EKT is having the turn around most companies would like to have at the beginning of the economic recovery.

The change of management and subsequent restructuring has brought the desire effect on the company fortunes, by eliminating loss making business and careful control on cost, they had managed an operating profit on all the three divisions at the Interim stage.

The good news has not finished there, as new products were introduced and were well received and the next stage will be for expansion on the Far East markets on selected niche areas of component distribution.

A 14% reduction on borrowing at a time of restructuring is very significant to the aims of the company for the future.

At 7.125p the shares have plenty of upside from now on, not only from the recovery on profits, but also from the most likely return of dividends at the final and that will be the icing on the cake for the share price.
Update
27th Oct 03 Elektron Employee Benefit Trust buys 300th shares at 6.40p
29th Oct 03 Director Richard Bulgin buys 25K at 7.25p latest

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Some nibbling last few days is encouraging - trading statement suggested year just ended will be better than expected earlier. Deadline for HTH bid extended to 22nd Feb. Only negative for me is recent departure of highly competent non exec director. I hold.

Delta offer for HTH did not proceed, but EKT taken that in its stride (HTH performing well in own right) and looking strong ahead of results to end of January.

More activity than usual today - perhaps trading statement after Easter. If Barclays Stockbrokers website is to be believed, broker forecasts eps 3.4p for year ended Jan 2011 and 4.4p for 2012. Even with their patchy track record, P/E ratio of 3 or 4 looks a bit harsh to me, but always DYOR. I hold.

Encouraging trading update today. Prospective P/E still in low single figures after recent rise and may even get a decent dividend later in the year. I still hold.

Very strong again today. Nice to win one occasionally, although never won until profit banked and I still hold these.

Expected good results posted today.Prospects look sufficiently encouraging for me to continue to hold, but always DYOR.

Been lonely on here - anyone know why the spurt today?

Looks like another stock getting too high too quickly. I have been watching these for years and have never rated them much.

Must be a screaming buy then!

Appreciate both inputs, although question not answered. Like your style, tab! Recent trading performance has been first class, albeit very short time since big problems. Have sold sufficient to more than recover initial outlay and will watch the remainder with interest over the next year or two.

This has certainly woken up. Having tried and failed to buy HTH at 25p, then seen a bid from Delta for HTH fail at around 70p, EKT has now bitten the bullet and acquired third party stake at 90p sufficient to give them control and make mandatory offer for the rest. Recent trading statement suggests they are coming out of the doldrums and HTH also recovered well last 12 months. The change in strategy from doomed to failure UK manufacturer of bulk (i.e cheap) electronic components to a more niche (and now in a small way global) manufacturer of higher margin components requiring collaboration and innovation has been painful, but the business now seems at a watershed in its history. Could go either way, but I am happy to hold what I have left. Always DYOR.

Tab - looks like you were right on post 53! Gartmore Investment now on board with 7% and this tiddler looking to break into a different league. Haystack - price now 36p after jump on Friday and may indeed have got a bit ahead of itself, but results due 16th September should give better indication of whether it is just hype or if they really are on the right track.

Hartest document not far off the share price should start to strengthen soon on done deal and interims in September.

Elektron sure to pay an interim dividend now.

Don't really follow your logic, cornflakes, but hope you are right about the divi. They are likely to need to hang onto cash to help fund the Hartest acquisition. As PIs, we are unlikely to be asked to stump up for a rights issue to help fund the Hartest deal (no way they could do it all on debt and it would probably worry me if they tried to) so it would be nice if shareholders such as us got the divi and the newcomers did not. We shall see. In any event, the interims this time awaited with expectation rather than hope...

Excellent half year figures from EKT today - and token interim dividend a gesture of real confidence. Crude estimate for combined unit with Hartest is around 5p eps (4m EKT, 1m HTH and approx 100m shares) so does not on the face of it look expensive at last night's close 30p. It remains to be seen, however, if the management is as good at growing it as they have been at turning it around. Happy to personally give them the benefit of the doubt for the time being, but always dyor

Financial Highlights:
Sales up 45% to 20.6 million (H1 2009: 14.2 million)

EBITDA (pre exceptionals) up 323% to 3.0 million (H1 2009: 0.7 million)

EBIT (pre exceptionals) up eleven-fold to 2.6m million (H1 2009: 0.23 million)

Exceptional costs of 0.4 million largely relating to costs of acquisition of Hartest Holdings Plc ("Hartest")

Maiden interim dividend of 0.25p proposed and payable on 15 December 2010

Order book up 48% on last year, but the Directors continue to be cautious about the second half economic environment.

Nice comments from Investors Chronicle last week .......

Impressive results from Elektron
Created: 20 September 2010 Written by: Nigel Bolitho

It's boom time for the UKs small but niche manufacturing sector. A combination of a weak pound and booming emerging markets has resulted in some manufacturers such as Elektron expressing big ambitions: chairman Keith Daley believes that, in time, Elektron could become a member of the FTSE 250.

Elektron's results (and share price) are certainly motoring. In the half year to end-July 2010, margins widened appreciably, exceptional costs fell and the company was again blessed with a miniscule tax charge. The main division makes and distributes branded components (notably connectors and switches) and in the six months pushed up operating profits from 800,000 to 2m on sales a third higher at 15.4m. At the same time the business incubator division (bespoke temperature instruments to router cutters) turned a loss of 400,000 into a 600,000 profit.

In July 2010, Elektron purchased a 23 per cent share stake in precision instruments maker Hartest from Viking raider Peter Gyllenhammar and has since completed the 8m acquisition. The jewel of the deal may be Hartests Delhi subsidiary as a gateway to sales in India for the whole company. The current half year has started well and researcher Brokerlink forecasts 12-months sales some 20m higher at 49m, pre-exceptional profits up from 1.62m to 4.90m as earnings jump from 1.95p to 4.20p.

Also encouraging to see new Finance Director (and former Hartest Chief Exec) buy 125,000 shares today.

Has trod water last few months, but some sizeable shareholdings have changed hands (in particular Panther Securities gone from 20% to less than 6%). I take encouragement from trading statement today from Delcam and think there may be nice surprise with next results. Always dyor.

Is there any interest in a new thread here ?