A bit from Derek Pain (this is prior the announcement today with LV, so given the news today will enhance cash, profits and earnings, some details in this 24th March media article are now incorrect) :
http://money.independent.co.uk/personal_finance/invest_save/article2387797.ece
No Pain, No Gain: As Lorien sails by, Lighthouse makes headway
By Derek Pain
Published: 24 March 2007
".....................................................From the one that got away, to two that have been caught in the portfolio net. Access Intelligence remains one of my unhappier investments, but Lighthouse has made headway. Both announced improved figures last week that I felt were a shade disappointing.
Access, a software and computer-services group offering compliance and legislative services, produced a pre-tax profit of 246,000 against a 26,000 loss, with sales up 89 per cent at 3.8m. Lighthouse, a financial-services group, cut its loss from 504,000 to 214,000, with turnover 45 per cent higher at 47m. Access shares are around 7.125p (against my 9p buying price) and Lighthouse 21.75p (17.5p).
Neither company is short of cash. Access had more than 1m in the bank when it drew up its year-end accounts, and Lighthouse embraced 6.8m. I would not be surprised if they soon tried to strengthen their positions through acquisitions. Their respective cash piles - and borrowing potentials - should mean that they would not have to tap shareholders unless embarking on something like a reverse takeover. In the past, both have displayed a desire for the occasional predatory swoop.
Even without any deals, I would expect them to make further progress this year. Adjusted profits at Access should, believes the stockbroker Corporate Synergy, hit 900,000, which could imply, I think, a pre-tax figure approaching 500,000. I had expected Lighthouse to produce a pre-tax profit of around 1.5m, but it would appear that one of those enforced accountancy manoeuvres, which seem a perennial hazard these days, destroyed my hopes. The chairman David Hickey, describing the resultant charge as "optically irritating", points out that it had no influence on the group's cash position. The researcher Hardman & Co expects profits of 1.7m this year, and a dividend of 0.75p a share for 2008......................"