Thought I'd start a new thread for this one. This month British Nuclear Fuels (BNFL)has come under the authority of the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA)which has a 48 billion budget from the government to decommission former BNFL sites, estimated at around 2 Billion per year initially. Fisher is set to benefit tremendously from this decision and this has not yet been appreciated by the market (P/E ratio for 2005 12.7).

James Fisher wins UK MoD submarine contract
AFX


LONDON (AFX) - James Fisher & Sons PLC, a marine services provider, has been selected to supply a turnkey marine project for the Ministry of Defence UK Submarine Rescue Service.

The UK Submarine Rescue Service is the principal submarine rescue asset participating in a NATO international naval exercise off Italy.

newsdesk@afxnews.com


Cheers, Madison

Yes a good contract win.

cheers GF.

Nice to see this moving up today.

GF - besides the Sub Rescue Service project are there more government contracts coming?

Cheers, Madison

And up again this morning on little volume...

Cheers, Madison

Nice to see this breaking out from the June highs. Can we get up past the March/April low-mid thirties highs next?

Hope you're all still there!

Cheers, Madison

Still moving up nicely.

(Seem to be talking to myself on this thread though!)

Cheers, Madison

Don't worry Madison. You are not alone. Nice long-term prospects this one. Nice to see it easing its way up on no news.

Lovely! Breaking out now to a new high...

Cheers, Madison

Countries that have nuclear facilities, vulnerable to terrorist attack, have boobytrapped themselves. It's only a matter of when, not if, some nuclear facility (or material in transit) is attacked, no matter how crudely or ineffectively, that the final nail will be knocked into public acceptability of nuclear expansion, thanks to the tabloid reaction which will surely ensue.

On which cheery note, I too have a holding in FSJ and can see its workload increasing all the more if tidying away the targets becomes a higher priority.

Nice jump today. Still looking cheap though - lots more to come.

chad - there's been a lot of focus these last few days on Fisher's involvement in the Russian sub rescue, and the possibility of a rollover on the MOD contract and other future shipping possibilities. The sp rise has been connected with this and perhaps overshadowed the other important factor (outlined in your thread title).

This week the NDA (Nuclear Decommissioning Authority) publishes its draft strategy and nuclear clean up costs are going to be revised upwards significantly. Could be a lot more to come.

Cheers, Madison

From the Telegraph this weekend:

Small cap values

James Fisher

The rescue of the Russian submarine was real Boy's Own stuff, made more heroic when it emerged that a little Cumbrian company was responsible. James Fisher, with a market capitalisation of 175m, supplied the Scorpio 45 and its crew to the Ministry of Defence.

The risk with the shares is that the company will fail to get some of its contracts renewed, not least the MoD Scorpio 45 contract whose future is unclear. However, the company is highly cash generative thanks to its oil delivery business and it uses this cash to make sensible acquisitions.

Analysts forecast the company's profits to increase from an estimated 14.8m this year to 15.6m next year. Questor tipped the shares earlier this year, and they have climbed 10pc. The shares, at 352p, on a forward PE of 13 and with a dividend yield of 2.5 still represent good value.

Smaller natural resources, a richer seam to mine | James Fisher | Hamworthy | Home Entertainment


Cheers, Madison

More coverage from the Sunday Telegraph today:

James Fisher

Five years ago James Fisher (352.5p) was a pretty dull coastal ship owner. Since then it has been transformed into a marine services group. We first tipped the shares at 106.5p in March 2002, giving readers who followed our advice a hefty 230 per cent profit. So do the shares have further to go?

The dramatic rescue of the crew of a Russian submarine last month by a team working for a Fisher subsidiary has helped boost the group's profile. Meanwhile, the rise in oil prices is generating more marine services business and the cable laying operation is doing well.


Interim pre-tax profits announced last month slipped by 13 per cent, but the operating result is more healthy - a rise of 8 per cent. Analysts forecast a full-year profit of 15m, putting the shares on an undemanding earnings multiple of about 14. The shares should have further to go.

Cheers, Madison

I endorse that Madison.

The strategy advances superbly. Look at Monyana's turnover, pretax profitss and assets...unless I've missed something in my very limited available time this am, this looks to be a wonderful deal:

Fisher (James) & Sons PLC
16 September 2005

James Fisher and Sons plc
('James Fisher' or 'the Company'):
10.75 million UK Acquisition

James Fisher, the marine services company, announces that it has signed an
agreement, subject to due diligence, for the acquisition of the business and
related companies of the privately-owned Aberdeen and Stavanger based
partnership Monyana Engineering Services ('Monyana') for a consideration of
10.75 million in cash. The consideration will be funded out of existing
resources.

