Nice rise at Shanks group today, been holding for ages in the hope of a bid. Any other holders out there?

yes, but cos of lack of funds, I spread bet it going up, bought in at 1.21

BTW, there is a thread on this already, will bring TTT

After all that waiting, sell assets, shares plummet. brilliant. Just my luck.

Keeps on rising :-)

A new high and Level 2 looking very strong!

Hi all - I've just dipped my toes into SKS. Anyone out there still holding?

Shanks PLC reported first-half results in line with expectations, with a 6 pct rise in profit before exceptional items and tax driven by the continuing 'strong' performance in The Netherlands. Pre-exceptional pretax profit rose to 20.8 mln stg, compared to 19.7 mln stg last time, while revenues increased by 10 pct to 271 mln stg.

Shanks said it has delivered a good first-half performance, assisted by the six-month contribution of its Smink acquisition last year, and is well positioned within 'attractive' growth markets. It added that it is confident of achieving its expectations for the current year and making further progress in the future.

Adjusted basic earnings per share rose 7 pct to 6 pence and the interim dividend increased 5 pct to 2 pence per share, up from 1.9 pence last time.

Shanks Group said it expects first half results to be slightly ahead of its earlier expectations. The company said this was due to solid overall trading and strength in the euro.

In a trading statement, the company said activity at its Dutch solid waste business remains high and that its UK solid waste unit has posted strong on-year growth. Shanks also said it has resolved technical difficulties at its ATM hazardous waste facility in the Netherlands and expects the unit's cost base to benefit from a favourable decision relating to a long-running dispute on excise duties. The rebate of historic operating costs also substantially offsets the impact of the technical interruption, it added.

However, it reiterated that it expects contributions from the Belgium landfill activity will decline over the medium-term, though it has found new input streams to mitigate the impact of a January-introduced ban on the land filling of raw municipal waste.

October 2nd

'Not too many stocks are as defensive as Shanks at present. Buy, says the Independent.

At 198p, Shanks trades at 13 times current-year earnings, its lowest multiple for years. A solid hold, says the Times.

The Telegraph adds that the waste sector has attracted great interest from private equity and there are few pure play operators around. Given that, the growth potential for the sector, and the strong management, a 12.7 times earnings multiple seems too low. Buy. '

looks ripe to accelerate through 150p and sharply northwards IMHO

crazy markets continue

Sgarcia, do you happen to know how much debt SKS have? if it's high that might explain some of the weakness, otherwise my guess is as good as yours.

BROKER NEWS: Shanks upgraded to buy from hold at Altium, target price increased to 115p from 65p

Final results out on 28th May '09.

"The Board of Directors of Shanks announces that the Resolution, proposed as a special resolution at today's Extraordinary General Meeting ('EGM'), relating to the Rights Issue announced by the Company on 21 May 2009 was passed, without amendment, by the required majority on a show of hands.

The Resolution was proposed to: (a) increase the Company's authorised share capital to 45,000,000; (b) grant authority to the directors to allot the Rights Issue Shares, and otherwise up to 5,330,033.20; and (c) disapply pre-emption rights in respect of the Rights Issue Shares, and otherwise up to 1,190,100. Further details of the Resolution are described in the Notice of Extraordinary General Meeting set out in the prospectus sent to shareholders on 21 May 2009"

RESULTS OF RIGHTS ISSUE
The Board of Shanks announces today that, as at 11.00 a.m. on 23 June 2009, being the latest time and date for receipt of valid acceptances, it had received valid acceptances in respect of 151,681,156 Rights Issue Shares, representing 95.59 per cent. of the total number of Rights Issue Shares offered to Qualifying Shareholders pursuant to the 2 for 3 Rights Issue announced by Shanks on 21 May 2009."

HARRY are you still in here ?? ,iv'e been looking at this and quite like it ,looks steady..

IN AT 95P....................

Going well the last 2 days,,,,,anyone else in or am i on my own...??

I'm still in jimmy b. Will have to go some though to recoup paper losses on this one. Still think it's a winner though :-)

We are in as this looks like a good recovery stock and of course waste disposal is "flavour" of the month for "greenies"!

Glad to see others in here ,went well today . :-)

Nice up 40% today ,patience paid off,hope you are all still in ,, now i'm going to need to do the same with Taylor Wimpy ..

Sadly I sold out quite a while ago!

Business Financial Newswire
"Waste management group Shanks has received a preliminary unsolicited approach from a private equity group, rumoured to be Carlyle, with a potential cash offer of 135p per share.

The group says that after discussions with its two largest shareholders, it believes a cash offer of 150p or more would deliver appropriate value to shareholders. "

Sorry to hear that HARRY ,wish i had sold TW. ,,bit down on that one myself.

Here's the FT piece ....

SHOULD BE 20%+ UPSIDE FROM HERE ? (IMHO)

Rumour of improved offer from Carlyle buoys Shanks
By Bryce Elder and Neil Hume

Published: January 30 2010 02:00 | Last updated: January 30 2010 02:00

Shanks Group , the waste management group, was among the top performers yesterday as the London market staged its biggest rally in nearly a month.

Its shares were up 4.9 per cent to 127p on talk that Carlyle might be prepared to sweeten its 535m takeover offer.

Carlyle was rumoured to have begun due diligence this week after indicating that it could pay about 145p per share, dealers said.

The private equity group had its preliminary 135p offer rejected in December, with Shanks management saying it believed "150p per share or more would deliver an appropriate value to shareholders".

Peel Hunts says that 2010/11 results from Shanks were 7% ahead of expectations after the waste management firm made "substantial" progress over the past 12 months, in regards to "expansion, contract wins, cash generation, cost reduction and financial stabilisation."

Pre-tax profit for the year ended 31 March was 35.2m, ahead of the Peel Hunt's estimate of 33m, despite challengng winter conditions.

The broker re-iterates its 'buy' rating and ups the target price from 138p to 140p.