RESULTS DUE NEXT WEEK NEWSFLOW IS GOOD
ANY BACKERS - IDEAS HOW PRICE WILL MOVE.

Out of interest - has anyone on this board used the e-mailer? I'd be, and I'm sure others too, would be interested in feedback.

No Flackwell i haven`t and i don`t know anybody that has,in this day and age you can email from your computer ,t.v and mobile phone.
Anyway my landline phone is situated in the hall not the most comfortable place to send emails from when you have so much other choice.
DB66

My brothers got the 2nd version and says its brilliant. I think he was saying you could send faxes on it a lot easier than using the PC. Will try and get a bit more detail.

cheers GF.

Im looking for a week of risers on this one. Short term target 220p say evolution above.

cheers GF.

Profit taking going on this morning, nows the time to get in on the cheap.

cheers GF.

Amstrad - Thursday 17th February 2005, from Hemscott.

Consumer electronics group Amstrad posted record interim profits today but warned of a seasonal slowdown in sales in the second half. Sales of set-top boxes are going well, but the company has not shifted as many of its latest version of the emailer device as it hoped. Earnings visibility is improving and the shares look good value, says Ian Forrest.


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Amstrad reported sales of 63.5m, up from 29.5m, for the six months to December today. Pre-tax profits came in at 14.2m, exactly double the 7.1m recorded last time.

The profit figure is especially notable given that gross margins have declined during the period due to pricing pressure from customers on mature products.

Amstrad manufactures set-top boxes for Sky tv and reported significant sales of the latest generation of these, the Personal Video Recorder(PVR), which are used in conjunction with Sky's Sky+ service. It also reported strong sales of set-top boxes to an Italian broadcaster, even though deliveries only started in August.

Sales of audio products, made in Hong Kong, also went well with turnover ahead of the same period last year. The latest version of the emailer device, the E3, can do all the usual things like email, text messages and internet access, but it also has a colour screen and can make video calls. One of the advantages of this product is that new features can be downloaded in the future. For example, people will be able to send digital pictures from their cameras to the emailer.


Initial sales of the E3 have been slow but the company said that it is planning new sales initiatives in the second half.

Amstrad also receives a useful revenue stream from emailers already sold which is derived from email and internet surfing usage and the sale of ringtones. In December this revenue averaged 22,000 per day.

Amstrad's balance sheet looks strong with net cash of 22.2m and no long term borrowings.

Chief executive Sir Alan Sugar said that the second half would probably see a seasonal reduction in sales but he added that the company has a "good order book" for set-top boxes for the rest of the financial year and has already received orders for sales in the next financial year. As a result he is positive about the the outcome for the current year.

Ahead of today's news the house broker Evolution Securities was forecasting profits of 18.8m for the full year, which gives a forward PER of 11.6. The prospective dividend yield of 3.2% is also notable in the sector.

cheers GF.

Lousy day monday like a lot of small cpa but expect to get some of that back tuesday.

cheers GF.

still watching gf
not low enough for me
closer to 150 will buy i don't
expect to get in
best of luck

HUSTLER

What does Sugar have to do be recognised. Good Results last time better results this time. Reasonable yield. I beginning to think Techs, for a while, are going to be hammered what ever they do. I am holding. But getting fedup.

The thing I hold against Sugar is that he bought out the QL with QDOS (from Sinclair) Killed it off in favour of the Amstrad.

Its a bad day all round Fred but must admit weve had two rotten days with this one. Think its a case of just being patient, certainly not giving up the ghost yet, theres some mighty fine stock getting hammered this morning and the Dow futures are well down.

cheers GF.

These go Ex divi wednesday so thats 2p off the price first thing. Hold on in there. Things will get better and the NAZ was up after hours in the US tonight so things in the technology sector may be far better off than you expect.

cheers GF.

Dont sell off, the markets getting a shock taste of reality. There will be a bounce in the US.

cheers GF.

Dont sell off, the markets getting a shock taste of reality. There will be a bounce in the US.

cheers GF.

Just out from Killik brokers....................

Sentiment in the near term appears to have turned with active profit taking in the second liners after a terrific run to the start of the year. How far things will come back is the obvious key question but so far, it does not appear as if too much stock is coming out and this feels more like a healthy correction rather than something more significant.

cheers GF.

Waiting for a bid

Who from??????????????????.

cheers GF

I am almost tempted too get into these shares now but even though i have
confidence in Amstrad ,i cannot say the same about the markets.
DB66

We'l recover. The sell volumes in the last two days have been very light and should only have knocked about 4 to 5% of portfolios, and if investors /traders have taken advantage of the opportunity over the last month, they should have gained about 30% so we are still looking at a rolling gain of 25%. It all depends now on the Yanks, fingers crossed they end up well this evening.

cheers GF.

I decided to dip my toes in the water and am now the proud owner of 283 Amstrad shares.
DB66