This is a copy of my post on ShareCrazy, the price has dipped back near to where it was when I first tipped it several weeks ago, but is showing signs of renewed strength today...

Business: Media & Telecom Recruitment
Market Cap: 6.2 million
No Debt
E2004 EPS 3p
E2005 EPS 4p

"Seven years ago Hat Pin, which trades as Kendall Tarrant, was a small domestic firm servicing the London communications sector. Today it is the leading global player with strong relationships at the very top of the major agencies around the world."

For the sector the PE Ratios are extremely cheap, the average PE in this recovering sector is around 35, which would give Hatpin a share price of 1.40. Look at Michael Paige for example on around 60xearnings.

They are expanding into the Asian economy and business in the USA is also taking off...

3 weeks ago they announced a trading update:

"Hat Pin plc, the provider of recruitment services to the communications
industry, confirms that it will more than meet the current market estimates for
the year ending 31 December 2003.

Our offices around the world continue to experience improved trading
performance during the second half of 2003. This has been especially apparent
within the final quarter of the year with a number of high profile appointments
in both the UK and USA. The current trading of the Company leads the Directors
to view 2004 with confidence."

The Directors hold a large proportion of the share capital and there are not many on the market. One of our colleagues on this BB messaged me the other night as the MMs were unable to fill his order. They simply didn't have the shares. Sorry if it sounds like a ramp, it's merely a warning that these are quite illiquid, but believe me if you're selling these you can name your price! If you're buying then the MMs aren't gonna let you have many.

Results are out next month and we already know they will be good!

Here's the chart:



Here's the highlights from the interim results back in September...

"We have returned to profit, but more importantly, all of our international
offices have themselves made profits."
"The improved trading performance has given us the confidence to invest in new
people and develop new areas."

- Profit before tax of the six months #151,000 (year ended 31 December 2002
loss #202,000).

- Basic and diluted earnings per share 1.3p (year ended 31 December 2002 loss
2.2p).

- Group net cash at 30 June 2003 #539,000 (31 December 2002 #378,000).

Our success is the result of two
factors - firstly the commitment and hard work on the part of everyone in this
company and secondly the position Kendall Tarrant has established as the
pre-eminent provider of recruitment services to the communications industry
around the world.

I am tremendously proud that Kendall Tarrant Worldwide has weathered the storm
so far. It has come through the worst advertising recession in living memory
stronger and more confident. The tide appears to be turning, and as it does I
feel certain that we shall be the best placed to take advantage of the upturn."

They trade under the name of KENDALL TARRANT.

Director's Interests

Gay Haines 2,505,000
Stephen Raven 600,000
Michael L Marks 428,395
Hannah Brown 266,000
Peter Walker 150,000
James N T Hewitt 52,500

Most recent Director Dealing
Date: 30-09-03
Director name: Mr Stephen Raven
Amount purchased: 50,000 @ 48.00p
Value: 24,000

There are less than 11 million shares in issue, the Director's holdings represent almost 40% of the share capital - a nice incentive for them to act in the interest of the shareholders...

SB ;)

Interesting, I hold - cheers.

CR

Fantastic results!
The new broker, EVO, has got plenty of juicy stuff in here to send out a strong buy recommendation to their clients, IMO.

Ignore this years PER, the company has improved from a 2.2p loss to a 3.5p profit. That same growth in 2004 would give a 9.2p EPS for next year and a PE of around 6.5 - That's a wild suggestion, but when you think recruitment companies are generally trading on PE's of well over 20 in this market, Hatpin's growth surely deserves a re-rating!


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
RNS Number:7990W
Hat Pin PLC
24 March 2004

HAT PIN PLC

RESULTS FOR THE YEAR TO 31 DECEMBER 2003


I am pleased to report that, despite the recessionary conditions which prevailed
throughout the year across the global communications section, we achieved a
pre-tax profit of #401,000. This improvement was largely UK and USA focused,
with a positive performance in Hong Kong. I am particularly pleased with our
results in America, where we had our strongest year ever.

Gross profit #3,574,000 14.4% increase

Operating profit #348,000 (2002 : loss : #194,000)

Profit on ordinary activities #401,000 (2002 : loss :#202,000)
before tax

Basic earnings per share 3.5p (2002 : loss per share : 2.2p)

Turning to 2004, I believe we have real momentum to build on this success.


The communications industry is poised for an upturn and Kendall Tarrant
Worldwide is well positioned to take advantage of this in all regions and to
build on its current position. That said, 2004 is not a year for complacency and
we are approaching it as a critical year in terms of our growth and expansion.We
will pro-actively explore all opportunities to grow the business
aggressively, both organically and through acquisition, confident that we have a
very solid core business upon which to build.

CHAIRMAN'S REVIEWI am pleased to report that, despite
the recessionary conditions which prevailed
throughout the year across the global communications sector, we achieved a
pre-tax profit of #401,000. At the time of reporting our interim numbers, I
noted our improved trading performance and I am delighted that this positive
trend continued, with the second half of 2003 proving even stronger than the
first.


