Monday saw more action for Titan holders- Mefro Wheels GMBH, a german private company increased it's holding to 29.9% by acquiring stock at 40p - against the prevailing market price of 20p. Mefro wheels acquired their original 24% stake at 40p in December.
A subsidiary of Titan International Inc, Tital Luxembourg Sarl, acquired 2,079,600 @ 35p and 339,000 @ 31.5p over the last two days taking their stake to over 20%. A director of Titan Lux Sarl is the non exec chairman of Titan Europe.

Roosters are hungry at this time of year and need to eat on chicken feed. This looks like a grain fest given Titan International broke off talks to buy Titan Europe in 2008 over 200p per share. Yeah - markets have changed but a battle for control of a niche business looks set to keep me well fed for the H1 09....

Even if a takeover is not announced with the finals, I'd still expect a signigicant re-rating from these levels to well over 50p levels. Expect to see more directors buying and from Titan Inc. on that.

'The one analyst offering a 12 month price target expects Titan Europe (TSW:LSE) share price to rise to 280.00 in the next year from the last price of 23.75'.

http://markets.ft.com/tearsheets/analysis.asp?s=TSW%3ALSE

Topped up again this morning at 24.50p. Looking better now, 23.50-26.50p.

Will there be a bid..?

Who knows...but is a possibility imo. Nonetheless with the correction already underway on many stocks, this one has a big correction pending and hopefully once the finals are out.

Not many shares in free float now too from the 82.82m shares in Issue.

Interests in 3% or more in the ordinary share capital of the company as at 6 March 2009.

Fund Manager No. of Shares %

Mefro Wheels Gmbh 24,738,853 29.8
Titan Luxembourg SARL. 18,993,821 22.9
AXA Framlington Investment Management 6,877,917 8.3
Lehman Brothers International Europe in Administration 4,203,649 5.1
UBS Ag Market Maker 3,234,659 3.9
Lakeview Asset Management 2,579,475 3.1
60,628,374 73.1

Director Shareholdings as of Wednesday 10th December 2008

No. of Shares
J M A Akers 610,000
V M R Wicks 500,000
M C LaManna 288,000
E H Billig 40,000
P A Gartside 24,000

http://www.titaneurope.com/investors/default.asp?pag=6

Some good buying today inc. a 38,766 buy at 25.50p near the close.

Key Date Status Date
Next prelim announcement Approximate 29th April 2009

http://www.hemscott.com/companies/key-dates.do?companyId=4586

Titan International expects something to happen by July 2009:-how else can you define 'what happens in our markets' and 'consolidation being beneficial to Titan Inc.'s long term growth' other than takeover of Titan Europe after their offer of 230p in Apr 08 and increase in holding by 5% to 22.89% at 35p in Jan 09. What other consolidation could be beneficial for Titan Inc.'s long term growth??? My answer is nothing other than takeover of Titan Europe. Titan Europe have got giants such as Caterpillar and mining giant Vale as their customers and a year since the last offer of 230p they could probably acquire Titan Europe at half the price at about 115p imo. The demerger originally only happened because Titan Inc. needed the cash which is no longer a worry.

"Because the world is contracting, we believe there will be further consolidation in the specialty wheel and tire market in 2009. This consolidation should be beneficial for Titan's long-term growth. Titan has maintained its growth while keeping its SG&A expenses in the 5-7% range, and we expect to continue this growth with our ability to be one of the most competitive companies in our field. Titan will continue to focus on the goals I set in December, but what happens in our markets in the next four months will determine if these goals can be reached. I will provide an update the first part of July."

http://www.titan-intl.com/content/22609

In Jan 09 Titan Inc. also amended and restated its revolving credit facility with Bank of America. This was a fortnight after increasing their stake in Titan Europe to 22.89%. Enough loan facility setup there to go for Titan Europe again imo. Their cash balance at 31 Dec 08 was $61.7m. What else would do they need $150-$250 million other than to acquire Titan Europe???

