Tipped as a buy in the Independent today.

Interim Results

Operational highlights

· Diversified order book which stands at £101m, 61% of which represents orders from outside Europe;
· Positive contributions from all businesses;
· Continued diversification of revenue across all regions - Europe 56%, Asia Pacific 32% and MEAI 12%;
· Integrated approach to global clients;
· Significant new commissions in energy and infrastructure sectors;
· Frameworks representing an increasingly significant contribution;
· Increase in staff numbers by 9.5% to just over 1,500 over the last 12 months, reflecting ongoing investment in people to enhance our global footprint;
· Net debt down 25.2% to £7.1m (H1 2013: £9.5m);
· Successful unwinding of Australian dollar derivative contract resulting in £1m gain;
· Global banking facilities re-negotiated.

Is share price ahead of events?
@ 67.5p are on a historic PE of 17, taking the basic earnings 4p not the more diluted 3.4p

Adjusted earnings per share were 4.0p (2013 H1: 2.2p) and adjusted diluted earnings per share were 3.9p (2013 H1: 2.2p). Basic earnings per share were 3.4p (2013 H1: 1.8p) and diluted earnings per share were 3.4p (2013 H1: 1.8p).

Looks like it, ontheturn - share price getting hammered now.

Target price retained at 90p

03 Dec 2013 Sweett Group PLC CSG Westhouse Securities Buy 58.50 70.50 70.00 90.00 Retains

on Paul Scotts page today 10.30am -

Small Cap Value Report (3rd Dec)

I'm scratching my head a bit over the interim results to 30 Sep 2013 from Sweett (LON:CSG) this morning. The company has issued a series of very positive trading updates throughout this year, but these results really don't justify their bullishness, and the shares are down nearly 8% this morning to 65.5p.

I don't currently hold this share, but if I did, would be pretty miffed - both at the overly bullish statements previously issued by the company this year, and the misrepresentation of these results - the headlines say that profit before tax is up 75%, and that basic EPS is up 89%, but this is totally misleading! The underlying profitability is only up 6.7% to £2.7m. What has generated the increase in profit further down the P&L is finance income of £1m - which is the unwinding of an Australian derivative contract, so clearly should have been disclosed as exceptional, but hasn't been. Funny isn't it, how companies are terribly keen to strip out exceptional costs, but are coy about stripping out exceptional gains.

All in all, I think this is a pretty appalling case of total BS presentation of the figures, and I'm afraid that from now on I simply won't believe any upbeat trading statements from this company.

There is another table that tries to compare this year's £3.5m "core trading" with last year's £910k. However, the £3.5m includes the £1m derivative gain, which should surely be stripped out to make it comparable? They're not comparing apples with apples in my opinion.

Net debt has fallen from £9.5m a year ago, to £7.1m at 30 Sep 2013, although that is flat against the 31 Mar 2013 figure.

The interim dividend has been raised to 0.5p (from 0.3p), so since 0.7p was paid at the final stage last year, in all likelihood the payout this year is probably going to be about 1.3-1.5p, which gives a modest yield of about 2%.

Being a people business, I wonder how much profit growth potential there is, since in an economic recovery the staff will (justifiably) want pay rises, as in many cases pay has been restricted in the last five years.

Overall, as you can probably gather, I'm seriously unimpressed with how these figures have been presented, and as such there's no way I'll be buying back into this stock, and will treat all future trading statements from this company with a large pinch of salt.

How to value it accurately?

hxxp://www.-.com/content/small-cap-value-report-3-dec-vnet-csg-rgd-79575/

ott heartily agree caveat emptor!

Cockney Rebel posted a very similar view to Paul Scott early this morning on his thread. Paul Scott had previously bought into this stock I believe.

A buy in IC this week

Don't go sour on sweet

Property and infrastructure consultant Sweett was helped by a £1m gain from the unwinding of an Australian dollar derivative contract during the first half , which lifted reported numbers. But the underlying performance was still solid, with pre-exceptional operating profit before tax having risen 8% on year to £2.7m.
The order book grew 10% on the year to £101m. Momentum in the business is solid and with a forward PE ratio of just under 12 times for 2015, IC keeps the faith.

Thank you for that dreamcatcher.

Sweett probe finds 'instances of deception'
StockMarketWire.com
Sweett Group has confirmed that material instances of deception may have been perpetrated by a former employee or employees in 2009-11.

The group says this has come to light following an investigation into allegations that were made in the Wall Street Journal in June 2013.

The group says that since that announcement, there have been further talks with the Serious Fraud Office in the UK and initial discussions with the Department of Justice (DOJ) in the US.

The group is cooperating with both bodies and no proceedings have so far been issued by either of them.

The group has commissioned a further independent investigation which is being undertaken on its behalf by Mayer Brown LLP. It says that while this investigation is at an early stage and is ongoing, no conclusive evidence to support the original allegation has been found.

But it says evidence has come to light that suggests that material instances of deception may have been perpetrated by a former employee or employees of the Group during the period 2009-11. These findings are being investigated further.

N+1 Singer Buy 39.50 38.00 61.00 61.00 Reiterates

Westhouse Securities Buy 39.50 38.00 90.00 80.00 Retains

Results today. Load of issues but underlying profitability.

It got marked down first thing and I managed to get a few sub 22p before the market makers moved the price up.

Directors were buying at 24p a few months ago so I take that as a good sign that things are on the mend

profit warning.

Bid at 35p. I was offered 34.32 to sell today which seems a little high. Didn't take it on the basis small chance of a counter bid, but may change my mind if I see a better home for my money