does tanfield have 2 good businesses ( smith electrics and upright)which are good value for the medium to long term hold ?

Im sorry but I thought the results were awful. They have no debt which is a plus but cash pile is well down and how a big loss can be deemed any good is open to great debate. I sold out at 13p and made a nice profit (got in at 10p) and I feel the MM's are simply trying to catch a few more people before the sp drops down to 7p or thereabouts. Hope I'm wrong for those who hold but ...

Dealer, the loss was due to a write down in Snorkel's goodwill etc.; admittedly the 1.7m operating profit is not sensational but it is a profit at least! Financially TAN is better placed than most industrials at this point and commercially they are at the forefront of a new push to a future, like it or not, dominated by ev's. I was wary that the cash at year end would be lower than the forecast 11m, don't forget that it increased in January to over 13m.

I am content, for now!

Good luck, I hope it does well for you. I'm just happy to day trade it as and when appropriate until I see a real improvement in market conditions then it may well be a long term hold.

Can't blame you Dealer, I do day trade it myself, as well as being in long term. I hope it's not too long ;o)

Good coverage on electric vehicles Channel 4 News last night and the World at 1 (radio 4), as I write.

Also promoting ev's ,Gordon Brown was speaking with Jeremy Vine on R2 this afternoon.

kim does that improve TAN's prospects?

Not one bit as such Halifax! But it does start to lay the foundations for a sustained growth in all ev's. Which pollutes more, a car or a truck? If the world leaders are truly intent in cutting down emissions then trucks are possibly more important than cars. I had to make a short journey down the A55 this afternoon and out of interest I counted the number of lorries (oh yes Mr Policeman, I was being driven!!) in ratio to cars and it was a staggering 1 lorry to every 3 cars. At least a third of the lorries were belching black smoke into the atmosphere. Cut that lot out with Smith Electric stuff and the Green party will be grinning obscenely for a very long time ;O)

kim TAN doesn't make lorries it makes vans.

Kimold puff and chuff..... were the lorries you looked at made in 1965???? or did you have your shades on. the black smoke belchers went a long time ago, very fuel efficient cumfy cadilacs now. lol

tan is not asking for money but what it needs is orders not talk from the govt ... meantime "PM" is busy arranging loans for overseas [foreign] coys to design and develope ev's which could be delivered by tan today.

The impairment was anticipated but given the materiality of this and other factors we were anticipating a little more detail in the preliminary announcement - the strange segmental breakdown with the bulk of net assets allocated to Other is also surprising!

Note at www.investorschampion.com

Tanfield falls to 88.8m loss on 'cherry pickers'


Tanfield was once praised by former Prime Minister Tony Blair as an example of "UK manufacturing innovation at its best" but suffered a pre-tax loss of 88.8m in the year to the end of December, compared with a profit of 10.4m a year earlier.

The company said the loss was caused by the "global collapse in demand" for high level access vehicles, or cherry pickers, forcing it to write down the value of its division which makes cherry pickers by 89.6m.

Darren Kell, the chief executive, said sales of cherry pickers "fell away precipitously" in the second half of last year as the financial crisis gripped the construction sector. He warned that he expects the market to "contract further" in 2009.

The shares, which lost nearly 90pc of their value in one week last summer after a string of profit warnings from the company and its competitors, yesterday closed up 10pc to 10p.

Keith Ashworth-Lord, analyst at WH Ireland, said: "With no free cash flow to value, little accounting earnings and no prospect of a dividend for years to come, the shares are little more than a speculative recovery play."

Mr Kell said the Aim-listed company has cut about 300 staff, including 100 in the UK, in an attempt to reduce costs.

Amid the gloom Mr Kell said he hopes Prime Minister Gordon Brown's plan to encourage commuters to switch to electric cars as part of a "green revolution" will propel the company back to prosperity in the future.

"There is clearly a desire for more electric vehicles in the UK and Europe," he said. "While it will not be a panacea it will have an important impact on our company and the transport sector."

halifax
Of course tanfield sell lorries as well as vans - see www.smithselectricvehicles.com
for more info.

Halifax, yes admittedly small lorries but they do make them, perhaps better described as large vans though, for now.

Balerboy, surprisingly a lot of the 'smokey' lorries were fairly new: I wonder what they were being fueled with?! Chip fat maybe :o) Seriously, there are a lot of ill maintained wagons on our roads even now, whether it is the expense of maintaining them or just pure stupidity/laziness/or couldn't give a damn attitude that is causing this I don't know. If it is the expense then that would not be cause for concern in the case of ev's as there is very little to maintain.

I am expecting more momentum from the USA than from the UK, where there will be the usual crap response to anything that could be useful if history is anything to go by.

Smiths electric vehicles are pollution free and have no exhaust pipes !. They require an 6-8 hour charge overnight normally giving a range of 100 miles for the larger vehicles and more for the vans with speeds of 50-70 mph. Ideal for inner city use - delivery's etc. They are free from road tax charges and also London's congestion charges. The drivetrain has few moving parts (less than 10) consequently much cheaper maintenance costs.

For range of vehicles see www.smithselectricvehicles.com

What would be the cost per mile of running a 3.5ton EV excluding initial Cost of Vehicle?

Fred
Taken from smiths ev site - www.smithselectricvehicles.com -
Edison is the 1.5 ton vehicle.
Fuel (electric charging) costs are just .04p per mile over 75% less than equivalent diesel vehicle. Intrestingly it also says there are over 1000 moving parts in a diesel drivetrain but only 4 moving parts in the electic version.

Fred
re above - correction - Edison is the 3.5 ton version. How many do you want ?

There is a difference between, how many I want, how many I need and how many I can afford.

I was interested in running costs, which if as reported are a damn sight cheaper than my motor home. But the latter used to take me further.

I hold more of these shares than I should.