"Vesuvius is a global leader in metal flow engineering, developing, manufacturing and marketing mission-critical ceramic consumable products and systems to demanding applications, primarily in the global steel and foundry industries. Vesuvius also supplies fabricated precious metals to the jewellery industry in Europe and has significant precious metals recycling operations."

Both Vesuvius Plc & Alent Plc are seperate companies created from the demerger of Cookson Plc in Dec 2012.

http://www.vesuvius.com/en/

Already exceeded the broker tp.

Nice find Harry.

Thanks, but it was fate really, as I owned Cookson shares and so now have Vesuvius & Alent in their stead. However, both are doing well in their own right, so no complaints from me, so far!

Whenever I hear 'vesuvius' - I think of Frank Spencer!

Yes, I know what you mean. Even the guys on the FT Alphaville site thought that the name was a bit of a joke, but what's in a name? Calling your company 'Virgin', or your band 'Prefab Sprout' would seem to be a road to oblivion, but they worked!

Very true - anyway, on my list now!

StockMarketWire.com
Deutsche Bank starts Vesuvius at hold, target 350p

StockMarketWire.com
Credit Suisse starts Vesuvius at neutral, target 400p

Announcement of 2012 Full Year Results on the 21st March 2013.

StockMarketWire.com
RBC Capital has downgraded its recommendation on Vesuvius (LON:VSVS) to "sector perform" from "outperform" after the broker rejigged its estimates following the demerger of Alent. The City broker has reduced its share price target to 410 pence from 660 pence. Earnings per share estimated have been lowered to 33 pence (from 59 pence) for 2013 and 37 pence (from 65 pence) for 2014. With the combined shares prices of Vesuvius and Alent trading at 708p (versus a Cookson share price of 596p at the time of our last update), we see a significant portion of the near-term value creation from a demerger as having crystallised, said analyst Andrew Carter. In terms of the wider view held by the City, only 28 per cent of brokers currently have a buy recommendation in place with the remainder maintaining a hold or neutral rating on the stock according to Broker Forecasts consensus data.

Results for the year ended 31 December 2012 (unaudited)
Resilient financial performance delivered in a difficult second half trading environment:
· 2012 trading profit of £150.2m (including Precious Metals Processing), affected by Steel and Foundry trading environment being significantly weaker in second half (as previously announced)

· Final dividend of 9.5 pence per share, in line with guidance at demerger

· Free cash flow(1),(2) from continuing operations of £54.2m (2011: £32.1m)

· Year-end net debt(2) of £295m

Strategic transformation of Vesuvius into a focused, global leader in metal flow engineering:

· Restructuring programme well progressed across the Group, exiting low-margin business, reducing the cost base, improving operational flexibility and cash flow

· Successful demerger completed(3)

· Complete exit from Solar Crucibles business announced

· Discussions on disposal of Precious Metals Processing at an advanced stage

François Wanecq, Chief Executive of Vesuvius, commented:
"Vesuvius has demonstrated its resilience in the significantly weaker steel and foundry markets experienced in the second half of 2012. We have taken decisive action to exit low margin businesses and lower our fixed cost base, to drive profitability and cashflow. Since the year-end, we have decided to exit completely from the Solar Crucibles business.
We have clear market and technology leadership in both Steel and Foundry, a strong presence in developing markets, and opportunities to develop new higher value products and services for our customers. We will continue the drive to improve our operating efficiency, while maintaining our leadership in technology, innovation and global reach.
The Group is now positioned to increase margins, and as our end-markets start to strengthen, grow revenues. Our strong balance sheet and cash generation will enable us to continue to invest in our business and pursue further high value opportunities."

http://www.moneyam.com/action/news/showArticle?id=4559027

Disposal of Precious Metals Processing Division
Proposed share repurchase programme

Vesuvius plc ("Vesuvius" or the "Company"), a leading metal flow engineering company, announces that it has entered into an agreement to sell its Precious Metals Processing Division ("PMP") to Heimerle + Meule GmbH ("H + M"), a subsidiary of L. Possehl & Co, mbH ("Possehl") for a cash consideration of €56.8m, payable on completion.

The cash consideration will be subject to closing balance sheet adjustments. Completion, which is expected by the end of the first half of 2013, will be subject to conditions including approval by the European Commission and by the Supervisory Board of Possehl.

The majority of the disposal proceeds will be returned to shareholders through the on-market repurchase of shares. The balance of the proceeds will be used to reduce the Company's existing borrowings.

Commenting on the sale François Wanecq, Chief Executive of Vesuvius, said:

"Following the recent creation of Vesuvius plc through the demerger of Cookson, this is a further important strategic step for our company. It represents the sale of a non-core asset and the final exit from precious metals processing, leaving Vesuvius principally focused on our core competence of molten metal engineering, serving the global steel and foundry industries.

"It is also a very positive outcome for the Precious Metals Processing business and its employees, offering the opportunity to develop a long-term future within a group dedicated to the precious metals industry.