Monyana is the market leader in refurbishing, designing and supplying a large
range of hydraulic winches and marine equipment for rental and sale to the oil
field services industry. Its acquisition provides James Fisher with a much
increased penetration in a market segment in which its Scan Tech subsidiaries
are already active in both the UK and Norwegian sectors of the North Sea. It
represents a major step for the Marine Services Division, as well as a
substantial expansion of the company's activities in Aberdeen and Norway,
continuing to build on the core expertise of applying operational and
engineering skills in the marine sector.

The consideration for Monyana of 10.75 million will be paid in cash on
completion. In the year ended 31 March 2005, Monyana had a turnover of 5.3
million and a pre-tax profit of 1.6 million. Gross Assets at that date amounted
to 5.3 million.

Monyana has a total of 38 employees at its main location in Oldmeldrum near
Aberdeen, together with eleven acres of freehold warehousing and storage
facilities and a regional office in Stavanger, Monyana Eurotech AS. Monyana is
also UK agent for the distribution of products from Ingersoll Rand, the US based
winch and hoist manufacturer.


Tim Harris, Chairman of James Fisher, said:

'The acquisition substantially strengthens James Fisher's growing Marine Support
Services Division which, for the year ended 31 December 2004, contributed 46% of
the Company's operating profit against 15% two years ago and represented 27% of
assets employed. It complements and overlays our existing businesses in
Aberdeen and Stavanger, providing quality services to the offshore industry.'

The founding partners, Jim Rogerson and Sandra Rogerson and Jake Lorimer, said:

'We established Monyana in 1984 and have grown it to become a market leader. In
James Fisher we are confident that we have found the right strategic home for
Monyana and our employees. We are committed to remaining with the business and
growing it further within James Fisher'.

Jim Rogerson and Jake Lorimer, will remain with the business and the company
will continue to operate from its original base.

EC Hambro Rabben and Partners Ltd acted as corporate finance advisors to James
Fisher for the acquisition.

ENDS

Cheers, Madison

And the other side of the equation:

Fisher (James) & Sons PLC
16 September 2005

James Fisher & Sons plc
('James Fisher' or 'the Company')
Sale of Cable Layer 'Oceanic Pearl' for US$20.1 million



James Fisher, the marine services provider, announces that it has agreed to sell
the Cable Laying vessel 'Oceanic Pearl' to KS Ocean Pearl a company in the
Shipman Group Norway for US$20.1 million. Delivery of the ship is scheduled to
take place in Norway on 3 October 2005.

The vessel, which has been in lay-up since 2002, benefits from the income of a
charter to International Telecom, a subsidiary of General Dynamics, payable
until December 2006. The vessel is being sold free of the remaining charter
income, amounting to US$8.2 million, which is being retained by James Fisher.
Oceanic Pearl had a book value of 20.87 million at the end of August 2005. The
proceeds of the sale will be used towards repaying the mortgage debt of 11.74
million on the ship.


Tim Harris, Chairman of James Fisher, said :

'This is a further and important step in the transformation of James Fisher into
a marine services company. It has been our clear and stated strategy to reduce
our exposure to the cable laying market at the right time. This year there have
been signs of greater interest in the ships for use in the seismic market, as
illustrated by this disposal. Whilst it is very difficult to predict whether
conditions will continue to improve, I believe that it is right and prudent to
take this opportunity to sell the Oceanic Pearl. The Oceanic Princess, our other
cable layer, also benefits from the income of a charter to International Telecom
which is payable until May 2006. '

ENDS

Cheers, Madison

Responded well to this mornings news and clearly on the right track now.

This is excellent news all round. The sale of the cable laying ship enables focus on the more strategic areas of the business. I expect to see a continued advance to 4 fairly rapidly. Combined with the excellent prospects in nuclear decommissioning, I think we're set for a lot more here.

..Questor share tip: James Fisher is on the crest of a wave

By Garry White | Telegraph – 7 hours ago

Specialist marine company James Fisher & Sons saw sales jump by 20pc in the first four months of the year.

James Fisher 540.5p Questor says BUY

Management were prudent and warned that this strong performance should not necessarily be taken as a general indicator for the full year, but it is a very good start to 2012.

Fisher provides specialist equipment and support for oil tankers, ship-to-ship transfer and submarine rescue, as well as an oil tanker business in the UK.

The marine oil transport business is obviously the most cyclical part of its operations, but it has traded profitably. The specialist technical and offshore oil divisions saw strong organic growth. The company has refocused these operations on the fast-growing regions in Asia.

Subsea Defence has made progress on a major £11m refit of the Swedish submarine rescue system and the specialist service it has offered has attracted new customer interest.

After the group's trading update at the start of May, the shares jumped to almost 600p. They have already been as high as 615p this year. However, resurgent eurozone troubles have prompted a broad-based sell-off and the shares are now significantly below this level.

There is no company-specific reason for the fall, other than the general market backdrop. Indeed, analysts have some punchy price targets on the shares, with the average forecast of the four analysts monitored by Bloomberg on this measure being 706¼p.

Trading on a December 2012 multiple of 10.3 times, falling to 9.6, the shares remain a buy