This improvement was largely UK and US focussed, with a positive performance in
Hong Kong. I am particularly pleased with our results in America, where we had
our strongest year ever. I think this is testament to the strength of the
Kendall Tarrant brand name and the incredibly strong relationships we have
established over the years, in additionto the tremendous efforts and energy of
our US CEO, Patrizia Magni.


Turning to 2004, I believe we have real momentum to build on this success. We
now have a very solid global platform on which to build this business further,
and importantly, the credibility to be true partners to our multi-national
clients. This has always been our ambition and it is now time to realise the
potential this affords us. We have recently hired some very talented senior
individuals based in the UK, and we willbe pro-actively looking to expand our
activities in complementary areas through acquisition. In the US we are also
looking for additional talented individuals in order to capitalise on our
opportunities there and we continue to research carefully thepotential to open
an office in Greater China.

Kendall Tarrant UK


2003 was a challenging but ultimately rewarding year. Turnover was up by 12% to
#2,282,000 and the net margin continued to improve.


The core UK business, under the veryable direction of Hannah Brown, continued
to perform well and the newer departments such as PR, Market Research and Media
Communications all made positive progress. The business continues to maintain
its strong market leadership position. Among other initiatives, last year saw us
commission and publish a major study entitled 'The Young Ones', which looked at
the changing aspirations of the next generation within the communications
industry and the industry's response to their needs.


Towards the end of 2003 confidence began to return to the UK communications
market and the number of assignments increased as we turned into 2004. While the
market looks a little more robust we are not taking the recovery for granted and
have increased theemphasis on the search side of the business as opposed to the
original contingency business. At the present time, the balance between
contingency and search in the UK is heavily weighted towards the contingency
market. We have an excellent opportunity to capitalise on our relationships and
expand further the search offering. This should have a significant impact on
both our margin and cash flow.

Kendall Tarrant Hong Kong


SARS ravaged the Asian economy and left the market looking lesspromising than
the start of the year had suggested. With the economic downturn, many companies
took the immediate step of laying-off people, signalling a slowdown in
recruiting efforts and a rethink of their recruitment plans.


Against this scenario, we needed to re-adjust our approach to the management of
our own business. We consolidated our relationships and efforts with a core
group of clients who remained steadfastly committed to recruiting quality talent
even against this changing landscape. On the candidate front we continued with
our strategy of focussing on the top end, but as the redundancy rounds in
agencies continued unabated, a good part of our year was spent as counsellor,
mentor and coach. In our view, this was the rightcourse of action with the
expectation that it will pay off when the good times return. The Kendall Tarrant
culture has always been one of customer focus and deep resiliency. Our team of
consultants, under Irene Lee's strong leadership, continues tobe the most
stable in the industry.


Across the region all disciplines saw a downturn in hiring with the exception of
strategic planning where demand continued to outstrip supply. Specific too to
the HK market, in 2003 there were a significant number of senior management (MD)
changes within the agencies and our office placed roughly half these new
appointees. Increasingly, work became more project-based and less retained; in
recruitment terms we saw more temporary to permanent hiring, and anincrease in
freelance/ interim management contracts.


Our plan for 2004 is for each of our HK based consultants to expand their reach
outside of HK as the regional communications industry appears poised to kick
start recruitment over the next few months. China will be one of the most
important markets and the engine of growth in the area, and as previously
mentioned, we are now well advanced on our research to set up a satellite office
in Shanghai.


Kendall Tarrant USA


We are delighted to report our best year ever in the USA with turnover up by 40%
to #777,000 and a net profit increase of over 100% to #309,000.


The communications sector in the USA saw a somewhat false start in the first six
months, but by the latter half of 2003 there were genuine signs of recovery. The
optimism that this brought to the recruitment market was however marked by
prudence. With the memories of previous lay-offs still strong in peoples' minds,
there was caution taken in every decision tohire. In addition, greater weight
was given to the business-acumen of prospective candidates. Requests for
candidates with positive new business records and an understanding - and in many
cases actual experience - on the client-side became the norm.Kendall Tarrant
used this as an opportunity to cross thresholds searching for new talent with
this background which proved helpful in a number of the CEO searches we worked
on.


In the advertising agencies, recruitment of account management continued to lag
behind creative and planning, showing only tentative movement towards the end of
the year. In planning, a number of high-profile leadership roles came into play
during the year, which had a knock-on effect at the very end of the year
whenmid-level candidates also started to move. On both the account management and
creative sides there was a notable demand for integrated skills.


Beyond the USA, Kendall Tarrant has started broadening its regional scope, most
obviously in Latin America. Here there is a definite need for fresh talent,
whilst there is also a pool of candidates with Hispanic experience which will be
of great value to our global partners. We also started to make in-roads into the
Canadian market where there is awealth of exceptional talent with great
potential for the overall American market.

CHAIRMAN'S REVIEW


Summary


The communications industry is poised for an up-turn and Kendall Tarrant
Worldwide is well positioned to take advantage of this in all regions and to
build on its current position. That said, 2004 is not a year for complacency and
we are approaching it as a critical year in terms of our growth and expansion.
We will pro-actively explore all theopportunities to grow the business
aggressively, both organically and through acquisition, confident that we have a
very solid core business upon which to build.