Revolving credit facility amendment:
On January 30, 2009, Titan International Inc. amended and restated its revolving credit facility (credit facility) with Bank of America, N.A. The amendment included a multi-year extension that extended the credit facility termination date to January 2012 from the previous October 2009 date. The amendment created an accordion feature within the credit facility that set the initial loan availability at $150 million with the ability to request increases up to a maximum availability of $250 million. The amendment adjusted the borrowing rates within a pricing grid that includes a minimum 1 percent LIBOR rate.

Cash balance: The company's year-end cash balance was $61.7 million at December 31, 2008, as compared to $58.3 million at year-end 2007.

Topped up just now with another 7270 shares at 24.50p.

Final Results should be out hopefully at 7 o'clock tomorrow morning. Should have lots of news to digest and imo correction to more realistic levels especially with strong upwards corrections taken place in many stocks over the past month!

Treacle / Smiler / Sue Helen

'Topped up just now with another 7270 shares at 24.50p' LoL. I see TSR is following your usual style of pump and dumps. Selective editing of RNSs without telling the whole story, claims of 'topping up', no doubt the useless TA will follow next. Worth reading the last Trading Update:

The Board anticipates announcing the Group's preliminary results for the year ended 31 December 2008 by the end of April 2009. We anticipate full year 2008 pre-tax pre-exceptional profits to be in-line with market expectations. Total revenues are expected to be around 450 million.

In light of the continuous changes in overall market conditions it is appropriate to make some comment on the Group's prospects for the financial year ending 31 December 2009.

In our December trading update we highlighted the significant increase in rescheduling or postponement of orders by our customers. This was a result of the further deterioration in their global markets, especially in construction related activities. As expected December saw a very significant decline in sales and manufacturing with volumes substantially lower than in previous periods and with constantly changing schedules.

As we entered the new financial year, we further reviewed the business during the first six weeks of 2009 and our volume forecast is based on this analysis. Most of our markets have continued to decline and therefore, against this backdrop and very limited forward visibility we have reduced our forecast sales volumes for 2009 to 30% below those of 2008. In light of this reduction in sales volume, we continue our programme of scaling back material inputs, manufacturing, people and investment plans in order to re-align our cost base to reflect the more challenging markets our industry is experiencing. Fixed costs are being reduced throughout the Group but care is being taken to preserve the Group's resources and investment in engineering, quality and technical sales.

Despite this tough backdrop it is worth noting that not all markets are equally affected and the Group is seeing some benefit from its product, market and geographic spread.

The Group continues to have regular dialogue with its banking syndicate and retains their support.

Dividend

The Directors believe that in view of the current uncertainties in the market, it would be prudent to preserve cash and therefore, the Directors will not be proposing a final dividend for the year ended 31 December 2008.

Unless there is a take-over bid there doesn't seem much reason to buy until the trading picture becomes clearer. Treacle will continue to pump away though.

Tomorrow looks to be the day as per the below...good opportunity to top up today again imo with some impatient holders selling out.

'Issued by Citigate Dewe Rogerson, Birmingham
Date: 20 February 2009
Immediate Release


Titan Europe Plc
("Titan Europe" or the "Group")
Trading Update

The Board anticipates announcing the Group's preliminary results for the year
ended 31 December 2008 by the end of April 2009. We anticipate full year 2008
pre-tax pre-exceptional profits to be in-line with market expectations. Total
revenues are expected to be around GBP450 million'.

Good reversal today on hardly any buying. Poised for finals tomorrow.

Still no finals yet. The company said in the trading update in Feb 2009 that they would be out by end of April. During the trading day or quite possibily imo that takeover news is surfacing beneath.

Spoken to the company just now and the finals will now be out in early May! They couldn't provide any more information but imo goes with my research that a takeover is surfacing hopefully and hence the delay. DYOR.

Load of bollocks re the delay IMO

Rising again on continued buying volume.

Just picked up another 10,000 shares at 24.83p. Finals delayed thus far but hope to be out in early May. IMO nicely poised for a big correction on returning sentiment in the markets + added bonus about size of Mefro's and Titan Inc's stakes.

24.00-27.00p, finally perking up again after consolidation over the last week.