"As a result of this disposal, we intend to return the majority of the net proceeds to shareholders through an on market repurchase of shares, demonstrating our desire to exercise strong capital discipline and generate superior returns. Our strong balance sheet allows us to do this and still remain able to fund attractive growth opportunities."

BFN
John McDonough, Chairman, bought 50,000 shares in the company on the 27th March 2013 at a price of 355.24p. The Director now holds 50,000 shares.

StockMarketWire.com

Investec has upgraded its recommendation on Vesuvius (LON:VSVS) to "buy" from "hold" following the recent share price weakness. The City broker has lowered its price target slightly to 385 pence per share from 400 pence. The shares are down by nearly 8 per cent in the past month. Broker Forecast consensus data shows that the majority of brokers (69 per cent) have a less bullish opinion on the stocks near-term outlook and have a 'neutral' rating in place versus the remaining 31 per cent which rate the shares as a "buy".

BFN
Christer Gardell, Non Executive Director, bought 450,000 shares in the company on the 22nd April 2013 at a price of 325.00p. The Director now holds 56,443,446 shares.

Completion of disposal and confirmation of share repurchase programme

Vesuvius plc announces that on 31 May 2013 following the satisfaction of all conditions to closing, it completed the sale of its Precious Metals Processing Division to Heimerle + Meule GmbH, a subsidiary of L. Possehl & Co, mbH.

The cash consideration of €56.8m was received on completion and will be subject to customary closing balance sheet adjustments.

As previously announced, the Company intends to undertake an on-market share repurchase programme to return up to £30m to shareholders. This programme is expected to commence post the 2013 AGM which will be held on Tuesday 4 June 2013 and to take up to 6 months to complete.

The balance of the net proceeds will be used to reduce the Company's existing borrowings.

StockMarketWire.com
Vesuvius Plc booked a first-half pretax profit of £64 million, down from £71 million a year ago. Revenue was £773 million, from £819 million. It proposed an interim dividend of 4.75p a share.

"Vesuvius has delivered a solid performance in the first half, in a trading environment that was generally stable but still operating at a substantially lower level than in the first half of last year," said CEO Francois Wanecq in a statement.

"All of our businesses performed better than, or in-line with, their main end-markets," he said.

He said trading margins recovered somewhat following the substantial falls in the second half of last year, although they werer still below the levels achieved during the same period last year.

MARKET REPORT: Vesuvius surprises dealers with maiden profits eruption

By Geoff Foster

PUBLISHED: 22:30, 2 August 2013 | UPDATED: 22:30, 2 August 2013

The maker of ceramic moulds for steel-makers and foundries, which was formed when Cookson split into two companies, certainly surprised Harry Philips, respected engineering guru at Oriel Securities.


He said: ‘It’s not often we can be described as being on the overly conservative side on numbers but on this occasion we are. Vesuvius has thumped our expectation out of the park with £71million of operating profit playing our forecast of £58million. Debt is also much better than we thought at £273million.’



MARKET REPORT: Vesuvius enjoys maiden profits eruption

Buyers responded to the impressive performance by piling into the shares which raced ahead to touch 507p before closing 40p or 9 per cent higher at 480p.


They have now risen 51 per cent since the de-merger in December.


Philips had been expecting a small decline in profits from the second-half of 2012 after the company said in March that trading was broadly similar to the latter half of last year.


Clearly, restructuring at Vesuvius is paying off. It sold its precious metals processing business, which recycles and provides semi-finished gold, silver and platinum to the jewellery industry, for €56.8million last month. It also said cheerio to its loss-making solar crucibles business late last year.
Chemicals group Alent, the other half of the Cookson demerger, closed 6p up at 377p.


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/money/markets/article-2383823/MARKET-REPORT-Vesuvius-surprises-dealers-maiden-profits-eruption.html#ixzz2atIYyr7A
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Vesuvius: JP Morgan raises target price from 420p to 497p reiterating an overweight rating; Exane moves target price from 410p to 455p and keeps a neutral rating; Deutsche Bank takes target price from 350p to 450p, while its hold recommendation remains unchanged.

StockMarketWire.com
Analysts at Investec have effectively double-downgraded their recommendation on Vesuvius (LON:VSVS) and moved straight to "sell" (from buy) on valuation grounds, after the shares skyrocketed on the back of last week's positive set of interims. The City broker has upped its price target to 430 pence per share (previously 385 pence). The broker said: "The shares had already started running strongly before last Friday's results and they rose a further 40p (9%) on the day. Although we expect further progress from the company, we see this as an over-reaction and we switch to a Sell recommendation on valuation grounds.⬝ On Monday, JP Morgan Cazenove reaffirmed its "overweight" rating, increasing its price target to 497 pence a share (from 420 pence), whereas Deutsche Bank stuck with its less positive "hold" call and increased its target to 450 pence (previously 350 pence).

Ex divi wed 28th aug (4.75p)