash to spare or a stock to sell I would have no hesitation in adding it to the portfolio. As it is, it has to remain our 'first reserve' for the time being - until there are some developments elsewhere in the portfolio. I also have reservations about adding to our exposure in the financials area at present, and for the moment Lloyds TSB (LLOY) looks to be on an upward trend so selling or reducing that better yielding holding isn't really an option.

I have no doubt that at some stage in the future this impasse will be broken in some way, but for the time being we have to continue with the existing list of portfolio constituents and not make any additions or deletions.