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.

Yup a new high GF ,lets hope this is the next leg up . :-)

Apparently it got a mention in yesterdays FT:

*Worthington Nicholls rose 1.2 per cent to 126p in heavy volume of 5.6m shares as broker Corporate Synergy noted new institutional buying. The UK's largest independent installer of air conditioning systems has been short-listed with five other companies for IPO of the year at the Growth Company Investors awards next week.

And..

Nice extract here from tonight's Electra VCT RNS - love the bit about 50% of 2007 turnover already being contracted at IPO seven months ago!

http://www.investegate.co.uk/Article.aspx?id=200701241743320969Q

"Worthington Nicholls installs and maintains air conditioning units in the UK
hotel and retail markets. The company successfully floated on AIM in June 2006,
raising 7.5 million of new money to fund acquisitions and 12.5 million of
replacement capital to reduce the founding family's holding. Soon after its
flotation, the company announced the acquisition of Project Air, a specialist
installer of air conditioning systems to the retail sector. Given the timing of
this recent acquisition, its full impact will be seen in the year ending
September 2007. Due to the shortage of qualified air conditioning providers, the company had already contracted an estimated 100% and 50% respectively of its 2006 and 2007 turnover at flotation. The future of the company is linked to
European Union legislation enforcing air conditioning standards and the age of
the UK's hotel and retail estate. On flotation, the Fund invested 1,000,000
alongside Electra Kingsway VCT 3. Each fund holds a stake of 3.08%."

Taken from M Walters site, a free example.....

The whole article is too long to paste, but here's the concluding paragraphs:

http://www.michaelwalters.com/stories/news.phtml?num=2859

"Total order book for 2006-07 is 28.5m, and 12.4m for 2007-08. The company has live tenders for 67m of extra business for the rest of this year, with a historic conversion ratio of 42%. The likely order flow, then, is far higher than first appears.

Current net cash is estimated by Corporate Synergy at about 3.8m following an additional 6m financing in November. The company plans to pay out just over 25% of net earnings in 207 and 2008, implying a prospective dividend yield of 1.3% and 1.6%.

The management is steadily being strengthened, and appears to be creating a slick operator in a fast-growing business driven by legislation. There had been some market expectations of another acquisition today. That has been delayed. The inference is that closer inspection of the target suggests the potential purchase price should be reduced. So there may be fresh talks with the vendor.

In the medium term, Worthington looks a likely bid target for one of the bigger diversified businesses wanting to secure a place in the industry. The current board shows no sign of wishing to bow out yet, however, and is well aware of the opportunity of building a much more substantial business before the fun begins to fade.

In the run-up to 2009, Worthington could be shooting for revenues of 100m. That might suggest profits pushing up to around 15m or more. This is mere speculation at this stage, but given that it takes two years to train a decent air conditioning installer, it appears that there is business galore out there for established operators who know their way around.

Is it right to buy at 120p? It could be. The list of institutional holders is strong, and there will be presentations to several more over the week ahead. And the flow of new orders ought to continue. Clearly the pace of share price growth in the year ahead is unlikely to match that over the past six months.

The management appears to be controlling expansion well, and so long as that holds together, the shares look likely to enjoy assured growth. The main worry must be that a general market slide will take everything lower but Worthington seems assured of significant growth over the next couple of years."

Article in full if you click on the link.......http://www.michaelwalters.com/stories/news.phtml?num=2859

Nice one GF ,,read with interest .

AND MORE..

Yet more positive news

'Buy' rating in this weeks Investor chronicle (26/1 to 1/2/07)

'Regulatory pressures and changing consumer demand are playing in to the hands of air-conditioning systems supplier Worthington Nicholls, which floated on the Alternative Investment Market (AIM) in June. EU regulations phasing out the use of R22 gas, used in air - conditioning units, are driving replacement sales to hoteliers and retailers, while hotels lower down the value chain are now increasingly fitting air-conditioning as standard in their rooms.

Worthington has already grabbed a 4 per cent market share in the fragmented UK market and expects to grow this organically to 6 per cent this year, although acquisitions are expected to boost this. And with a contracted order book of 28.5m and five tenders worth a further 67m Worthington looks well placed to meet market expectations for 2007. Broker Corporate Synergy forecasts EPS of 6.1p for 2007.'

BUY : TIP (magazine 26/1/07 to 1/2/07)

And the buying continues. Amazing are they photocopying share certificates?.

up 4 today so far - plenty of buys as you say GF and the selling price holding firm too.

Not far off 100 milion market cap now, which opens the door for more fund managers.

Amazing !!!

Expect a small correction down following the divi date (31st?).

Expect a small correction down following the divi date (31st?).

I very much doubt the divi will have any such impact Harry. And it isn't this week. The divi is only four-tenths of a penny, and xd date isn't until 28 February ;o)

I agree there are occasions when a substantial divi might be the catalyst for a fall bigger than the divi - once those who were hanging on for it have qualified and choose to then exit, triggering others to join in if other negative factors exist.

With this stock, the titchy little divi is surely an irrelevance as far as share price movement is concerned.

jzl

You are probably right in what you say, jzl, except that WNG goes ex-divi on the 31st Jan 2007.

In fine form again.

At this rate we must be going for a forward P/E rating of around 30 which is high, but then again we are holding a niche player in a stonking market driven by legislation and the impending acquisitions will add earnings and bring the rating down ready for the next wave of new buyers.

Hi Harry -

Company results statement 17/1 says

"..proposing to pay a dividend of 0.4p per share which will be made on 30 March 2007 to shareholders on the register at the close of business on 2 March 2007..."

That indicates an xd date of Feb 28th. Where are you getting Jan 31st from?

Is being incorrectly shown on Sharecrazy site. Apologies. 28th Feb it is.

A few taking profits here and I cant blame them after the recent strong run.

The trend is still very much positive.

Yes GF ,i'm thinking of locking in a bit of profit too .

Another day of profit taking.

No problem, it acts like a valve on the SP.