To this end we decided in the final quarter of 2003 to appoint Evolution Beeson
Gregory as our new brokers. Their experience with AIM companies both in research
and market making will be important to us during the next phase of our
development. As announced in January this year, we also appointed Louise Wall as
an Executive Director, to strengthen the management team. For my part, I will
continue to focus my efforts on senior strategic worldwide briefs, as well as
cementing our global relationships for the Kendall Tarrant Worldwide network. I
feel absolutely confident in thevery talented Kendall Tarrant Worldwide team.

Gay Haines
Chairman



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SB ;-)

Great news, thanks for a quality tip SB!

Tipped in the Investor's Chronicle today...

57p - aim: recruitment - As you might expect, recent times have been good for Hat Pin. As a provider of recruitment services to the advertising industry via the Kendall Tarrant brand, it has been able to significantly strengthen its position. Last year, Hat Pin moved back into the black as a global upturn in the industry provided a useful boon for its international operations. And now the group is well placed to continue building on its solid base, with growth likely to be both organic and via acquisition.

While the improvement in conditions has helped to underpin strong rises in Hat Pin's share price during the past 12 months, there should be more to come. To date, much of the upside has been purely on the back of the early stages of recovery in the advertising market. A combination of ongoing improvement and expansion into other areas of the media will help the group rebound further from the disappointments of 2001.

Back then, Hat Pin was struggling in tough conditions and suffered heavy losses. So it focused on reducing costs and cutting operations where demand had fallen. Subsidiaries Red Door and White Door were closed, along with its Australian office, while the group worked on improving its core offering. Its remaining offices in the UK, USA and Hong Kong have since performed well.

Last year, Hat Pin achieved a record performance in the US. Despite a weak dollar, turnover from the US grew by 40 per cent to 777,000, while profits more than doubled to 309,000. And during the latter half of 2003, there were some real signs of recovery. As part of its strategy of broadening its global appeal, Kendall Tarrant is now looking at other regions, such as Latin America and the Canadian market.

Although costs will rise as the group moves outside of its immediate catchment areas, Hat Pin will benefit from increased revenue streams. In the UK, it's trying to focus on search, rather than contingency, business. Search refers to assignments where it receives an upfront fee, as well as an additional fee for providing a short-list, and then a final fee for when the positions are filled. Contingency business, on the other hand, only pays a one-off success fee, and is a lower-margin offering.

Conditions in the UK have improved and the group has branched out into other areas of the media, including public relations, market research and media communications. Operational gearing within the business and tight control of the cost base helped operating profits to jump by nearly 60 per cent to 420,000, while sales grew by 12 per cent to 2.3m.

The only real challenge for the group last year was in Hong Kong. Much of this was due to the outbreak of Sars, which resulted in a weak market as media agencies downsized. As a result, the group targeted a core group of clients committed to recruiting quality talent. The candidate focus was very much on the top end, and there was more temporary-to-permanent hiring. This year, the plan is for Hat Pin's Hong Kong consultants to expand their reach - the group is also likely to open a satellite office in Shanghai.

Hat Pin remains well placed to take advantage of improving market conditions. By focusing on its core operations, it will benefit from further recovery in the media cycle. There will also be plenty of scope for geographic expansion. Currently trading at a good discount to the market, the shares look attractive. Buy.

Very positive write up in growth company investor i see - but no posts on this BB for some time......anybody got any views on this stock please as seems to have potential to me.

Thanks

AM

Anyone still around? This stock is now on my radar. Looks to be poised for a run.

Yup - on the verge of a major chart breakout. I've bought some today.

Yes me too......hatpinned my hopes on it

ONWARDS AND UPWARDS.....topped up at 96p today......any one got any news?????.

Results due in March - these share have a long way to go imho - should start to see the sales growth come through in next results.

DYOR - good luck

AM

There was a very good feature on the employment sector in Shares Rag last week. Hatpin wasn't specifically mentioned, but it was very bullish on the sector, basically saying buy, buy, buy before the results season. Hatpin have been looking strong and could benefit if results from them and their peers start to come in above expectations with positive management comments about the year ahead. Could be an exciting ride for the next few months.

Great, thanks PL - will have a look

AM

Up another touch. Let's see if we can get north of 1 today.

How quickly things can change. Administrators appointed to the plc today.

Just my thoughts really.

Didn't own this company or Corsie but have just spent last hour or so going through the statements of both for the last year or so. You'd had thought everything was a bed of roses with both companies and then bang within two months, Directors were resigning and without real explanantion they both fell into administration. What is astonishing as well is not long before the Directors were spending their own money buying-up the shares! (remember WNG) Although a set of unusual circumstances such as the credit crunch may account for this, it also makes me realise how pathetically bad and blinkered some management is. The more I'm in this game the more I realise that as investors and traders you really don't want to be holding shares any longer than need be. You never know what dark and sinister secrets may be lurking around the corner ready to smash you just when you least expected it.